Gizmos & Gadgets: New MI Guitar is Truly Magic

June 25, 2016 – An Indiegogo campaign by Magic Instruments, a San Francisco-based company, describes a new type of guitar you can play instantly. The company’s mission “is to enable anyone including people with little or no musical background to be musically expressive.”

How so I say to myself. I’m a musician who has spent the better part of my life mastering four instruments of which the guitar is not one. Learning to play well on even one has required thousands of hours of practice. So how can someone with no musical background suddenly be able to pick up and play a guitar, the one instrument I still want to learn? Learning six-string guitar has become an ambition of mine. My father played and I inherited his guitar plus all of his music. But for some reason at age 67 I feel intimidated by the instrument.

That’s why I am both amazed and frankly “pissed off” by what MI Guitar does. How dare they make it this easy to play. Watch this YouTube video and you will see what I mean.

MI Guitar is truly an instrument anyone should be able to master. Its six strings don’t run along a traditional fretboard. Instead the strings appear only on the body of the instrument and where the frets would be in a normal acoustic guitar you have pressure-sensitive buttons that represent chord positions and individual strings. To find the right chord is simple. Follow the number guide that comes with every song in Magic Instruments catalog that comes in a companion mobile app available on Apple or Android devices.

The big difference other than learning technique is that playing MI Guitar doesn’t require you to know music nomenclature and chord charts. You just have to know numbers and the lyrics associated with them. Strum the strings or individually pluck one while pressing the numbered button indicated and you have the chord or note to go with the song and lyric.

The song catalog is free for 30 days. After that you pay a subscription fee of $5.99 U.S. a month, or purchase individual songs for $0.99. Composers of their own music can play by picking key and scale options. The guitar provides all the commonly played chords instantaneously including major and minor, sixths, sevenths and more so you can improvise. The learning curve is so very small.

Other features to note:

• Eight different modes, 6 regular guitar and 2 for bass guitar, giving you the ability to create a wide range of sound styles.
• Audio controls for tonal balance, reverb, volume and more.
• Plug in capability to add a guitar pedal, amp or mixer using the included standard 1/4″ guitar output jack
• a MIDI controller.
• Ability to integrate with commonly used music applications such as GarageBand.
• Portability using eight AA batteries to allow you to take and play your guitar anywhere.
• a DC power wall adapter.
• Headphone and microphone jack to lets you listen and record your singing.

In its Indiegogo campaign, MI Guitar has raised $397,300 to date, 762% more than what it was asking for when it launched the crowdfunding effort just a few weeks ago. The company’s plan are to start shipping by March 2017. Early adopters can purchase the guitar for $299 plus shipping. Suggested retail price right now is considerably higher at $584.