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Post subject: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along SDs
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:04 am
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Can't find them in stores, but I am thinking of ordering some of the Hal Leonard/Fender Play Along books with the SD cards for the G-DEC 3 30. Can anyone tell me if they are worth the money? Are the SD cards easy to use? Plug and play? How are the presets and the backing tracks?

Thanks in advance!

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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:22 pm
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I have the SRV and Tom Petty. Most of them only have 8 songs. You can get them on Amazon for a discount. Like everything else Fuse, it's cumbersome loading the songs off the SD card, you have to hold the utility button, then click the arrow several times, then finally spin the knob to the song you want. Should be automatically loaded if you have the SD card in the slot, but Fuse is kinda 20th century. And if you do anything like tune it kicks you off the SD card, and you have to redo the little loading routine. For $20 you should get a lot more songs, but it's the old school Hal Leonard pricing, hey, I have paid $20 for many of their songbooks over the last 40 years, without the SD card! Youtube and free internet tabs are awesome.


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:20 am
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I really like the books - I have 6 out of the 12 or so available. I plan to get them all before they go out of print. Here's why -
They come with the tabs of course. The tabs are very good - as in accurate. You won't find that in all of the Internet tabs out there. I know from experience that some are accurate some aren't.
They com with the tone presets for the track your trying to learn. Most of the time you might be able to find a decent preset on Fuse, but the ones that come with the books are done professionally and sound pretty good (close), IMO.
Lastly, they come with a backing track, one with guitar, one without. This way you can hear how it's supposed to sound. When you're trying to learn a song this can be very helpful. Yes, you can find free backing tracks on the Internet, but again quality varies. The tracks that come with the books have been consistently good.

It's not all roses thought. For example, I wish they had song/tab notes that discuss the right/left-handed techniques used to play the song. There's more learning opportunity there that's being missed.
Finally, the tone are great for what it is - a small modeling practice amp. I've heard better amp models, and I've heard worse. But G-DEC + Play-Along SD cards are hard to beat as a practice/learning tool.


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:19 pm
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I have the Hendrix "smash hits" edition, which I bought not for the tab, but to play over the backing tracks.

Red House is a blast.


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:27 pm
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I think I will try a few of these... I too am worried they will be unavailable soon since the G-DEC is discontinued.

Question: Do you play the leads of the songs over rhythm on these or are the leads provided on the backing track and you play the rhythm?

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Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:02 am
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Ordered this on Amazon... I know a few of these songs and like the rest, so it should be fun!

Image

I will post my impressions. If I like it, Tom Petty and AC/DC are next!

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Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:08 am
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Location: Dayton, Ohio
Tiger J wrote:
I think I will try a few of these... I too am worried they will be unavailable soon since the G-DEC is discontinued.

Question: Do you play the leads of the songs over rhythm on these or are the leads provided on the backing track and you play the rhythm?


I haven't broken the card out in a few months, so I'm not 100 percent sure, but we're talking backing tracks without leads. You provide the lead, in other words.


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:23 pm
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I received the Hal Leonard Hard Rock book and SD. Overall I am pleased with the purchase.

The good stuff definitely lies in the G-DEC SD card. The backing tracks are better than most professional-use karaoke tracks that I have heard for the same songs. You get two backing tracks for each song... one with the guitar leads and one without. The tone presets are very good for a little solid-state practice amp. I have not yet figured out how tone switches between solos and rhythm will work. Very impressed with the SD card sofar!

The songbook itself is more mediocre. Each song appears in classical notation and tablature. There are no chord diagrams for us dummies who will instead have to refer to our pocket chord books and smartphone apps. As mentioned in a response above, there are no comments or charts on finger positioning or technique. Again, for us dummies who cannot sight-read notation, we are left to figure it all out using the tablature.

The Hard Rock book is a selection of eight 80s tunes from various artists and appears they were selected for varying degrees of difficulty. I will be playing a few songs in no time but also some I will really have to work at. Eight songs seems a little light, but it is in keeping with a short album and mastering each song would make for one hulluva one-man-band set-list running the G-DEC through a PA system!

Based on a short afternoon of tinkering with this book and SD card set, I now know that spending the coin to order the other books in the series that I am interested in will be worth it.

And as a side note: I will be doing just that sooner than later. I originally ordered this book from one online retailer who informed me via e-mail almost a week later that the book was actually unavailable and my card was not charged. Due to the sad discontinuance of the G-DEC 3, I fear these books with the SD Card rather than CD will not be available much longer! ZZ Top already appears to be impossible to find.

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Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:48 pm
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Tom Petty book is on the way now!

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Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 9:45 pm
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I bought the Tom Petty book right away.
Mostly because my guitar teacher had tabbed out a number of songs (especially Refugee) and I really wanted the GDEC presets for the tones.

Mostly I jam with audacity playing the actual TP song so I can record myself and see where/how many places I screw up.

Recently started investigating the various backing tracks they give you - since one in guitarless, (and of course vocal-less) it's a real challenge (or should I say opportunity) to improve my timing.

AC/DC version on the way from Chapters.ca

Martin


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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 7:42 pm
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If you have invested in this amp, these "play along" books with the SD cards are a great addition to it, they were made specifically for it as a teaching tool, and they work quite well at that (well...they did for me) as a learning and practice tool. Yes, "Red House" is a blast to play along with, actually, the better you get, the more fun playing along to all the tunes available in each book is a real blast (turn up the volume on both the guitar and band), and rock it. :D :mrgreen: :!: :lol: :shock:

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Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 8:32 am
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I need to snag the Hendrix, SRV and Nirvana books before they disappear like the ZZ Topp one did! Maybe Clapton too.

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Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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Profile
Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:36 am
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Whoa! Just found the G-DEC books on sale on the Fender Shop website - $9.99 each. And they even have ZZ Top!

_________________
Tiger J

my gear:

Jackson USA Phil Collen PC-1
Warmoth Custom-Build Stratocaster (The Andersong)
Fender American Special Stratocaster
Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster
Fender Mustang GT40
Eleven HeadRush w/ two Alto TS212 FRFRs


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Profile
Post subject: Re: Has anyone tried the Hal Leanard/Fender G-DEC Play Along
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:32 pm
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I have one, but i'm confused! When i switch from say clean to distortion, it restarts the backing track!
What am i missing? I just hold utility, scroll to import, and play from there. Am i supposed to actually install the backing track onto the actual amp?? (I have imported the clean, distorted, solo tones into 01,02,03 on the amp)

Any help greatly appreciated!


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