“90% of people who pick up a guitar quit within a year. Not because they lack talent – because the instrument never met them where they are.”

Such is the rationale behind the Melo-D, a radical new instrument dubbed the “world’s first generative AI guitar” from TemPolor.

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Boasting a design that looks like it landed here on Earth this morning, the Melo-D allows users to generate songs using AI and learn music theory through guided gameplay, and aims to make music “more accessible through AI-powered instruments and interactive design”.

The physical design of the instrument is pretty radical – with a patented folding design which condenses the guitar’s form factor into a size much easier for travel. There’s also a 2.4” LCD touchscreen and an external app for many functions.

The instrument is loaded with TemPolor’s in-house-built TemPolor.AI engine, which can transform human humming into a song, and generate tracks from text inputs.

It’s also said to be able to transcribe an audio file into fingerstyle tabs or chord charts, with on-screen guidance to play the track appearing thereafter.

“Our goal with Melo-D was to lower the barrier between inspiration and creation,” says Jason Jia, founder of TemPolor. “We wanted to build an instrument that feels approachable to beginners, useful to creators, and exciting from the very first interaction, whether someone is playing, learning, or generating a completely original song.”

We can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the price of the Melo-D; while there’s an early-bird pricing of $399, full price will be $599, quite significantly more than the top entry-level electric guitars on the market (think Squiers or Ibanez’s GIO and SA lines) – and even some better-spec’d mid-price guitars, too.

Still, the Melo-D has already smashed its £3,800 goal on Kickstarter with £38,389 pledged at the time of writing, so the price doesn’t seem to be a concern to many.

Learn more about the Melo-D at the TemPolor Kickstarter page.

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