Turn your iPhone into a guitar

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 21st January 2008

The software uses the multi-touch interface to create a touch-sensitive fretboard.

Programmer and iPhone fan Shinya Kasatani has finally produced what may be the killer app the iPhone has been crying out for: a virtual guitar.

Okay, so it's not a killer app: it is, however, a novel use of the multi-touch interface. Dubbed PocketGuitar, the software installs on all iPhone and iPod touch systems and turns the display into a guitar fretboard, allowing you to use Apple's much-vaunted multi-touch interface to play a kind-sorta guitar-ish thing.

Possibly the coolest feature of the package is the ability to play along with music stored on your iPhone/iPod – try to keep up with Clapton during the solos, or just strum along to your favourite tunes.

I can certainly see the attraction of a neat guitar-like toy that fits in your pocket, and as a guitar player myself I'm sorely tempted by the thought of an ultra-portable system for practising my fingering (no sniggering at the back there).

If you want to give the software a go, just add the repository http://podmap.net/apps to your Sources list in the Installer. The package will then appear under 'Toys' and be ready for installation. I'd recommend fitting a scratch-protect filter to the screen before you start bashing out The Ace of Spades, though.

Anybody with an iPhone or iPod touch willing to give the software a test-drive, or is it nothing more than a multi-touch tech-demo? Let us know over in the forums.