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GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

kickstarter.com

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Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#41

Post by shreyas-satish »

Paused the video when it showed the iPhone being docked into the guitar and a certain interesting use cases came to mind. Imagine having beats as you play your guitar along, or maybe a strumming pattern to pick a lead on or to be even more ambitious, you could even think of sampling music live, a la Zoë Keating.

From a beginner's perspective, I could see some immediate wins, a built-in metronome, an auto-tuned guitar, an intimate yet digital "teacher" etc. These are things I'd definitely have loved when I started out learning.

Its great, the barriers to entry into creative fields are being lowered. Its happening well with programming and this could really encourage people to get into music. Even if it does not churn out professional musicians, just the joy of playing your own music is worth it.

PS: Been playing/learning on my humble acoustic guitar since 5 years.

Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#42

Post by rednum »

njharman wrote: post #18

Neat. But hyperbole makes me an anti-customer. "Anybody (with an iPhone)" is a far smaller set than "Anybody". Also some peoples fingers are just too short which nothing can help and/or they lack musical "sense" (hearing, rhythm, whatever it is that makes me suck at anything musical) which I doubt this setup helps.

> Also some peoples fingers are just too short

I don't think it is true, I believe it's a matter of stretch - pros of my size who practiced for years can play more demanding stuff, I even met a girl who was way shorter than me, but could play bigger intervals on piano.

> and/or they lack musical "sense" (hearing, rhythm, whatever it is that makes me suck at anything musical) which I doubt this setup helps.

I don't think it's true either. Hearing, rhythm can be improved by exercises. Probably some people are born with better hearing/feel, but practice makes a huge difference. Professional musicians usually do ear training for years (ie most schools incorporate this kind of class); you can also use some software for that - I'm pretty sure I wasn't born with any sort of talent/sense, but did lots and lots of training and got to reasonable level where I can improvise and play by ear. Many musicians that didn't have formal training claim that they listened to radio and just tried to play what was there - this is also some sort of ear training, though it is rather painful, I think. Some ear training software I used are GNU Solfege (free, works with linux) and EarMaster (paid, windows).

Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#43

Post by bergerj »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #29

I think the price could be a problem. I know lots of people who 'wanted to learn to play guitar', bought the equipment, and gave up within a month or two. They didn't really lose out as you can get a second hand guitar and amp for under $100. This is around $450 (not to mention the cost of the iPhone) - not really in the price range of someone who wants to learn guitar. You can get some nice 'real' guitars for that p…

I can see upper middle-class parents getting this for their kids who think they want to learn to play guitar.

Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#44

Post by madhadron »

This is probably a good tool for a few aspects of getting someone started on the guitar, but honestly I think it's the minority. Hitting the right string while holding down the right fret isn't that hard. The problem is doing it in such a way that you can raise your speed or start hitting multiple strings at once with different fingers. And doing that isn't that hard, but it requires good instruction and a daily investment of a small amount of careful practice by the student (about 10 minutes to start, 20 or 30 minutes a day later -- once the technique clean, then you can begin the long ramp up to being the kind of monster that can play 8 hours a day).

I taught someone the equivalent for violin in 6 months (and the initial learning curve on violin is absurdly long compared to guitar). That wasn't the limiting factor, though. The limiting factor was the music: timing, ear training, articulation, dynamics, how to shape a melody, how to read music, how to write music, a body of carefully studied examples to be able to work on...

Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#45

Post by muhfuhkuh »

rauljara wrote: post #7

As a guitarist, I don't think this is a useless tool for people learning how to play, but "the first guitar that anybody can play" is a ridiculous title. Anyone with two working hands and no cognitive disabilities can learn how to play a guitar already. It takes effort, but if you keep at it, learning how to play is inevitable. What they are promising with the title is that this device will take all the effort out of…

But, this is exactly what learning programming is like. And, from what I've read, learning code and learning music is cognitively similar from a didactic standpoint.

Programming tutorials force you to physically type examples in verbatim to get a specified result. The result is a compilable program. Put your hands in the right place on a GTar, and at the end you're that much closer to learning a song.

This device seems to make it easier to learn where to put your fingers to get your result. It's illuminated tablature transferred directly to your fretboard.

Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#46

Post by comex »

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #40

The Fretlight guitar already does this: http://www.fretlight.com/ Last time I checked, Fretlight didn't have an open API that anyone can use, but reverse engineering the protocol and providing open tools would cost way less than $100K.

Ditto Rock Band "Pro" guitar controllers, including one that is also a "real" electric guitar and can be used as such. Playing Rock Band with one probably comes out to about the same as this, but with more functionality (though less portability).

Re: GTar: The First Guitar That Anybody Can Play

#50

Post by polemic »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #37
rauljara wrote: post #7

As a guitarist, I don't think this is a useless tool for people learning how to play, but "the first guitar that anybody can play" is a ridiculous title. Anyone with two working hands and no cognitive disabilities can learn how to play a guitar already. It takes effort, but if you keep at it, learning how to play is inevitable. What they are promising with the title is that this device will take all the effort out of…

I believe you are under estimating the 'early reward' effect. For those who don't know it, the theory behind early reward is that you create a teaching system which rewards early and often and gradually ramps and you can get more people taught. The thought is that lowering the threshold to success gets you more participants. Its used a lot in game play to draw you in. That being said, when Guitar Hero came out for th…

I think it's fair to say that one reason guitar is so popular is because of the early reward effect. For this sort of price a beginner can go buy a pretty decent electric guitar and amplifier with some built in effects. Give them an hour or two and they'll be belting out a recognizable Teen Spirit in a few hours. Seriously.

Meanwhile:

> "...detect exactly what you're playing in real-time and relay each note to your iPhone, which then produces the actual sound."

From the iPhone speakers? Um... no thanks.

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