Being able to play music is a gift, but learning to play an instrument is a morass of frustration — especially teaching yourself the guitar. Hands have to be bent in uncomfortable positions, uncalloused fingers get sore and it becomes clear that human extremities innately possess the coordination of a newborn deer that’s been grazing in a field of ketamine.
Rather than quit outright (like so many of us), YouTuber WayOutWest built a big goofy contraption that fingers whole chords on a guitar at the push of a button. He calls it the Chordelia. The wooden housing clamps to the neck of his Yamaha and each of the chord paddles triggers levers that do all the work.
It looks absurd, but astonishingly it works.
While it won’t help you shred Judas Priest riffs or strum a G7sus4 in your jazz trio, the Chordelia is able to produce five chords — G, D, C, A minor and E minor, which is really all that’s needed to play 90 per cent of pop music. Unfortunately, at about $US260 ($343) they’re not cheap, but think of all the time saved by never having to do any practice.