NAMM 2025 was marked by some pretty eye-opening innovations. However, perhaps one of the most off-kilter offerings was the Circle Guitar by Circle Instruments, described as “a hyper instrument that transforms what a guitar can do.”
Essentially, it's an electro-mechanical guitar that uses a MIDI-enabled physical sequencer to strum the strings. As the name suggests, there's a spinning wheel covered in tiny plectrums which create “rhythms impossible to replicate by hand” – all in the spirit of freeing players to go beyond the traditional realm of guitar playing.
