Imagine being able to change your guitar from regular to flat tuning at the push of button. Gibson has made that a reality with their creation, the world’s first Robot Guitar, which is already winning awards. On Wednesday, October 1st, BT Digital Music Awards selected the Gibson Robot guitar as the recipient of their prestigious “Best Music Hardware” award.

So what is so great about this guitar? Not only does it automatically tune to the standard A440 tuning, but you can change to any of the 6 most commonly used alternate tunings, such as open E and drop D, at the touch of a button. In addition to that amazing feature, the panel of judges which consisted of distinguished industry professionals, chose to distinguish Gibson’s guitar from the stiff competition based on its innovation, usability, style and price point ($3,999!).

This guitar seems great for anyone in a band who need to change tunings a lot during their performance but don’t want to constantly be changing their guitars. I go to drop D a lot, but I’m not about to spend 4 grand on a self-tuning guitar when I can turn the knob down a step in about 2 seconds. But nevertheless, technology like this is really exciting for the right people.

Check out the Gisbon Robot Guitar demo video.

It was announced earlier this week that Les Paul, the 93-year-old guitarist and inventor, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this November. Funny considering his main area of expertise has never been rock and roll until recently. However, his guitars and innovative effects have utilized by many rockers such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and James Hetfield just to name a few. Jeff Beck was inspired by Les Paul enough to induct him into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 for the early influences category.

Rock Hall President and CEO Terry Stewart said Paul hopes to attend the ceremony in November. He speaks of Les Paul with great admiration: “It’s not just his innovation and his musical playing, but sort of the residual effects of that guitar, it’s become the beginning point for so many people in music, particularly rock music.”

Got a cool guitar riff? Enter to win a signed copy of the Gibson Les Paul Guitar here.

Gibson.com has a great, brand-new interview with Buzz Osborne of The Melvins up at their site. In this interview Buzz Osborne discusses, among other things, the recording of The Melvins new album “Nude With Boots” and his thoughts on music in general.

One thing I thought was very interesting about the interview is that he mentions using Fender guitars in places on the new album. Buzz Osborne is usually associated with Les Paul Customs, as many Melvins fans know. Excerpt…

“I used my ’69 Les Paul on the whole album supported by a Silvertone, Telecaster, and an early ’90s reissue Mustang.”

You can check out the full interview here.