Laziness reaches new extremes

Technology and gaming are certainly having their effect on the world of the guitar. Our last story about the Gibson self-tuning guitar is a case in point. Then, there's the Guitar Hero phenomenon.

If you search the Net for "guitar" you'll find anything related to Guitar Hero coming high on the list. The other night I witnessed some friends playing the game for the first time. I think Guitar Hero probably encourages people to start playing the real thing. It was a lot of fun watching some of the older folks at our Thanksgiving gathering rocking out to Aerosmith's "Last Child" for the first time. It's good clean fun, and nobody would confuse it for anything but a game.

However, I'm beginning to think our "convenience culture" is beginng to take us over the edge. The Gibson only tunes the guitar for you. Now our lust for instant results is bringing us ever closer to the territory where you don't actually need to learn to play in the first place. Behold, the E-Z Chord Kit. By attaching this contraption to a guitar and pushing buttons, the levers press down the fingerings for C, G, and D chords. No expensive lessons necessary!

As a bit of a gadget freak, I appreciate the accomplishment of creating a widget like this, but let's face it. Playing this would be about as humiliating as having your father chew your food for you. The folks at Gizmodo put it pretty succinctly:

"Even if it is ridiculously easy, how many chicks do you think you'll score with a handicapable guitar that tells the world you're not smart enough to do what Toby Keith somehow figured out?"

Of course, the E-Z Chord would probably make a nice gag gift for your ego-inflated guitar playing buddies.