At Bilkent Cyberpark, a start-up called “Do Major” is bridging the gap between music education and technology. The mission of the company is to develop online instrument learning systems.
Do Major’s recently launched website, myChordBook (www.mychordbook.com), is a song lyrics and chords platform. Users can see the fingering positions for various instruments on the screen as they are listening to a song on YouTube. In addition, the website features all the tools a musician needs, including a tuner, a metronome, chord and scale diagrams and the ability to create playlists.
The company has also developed the world’s first internet-controlled smart instrument: Easy Guitar (www.mychordbook.com/easyguitar). Easy Guitar is a beginner’s classical guitar that has LEDs embedded in its fingerboard and a USB connection port.
The user plugs Easy Guitar into a computer and goes to the website. With a single click, Easy Guitar connects to myChordBook without any software installation. As an add-on, it also displays fingering positions on its fingerboard as the user listens to a song on YouTube.
For many beginners, this method is more fun and easier than the conventional instrument learning methods. They can start right off learning to play their favorite songs, helping to hold their interest as they learn to play an instrument.