I wasn't aware of Paper Jamz instruments until this year's Black Friday sales when many stores were selling them dirt cheap. My first thought was that it was a cute twist on air-guitar, but something had me look into it a bit further and I couldn't believe what I was reading. That much technology for about $20?!?!?!
Also, I've been playing guitar for ages and, after reading the many descriptions and reviews, I began to wonder how much real music could be made with one of these guitars...so I got one!
I still can't believe it!
You like music? Well, this is like music. In fact, it arguably *is* music. Most guitar players are familiar with the concept of "open tunings". In standard tuning, strumming the open strings of the guitar is not particularly harmonious because the notes don't form a chord. With open tunings, a guitar is tuned so that the open strings *do* form a chord, and that's how the Paper Jamz guitars are set up. Move your right hand over where the strings would be on a real guitar, with your left hand not touching the neck, and you get the sound of an E chord. If you place the index finger of your left hand across all the strings anywhere on the neck, you get a another chord, just a different pitch. Placing your index finger across all the strings just behind the first fret gives an F chord and so on 2-F#/Gb, 3-G, 4-G#/Ab, 5-A, and so on.
The standard rock song has three chords. In the key of G, they would be G, C, and D, and you get them by placing the index finger of your left hand across the "strings" at 3rd, 8-th, and 10-th frets, respectively. So, yes, you can make real music with the Paper Jamz guitar!
But wait! There's more! If you're a 3 year old, you can still make music with the thing. Have mom or dad put in in song mode and when you strum you get nice sounding proper chords for the songs built into the guitar or songs that mom or dad can have added for you.
[More to follow...and here it comes!]
I've had the guitar for a while now with much to report.
Setup *can* be a royal pain. It installs Apple Quicktime on your Windows computer if it is not already there. When it is run for the first time under Win XP, an error message may be generated that the program cannot run because the file winusb.dll is missing. In that case you, can either download a copy from the Web or copy it from another computer that has it. The file should be placed in the directory C:\Windows\system32. (If downloading, please be careful if visiting an unfamiliar site because there are many sites that appear to offer free downloads in an attempt to get users to unsuspectingly download malware.)
I found the software performed flawlessly once it was installed and recognized the guitar. The guitar's overall sound can be can be set to one of 13 settings.
* 12 string electric
* acoustic
* acoustic compressed
* all your phases are belong to us
* banjo
* country (as close to a tele as a #20 plastic guitar can get!)
* garage
* jamcaster
* nervous system
* rectifier
* robot revolution
* sitar
* superchunk
Then, there are the songs. Some come with the application. There is also a long list of other songs that are PaperJamz Pro compatible. They can be purchased from iTunes, but they need not be if you already own them.
As an experiment, I ripped Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" from his Greatest Hits CD. When I moved it to the library by drag-and-drop, the program recognized it as compatible. When I moved it to the guitar, it behaved like the songs that came with the guitar. Whenever I strummed the guitar, it played the proper chord!
As another experiment, with great hopes, I loaded a song that wasn't on the list. At first, I was disappointed that the program wasn't fooled, but then I found that I could play my own chords along with the song. That is, in may ways it was no different from playing a real guitar tuned to an open tuning. This song was in the key of C, so placing my finger across the fingerboard just before the 8-th fret gave me a "C" chord, just before the 1-st fret gave me an "F", and just before the 3-rd fret gave me a "G".
So, there are *three* ways the guitar can be used.
* freestyle, playing your own notes or chords
* strumming along to compatible songs without ever hearing a bad chord.
* strumming along to songs that are not compatible where it's your job to find the right chord.
It might seem that there's no real difference between the first and third way. If the guitar is in freestyle, you can play along with anything. But, having a song or two at the ready whenever you want it is a nice touch.
As a guitar player, one thing that confused me initially was how to play minor chords. The user's guide shows two circles, which I interpreted as the placement of two fingertips. However, it's really where the finger goes. For example, to play an "A" chord, a finger is place across the fingerboard just before the 5-th fret. To play an "A minor", one finger is place across the fingerboard just before the 5-th fret while another finger is place across the fingerboard just before the 6-th fret, that is, just add one more finger. It also stresses the importance of placing the finger squarely across the fingerboard. If it crosses a fret so that it's spanning a fret, you'll get a minor chord instead of the major.
Highly recommended. I still can't believe all of this technology is being sold as inexpensively as it is.
Oh, yes. One other very important thing. Because these instruments are meant to be played with each other and with recorded music, they had better be in proper pitch...and they are! I'd considered using toy instruments to make real music but was always put off by their invariably being sharp or flat. Not so with the Power Jamz guitars!
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I bought this guitar after seeing that it was pro model with more features (able to put 3 songs at a time of your choice on it). I am blown away with how good this guitar works and how good it sounds. I can't believe you can get this kinda thing for this price. It would be a great deal at twice the price. I bought the strap and gig bag separately and am happy with all of it. No need for external speaker/amp, this baby is LOUD... (adjustable of course, and has a headphone jack). :)Best Deals for Wowwee Paper Jamz Pro Guitar Series - Style 3
We bought this toy for a two year old boy who has a very musically inclined daddy so he could jam along with him. When I first opened it to put in the batteries (not included) I had a blast figuring out how it worked. My 18 month old was pretty interested in it and we played with it for a while.When we got to the party and opened presents, we definitely had a hit on our hands! The hardest part was getting it away from the adults so the kids could try it. For the price of the toy it is an amazing amount of technology. No, it won't teach anyone how to play guitar, but it does instill the "basics" of guitar playing. Moving frets makes different sounds and since there aren't strings there's no issue with ouchies.
This is a fantastic first guitar toy!
Honest reviews on Wowwee Paper Jamz Pro Guitar Series - Style 3
"It is just what I wanted" says my grandson when he opened this gift at Christmas. He loves it and I think it is a great gift for kidsFind helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Wowwee Paper Jamz Pro Guitar Series - Style 3
The "series 3" paper jamz boasts the ability to "load your own songs" like its super easy to do. It won't work at all on windows 8 and I think you have to pay for the songs, it's not like you can load something from you collections of cd's....oh well.....
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