By Angela Shupe on February 1, 2012 in Inventions
Thirty years ago, Travis Perry watched as guitar students of all ages became frustrated during lessons. Many would give up within 60 days – a time Perry calls the “two-month hump.”
Perry eventually stopped teaching guitar and went to college. He played with the band Silverado, lived in Nashville for a while, owned a music store in downtown Dothan, sold real estate, and hosted a bluegrass music show. He returned to teaching guitar four years ago when the housing market began to take a nose dive. Students, he found, were still struggling to make it past those first two months.
Perry even had trouble teaching a Taylor Swift song to his own 8-year-old daughter, Brady. Frustrated with learning the guitar, she was ready to give up. That’s when Perry shared an idea for a device that would attach to the guitar and allow a player to learn chords and play with just the push of four simple, color-coded buttons.
The first Chord Buddy was sold in October 2010.