Learning to Play Guitar Just Using a Mac?

Can you learn to play guitar just with GarageBand and YouTube?

Since January I have been learning to play electric guitar by only using interactive tuition. My main tutors being Garage Band (on the Mac) and a YouTube based guitar tutor. I have been really pleased with the progress I am making even though I have not had a 'proper lesson' yet.

My current kit includes:

- iPad (running GarageBand - very useful for writing your own practice tracks to play along with)

- MacBook Air running GarageBand with downloaded lessons - chord analysis is fantastic when you are not sure you are playing the right strings.

- Guitar Jack to USB connector to plug the guitar straight into the MacBook and iPad 

- Yamaha REV500 - digital reverb unit

- 20W guitar amp

Learning to play any instrument can be fun as well as frustrating.  Using a Mac as your tutor is a great way to learn!

This is a short video of my desk setup I am using for this.

iLife '11 — the all new iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand

Apple recently announced their latest upgrade to the iLife suite during the “Back to the Mac” event in October. iLife ’11 includes new releases of iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand. Apple did a great job in adding more advanced features while maintaining their trademark simplicity. The upgrade is priced at only $49 USD and is definitely worth the price.

The incredible new iPhoto has added support for Facebook/Flickr and sharing photos through email. The changes to the full-screen mode allow you to utilize every pixel of your display to its fullest. Apple has also improved the slideshows feature with new transitions and themes. Their book/card-printing service has been updated and now allows for more customization of photo albums and holiday cards. iPhoto continues to keep its “Faces” and “Places” features, as well as its great image retouching tools.

The album view in iPhoto's full-screen mode looks amazing.

iPhoto's face recognition automatically recognizes faces in your photos and allows you to tag then.

The biggest change in the suite is in iMovie. Apple has added a “movie trailers” feature that makes producing short teasers for your films a breeze. Choose a series of clips you would like to use, fill in the credits, and choose a theme and iMovie will automatically stitch together a professional-grade trailer for you next movie.

Apple has also included more advanced audio editing tools in iMovie ’11. Audio clips are now color-coded and provide options for adding fades and filters. Another new feature is what Apple calls “one-step effects”. With the dozens of new effects, such as “instant replay” and color correction, your iMovie project will definitely stand out from other home videos.

iMovie ’11 has also included more exporting options, including iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, QuickTime movies, and more. You can also publish your videos directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and even CNN’s iReport. You can also create a video podcast and send it directly to Podcast Producer.

iMovie '11 give you more control over your audio.

Making professional trailers has never been easier.

Making great music in GarageBand has never been simpler. The iLife ’11 upgrade introduced Flex Time, a function that fixes timing issues when something sounds a little off.  Flex Time allows you to manually move, stretch, or shorten individual notes without changing the rest of your recording.GarageBand ’11 adds more guitar amps the Apple’s library and allows you to reproduce the sound of foot pedals with new stompbox effects. Apple also included many new instrument lessons with the update.

Flex Time makes it easy to fix timing errors in your music. 

Apple's instrument lessons make learning the piano or guitar fun.

More lessons can be downloaded or purchased from the Lesson Store.

iLife ’11 allows you to do more with your photos, video, and music than ever before. In iPhoto, you can enjoy your photos in the new full-screen modes. You can turn your home videos into professional films with the latest iMovie and create the perfect soundtrack within GarageBand. iLife ’11 is included with every new Mac, but every existing user should consider the upgrade. If you enjoyed this post, please check out MacDesign, a blog centered around graphic design and video production on the Mac platform.

iLife 11: Unboxing and Installation

This post is about my unboxing of iLife 11 and installing it. iLife 11 packs many great new features in iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band. Installing this product took about 40 minutes and it was a breeze. The main reason I purchased the upgrade was for iMovie. I do a lot of editing work with iMovie and the new audio editing enhancements, along with the trailers had me sold. iPhoto looked like it was taking a step forward as well. You can now create books easier, as well as make letter pressed cards. The interface looks a lot like the iPad's "Photos" application. The Facebook enhancements were a welcome feature as well. Garageband's updates were pretty great if you're a GarageBand user. I personally don't use it too much but if you do, you will be thrilled. You can use Flex Time to match rhythms, so you're music reaches full potential. Groove matching is also a very useful feature. If you're band is not doing too well, groove matching is you're savior. You can go click on the best instruments and select the groove matching option, and every other instrument will get in sync with that particular instrument. iLife 11 is a $49 upgrade. I say it's well worth you're hard earned cash. 

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