EZ-Jam

I am currently a student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville and I designed the EZ-Jam, a guitar attachment that makes it easier to play guitar chords. Guitars are one of the most commonly played instruments; however, many people are unable to play them due to large fingers, hand injuries, or arthritis. The EZ-Jam is designed to allow users with these symptoms to still play the guitar. The EZ-Jam is also a quick way to learn how to play the guitar for those interested in just learning a few chords. For people with arthritis, typically pain is felt most when their fingers are curled over tightly and in order to play the guitar, the player’s hand must be able to curl around and press the strings firmly against the fret board of the guitar. Therefore, it can be very painful if not impossible to play the guitar. Current guitar chord attachments help users typically play around four chords but still require the user’s hand to curl completely around the guitar’s neck and press on the fret-board. In contrast, the EZ-Jam allows users to play nine chords and does not require the user to curl their hand completely around the guitar’s neck. The chords offered by the EZ-Jam are some of the most commonly used guitar chords: G, D, Dm, E, Em, A, Am, F, and C. The minor chords are denoted as D’, E’, and A’ on the EZ-Jam in order to fit within the available space. To use the EZ-Jam, the user simply slides the chord selector (white component in the pictures) to the desired chord, which is shown on the base (red component). Once the chord selector is in position, the users just has to press down on the chord selector and the EZ-Jam is ready to play the chosen chord. To switch to a different chord, the user simply releases pressure on the chord selector and another chord can be selected by sliding the chord selector up or down the guitar’s neck. When playing a chord, the chord selector remains offset from the guitar’s neck such that the user's hand maintains a wide grip on the g