Studying an instrument is a lengthy and worthwhile process, but what if you want to rock out today? I made the Instant Star Guitar so that I could get right to the fun part of playing music. You might remember a video by the band “Axis of Awesome” (some cussing) who famously pointed out that the same 4-chord progression was so common in rock music that you could keep playing the chords and sing thousands of songs. So, my guitar plays each of those 4 chords at the touch of a button. All you need to do is know the chord progression and you can play a real song. And the best part is – many many songs can be played by pressing the buttons in order from top to bottom, so that’s all you need to know to be a rock star!
I created the Instant Star Guitar with a micro:bit, a Brown Dog Gadgets Bit Board, Maker Tape, LEGO, and Cardboard. I’ve written a full tutorial including printable guitar templates and downloadable code so you can make your own.
If you’d like to take the project even further, you can connect the Instant Star Guitar to Garageband and use the virtual guitar amps to customize the sound of the guitar too.
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