Practice

Anyone sharing a home with a musician will appreciate advances in technology that make for quieter practice. Roland's latest addition to the V-Drums line is claimed to deliver "the lowest playing noise in the history of electronic drum kits."

Shenzhen's Natasha Guitars has launched a Kickstarter for a bamboo smart guitar called the NBSG that comes with sound processing brains offering different tone presets, onboard effects, app control, and wireless output.

Frustrated by not being able to practice the saxophone when and where he wanted, Ramon Mañas developed the small and light Travel Sax, which could be played in silence. Now the Travel Sax 2 electronic saxophone has been launched.

The Spark amp from Positive Grid is paired with a voice-activated mobile app that opens the door to real-time practice and learning tools, and allows players to jam along to tracks from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.

A team has developed the first smart robot that provides players a programmable opponent to challenge. Trainerbot is designed to sit on a table and lob shots with complete spin, direction, and trajectory control.

When it comes to practicing their tackles, young football players generally either tackle their teammates or go after an inanimate tackle sled. The Shadowman Junior, however, offers another choice – it's still not a person who could get hurt, but it presents a more realistic moving target.

Yamaha has revealed the new SLG200 series Silent Guitars, featuring Studio Response Technology that's been designed to recreate the body resonance, tone and ambiance of an acoustic guitar in an instrument that, well, doesn't have much of a body.

A new product called SkateTrainer aims to make learning new skateboard tricks easier by preventing the wheels of the board from spinning, thus allowing stationary practice on any surface.

As the name might suggest, the FretPen combines a one-stringed guitar with a pen. The device pairs with an iPhone app over Bluetooth, allowing users to play tunes using 12 virtual frets.

Air Hair is a virtual reality hair cutting simulator

Best New Product’ at the PGA Show was RoboCup, a ball return robot for any practice green. When your putts drop, the US$50 RoboCup shoots the ball right back to you. Combine it with the RoboCup Caddy Cord, and even missed putts are returned