Strum
Learning guitar has never been easier
Spring 2019
DSID 137
Without a music teacher or instructor, it can be difficult to learn to play an instrument and remain motivated.
Strum is an iPhone powered electric guitar teacher that makes it more accessible to learn. With its low profile size and easy to follow visuals, it is a perfect starter for young beginners.
Opportunity
Excessive Noise
One of the biggest insecurities when learning to play guitar is it sounding bad to those around you.
Difficulty of Learning
In-Person lessons can be expensive and can require a lot of commitment for a casual at-home player.
Size and Small Spaces
In city living and college dorms, room for larger objects is scarce.
Senario
Student buys a guitar and tries to learn to play from the comfort of his dorm room
The difficult learning curve makes him frustrated.
During his practice, his roommate gets annoyed by his bad playing and gets mad at him.
Accelerated Learning
With attention spans getting shorter and shorter, there is a need to find new ways to teach certain skills or curriculum. Gamification allows for accelerated learning by making the learning process more interactive, engaging, competitive, and builds a drive.
Ideation
Phase 1
Was aiming to create an attachment for guitars. Tested weight and visibility. Moved toward an amp design with indicators.
Phase 2
Continued down this path to make something that can take into account the length of the fret board while still being compact.
Phase 3
Realized that the user not only needed to store both the guitar and the amp but also buy both which can get pricey depending on the quality of the guitar. Moved towards an all in one device.
Testing & Mock Ups
Indicator Visibility
Using tape to simulate indicator being at the nut of the guitar
Indicator Visibility
Looking at existing products such as guitar hero to see how they have tackled a similar issue
Phone Visibility
Placing phone in the center region by pick ups proved easier for the user and kept guitar balanced
One Size
Needed to make sure that the device would be small but still easy to use. Did not want it to feel like a little Ukulele.
Size
Being that personal space in a Dorm is so small, I really had to work hard to find a comfortable form factor. I wanted to keep it a similar size to an average laptop as possible
Phone Visibility
Previous designs had it where the learning device was an amp. This was problematic since there was a lot of looking back and forth
Strum
Making guitar more accessible
Features
Traditional Tuners
Knob Tuners stay on to teach user to restring a guitar and how to go about tuning.
Slide out Body
Allows for adjustable height for different users
iPhone Holder
Place to put iPhone and watch the guitar lessons. Also has adjustable height
Traditional Pick Ups
Old School pickups remain to keep the electric guitar sound that drew people to learn to play
Smart Fret Board
Smart Fret board reads finger placement and illuminates correct finger placement for user to follow
3.5 mm Jack
Allows to plug in headphones directly, removing the need for an amp. Fits for a private session
How to use
Place iPhone in clamp and launch app.
Choose a lesson on the app to start learning and plugs in headphones.
Follow the indicators on the Strum's fret board to learn what cords to play and when.
Fretboard demo
Fretboard light up the places where your fingers would go to play a note in a song.
POV
Point of view shot of what a user would be seeing when looking down at the fretboard.
