Axehole

Guitarists may soon have a new instrument to play – their phone.

Motorola is patenting a cellphone that displays the layout of a guitar neck on its screen, and allows its keypad to be “plucked” or “strummed” by a user.

Cell phone user’s shredding will be able to be played through the phone’s speaker, or inflicted on someone at the other end of the line.

Can an Eddie Van Halen phone be far away?

Switching to music mode turns the keys on the phone into a set of virtual strings that respond to pressing. Turning a control knob shifts the scale of the selected chord up or down – like a guitar capo – or switches between different types of chord, like major and minor.

The guitar phone can be played live, or a melody can be composed in private and stored in memory for use as a ring tone or meeting reminder. Motorola says the phone could even be converted into a banjo or violin at the flick of a switch, with strings automatically retuning.

Cell phone guitar patent

via New Scientist