Just bought the new Squier....and it's terrible. Will be sending it back. The trainer, on the other hand, is pretty solid.
Haven't seen a PRO Guitar Trainer video around, so I figured I'd record them and let others know what they're like.
There's a ton of reasons why I'm not going to bother with this guitar anymore.
In terms of it being an actual guitar:
Buzzing frets EVERYWHERE, the action is uneven, the neck is WAY too thick (personal preferences, I guess), tuning pegs are the worst I've ever used on a guitar I've ever owned, and I wont say it's the worst sounding guitar I've ever played, but the tone doesn't do it for me (probably from all of the extra stuff they put in it). Also, the particular pickup on the guitar is probably there for to make it functional in the gameplay realm, but not only is it disappointing to have a humbucker as a pickup, but there's only one pickup.
My biggest beef with it are the frets. When playing solo-y stuff, guitarists tend to vibrato, bend and do whatever it takes to abuse the frets. When bending the strings on this guitar...it's kinda hard to explain. There are sensors on each fret over each string and for each string on every fret. So when you bend a string, you're basically pushing the string into another string's sensor. The problem with that is when I bend the strings, it feels unnatural. It's kinda like I'm bending into an area when I'm experience buzzing, but it doesn't buzz.
It's hard to explain without actually showing what I mean, but when I bend a string, I kinda feel like I'm destroying the sensors. It just feels soooo weird.
Now, for it's gameplay features:
Right off the bat, the buttons on the actual guitar (the start, back, D-pad and four colored buttons) don't fucking work. It's not because it's a fault of the guitar, but from I've heard, Microsoft found that the controller was going to be universal across all consoles and wasn't happy about it. I can't say if Wii/PS3 users are able to use the buttons on the guitar, but from what I've gathered, MS restrictions are to blame for the button issue.
With no working D-pad, I've had to resort to using the adapter to navigate the menu. It has a button to activate Overdrive that you can step on, like a stompbox, and that's pretty cool. BUT, I can't really use it as a stompbox, because I have to have the adapter on hand to navigate the game and I'm NOT going to go between songs picking it up from the floor. And since I can't use the back button on the guitar to activate OD, I have to tilt. I hate tilting.
When I first got the guitar, it had a bitch of a time trying to register open strings. After messing with the pickup height, I was able to get it to register ALL string hits. It was annoying to deal with, but if you ever notice missing random notes, just bring the pickup closer to the strings. I don't know why/how it works, but it just does.
Now, the sensors...for the most part, it's okay, but when dealing with large, complex chords, the sensors sometimes can't recognize what I'm playing. Like with Centerfold, I think it's the 8 10 10 9 C chord that it ABSOLUTELY refuses to recognize me playing. I know how to play that chord shape. Every guitarist knows that shape, but when the game tells me I'm playing it wrong, it tends to piss me off, like any game would.
I can't say a whole lot of good things about it, other than it's a fantastic concept. It's playable, but barely. I've been raised on high quality instruments, but maybe there's some bias on my part, but I'm at the point where I can't overlook the cons. If I'm going to spend that much money on something like the Squier, I expect it to fucking work....but then again, it *is* a Squier.
The Squier is available at Best Buy for $280, plus a $40 adapter. Totally not worth it, if you ask me.
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More Than A Feeling Rock Band 3 Expert Pro Guitar Fender Squierby redhed0025,004 views
Awesome video. I think I'm just gonna get the Mustang if anything.
daysleeper318 1 year ago