For those struggling to learn the guitar, a new wearable startup, Vibes, may have just the way to help you out. Based in the UK, Vibes has been working on an ear training technology that is powered through a wearable forearm strap.
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What Vibes has to offer is a change in the way you approach learning how to play. One of the early steps in learning guitar is getting your fingers in the right places on the fretboard, which requires constant practice. But as you progress, understanding chords, scales and musical intervals by ear is the next big step.
This is the area where Vibes wants to step in and help. After studying the neuroscience involved in music instruction, Philip Spivey, founder of Vibes, decided to develop a gadget that focuses on the association, rather than repetition.
Still a work in progress
To assist with this process of ear training, one can use a mobile app that plays audible notes. Next, through a Bluetooth connection, the app triggers an accompanying wearable to offer a specific tactile stimulus on the inner arm.
“This association, with a small degree of repetition, will help your brain in the future to recognize the same intervals or chords when you hear them in your favorite song, or in your head when you are improvising,” Spivey explains.
The project is still in the development stages by Vibes, so further study is needed before knowing if this can actually help the guitar learning process.
