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The ergonomics of the guitar are the main reason I don't play much anymore. I hit a roadblock where the amount of practice required to improve further wasn't re

by jsz0 10y ago

The ergonomics of the guitar are the main reason I don't play much anymore. I hit a roadblock where the amount of practice required to improve further wasn't really worth the physical discomfort. For example barre chords just push my fingers past their limits to stretch. No matter how many hours I practice them I can't make the ergonomics work. For other things that I've gotten pretty good at there's still some general ergonomic problems of sitting and repeating the same motions over and over. I fully understand the pain/gain required to improve but for a hobbyist such as myself it's hard to justify it past a certain point. What I'd really like to see is Fender or some other company develop something like a SmartGuitar. I feel like there's a lot of potential to improve the ergonomics, accessibility and functionality if the strings were replaced with a multi-touch input surface with haptic feedback. Maybe the pick could be replaced with an input device that included an accelerometer, pressure sensitivity, and haptic feedback. On the software side the possibilities are endless. The multi-touch input could be 'auto-corrected' to make the fingering of complex chords more forgiving.

keeganjw 10y ago
Yeah, barre chords suck, no doubt about that. I've been playing for 12 years now and really I just avoid them. There are a lot of work-arounds for most music. I find I only might need one or two for a song. That makes it much more manageable. But for other chord forms, the dexterity takes practice. I haven't found a way around that. If the tips of your fingers are burning, stop and pick it up again tomorrow. Your finger will still probably hurt but after a month of that, you won't feel a thing and you'll be good to go.
Gravityloss 10y ago
What you're looking for is a keytar?
hoorayimhelping 10y ago
Out of curiosity, what kind of guitar do you play? Different guitars have different necks have different characteristics; some thinner, some narrower, some with more curve, some flatter. I could imagine you'd be much more comfortable with a neck more suited to your hands.
ukyrgf 10y ago
The top HN comment on this article is about how music teachers that focus on form and fundamentals are ruining young musicians' desire to learn. To me, your comment is the ultimate rebuttal of that. Guitar is quite easy to play wrong; you can go a long way without learning proper form. I imagine having somebody show you proper posture, thumb placement, etc. would have helped you out. Nobody that wants to play rock music is going to learn sitting like this, though http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/images/Playing-Position-1.jpg http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/images/Playing-Position-...
mcdevhammer 10y ago
Please just no. Part of the charm of the guitar is that its this kind of organic piece of wood and metal that you have to learn to master to make sound good. A lot of the different character and style of different players comes from their different technique and how they learned to play which I think would be lost if you could just easily make perfect notes by basically pressing a button. I guess this is the same reason why I prefer listening to instruments like guitar, piano (real piano, not electronic) and saxophone and synth/electronic music I find all sounds similar and lacks individual character.
dizzystar 10y ago
A guitar is interesting because you can create different sounds depending on how you touch the strings. You can choose to fret with the tip of your finger, with the flat part of your finger, mute the string below, etc. This wouldn't be possible to do with an electric input device. What you are suggesting is an entirely different instrument, like a Midi / Guitar or something, and I'm sure there would be a market for this. Barre chords are a large stepping stone for a lot of people, but there are a few techniques to doing them. Why not look at YouTube for guidance here?
mtm 10y ago
Perhaps something like the Eigenharp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenharp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenharp) with some tweaked software.
mathiasben 10y ago
Maybe something like this would help? http://www.chordelia.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html http://www.chordelia.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html It's a contraption that attaches to the neck of the guitar and enables those with clumsy fingers to play chords.

by jsz0 10y ago

keeganjw 10y ago

Yeah, barre chords suck, no doubt about that. I've been playing for 12 years now and really I just avoid them. There are a lot of work-arounds for most music. I find I only might need one or two for a song. That makes it much more manageable. But for other chord forms, the dexterity takes practice. I haven't found a way around that. If the tips of your fingers are burning, stop and pick it up again tomorrow. Your finger will still probably hurt but after a month of that, you won't feel a thing and you'll be good to go.

Gravityloss 10y ago

What you're looking for is a keytar?

hoorayimhelping 10y ago

Out of curiosity, what kind of guitar do you play? Different guitars have different necks have different characteristics; some thinner, some narrower, some with more curve, some flatter. I could imagine you'd be much more comfortable with a neck more suited to your hands.

ukyrgf 10y ago

The top HN comment on this article is about how music teachers that focus on form and fundamentals are ruining young musicians' desire to learn. To me, your comment is the ultimate rebuttal of that. Guitar is quite easy to play wrong; you can go a long way without learning proper form. I imagine having somebody show you proper posture, thumb placement, etc. would have helped you out. Nobody that wants to play rock music is going to learn sitting like this, though http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/images/Playing-Position-1.jpg http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/images/Playing-Position-...

mcdevhammer 10y ago

Please just no. Part of the charm of the guitar is that its this kind of organic piece of wood and metal that you have to learn to master to make sound good. A lot of the different character and style of different players comes from their different technique and how they learned to play which I think would be lost if you could just easily make perfect notes by basically pressing a button. I guess this is the same reason why I prefer listening to instruments like guitar, piano (real piano, not electronic) and saxophone and synth/electronic music I find all sounds similar and lacks individual character.

dizzystar 10y ago

A guitar is interesting because you can create different sounds depending on how you touch the strings. You can choose to fret with the tip of your finger, with the flat part of your finger, mute the string below, etc. This wouldn't be possible to do with an electric input device. What you are suggesting is an entirely different instrument, like a Midi / Guitar or something, and I'm sure there would be a market for this. Barre chords are a large stepping stone for a lot of people, but there are a few techniques to doing them. Why not look at YouTube for guidance here?

mtm 10y ago

Perhaps something like the Eigenharp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenharp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenharp) with some tweaked software.

mathiasben 10y ago

Maybe something like this would help? http://www.chordelia.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html http://www.chordelia.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html It's a contraption that attaches to the neck of the guitar and enables those with clumsy fingers to play chords.