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I’m old enough to remember musicians freaking out over Guitar Hero. But they always seemed to miss a point. No one seriously thought that the video game controller would replace a tool that has been going strong since the 15th century. Guitar Hero was a fun game, and if it convinced a new generation to buy the real thing, that was a positive for the universe.
A similar feeling washed over me when I saw the LiberLive C1 On the ground at CES 2025. If the future of the guitar is at stake, it has nothing to do with the availability of the self-proclaimed “first wireless smart guitar.” And really, referring to something as a guitar at all seems to miss the point.
Learning the tools is difficult, time-consuming, and can be incredibly frustrating. Take it from me, decades of terrible guitar playing. Like Guitar Hero before it, it would be disingenuous to suggest that a product like this poses any sort of existential threat to the guitar (besides, the emergence of non-guitar pop music has done much of the heavy lifting there).
There’s something gratifying about an instrument you can just pick up and play. In fact, in a weird way, being a guitar player might have worked against me with the C1. You have to rewire your brain to accept the simplicity of the tool.
The instrument has a series of chord names associated with the buttons on the side of the neck. Holding one of these plays a chord as you “ring” the paddle on the body of the C1. And that’s really all. Playing individual notes and nothing close to shredding. However, you can play and sing along with the songs in the app. This is effective karaoke with an extra dimension.
It’s fun, it’s portable, it’s $699, it lasts six hours on a single charge. And it won’t replace guitars anytime soon.
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