Patent Application
20210104172
The present disclosure generally relates to teaching guides for instruments, and more particularly but not exclusively relates to stringed instruments including such teaching guides.
Certain current approaches to aiding a user learning to play an instrument suffer from a variety of drawbacks and limitations. For example, one existing system involves the use of colored dots that are placed on the fretboard or a stringed instrument below the strings, with each color corresponding to a respective chord. Due to the fact that the dots are placed on the neck of the instrument, it is often difficult for the user to see the dots while in a standard playing position. For these reasons among others, there remains a need for further improvements in this technological field.
An exemplary method includes applying a teaching guide to a body side of a stringed instrument that is visible by a user when the stringed instrument is in use by the user. The teaching guide includes at least one tablature notation, each tablature notation corresponding to a respective chord for the stringed instrument. Further embodiments, forms, features, and aspects of the present application shall become apparent from the description and figures provided herewith.
Although the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described herein in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the present disclosure and the appended claims.
References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an illustrative embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may or may not necessarily include that particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. It should further be appreciated that although reference to a “preferred” component or feature may indicate the desirability of a particular component or feature with respect to an embodiment, the disclosure is not so limiting with respect to other embodiments, which may omit such a component or feature. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to implement such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
As used herein, the terms “longitudinal,” “lateral,” and “transverse” are used to denote motion or spacing along three mutually perpendicular axes, wherein each of the axes defines two opposite directions. In the coordinate system illustrated in
Additionally, it should be appreciated that items included in a list in the form of “at least one of A, B, and C” can mean (A); (B); (C); (A and B); (B and C); (A and C); or (A, B, and C). Similarly, items listed in the form of “at least one of A, B, or C” can mean (A); (B); (C); (A and B); (B and C); (A and C); or (A, B, and C). Items listed in the form of “A, B, and/or C” can also mean (A); (B); (C); (A and B); (B and C); (A and C); or (A, B, and C). Further, with respect to the claims, the use of words and phrases such as “a,” “an,” “at least one,” and/or “at least one portion” should not be interpreted so as to be limiting to only one such element unless specifically stated to the contrary, and the use of phrases such as “at least a portion” and/or “a portion” should be interpreted as encompassing both embodiments including only a portion of such element and embodiments including the entirety of such element unless specifically stated to the contrary.
In the drawings, some structural or method features may be shown in certain specific arrangements and/or orderings. However, it should be appreciated that such specific arrangements and/or orderings may not necessarily be required. Rather, in some embodiments, such features may be arranged in a different manner and/or order than shown in the illustrative figures unless indicated to the contrary. Additionally, the inclusion of a structural or method feature in a particular figure is not meant to imply that such feature is required in all embodiments and, in some embodiments, may be omitted or may be combined with other features.
With reference to
The body 110 includes a sound board or front face 112, a bottom deck or rear face 114, a rib or body side 116 extending laterally between and connecting the front face 112 and the rear face 114, and a bridge 118 mounted to the front face 112. The neck 120 extends longitudinally from the body 110, and includes a fretboard 122 and a headstock 124 at a distal end thereof. The strings 130 extend longitudinally along the fretboard 122 from the headstock 124 to the bridge 118. The guitar 100 may be of any type known in the art, and the features thereof need not be described in further detail herein.
With additional reference to
In the illustrated embodiment, the teaching guide 200 is provided on a substrate 210 that is operable to be applied to the rib or body side 116. In other embodiments, the tablature notations 220-229 and/or the identification indicia 230-239 may be directly provided to the body side 116, for example via a printing or painting process. In certain embodiments, the substrate 210 may be provided as a sticker or as a decal. In certain embodiments, the substrate 210 may be configured to be easily removed from the body 110 such that the teaching guide 200 is readily repositionable. For example, the substrate 210 may be provided as a vinyl sticker having a low-stick adhesive applied to the rear surface opposite the front surface on which the notations 220-229 and indicia 230-239 are provided. The illustrated substrate 210 has a longitudinal length 212 and a lateral width 214 that is less than the longitudinal length 212. As described herein, this arrangement facilitates mounting of the teaching guide 200 to the rib or body side 116, as well as the accommodation of the tablature notations 220-229 and identification indicia 230-239.
