Fender Starcaster® Electric Guitar/Amp Package - FlameTop Finish

Play like a rock star on the Starcaster® by Fender®. This package, perfect for the enthusiastic novice, comes complete with 10 watt amplifier, guitar strap,cable, gig bag, and instructional DVD. The Starcaster® offers the quality you've come to expect from Fender and will certainly provide hours of playing enjoyment.
Customer Review: Be real, this is a good entry guitar
I have this guitar pack and I have to say that the number of negative comments is amazing. I am not sure what people expect for $200.00. No! This is not a $1200.00 dollar American made strat, nor is the $500.00 Mexican made strat. It's a low cost made in China strat. Regardless of where it was made, I found the workmanship to be very acceptable. The guitar is beautiful and the rosewood fretboard is very nice. The whole guitar has a solid feel. My only real complaint is that the center pickup has an unusually low level output. But there is no way I would return this guitar just because of a single pickup. At worst case I'd just have Fender send a replacement. And Yes! As other reviews have noted, the amp hums a little (especially at higher volumes). But, this has more to with the single coil pickups used in the guitar. If you want humbucker pickups, you're going to pay more. Also the amp is just a small 10W practice amp. It works fine for lower volume practicing. I have fallen in love with mine and play it quietly in the evenings to relax from the world. I have a family and very little extra money. I am greatful that Fender has provided these low cost kits. It gives me the opportunity to own and relax with a Fender, something that would be questionable with a better (read more expensive) guitar. And, if the kids develop an interest, I won't cry too much if they add a few scratches to it. Folks need to keep things in perspective. This is a low cost entry level guitar. Understanding those limitations, I highly recommend this kit to anyone just starting out.
Customer Review: Fantastic Package
Do get this from Sams, much cheaper. This is a great deal for the price and the quality is fantastic. I would recommend reading the wikipedia article on the Starcaster by Fender to better understand the type of guitar you are looking at.

Unlimited Downloads

Unlimited Downloads is close with a library of over 95 million files and 7 million users. The bundled software lets you enjoy your downloaded music, video, books and games on your computer. That is nice. Because of its off-line features, the site comes in a very respectable second place.

Where to Download Games, Music and Videos For Zune

Zune Access

We probably should have saved this one for the end, to build suspense! Rated as the "best music resource", by pc magazine, Zune Access is our #1 Zune download site. Over 250 million files that include music, games and movies and providing 100% Zune compatible downloads. Zune Access is definitely the site to beat. You must give it a try.

My Online Downloads

Other than games, videos and music what else would you like? CD covers? DVD covers? Screensaver? Sure, MyOnlineDownloads delivers it all. The interface does not look as slick as the other guys, so we have to dock some points. A very respectable third place finish.

Save yourself the hassle of looking at site after site after site, and check out the ones listed here. You will not be disappointed. Check out my blog, listed below, for full reviews and helpful links.

Zune Video Pro

Songs are great, but what about videos? This is the spot you need to visit if you want video. Features: music, movies, music videos, cartoons and TV shows. Zune's video can be fully enjoyed, but files will be significantly larger to download, which means you will benefit from having a faster internet connection. Fourth place, because a variety is nice to have and if you don't have super quick internet, you might feel a bit of a slow down with your downloads.

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Rogue RG-624 Left Handed Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar, Natural

The RG-624 Lefty Guitar features a spruce top for a great sound, die-cast tuning machines for precise tuning, inlaid body binding, and world famous Martin strings.

The Renaissance and Beyond

Did you know that when you picked up your acoustic guitar, you're picking up an instrument with 5,000 years of history attached to it? Acoustic guitars are descendants of stringed instruments that were found in a variety of cultures thousands and thousands of years ago. As civilizations merged and the world became smaller, the guitar began taking on a unified shape and style. Since then, there has been a lineal evolution of several hundreds of years of instruments that can be directly compared to today's acoustic guitars.

While in the Middle Ages, the guitar instruments were not terribly popular, being overshadowed by other contemporary instruments, in the Renaissance the guitar began to take a real hold. It was in Italy in 1779 that the first six string guitar was created. Gaetano Vinaccia created this instrument in Naples. Following that, the man known as the "Father of Modern Guitar" made his permanent mark on the course of the guitar and how it would be designed and played.

The instrument that Antonio de Torres created and made popular was the Classical guitar. The acoustic guitar is commonly misinterpreted as being the same as the Classical guitar. This is not true, there are many key differences in the design of these two separate guitars. The most important of which is that the acoustic guitar has steel strings, while the Classical guitar is strung with nylon strings.

The acoustic guitar was actually developed in America from European immigrants. The last major development of the acoustic guitar is the electrical-acoustic guitar. These acoustic guitars can be plugged into an amplifier for increased volume or can be left unplugged and played as is.

The Medieval Period

History of the Acoustic Guitar

The body was also made larger and sturdier still. The acoustic guitar was much better for performing in larger areas as it was increasingly louder than the Classical guitar; the two guitars also produce different ranges and textures of sounds which various styles of music correspond to.

During the Medieval Period of European history, there were several different forms of guitars. These guitars had between three and five strings and were much smaller than the guitars we know today. There were variations of these instruments which had pairs of strings, known as courses. The popular guitars of this period were commonly separated into two groupings. The first, the Guitarra Latina was likely developed from Spain, while the Guitarra Morisca was brought to Spain by the Moorish culture.

The Acoustic Guitar

So next time you pick up an acoustic guitar, remember the history you hold in your hands.

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