Spinmaster Yo Gabba Gabba Grooves Guitar - Assortment
by Spin Master
Our Price: $47.95
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Toy
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: Spin MasterBrand: Spinmaster
Release Date: 2008-07-01
Model: 6010974
Product features:
- Just like the characters on TV
- Kids will love the realistic look
- Trade them, or give as a gift
- Fun for kids of all ages
- Have a blast with this guitar!
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Toys and Games Reviews of Spinmaster Yo Gabba Gabba Grooves Guitar - Assortment
Customer Review: Look, mom, no strings!
Summary: 4 Stars
It's hard to find a guitar for a 2-year-old who wants one. I tried a ukelele, but the tyke immediately went for the tuning knobs as much as the strings. Soon the tuning knobs were loose, and tightening them back up proved too much for the bridge. Similar stories appear to be commonplace among Amazon reviewers with respect to stringed instruments given to enthusiastic young guitarists. Conclusion: avoid the stringed versions and compare the reviews of the toy guitars with pretend strings, notice that electronically they all work about the same, observe that this one--"Yo Gabba Gabba Muno" (what the heck is that?)--gets the highest reviews from the most reviewers. Justified?
Yes--sort of. I like this one because:
1. It doesn't play familiar tunes, like just another karaoke or jukebox toy. There are ample sounds that the player has an opportunity to trigger and employ to construct his own compositions--not altogether unlike what Pat Metheny does in "This Way Up."
2. The choices are ample enough to be challenging without being overwhelming. First of all, the fingerboard has five large buttons decorated with faces that seem to go with the pitch of the vocal-like sounds that each button activates. The consequence is not a complete song but a phrase, or "motif," that the super-coordinated player can keep in play at the same time she's attending to the possibilities available to the right hand.
3. The right hand has a choice between the "eye" or the "whammy bar" or a combination of both. The eye plays percussive as well as vibraphone "pitched" rhythms. The whammy bar plays 3 different portamentos, each rising in pitch and ending at a different place. At times it sounds like a Hawaiian guitar, at others a little like a steel guitar, at others like a train wreck (it's probably no accident that one of the competing guitars on Amazon is the "Thomas the Train Guitar"--which has decidedly lower reviews). I soon became mesmerized by the challenge of maintaining a rhythm with the eye and punctuating it with whammy bar effects. When I had this much down, I began to add the left hand motifs--occasionally creating a little jam band, though admittedly creating an equal amount of chaos. But at least the instrument wasn't just playing "Farmer in the Dell" in response to my efforts. In a way, I got what I inputted, which is what I deserved. Good lesson.
4. The big (really big) eye, in effect, "personalizes" the instrument, imparting to plastic a character that, while short of the quality of a Stradivarius or Bosendorfer, should teach aspiring musicians that musical instruments are qualitatively different from the utilitarian instruments--forks, spoons, screw drivers, toothbrushes--we use each day. They have a potentially amiable, companionable personality, providing the player treats them in a friendly manner--i.e. with respect.
5. No where on the toy do I see any of the Yo Gabba nonsense, so the child at least has a prayer of escaping whatever the promotional tie-in is all about. Instead of Yo Gabba, she can choose to name it Django or Les or Charlie Christian or Emily Remler. (Admittedly, the face of the guitar could use a good dentist. On the other hand, it's perhaps not a bad way to remind the young musician that the life of an artist has its share of hard knocks, or that good looks pale in comparison with genuine talent (in case the musical hopeful hasn't seen Susan Boyle). Above all, it seems to be saying, "I like you. Let's jam. You don't have to be Wes Montgomery or any particular shape or color. Just look at me."
So I haven't addressed the big question: how does the 2-year-old actually respond to this thing? First, the more important question perhaps is how does the parent respond to the inevitable, inescapable "noise component"? Some reviewers of these toys complain because they don't play Mendelssohn's violin concerto or Segovia's classical pieces. To yee of little faith, look elsewhere; to those who sense the sweetest sounds can come only after the most sour-full ones have had their say, be thankful Yo Gabba can't be plugged in.
Description of Spinmaster Yo Gabba Gabba Grooves Guitar - Assortment
Rock out to your favorite Yo Gabba Gabba tunes with the Groovin' Guitar. Little rock-n-rollers can play 10 different tunes and make fun sounds with the whammy bar. Requires 3 "AA" batteries, included. Measures 17" long.Pretend Play & Dress-up Toys
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