Optek Fretlight Guitar Plays ASCII Tablature Files

Press release
Source: Optek® Music Systems, Inc.

FRETLIGHT GUITAR USERS CAN NOW PLAY THOUSANDS OF AVAILABLE ASCII TABLATURE FILES WITH FRETLIGHT-READY EDITION OF GUITARZ! 6.5 SOFTWARE

Optek Music Systems Replaces the Traditional Chord Book with a Tablature & Fretlight-Ready Electronic Chord & Scale Software Solution

Optek® Music Systems, Inc., a leading company dedicated to the development of interactive musical instruments and software, today announced that the capabilities of their Fretlight FG-400 Series of interactive guitars has been further enhanced with the release of a Fretlight-Ready edition of Guitarz! 6.5. A high-tech replacement for archaic chord books, Guitarz! 6.5 is a tablature and electronic chord and scale book in software format which further enhances the Fretlight learning experience.

Guitarz! 6.5 makes all ASCII tablature or "tab" files Fretlight-Ready by enabling Fretlight users to download and play thousands of free ASCII tab files from web sites like Tab World Online (www.tabworldonline.com) and the Online Guitar Archive (www.olga.net). Tab is a method of writing down music played on a guitar that uses ordinary ASCII characters and numbers. Working in conjunction with the Fretlight guitar, tab lights up on the guitar designating which notes to play. Other tab features include one-button conversion from raw tab to Fretlight-ready, the ability to set custom loops and change tempo, as well as functionality to create and edit tab files. In addition, Guitarz! 6.5 can displays thousands of chords and scales which can be selected and inserted into a page of sheet music. Once played, the progression lights up on the Fretlight guitar. Other Guitarz! 6.5 features include:

· Thousands of chord and scale diagrams.
· Instantly find a chord and display 6 variations on screen.
· Instantly display a scale in any key and tuning.
· Listen to and see the notes being played for any chord or scale.
· Show where all the notes in any chord are over the entire fretboard.
· Hear a bass guitar note with any chord played.
· Save groups of chords or scales to a file for instant retrieval later.
· Find the names of those mystery chord creations you play.
· Design any chord in any tuning.
· Create simple chord progressions with the chords in Guitarz! or your own chord creations.
· Play your chord progressions at any tempo.
· Step through any chord progression one chord at a time.
· Play your progression with a realistic guitar strum (adjustable).
· Printing capabilities.

Minimum requirements include Windows 98 SE or greater and a USB port.

"Among guitar players, tablature is a growing community that, like the growth of open source software over recent years, is only expected to be more rapidly adopted," said Rusty Shaffer, President & CEO of Optek Music Systems. "The ability to open and easily learn to play thousands of these files as well as create and edit them, goes beyond the capability of anything else that is currently on the market."

The FG-400 Series Fretlight Guitar enables both beginners, intermediate, and advanced guitarists to learn from a series of LED lights embedded in the guitar's fretboard, which illuminate chords, scales, and songs, signifying where the user's fingers should be placed. Connected via the USB port of a standard Windows PC and driven by educational software, the Fretlight guitar allows users
to learn, memorize, and play a variety of rhythm and lead guitar for mastering classical, blues, rock, country and heavy metal music. With the ability to create or learn guitar music at the user's individual pace, the Fretlight interactive system is designed to help players at every level.

The Fretlight-ready Guitarz! 6.5 is available immediately. Optek Music provides a free 20-day trial and for extended use it can be purchased for $59.95. To purchase or for more information, visit www.optekmusic.com.

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About Optek Music Systems, Inc.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Windham, New Hampshire, Optek Music Systems, Inc. is a privately held music education company whose products are available via their web site and through music retailers and distributors throughout the world. Thousands of users have experienced the educational power of Optek and their products. They have several U.S. and international patents as well as patents pending for advanced guitar learning systems and musical instrument manufacturing designs. For more information, visit www.optekmusic.com or call (800) 575-6511.