Rock Band 3 Wireless Fender Mustang PRO-Guitar Controller for Wii

There are really two uses for this controller, as a Rock Band 3 controller and as a MIDI controller. The latter is by far the more entertaining of the two. It's also why this is a 5 star rating instead of a 3.Physical:It obviously plastic, it's quite light, the strings make a dull thud as you strum them, the fret buttons are fairly soft to the touch, the screw holes on the back of the neck are right in the middle where your thumb is going to slide over them, and the scale is quite short (seems about like a 3/4 length.) Overall though, it feels sturdy enough and has a "good enough" feel to it. It's not great, but it's not terrible. The worst part, for me, are the screw holes in the back of the neck. I also don't think the neck feels quite like a real guitar either. The relative softness of the fret buttons also makes it easy have accidental button presses (until you get used to it.)As a Rock Band 3 controller:I'd say this is going to be very much hit-or-miss for many people. The controller itself works well, tracks presses fast enough and with enough lax to take into account transitions between chords. The game play basically tries to keep the scrolling to you type interface with mounds with numbers describing the fingering positions. For instance, an A5 on the 6th string will give a number 5 and a low mound on the 6th string and a larger mound on the 5th string that you have to basically interpret/judge that it's not going to be fret 6, but fret 7. On chords it will often also give the chord name too. So the learning curve for the interface alone is going to be fairly steep. I think the thing that most people don't realize with this controller, is that most songs are going to need to be learned at the higher levels. This basically means going into practice mode on the songs and learning all the parts of the song. Better guitar players than myself may be able to play many of the songs without the need to do this, but I doubt many would be able to play all. For a total novice, this may be more work than they're willing to put in. Additionally, there really isn't much that says this is the (more-or-less) required path to play the songs. It can easily come across as too difficult even at the easier levels. There's also a gotcha here for people trying to learn guitar and using even the practice method in game. This will not teach someone everything they need to know to play a real guitar. Most songs, even played very well on the controller will sound odd on a real guitar without proper technique. There will be many gaps that will have to be filled in later (reading sheet music and/or tabs, bends, hammer ons, pull offs, dynamics, etc.) In other words, someone can potentially learn the fingering for some songs, but not how to play the songs.As a MIDI controller:I'm really surprised this feature isn't played up more by people. To me, this was the main reason to buy this controller. Once that I purchased a good MIDI-to-USB adapter, it did not disappoint. To clarify this with a real example, I bought a cheap < $10 adapter (HDE USB to MIDI cable, really any of the clear cable cords with a black oval center) and it did not work. The MIDI showed up as usable but the controller would not register any input to the MIDI monitor. I even got a replacement sent because I thought it was the adapter, but it didn't help. I upgraded to a Creative EMU XMIDI 1x1 and it worked perfectly. I've now spent many hours playing with various sounds, tap mode, strum mode, effects, octave changes, etc. It's a fun MIDI controller if you don't know piano. It's also much cheaper than the You Rock Guitar.Overall, I've had a lot of fun with this and was not in the least bit disappointed. I bought this product with realistic expectations of what it was going to be. It's not a real guitar, it's a MIDI controller that can also be used to play a semi-realistic rhythm game. It has limitations as a learning tool, but that's dwarfed in comparison to the other great things that can be done with it. I would absolutely recommend this to people who already know how to play the guitar and are interested in electronic music. If you have little to no desire in synth music, it may not be worth it. If you're expecting to learn guitar with this, curb your expectations and be prepared to spend a lot of time in practice mode of the songs. In addition, be ready to spend a lot of time with a real guitar learning what the game can't teach you.

This guitar is a 5 star product. It is the cheapest midi guitar I know of and it does the job, particularly in game. I encourage all beginners to trash their multi-coloured fake guitars in true Rock 'N Roll fury and use this product as it is the stepping stone to a real guitar. The game is incredibly fun to play and it's a genuine learning tool. The only argument I would use against it is that there is a real fender squier controller guitar coming with fret sensing technology for the Rock Band 3 game, too, so that would be even closer to playing the real thing. If you are waiting that out, it isn't bad to to drop a measly $140 to practice now, though.What the other reviewers have said about the device being difficult to really know where you are because the strings and buttons have no differing gauge is absolutely true. That being said, it isn't worth giving 3 stars to, though, because you're having initial trouble with the device. If anything, having this taken away from you allows you to develop positional sense that you had not required to before. So, if a beginner is reading the reviews and a seasoned shredder points out that he was unable to take over the world (and expert mode) instantly, because of this problem, yes it is true, no it is not worth 3 stars. It's just something you'll have to get used to. Let's not forget just how cheap this product is. On the plus side, it's not going to be HARDER to make a transition to real guitar, in this regard you will find it easier to play a normal guitar.Now, from a practical sense, I'll talk about something that does concern me. I have seen the midi data this guitar provides (in strum mode - the game mode) and I assure you, if you strum the guitar, particularly with alternate picking, the nature of the string capturing produces some double notes, at times. What this means for the game, I'm not sure, because the game may be able to reject these notes, but just bare in mind, if you're doing your head in trying to get a particular point nailed and you're not sure why you're getting dodgy notes, you may be being betrayed by the guitar. The Yamaha EZ-EG, a very similar midi guitar has the exact same problem with basically the same string assembly. Incidentally, the EZ-EG does have different gauge buttons and it is much easier to play, so the reviewer is right, something is definitely missing.