Pulling tunes from a bike messenger’s bag

User Friendly | Music

September 26, 2011|By Mark Baard, Globe Correspondent

Why play air guitar when so many objects laced with electronics let you hit realistic chords?

For less than $50, you can strum along with the pop hits on a Paper Jamz guitar, or one printed on the front of a T-shirt.

And for cyclists and students, the gadget seller ThinkGeek.com last week unveiled a fun way to play when you are away from the studio, presuming you have one.

The Electronic Guitar Bag (about $50) is a sturdy-looking canvas bike messenger bag with the image of an electric guitar topped with colorful flames on its flap. It also has a stylish mini-amp and speaker that you clip to the flap.

Each button you touch on the guitar’s neck is a major chord, and the chords you hear as you strum the fingerboard will sound great, because they were recorded from an actual instrument.

The mini-amp and speaker unit has volume and tone control buttons, and the volume on the bag gets plenty loud, according to ThinkGeek.

The bag has a heavy guitar-like strap and faux lather accents. Its magnetic clasps will keep the lid down as you sail down Comm. Ave. on your bike.

The bag is big enough, and has enough pockets and pouches, to hold a 17-inch laptop, a phone, and other stuff. It requires four AAA batteries, which are not included in the package. But you can click a button on the guitar bag’s product description page to add the batteries for about $3.

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