Each of the identification indicia 230-239 is positioned adjacent a corresponding one of the tablature notations 220-229 and indicates the chord corresponding to the respective tablature notation 220-229. For example, the tablature notation 220 indicates the fingering for the C chord, and the corresponding identification indicium 230 identifies the C chord as corresponding to the fingering indicated in the adjacent tablature notation 220. In the illustrated form, the remaining notations 221-229 and indicia 231-239 respectively correspond to the A chord (tablature notation 221 and indicium 231), the G chord (tablature notation 222 and indicium 232), the E chord (tablature notation 223 and indicium 233), the D chord (tablature notation 224 and indicium 234), the A minor chord (tablature notation 225 and indicium 235), the D minor chord (tablature notation 226 and indicium 236), the E minor chord (tablature notation 227 and indicium 237), the F chord (tablature notation 228 and indicium 238), and the B flat chord (tablature notation 229 and indicium 239). While the illustrated teaching guide 200 includes tablature notations 220-229 and identification indicia 230-239 for the ten chords illustrated in
With additional reference to
With additional reference to
Certain embodiments of the subject application relate to a method that generally involves providing a teaching guide to a stringed instrument. For example, certain embodiments relate to applying the illustrated teaching guide 200 to an existing guitar 100 to provide the guitar 400 according to the embodiment illustrated in
In certain embodiments, such as those in which the teaching guide 200 comprises a substrate 210 or is provided on a substrate 410, the method involves applying the teaching guide 200 to the guitar 100 by applying the substrate 210/410 to the body side 116. For example, in embodiments in which the substrate 210/410 is provided in the form of a sticker, the method may involve removing a protective covering from the adhesive side of the sticker, and applying the sticker to the body side 116 such that the length dimension 212 of the teaching guide 200 extends substantially along the longitudinal direction in which the neck 120 extends. The provision of a teaching guide in which the longitudinal length dimension 212 is greater than the lateral width dimension 214 may facilitate the inclusion of a greater number of chords in the teaching guide 200 while maintaining each notation at a size amenable to viewing by the player.
In other embodiments, such as those in which the teaching guide 200 does not comprise a substrate 210 and is not provided on a substrate 410, the method may involve applying the tablature notations 220-229 and/or identification indicia 230-239 directly to the body side 116. For example, the method may involve applying the tablature notations 220-229 and/or identification indicia 230-239 directly to the body side 116 via a printing or painting process. In such forms, the teaching guide 200 may again have a longitudinal length dimension 212 greater than the lateral width dimension 214 to facilitate the inclusion of a greater number of chords than may be feasible in other configurations.
In the embodiment illustrated in
As noted above, while the illustrated embodiment relates to a guitar, it is to be appreciated that the systems and methods described herein may be utilized with other stringed instruments that include a body and a neck extending from the body, such as the ukulele. It should further be appreciated that similar concepts can be used in connection with other types of instruments. For example, a chord guide may be placed on a visible portion of a piano or another instrument to aid the player of such an instrument.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the inventions are desired to be protected. It should be understood that while the use of words such as preferable, preferably, preferred or more preferred utilized in the description above indicate that the feature so described may be more desirable, it nonetheless may not be necessary and embodiments lacking the same may be contemplated as within the scope of the invention, the scope being defined by the claims that follow. In reading the claims, it is intended that when words such as “a,” “an,” “at least one,” or “at least one portion” are used there is no intention to limit the claim to only one item unless specifically stated to the contrary in the claim. When the language “at least a portion” and/or “a portion” is used the item can include a portion and/or the entire item unless specifically stated to the contrary.
