Chord Master (also rendered Visual Chord Master, chordmaster) is the brand-name for a type of automated chording device produced for the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

. Competing products were sold under labels such as Noteless Player by Ferry & Co. These devices allowed a ukulele player to easily play

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

s simply by choosing the mechanical button on the device labeled for the desired chord, and depressing it, causing mechanical levers to fret each string at the proper place to compose a chord. The popular Chordmaster was produced by

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of ...

Mario Maccaferri Mario Maccaferri (1900–1993) was an Italian luthier, classical guitarist, businessman, and inventor. He is noted for designing the guitar favored by jazz musician Django Reinhardt, and for designing plastic clothespins, plastic bath and kitchen ...

(known for designing plastic ukuleles) and his affiliated French American Reeds Manufacturing company; both his instruments and chord device are desired collectors' items. The term Chordmaster was also used for a guitar chord reference application for the

iPhone OS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

in 2009. The application ranked #1 on the Apple iTunes music application store.

References

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External links

Chordmaster.com
a site devoted to the history of automated chording devices Musical instruments Ukulele performance techniques IOS software