You may rock but does this guitar?

OK, let's ignore how godawful and cheesy this following video is and just focus on the product it's selling:


This actually seems like a good idea, yes? Forget playing it with Guitar Hero and Rock Band, because it doesn't look like much fun (and doesn't appear to have a whammy bar?!), but what about the idea of using touch sensitive technologies for fret boards? It would save you from tuning your guitar, although there would need to be a way to set alternate tunings. No broken strings during a show, no steel digging into your fingers. I don't know how it would be for finger picking, but for some straight-ahead power chord rock, it could be useful. The You Rock Guitar has a standard guitar input for plugging directly into an amp, as well as a USB input for plugging into a MIDI sequencer or computer, and works with many existing music programs, such as Garage Band. I'd like to see something that's closer to a fully functional guitar, you know, with knobs and a whammy bar and such, but this could be the first step towards a truly digital guitar. And at $150, it's a pricey video game controller, but a great little toy to fiddle with on the music end.


On the other side of the spectrum, it looks like Gibson is also trying to incorporate digital-age technology into their guitars, with the HD.6X, or the HD Les Paul.It uses a Cat5 cable for plugging directly into digital sources. This baby does a ton, including sending out individual data for each of the six strings. It's all very pro-level and the guitar itself is very nice. You can always switch it to analog for some good old fashioned shredding, should you choose. Of course, quality like this doesn't come cheap, so be prepared to spend $4000 or more. While I like the plethora of recording and output options the HD.6X gives you, it isn't any more intuitive to learn or play than a regular guitar, and has all the normal drawbacks of a regular axe. Not that I'm suggesting that a $150 "You Rock" guitar could ever match a Les Paul, just that at least it's incorporating new technologies to add to the music experience.

Now, I wonder what would happen if we took either of those guitars and circuit bent them...hmm...

-Daniel