OpenChord: The guitar that plays Guitar Hero

by Justin McElroy { Aug 6th 2009 at 3:00AM }

The OpenChord V1 is one of those ideas that seems like it's just missing one key component keeping it from greatness. What the company's developed is a real guitar that you can plug into a Wiimote and use to play Guitar Hero. Cool idea, right?

Except there's just one tiny problem: Playing the guitar with Guitar Hero sounds like a nightmare. It's the kind of sound that makes you wanna storm into your bedroom and tell your little brother to stop playing with your axe before you punch his face off. No, we have no idea how to go about fixing this (we're not even sure unplugging the guitar would help), but it seems like it might be a deal breaker for some folks. Check it for yourself after the break.

Tags: guitar-hero, music-games, peripherals, rock-band

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Solace (Only on PSN) @ Aug 6th 2009 3:05AM

that was cool? i guess?

Johnathan @ Aug 6th 2009 3:07AM

I've wanted this ever since the first guitar hero came out. Basically, I was envisioning band karaoke, where you play real instruments. And if that's not hard enough for you, if you fuck up a note, a Nigerian thug hooks a car battery up to your nipples.

Alex @ Aug 6th 2009 4:40AM

What kind of karaoke nights are you going to?

Johnathan @ Aug 6th 2009 4:50AM

Hostage situations

Skaz @ Aug 6th 2009 8:11AM

I prefer flamethrowers, but hey, whatever floats your boat...

Mykal @ Aug 6th 2009 3:13AM

Sounds like the classic good in concept, but horrible in practice.

Flo @ Aug 6th 2009 3:21AM

He's cute >:O

JeffM @ Aug 6th 2009 9:53AM

He's a great speaker too.

Sly [Wiizer Sweatshop Raccoon] @ Aug 6th 2009 3:30AM

i can't imagine a song like through the fire and flames with this. it would both hurt and sound insanely horrible.

alex keeny @ Aug 6th 2009 3:32AM

If you can go on any string as long as its the correct fret, you could actually make it sound good, but it would take work on the part of the guitarist. Though, the song would have to be in the same key as you're actually playing too.

Two fingers two frets apart is essentially a simple power chord though, the first and the fifth notes of the scale.

Sly [Wiizer Sweatshop Raccoon] @ Aug 6th 2009 3:46AM

again, that makes no sense.

cuube @ Aug 6th 2009 3:51AM

This is only a problem if your volume is so low that you can hear the actual guitar. I play the guitar, and I can tell you I almost never hear the sound from it. The amp, or in this case, the stereo would drown the sound completely.

DWells55 @ Aug 6th 2009 4:53AM

Why is this spammer not banned yet?

Joe @ Aug 6th 2009 4:53AM

You can plug it into an amp, and play away.

*does a couple of weak-ass slides*

koehler83 @ Aug 6th 2009 5:10AM

It's pretty obvious that this guy is a right brain engineer and not a left brain musician.

adiaz87 @ Aug 6th 2009 12:41PM

A lot of haters on this comment board....

Samantha @ Aug 6th 2009 5:05AM

I think you have more time to taunt me better to use this power of taunting others in a beneficial way........

Skaz @ Aug 6th 2009 8:13AM

lol wat

The Baron @ Aug 6th 2009 9:38AM

Spammer that forgot to post a link -_-

GordoJones @ Aug 6th 2009 6:14AM

I'm still waiting for Marching Band Hero with Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, and inflatable cheerleader instruments.

Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ Aug 6th 2009 6:19AM

"Guitar Hero", "Guitar Hero", "Guitar Hero", "Guitar Hero"...

So, why is he playing Rock Band, then?

Rocketboy @ Aug 6th 2009 6:58AM

Dude, you can do more than one take of your video.

It's ok.

Nate Addison @ Aug 6th 2009 10:19AM

I imagine with the way this was put together, that it had a do or die budget.

Dracula Jones @ Aug 6th 2009 7:48AM

Look man, I'm the last person to call for formalities, but you could at least wear shoes to your tech demo.

Anonymouse @ Aug 6th 2009 7:51AM

I applaud you for showing your face on camera... You should probably do something about those lamb-chops taped to the side of your face though....

uncivlengr @ Aug 6th 2009 8:03AM

I enjoy Guitar Hero, but the fact that you're strumming random notes on a real guitar doesn't seem like it'd make the game any more fun or improve your guitar playing.

Play games for the sake of playing games, and play guitar for the sake of playing guitar.

Zamn @ Aug 6th 2009 8:06AM

What this needs is some sort of component that deadens the strings when it's in controller mode so you don't have to listen to the actual notes you're playing.

Tiptup300 @ Aug 6th 2009 11:27AM

I was wondering why he didn't just do it with a silent guitar. Or even better just use a guitar hero controller.

Ge @ Aug 6th 2009 8:58AM

Oh yeah? Then how do you explain the no-shoes?

Check. Mate.

Ghaleon @ Aug 6th 2009 10:08AM

You won't be able to hear the guitar itself at all if you plug it into GH/RB. I dunno why he demoed it like that.

Nate Addison @ Aug 6th 2009 10:24AM

Idk what video you guys were watching, but I didn't see anyone attempting to use a real guitar as a controller. What I saw was a dude testing the next evolution of female replant. And let me just say from this video alone, the stuff seems quite potent.

Papa Midnight @ Aug 6th 2009 11:12AM

Wasn't there an actual game that was / is in development that you used a real guitar to play? I believe they demoed it using Enter Sandman by Metallica. The actual frets rolled down the screen and you had to play what was shown.

Alan Chatham @ Aug 6th 2009 1:29PM

Um, Wow. Embarrassing. So, I hope this comment escapes the bottom of the comment area and gets updated, and I guess I should take a new video. However, you don't have to play it with the guitar plugged into the actual amp. In fact, you're right, it does sound terrible if you do. Yeah, I'm an idiot. I guess the last video I shot though got comments like "Oh, he's not actually playing it", so I wanted to make sure it was clear that I was playing the guitar.

Anyhow, I guess I need to take another video, and I hope you see this comment, Mr. McElroy...

But thanks for at least featuring it!

Tucker @ Aug 6th 2009 2:32PM

A lot of hating in this thread, but I took a quick run over to the site and it's actually a pretty cool project. One of the posts talks about using the software to re-map the buttons to different notes on a scale, so you COULD technically practice a scale while playing. I kind of like that idea!