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Would you take guitar lessons from an AI-powered Jimi Hendrix? The future could have a purple haze…

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If you’re a guitar player then you’ve probably heard about, or used, the Ultimate Guitar app for Android and iOS, for finding the chords and lyrics to thousands of popular songs. If you produce podcasts or record your own songs, then you’ve probably also heard of Audacity too, which we named the best open-source audio editor in our best audio editor of 2024 round up. Muse Group, the creator of both these apps, has been one of the early adopters of AI technology, and it’s using AI right now to turn people into better guitarists.

As a keen amateur guitarist I’ve often used the Ultimate Guitar website and app for its catalogue of tabs for popular songs. While not quite proper musical notation, tabs are one step up from simple lyrics and chords listings. Tabs show you where to put your fingers on the strings in a visual way, without having to know how to read music. So, if you want to know how to play Wonderwall, you search for it in Ultimate Guitar and you’ll find the lyrics and chords, or the tab versions people have submitted.

Trying not to look back in anger, searching for Oasis tabs (Image credit: Ultimate Guitar/Google)

Usually it’s up to you to work the song out next, but Ultimate Guitar subscribers have access to an AI-powered Practice Mode which can detect if you’re hitting the right notes at the right time, and give you feedback. It can also adjust the scrolling speed of the musical notation on screen as you play, using AI to determine where you are in the song. We asked Martin Keary, VP of Product at Muse Group, about how the company was using AI to help people learn instruments and if its listening mode signaled the end for traditional guitar teachers.

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