Interesting guitar tool

Rolling Thunder said:

Has anyone tried one of these:

https://youtu.be/HyzuzvWme_Y

Seems like the type of invention that could change the course of music in the future.

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I don't think so.

Speaking as a guitar player, there's nothing in that video that a good guitarist couldn't play without it. It does seem like a less skilled guitarist could use it to be able to pull off some of the tricks that otherwise would take a long time and a lot of skill to learn.

Might be fun to play around with – but a breakthrough? I don't see it.

So, it looks basically like applying piano keys to guitar strings - so you'd still have to do the fretting?

At first glance, it looks like something that might be used to get a particular sound, like the voice-bag Frampton used on "Do You Feel Like We Do".

Wonder how it would go with a slide..

poetinahat said:

So, it looks basically like applying piano keys to guitar strings - so you'd still have to do the fretting?

At first glance, it looks like something that might be used to get a particular sound, like the voice-bag Frampton used on "Do You Feel Like We Do".

Wonder how it would go with a slide..

Click to expand...

Looks like you still do the fretting but the picking might be easier. Dunno. I ain't that good of a gitter player as it is.

Rolling Thunder said:

From what I've read it has potential to allow musicians with arthritis or missing fingers to play again.

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Ah, now *that* makes sense! Good point, RT.

Guitarists like Django Rheinhardt and Doc Watson have made musical history despite physical handicaps. And when I saw the Alvin Brothers last year, Phil looked as though he might be hampered by arthritis in his strumming/picking hand, though he and Dave put on a blistering (Blaster-ing) show.

But for those who aren't a Django or a Doc, I can see that something like this might make playing fun again instead of a battle or a chore.

The most recent advance in the electric guitar is putting an iPhone in it and using the phone as both the cable and the processor before it goes into the cabinet, enabling use of live digital effects like granulisation, auto-tune, MIDI signalling (and perhaps CSound signalling.)

But this is cool for the reasons you mentioned.

It's an interesting idea, though my feeling is it sounds good because the guitarist is good.

Also it looks like it's right-handed and there's no left-handed version, so I'm out anyway.

I watched it when it came out, I think if you can't already perform basic fingerstyle, you can't add that in your repertoire. The person playing it is an advanced master and he makes it look easy. I believe it will hold good people back and newbies won't be able to do it
rt