Guitar lessons made fun by Chord Hero
Low-cost acoustic guitar and app package ‘gamifies’ the learning process
Who hasn’t dreamt of being an axe-wielding rock star?
Learning to play guitar, though, can be hard; so much so, venerable guitar maker Fender reports that nine out of 10 beginners abandon the instrument within a year.
That could all change with the launch of Chord Hero, which pairs a low-cost acoustic guitar with a mobile app to “gamify” the process.
The system is the brainchild of Hong Kong tech entrepreneur Yat Siu – who is a director of the Asian Youth Orchestra and studied music at the Konservatorium Wien, in Vienna, Austria.
“Seeing my children progress through traditional music lessons reminded me of my own frustrations when learning music,” he says. “There is not enough fun and creativity in music learning, the emphasis all too often is on theoretical rather than practical applications. We teach music as if we expect every student to become a professional performer, which is silly.