Drummers are the worst, but for guitar players, the options are limited. You either get a drummer or deal with a bunch of extra gear to replace a drummer. Which is why Beat Buddy, despite its really unfortunate name, is a totally intriguing. It could be the simple hands-free drum machine guitar players have been waiting for.


I won't detail all of the beat making/playing techniques available to the solo shredder, but suffice it to say that the dude in the awkward video below is absolutely right about the problem: The methods are all impractical. From what we can tell, Beat Buddy keeps it simple. Set the tempo, and pre-programmed beat plays. Give it a tap, and you can transition to a chorus beat. Using an external footswitch you can also add flourishes like hand claps. Beat Buddy ships with 200 ready-to-go songs on board, plus, you can connect the pedal to your computer and load it up with custom beats using the included software. It's hard to tell from the the video how good the drum samples are, but Beat Buddy's inventor promises they've been "meticulously" produced.

Beat Buddy is an Indiegogo campaign that's way over it's funding goal, but the usual caveats about crowdfunding apply: Invest at your own risk! That said, the $200 Indiegogo price is considerably cheaper than the planned $350 retail price. In either case, you'd be hard-pressed to find a cheaper solution that's this versatile. But let's rename this thing guys. How about the Bonham Box? [Indiegogo via Create Digital Music]