If you’ve got love for guitars and guitar playing, but are having problems with music theory and memorizing chords, a device has been developed just for you. The TabStrummer is a new guitar-shaped electronic device that lets you program chords by pressing buttons on the electronic guitar’s neck and be played by strumming, just like what you do on a real guitar.
This impressive new device is great for starters, as they would be introduced to playing anything by reading tabs (though well-trained musicians don’t approve of this).
“Tab + Strummer = TabStrummer. Tab or guitar tablature refers to a system of writing guitar chords easily and visually,” according to the device’s website. “The guitar having 6 strings; EADGBe, a guitar tab is a 6 digit combination of numbers and letter X which corresponds to a muted string. Each digit corresponds to each fret of particular string on the guitar.”
This audio device is built around an Atmel microcontroller and it features a MIDI (digital) output and a line out. The audio out jack enables you to plug the device to your headphones, speakers or your TV’s input, and it also features an add-on MIDI sound shield from Sparkfun Electronics.
The device’s creators are considering releasing it commercially, so head to the TabStrummer website and let the creators hear your thoughts.