How To Make A Guitar-Powered Boat

First you have to design it. What does it need? Definitely a treble clef or two, a guitar, a guitar player….perhaps a mast made out of an eighth-note?

Or….you could try building the mast out of a guitar fretboard instead!

And definitely add a sail!

Maybe the sail should twirl out like a unicorn’s horn from the music-stave/hull? This shows promise for extra propulsion. The question now is….how does the sail furl and unfurl? And can you tune it with tuning pegs?

Scratch that.

This is getting too complex.

Maybe don’t worry about the tuning pegs, or the music-stave-hull-mechanism. Just use a big fat sixteenth-note for your mast, add the darn sail, have the guitarist play some music into it, and call it an afternoon…..

Or alternately…if the design process gets too complicated and confused, I recommend making a model. Remove all but the essentials needed for the purpose at hand.

That’s it!

Elegant, sleek, and simple!

The next step is most definitely to create a man out of different colors of clay and pipe-cleaning wire.

Once that’s done, do a sketch where you put the boat, with the man and his guitar in it, into the water, and send them on a test ride. Let them float around for a while and see how it goes for them. It’s important to get the tune right!

The final thing is to add color, and send your guitarist on his journey!

Pro Tip:  The guitar needs to be tuned much more frequently and attentively than it would in the ordinary practice room setting:

A slightly mistuned bass string will mess with your directionality.

Mis-tuning the trebles will disrupt your musical navigation.

Happy travels!