Abstract
In guitar performance, fingering is an important factor, and complicated. In particular, the fingering of the left hand comprises various relationships between the finger and the string, such as a finger touching the strings, a finger pressing the strings,and a finger releasing the strings. The recognition and distinction of the precise fingering of the left hand is applied to a self-learning support system, which is able to to detect strings being muted by a finger, and which transcribes music automatically, including the details of fingering techniques. Therefore, the goal of our study is the design and implementation of a system for recognizing the touch of strings for the guitar. We propose a method for recognizing the touch of strings based on the conductive characteristics of strings and frets. We develop a prototype system, and evaluate its effectiveness. Furthermore, we propose an application which utilizes our system.

Publication
Tobise, H., Takegawa, Y., T., Terada, T., and Tsukamoto, M., “Construction of a System for Recognizing Touch of Strings for Guitar,” Proceeding of International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME2013), pp. 261-266 (May 2013).