Abstract: A musical keyboard instrument comprising an electronic keyboard and a control panel. The keyboard is composed of black and white keys arranged in a conventional pattern. A keyboard display made up of LED displays and red-green illuminators inform a user of the proper finger and hand positions to be used on the keyboard. To view the keyboard display when it is activated, the user simply looks directly at the keys. Each red-green illuminator mounts on the interior of a housing such that a pair of red and green lights extend into the hollow interior of one of the keys. Normally, the keys appear to a player as conventional black and white keys. However, the upper surfaces of the keys are made partially transparent and light dispersive such that its apparent color to a player will change when properly back lit by the red-green illuminators. The illuminators and the LED displays are controlled when a user makes selections from a bank of pushbutton switches.

Abstract: A musical instrument training system for a stringed musical instrument having a body, a fingerboard, a plurality of strings, and an electric pickup. A fingering display (left hand) and a playing display (right hand) are mounted on the fingerboard. A control circuit, mounted on the body, receives input signals from one channel of a stereo for controlling the fingering and playing displays. The fingering and playing displays comprise an array of LEDs and LCDs that indicate the strings to finger, the fingers to use, the strings to play and the direction of play. A freeze control permits the user to "freeze" a section of the input signals in a buffer for repetitive practice. A tuning circuit permits the user to compare the tone of a string with a stored tone via a tuning display to help tune the instrument.