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Self-Tuning Electric Guitar

avirrey writes "The Technology Review has an interesting article on a Gibson Self-Tuning Guitar. Purist argue that you shouldn't need a guitar that self-tunes. Others argue that this will allow an artist to change tuning with one 'favorite' guitar, instead of having to swap out between songs." Ok I know what I think- freakin' sweet. Only technology will guarantee my sucking on the electric will at least be reasonably in-tune suckiness. Dear Gibson, Slashdot really needs to review your guitar. We'll need several review units and we lost your return address.

24 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. Technical review... by xtracto · · Score: 4, Funny

    "...Know what I think- freakin' sweet. Only technology will guarantee my sucking on the electric will at least be reasonably in-tune suckiness. Dear Gibson, Slashdot really needs to review your guitar. We'll need several review units and we lost your return address..."

    Yeah, and since slashdot is made by its community, we will need 900,000 test units =o) (sorry 900000+ id noobs =oP no testing for you)

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    1. Re:Technical review... by my+$anity++0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Make that a flat million.

    2. Re:Technical review... by Swampash · · Score: 5, Funny

      No vibrato bridge. Less scale length than a Strat. Lame.

    3. Re:Technical review... by irtza · · Score: 4, Funny

      YES, 893217 makes the cut. Now, for me to practice my current great hit: random noise 44, soon to be followed by random noise 45. For those that missed random noise 1-43, I am afraid you will never get that opportunity as they're kind of hard to repeat... and I am not exactly sure how they go anymore.

      --
      When all else fails, try.
    4. Re:Technical review... by Swampash · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wow, I had no idea. What a coincidence then that I chose exactly those two things to illustrate a point of difference between a Gibson and a Strat. I mean, holy cow, what's the chance of me doing that? It's just... freakish.

    5. Re:Technical review... by zeromorph · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ok stop it. Emacs/vi and GPL/BSD are bad enough if you go on like this we will also have a Fender/Gibson flamewar. What's next Beatles/Rolling Stones?

      --
      "Hannibal's plans never work right. They just work." Amy/A-Team
    6. Re:Technical review... by lastchance_000 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I want a Tom Servo to turn my tuning pegs.

      That would be fricken' awesome.

      He could comment on my playing, as well.

    7. Re:Technical review... by the_fat_kid · · Score: 2, Funny

      and you are going to try to convince us that Kirk isn't realy better than Picard....

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      -- Sig under construction...
    8. Re:Technical review... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd like Microsoft Clippy.

      "It looks like you're trying to play a D chord! Would you like to:

      • Play a D Chord
      • Play the chord as-is
      • Look up chord fingerings in the online help
    9. Re:Technical review... by pabrown85 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Joel was way better than Mike.

    10. Re:Technical review... by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Tube amps are better than solid state amps.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    11. Re:Technical review... by tha_mink · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just because someone's fucking you up the ass, doesn't make them bisexual. I would have gone with ...

      "You're a good guy your whole life...then you suck *one* dick and all of a sudden you're a cocksucker."
      --
      You'll have that sometimes...
  2. Re:determinism finally! by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Funny, I always get the same results when I strum a guitar -- ear-destroying crap.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  3. I already have a tuner... by Landshark17 · · Score: 5, Funny

    All I want is an amp that goes up to 11.

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    This sig is false.
    1. Re:I already have a tuner... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Why don't you just make 10 louder, and make 10 be the top number, and make that a little louder?

    2. Re:I already have a tuner... by soundonsound · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...
      ...
      ...
      This one goes to 11.

  4. Tuning a guitar is a ridiculous notion by Vainglorious+Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    How to play Guitar by David [Jad] Fair

    I taught myself to play guitar. It's incredibly easy when you understand the science of it. The skinny strings play the high sounds, and the fat strings play the low sounds. If you put your finger on the string father out by the tuning end it makes a lower sound. If you want to play fast move your hand fast and if you want to play slower move your hand slower. That's all there is to it. You can learn the names of notes and how to make chords that other people use, but that's pretty limiting. Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you'd still have a limited number of options. If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.

    Traditionally, guitars have a fat string on the top and they get skinnier and skinnier as they go down. But he thing to remember is it's your guitar and you can put whatever you want on it. I like to put six different sized strings on it because that gives the most variety, but my brother used to put all of the same thickness on so he wouldn't have so much to worry about. What ever string he hit had to be the right one because they were all the same.

    Tuning the guitar is kind of a ridiculous notion. If you have to wind the tuning pegs to just a certain place, that implies that every other place would be wrong. But that absurd. How could it be wrong? It's your guitar and you're the one playing it. It's completely up to you to decide hoe it should sound. In fact I don't tune by the sound at all. I wind the strings until they're all about the same tightness. I highly recommend electric guitars for a couple of reasons. First of all they don't depend on body resonating for the sound so it doesn't matter if you paint them. As also, if you put all the knobs on your amplifier on 10 you can get a much higher reaction to effort ratio with an electric guitar than you can with an acoustic. Just a tiny tap on the strings can rattle your windows, and when you slam the strings, with your amp on 10, you can strip the paint off the walls.

    The first guitar I bought was a Silvertone. Later I bought a Fender Telecaster, but it really doesn't matter what kind you buy as long as the tuning pegs are on the end of the neck where they belong. A few years back someone came out with a guitar that tunes at the other end. I've never tried one. I guess they sound alright but they look ridiculous and I imagine you'd feel pretty foolish holding one. That would affect your playing. The idea isn't to feel foolish. The idea is to put a pick in one hand and a guitar in the other and with a tiny movement rule the world.

    --
    My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
    1. Re:Tuning a guitar is a ridiculous notion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you ignore the chords your options are infinite

      Finally, the mysterious figure behind zombocom reveals himself!

  5. Strangely... by Belgand · · Score: 4, Funny

    In America, self-tuning guitar tunes itself. In Soviet Russia, self-tuning guitar is tuned by you!

    1. Re:Strangely... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, your jokes still suck.

  6. Re:determinism finally! by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Funny

    But it takes a concerted effort to play painfully bad.

    Well thanks it feels good to have my hard work appreciated. :)

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    The enemies of Democracy are
  7. Cool, BUT by Bluesman · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is a good idea, but ONLY if it tunes to drop D. I have wayyyy too much angst to play in standard tuning.

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    If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
  8. Re:determinism finally! by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 2, Funny

    If this system is fast enough, it could re-tune between each strum so you can play an entire song on nothing but open chords!

    Then you could set it up with little hammers to hit the strings, and make rolled up punch cards to store the data on.

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    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  9. More Triangle! by deesine · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, that's what we need, MORE triangle!

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    damaged by dogma