Fart Pedal Is Perfect Christmas Gift For Crappy Guitar Players

CHICAGO — Everybody probably knows a guitarist who stinks at playing solos. It might even be me, or you. Well, let me introduce you to what could be a guitar player equalizer: "The Fart Pedal."

It's the latest offering from the twisted brain of serial silly-idea man Steve Gadlin, who once charmed $25,000 out of Mark Cuban on "Shark Tank" to launch a custom cartoon cat drawing business, I Want To Draw A Cat For You.

Gadlin says he didn't expect so many people actually would want to buy a guitar stomp box that offers "dry" and "wet" fart sounds that really bring out a guitar's "low-end."

"I do stupid things to keep myself sane, because my day job is just normal," Gadlin said. "I thought this was another guaranteed flop."

Then, reporter Matt Owen broke the news of Gadlin's Fart Pedal crowdfunding effort on Guitar World— the highest circulation music magazine in the world. As of Wednesday, Fart Pedal's Kickstarter campaign has already raised $59,446, nearly double its funding goal, with two weeks to go.

Now, Gadlin is stoked that his idea didn't turn out to be a stinker.

"In my sick mind, every person with a guitar needs the Fart Pedal at one time or another. It's fun to inject into a live performance," he said. "It's a prank. It's hilarious to noodle around with. It's an interesting addition to a guitar player's rig to inject into a live performance. I'm excited to see what people do with it."

Apparently, plenty of people think Gadlin's fart-effect technology might provide relief to guitar players with terrible "GAS" — Gear Acquisition Syndrome, that is — which manifests in a single symptom, the unrelenting urge to buy and own instruments and equipment no matter how silly.

Interestingly enough, the Fart Pedal didn't even start out as guitar player-centric sales pitch.

"I originally wanted to create a microphone for wedding toasts that has a chip in it, so when the best man gives a speech, the only thing that comes out of the speakers is fart noises," Gadlin said. "I found out that a microphone was too small, but decided I had to do something fart related. ... I found an engineer to work with and ran with it."

Gadlin partnered with Noise Floor, an award-winning sound design company in Chicago, to develop "bespoke, custom fart noises ... tailored specifically for a guitar amplifier, and tuned for exceptional live or studio performance."

"These aren't the kind of fart machine noises you'll find at Spencer Gifts," Gadlin said.

And if you don't believe him, check out the YouTube demo by professional bassist Amos Heller, who has played with Taylor Swift. He really lets it rip, if you know what I'm saying.

Gadlin says the Kickstarter funding boost has him hopeful that Fart Pedal will ready to ship pre-ordered Fart Pedals in time for the holidays. And let's face it, at $165, the Fart Pedal might be the perfect Christmas gift for crappy guitar players, and the fart-joke-loving folks who love them.

Each package comes with "fake-out" stickers designed to conceal the electronic fart joke until unsuspecting guitarists plug in and play a new kind of power chord.

And if for some reason you tire of guitar fart effects, Gadlin's stomp box can be hacked to produce other sounds "It's multipurpose," he said. "You can replace farts with burps if you want."

Gadlin isn't joking when he says that he's hoping to one day have his Fart Pedals sold at Guitar Center and other mega-musical gear stores.

Indeed, Fart Pedal could already on its way to being huge in Taiwan, Gadlin told me.

"I had a distributor asked for pricing for 100 Fart Pedals a year," he said.

That might not sound like much, but it doesn't stink.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

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