h a l f b a k e r yThe embarrassing drunkard uncle of invention.
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I have an idea for a project for school. Many of you have seen different products that try and help people learn the guitar in supposedly easier methods. But after some research and study of my own i found out a few things and i want to develop a product that will help people learn how to play the guitar
by their own means. here's how i imagine it:
this product is portable, is electronic, is stringless, and i would like it (if possible) to be as good and accurate sounding as an actual guitar.
it will probably be foldable or have modular parts to make transporting easier. instead of strings i was thinking it could use pressure sensors, maybe buttons, or infrared sensors mixed with a few audio sensors. I've seen a product that uses infrared and sound to make any whiteboard into a digital whiteboard, somehow it detects where you are writing and can transfer what ever you write on the board to a digital file on your computer. correct me on this if this is do-able or not. The neck will light up according to positions of where fingers would be pressed to play notes. the strumming area would be similar to the yamaha ez-eg guitar and would have six strum poles. it would have a built in speaker or can be plugged into any sound system with the correct plug in. and it would be battery powered or can be plugged in with an adaptor.
how people would learn is this: most people tend to learn the most from other people. with this product, people can just pass it on to an experienced guitar player, he/she can play the 'thing' that you want to learn and it will record the sequence so that when you take back your guitar, you have something saved for reference to practice later. no lesson plans to work through, you just get what you ask for. maybe it can become a communal thing where people who see each other with these instruments it will start networks with people learning music from each other or just jamming. and saying that, maybe two or more instruments can interact with each other so that when smoeone plays something on one guitar, the person next to him will receive the same signal and will have the lighting sequence shown in real time on their own guitar! (Using bluetooth or whatever)
sorry if its long winded, but i've been working on this concept for awhile now. the main thing i'd like to know is the feasability of the technology i proposed, or if there's other technology that anyone else may know of that i can implement into this product. any feedback is appreciated!
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Looks like Yamaha have beaten you to it. I like the concept though. |
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looks like it, but i've tried their guitar, the only thing i like about it is the strumming poles. The buttons kind of make it difficult to switch notes or chords because they slightly protrude from the fretboard. it sounds more like a synthesizer than an actual guitar. plus it is made to teach people easy chord progressions and just a lot of basic stuff people get easily discouraged by instead of the fun stuff they want to learn. I wanted to keep the motivation of learning the guitar alive through this idea. |
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As a guitarist myself, I've noticed that most people who require things like this usually don't have the dedication to do much with the instrument anyway. |
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While it is a fine idea, it does look a bit baked. |
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There's no doubt that the best tool for learning the guitar, is a guitar. |
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I agree with Night and wags: the best way to learn the guitar is to use a guitar. There is much more to playing the guitar than just learning the notes and chords. |
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That said, it's an interesting idea, maybe the start of a whole new type of instrument. |
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The only thing that does not sit right with me as it relates to someone learning by their own means is that the do not learn the standards or the protocols when it comes to guitar playing.. so if they want to play for themselves because they enjoy it, thats fine. But if they ever expect to play along with other people and their version of an Eb chord is really an Ab-Maj-13 they will never be able to keep up. |
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I aslo agree that the best thing to learn is with a guitar. but does that mean the guitar is only meant for the people who are 'best' at it? |
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what if the goal wasn't just to learn the guitar. what if the thing i was trying to sell is a sense of accomplishment, or to increase someone's ability to learn anything in general, or to compose music, etc. studies show that people who learn how to play an instrument retain memory better and also learn things more efficiently, meaning taking less time to learn something. |
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there are these things like guitar hero out there that, while not emphasizing how to play a guitar, give pleasure and motivation to fulfill something, i.e. guitar playing. that motivation is what i'm trying to bring out in this thing and in turn help them follow through in hopes they attain the indirect benefits of music playing i mentioned in the previous paragraph. yes, i do believe people need to know certain basics and technique, but maybe if they had that motivation to want to progress even more that it can actually come to that. i didn't mean for this thing to replace the guitar, just a means for guitar playing to be accessible to more people. |
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for that scenario you just mention Jscotty, I can see this thing overcoming that chord misinterpretation by someone in the band showing that person the 'correct' chord through the guitar. the person can play and record it using the light-up frets so the person can reference it later. or maybe the guitar will already know what the chord is and a display can be set somewhere on the body to show the person what chord they are playing. who knows? |
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i don't mean to sound naive or anything, i threw this idea out knowing that it seems whimsical, but i believe in it. i'm a design student who is also a guitar player if that explains anything... |
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