It’s not often that you hear of a new musical instrument being invented, but Cleveland guitarist Tom Shaper has just launched what he refers to as a “percussion guitar”, designed to be played with drumsticks! The Jasperbridge Percussion Guitar uses a standard six string guitar neck with regular guitar tuning, but with a clever “reversing” body that brings the strings through to what would normally be considered to be the back of the instrument, enabling them to be played with a drumstick.

Playing a guitar with a drumstick is nothing new… you may have seen Buddy Guy or John Mayer play guitar solos with a drumstick, and many guitar players have had the occasional notion to hit their strings with a stick to see what happens! But what is different with the Jasperbridge is that it is designed to be played like this. Placing the guitar body on a stand and putting the strings facing the player means that your left hand is playing regular guitar chords or riffs, while your right hand plays drum rhythms just like a drummer. Strange as it might seem, this is actually a natural-feeling way of playing a guitar-like instrument with a drumstick and will pose no problems to any experienced guitarist.

Who is the Percussion Guitar aimed at?

I guess the answer is that the Jasperbridge is for any musician who likes to experiment and think outside the box. It’s certainly not aimed at replacing a regular guitar, but rather to complement it. The inventor plays his percussion guitar regularly with a sax player as a bar duo and also with his six-piece party band. But we can see it gaining a niche following in maybe Reggae or Latin music, where rhythm is king and a percussion guitar could well come into its own. It could even be an useful tool in the arsenal of the Jazz or Ambient music composer looking for new sounds. The fact that it is self-supported on a stand also makes it suitable for occasional as well as continual use in a band setting, with maybe a percussion player doing a syncopated guitar break or a keyboard player alternating with guitar sounds without being encumbered by it. It’s also been suggested that it might be suitable for use by people with certain disabilities, such as former guitar players who are now unable to hold a regular pick due to injury to their right hand. It also has the advantage of having no weight to support and it can be played equally well standing or sitting.

Whatever its uses, possibilities or limitations, the percussion guitar is certainly intriguing!
Check out the Jasperbridge at http://myjbridge.com