Olav Martin Kvern built a robot that picks your electric guitar strings so you don’t have to. He has been working on different prototypes of the robot guitar for over 16 years, via Make:
Why Build a Guitar Picking Robot?
Here are a few of my reasons, in no particular order:
I’ve been playing guitar, off and on, for over 40 years. At this point, I’m a semi-competent flatpicking guitarist. But I’ve always been interested in the sound of fingerpicking. I’m 65 years old. Do I have 40 more years to learn fingerpicking?
I wanted to be able to play patterns on the guitar that would be difficult or impossible for me to play. Or for almost anyone to play. (John McLaughlin or Yvette Young notwithstanding.)
I’m a writer and software developer. I type a lot, and my hands and wrists are getting worn out.
My sense of rhythm is poor.
What does all of that mean? I need help playing guitar. So I’m building a prosthesis to help me do that, just as I wear glasses to improve my nearsightedness.
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