The following report is courtesy of Nicholas Kittel from ABC.net.au:

Have you ever dreamt of a career as a rock 'n' roll star, but failed because of lack of talent?

Reality television programs would suggest that revelling in your fifteen-minutes of fame is not all that hard, but for many it still remains elusive... that is until now.

Dr. Richard Helmer, a CSIRO engineer, is currently in the process of making fame available to everyone and anyone who has ever dreamt of a career as a rock 'n' roll legend.

Dr. Richard and his team have recently put the finishing touches on the prototype of their 'Wearable Instrument Shirt' (WIS), which enables its wearer to play an 'air guitar', allowing anyone to play the guitar like JIMMY PAGE or ROBERT PLSNT, but without having to go through the bother of years of practice.

Dr. Helmer said that wearers of the WIS could play it by simply moving one arm to pick chords and the other to strum the imaginary instrument's strings.

"It's an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making - even by players without significant musical or computing skills. It allows you to jump around and the sound generated is just like an original mp3," he said.

So if you love the idea of being a rock star but have no musical ability, apart from looking the part, then the air guitar shirt may be right up your alley... Dr. Richard says the only prerequisite to be able to play the shirt is a sense of timing.

"It's a matter of being in time with the music, but you don't need to understand it... you don't need to know how to do the finger pattern or whatever for the chord."

Dr. Richard is a bit of music tragic and confessed that the idea for the shirt stemmed more from wanting to share his passion with those who can't play an instrument rather than any form of scientific endeavour. But the question remains... with the help of the shirt; does Dr Richard fancy himself as the next SANTANA or JIMI HENDRIX?

"Maybe Billy Duffy from (rock and roll band) THE CULT... I play guitar and I needed to have some knowledge of music to make this work, so that we could choose the chords and that because we are trying to pitch it at a level where someone who's turned a computer on before can use the software and then someone who knows how to pretend to play the guitar can play it."

So what are the implications of the air guitar shirt? Dr. Helmer sees a future beyond simply making music, especially in the area of physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

"I see an evolution... there's some critical applications, but I think people need to get used to it in a fun sense first, before we take it too far so that's why we've done this."

Dr. Richard said that we could be seeing people practising their stage moves and air guitar solos at the bus stop or train station as soon as tomorrow, although he says they'll probably be doing it without any sound as the WIS is still, very much, in the prototype stage.

(Photo: Dr. Richard Helmer demonstrates the Wearable Instrument Shirt - image courtesy of the CSIRO).