PRE2017 4 Groep2

Subject

A semi-professional guitar player has suffered from a stroke called Joop. This caused the right part of is body to be numb for a large part. He cannot play the guitar anymore.

Objective

The focus of this project is to make a start in the direction of making it possible for Joop to play the guitar again. This includes finding out what are the possible ways to create an interface for him, with which he could play again. These interfaces need to be natural for him and should fit within his style of playing. In the end, there should be a good idea which parts of his body could be used to remap any functionality of the guitar to, that cannot be done now.

Approach

The process that is used for this project is mostly iterative. The first step is a literature review. For all possible ways for Joop to play the guitar, there need to be little tests. This contributes to a concept or more concepts for an interface.

Literature Review

In this project a foot pedal has been made and a mechanism which replaces the strumming hand. The system on the guitar strums each snare of the guitar while the player frets each string[1].

This is a paper that shares a mechanism on the neck of the guitar which replaces the fretting hand. This done by a mechanism that pushes down the snares when commanded to using a foot pedal[2].

This is a company that makes custom instruments voor people with physical disabilities. They do this by, for example, using conductive paint. That makes for a kind of piano like playing experience[3].

This company has made a universal stand, this also works for a guitar[4].

List of people with adaptive gear[5]. Audio to midi: http://www.digital-ear.com/digital-ear/index.asp Voice recognition: https://www.nuance.com/dragon.html “Experiment with “open tunings” on the guitar – a guitar in open tuning requires less complicated fingering of chords and can be played using a slide to bar all strings on a fret to produce the notes desired. The guitar can be played lying face up on one’s lap, with the right hand fingers picking strings, and the left hand using the slide bar to the required fret. This may sound complicated to a non guitar player, but a guitar teacher who is familiar with open tunings and playing blues style guitar will understand this method. It’s important to keep an open mind and have an adaptive approach to the training. Usually where there’s a will, there’s a way. Playing a guitar with a slide is used in many styles of music and it’s kind of a shortcut to playing sooner. For one-armed guitarists – tune the guitar in open “g”, place face up on lap, place steel or glass slide on left pinky to bar frets. Attempt to strum with remaining fingers – or if the other arm has any gross movement, with that arm.”

He can still pressure his fingers and move his shoulders.