a guitar with real guitars

I never quite understood how it would be difficult to make a program that could determine what notes you are playing. Why would you need special strings, other than for color? It's not like you can't hook your guitar to your pc by your line-in or mic connections. Then all you need is some software that can detect the note similar to a digital tuner. Then it's just figuring out how to sync the two and do scoring. Maybe I'm thinking that it's too easy. Either way cool idea and glad to see someone actually take this idea to the next step.

It was only a matter of time. The TcHelicon Harmony-G senses chords, so the technology is there or real close.

I bet this leads to a technological revolution in music teaching. And then it also drives a whole new breed of musicians who are extremely competent at their instruments.

I bet this ... drives a whole new breed of musicians who are extremely competent at their instruments.

Crap! I'm gonna have to find a new gig!

H

Disney eh? Here's hoping the game doesn't release featuring the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. Cool technology all the same!

-Dave

I bet this leads to a technological revolution in music teaching. And then it also drives a whole new breed of musicians who are extremely competent at their instruments.

I dunno, I really doubt that.

It seems to me it really doesn't do anything extraordinarily special, all it is is a real time guitar chord book? Seems to me it's nothing but a slightly more advanced version of kids putting C D E F G A B stickers on their piano keys.

I also see it as anathematic to the issue of knowing only half the equation. Give a man a fish v. Teach a man to fish kind of thing. I see that all the time in trying to teach/talk with people who learn this way. They see an E minor chord as simply I'm going to put these fingers here, here and here and that's an E Minor chord rather than knowing waht makes an E Minor chord and learning how to build that anywhere on the neck.

There is already a vast breed of musicians who are already extremely competent at their instruments without a program like this. I don't think any Paco De Lucía will be popping up from Disney's Guitar Trainer, let alone masses of extraoridnary musicians.

Having new technology =/= Better Teaching. You can only try to reinvent the wheel so many times before you see it aint going to work; it might enhance pedagogy slightly, but don't look for any shortcuts to greatness through something like that...

Well, anything that makes learning fun, certainly helps you stay the course.

@ohthedaysofyore: i think you are thinking too old, where i think this will help will be that 6-10 age group get started and the early teens a leg up. Remember this also acts like a guitar hero game, so the kids can play this one the same as hero, only you have to actually play and fret. at those ages i don't think the why is as important as the how. getting the finger strength and dexterity to play that e-minor is more important than why they are playing it in the beginning.make it easy and fun to get the basics down, and a love of music started then learn all the boring theory lol.

im guessing the strings produce a special/certain frequency that makes it easier for the program to read the sounds coming from the guitar. i really can't think of anything else it could do since the rest of the guitar is stock.

im guessing the strings produce a special/certain frequency that makes it easier for the program to read the sounds coming from the guitar. i really can't think of anything else it could do since the rest of the guitar is stock.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I think it is pretty cool, and yes, for that younger age group that's a good to get them into music. Not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying I don't think it's going to revolutionize teaching, as it were.

i dunno i think it will, for no other fact than it's going to put alot of the marginal teachers out of work. and the ones that make it will have to make their methods more fun. don't get me wrong it will never be able to replace the knowldege a real teacher can impart. but how many beginners get lessons from real teachers vs. the guy at the guitar shop that plays, or the dude on the flyer on the bb at the shop. they will be the ones competeing against hanna montana,the cheetah girls,high school musical etc etc etc.

if you were a kid wanting to start playing(most likey because of disney shows lol) are you going to want to learn from hanna herself or the aging lead twanger from the local classic rock cover band? hannah costs 200 bucks flat and is available 24/7 without the parental units driving anywhere. aging twanger costs so much an hour or lesson and parents have to drive. you can learn that G A D progression and make your teacher happy, or learn it and beat your friends who are trying to learn it as well.

since this is the 1st generation product, i doubt it works as good as i(we) think it does, but if you look down the road as the software improves and more companies enter the market and the platform becomes profitable. You will see more record companies liscening their catalogs ala rock band, and then you will be able to insert your favorite rocker for a disney one. and then its game over. one mode for practicing, where you get tips and tricks from the artist on how they play it, and compete mode where you go rock band like.

I don't think the strings are special just the colors are what they are used for.

Man, I had a reply all written up then firefox decided to go kaputt on me... :(

Oh well. I guess I'll try to sum up what i was saying because I'm too lazy to try and rewrite it all. :rolleyes:

This, to me, is a practice tool. It is not a replacement for a live-in-the-flesh teacher.

Those marginal teachers you're talking about? They already have such a small portion of the demographic, even to replace all of them wouldn't make a big enough dent to Revolutionize. Any teacher worth his salt should already make teaching fun and engaging.

These marginal teachers already come and go, the great ones stay, and get most of the business. At least that's how it is around here.

Is there any sort of reciprocity with this? Does it answer questions, correct sloppy technique, give advice? No. It's a one way street, and these details are what makes it Guitar Hero v 2.0, not Guitar Teacher-Bot.

The rest of the media already covers everything else you were saying... tips, tricks, etc. Go to youtube, or your local music store and you can find most of that stuff already...

If I were teaching a kid and I had this available, would I use it? In a heartbeat. But would I expect it to completely replace me? Nah...

A revolution implies the after will be a new paradigm compared to the before. That simply isn't going to happen.

It will be interesting to see where it all leads to though.

that's where i see it going as the tech increases. think madden or other sports games and how the announcer text has evolved the past few years. im sure the AI engine in those crazy fancy games i can't play, are even more advanced. i can see quite a bit of data from the user's playing being able to be analyzed by the program. especially with the big budgets available to game makers.

i won't argue the fact a good teacher will blow this out of the water. i just see things thru the eyes of a small town person. where there just isn't alot around to choose from. even in the bigger cities nearby.

but this is what makes predicting the future so much fun, your never 100% wrong and never 100% right

Pretty much!

wow!

Jonas Brothers FTW!

I refer to the older one as the fat one and my daughter gets all upset. I refer to the singer as the gay one and she really gets pissed. Boy thats funny.

oh and this thing is cool, def a step in the right direction so far as home teaching methods are concerned. I might use it meself.

rock.

DDD

When I see these new technologies and games, I think to myself What would OFC do?

The answer always seems to be, ignore that stuff and hit the woodshed! And so I do.:D