Making guitar-learning smart

Designed for beginners to pick up guitar skills in a fun way, the PopuTar is a lightweight acoustic smart guitar from Chinese company Popumusic. The 96 LEDs located along the guitar’s neck show users where and when to place their fingers on the guitar. A Bluetooth 5.0 paired app registers what you are doing on the guitar and gives you feedback as you play.

The teaching system is made up of games and tutorials; there’s a section for music theory, classic and modern pop songs, and follow-along playing. Short videos courses take you from basics like how to hold the guitar and pluck the strings to mastering popular songs. Only on completion of a song with a certain degree of proficiency can a student move to the next level.

The final mode unlocks a smart guitar toolkit, where the lights can be encouraged to dance as you play, a chord dictionary shows finger positions for “all kinds of chords in all kinds of keys”, plus a tuner, a metronome and more.