This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
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1. THE BEGINNING
This innovation initially came to life when…
I am a keen guitar player. I have developed a guitar application where you can choose the starting speed and it gets faster each time it plays through.
My first examples were dreadful, grey boxes of embedded audio in a word document. When I got in touch with my designer friend it reached a standard that I could start reaching out to guitar instructors.
We did a LOT of refining from user feedback, and had the opportunity to do a fundraiser for ALS victim Jason Becker who played for David Lee Roth from Van Halen.
2. WHAT & HOW
The purpose of this innovation is to…
Our guitar application teaches guitar parts by letting the user set the starting point of where they CAN play. From there, the part gets faster each time it plays. Its like the AB-SWING for guitar!
It does this by…
It is common for guitar instruction material to demonstrate a part at 2 speeds – half-speed and full. Most people can play the half speed, but get frustrated when they can’t play the full speed. We allow people to work up to the full speed by having a gradual increase in speed – all the way up to full speed.
3. PURPOSE & BENEFITS
This innovation improves on what came before because…
There is a lot of slow down software out there, but it sounds terrible when it is ‘stretched’ anymore than 20%. Our audio quality is maintained whether the part is played at 140 beats per minute (bpm) or 50 bpm. This means players of ALL levels can improve their skills and achieve goals.
Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…
People can achieve better results than before, in less time. Users choose a speed that suits them, and are pushed to improve, just by playing along. all this with consistent, clear audio quality, no matter how slow.
4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
In the past, this problem was solved by…
…software that can slow down speed, without affecting the pitch. However, the trade-off was awful sounding audio at slow speeds, and the user would have to stop playing to change the speed, which makes you lose your momentum.
Its predecessors/competitors include…
Amazing slow-downer, !Transcribe, Audacity all have the ability to slow down fast audio. However, the audio sounds terrible, and you have to be able to teach yourself.
5. TARGET MARKET
It is made for…
We are targeting users of music publishing. Hal Leonard as an example, distributes over 200,000 titles in over 65 countries. Guitar World has 1.7 million monthly unique users over 6.15 million monthly page views.
It is available for sale through…
…shop.riffaxelerator.com We are about to release a second fundraiser, then following that up with saleable content – popular genres and well respected instructors creating content.
Our marketing strategy is to…
We are forming partnerships with well regarded guitar instructors with their own fanbase to create unique content using our format. With uncertainty in the music industry, musicians are seeking additional revenue, we are offering a majority fee split to the content creators.
We are approaching guitar magazines to present monthly lesson content using our application.
FINE PRINT: This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
