Yamaha EZ-EG Guitar

Yamaha has a really interesting and unique teaching guitar called the EZ-EG guitar. This $299 electric guitar features 12 lighted frets that show beginners the actual hand positions for all the chords they'll need to know before they take off on their own, and six 'strings' that emulate strumming or finger-picking. In addition to an onboard selection of 36 songs, songs can be loaded into the guitar's memory directly from any PC. The EZ-EG will also reproduce nine realistic guitar sounds, eight bass guitar sounds and the timbres of a banjo, piano and traditional Japanese shamisen through its built-in speaker. Selectable play modes include: Strumming Practice for the right hand, where chords change automatically during a strumming practice; Chord Training for the left hand, where the user simply makes the chord changes while it strums; and Full Play, which shows chord changes by lighting the frets, while the user strums and plays chords.

Standard 'guitar' features include volume, tempo, and balance controls, standard tuning plus open tuning options and a tremolo bar. A unique electronic capo allows pitch adjustment. Users may plug the EZ-EG into a standard guitar amplifier, or use the mini-headphone jack for private practice. The EZ-EG operates on six "AA" cells, and includes a power adapter, pick and strap. $299. www.yamaha.com