Electronic musical instrument

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a musical instrument body;
• a fingerboard fixed to said musical instrument body;
• a plurality of pitch designation operating elements provided on said fingerboard, for determining pitch of musical tones to be generated;
• at least one timing determination operating element provided on said musical instrument body, for determining sounding timing;
• a musical tone generator that generates musical tones according to operation of said pitch designation operating elements and operation of said timing determination operating element;
• an effect-application operating element provided on said musical instrument body in a vicinity of said timing determination operating element;
• and
• a controller responsive to operation of said effect-application operating element, for providing control to obtain a choking effect by raising the pitch of a musical tone being generated by said musical tone generator by a predetermined amount, said controller providing control to vary the pitch of the musical tone during choking according to an operating manner of said effect-application operating element.

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a base;
• a fingerboard fixed to said base;
• a plurality of pitch designation operating elements provided on said fingerboard, for designating pitch of musical tones to be generated;
• at least one timing determination operating element provided on said base, for controlling sounding timing;
• a musical tone generator that generates musical tones according to operation of said pitch designation operating elements and operation of said timing determination operating element;
• an arm disposed in a vicinity of said timing determination operating element in a manner being capable of being operated;
• and
• an auto-choking controller that provides control to gradually raise the pitch of a musical tone being generated by said musical tone generator during operation of said arm after the operation of said arm is started.

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a base;
• a fingerboard supported by said base;
• a plurality of pitch designation operating elements provided on said fingerboard, for designating pitch of musical tones to be generated;
• at least one timing determination operating element provided on said base, for controlling sounding timing;
• a musical tone generator that generates musical tones according to operation of said pitch designation operating elements and operation of said timing determination operating element;
• an arm disposed in a vicinity of said timing determination operating element in a manner being capable of being operated in a predetermined direction and in a direction opposite to the predetermined direction;
• and
• an auto-choking controller operable when said arm is operated in the predetermined direction while said musical tone generator is generating a musical tone, to provide control to issue a choking-on instruction to start a choking function, and to gradually raise the pitch of the musical tone during operation of said arm, said auto-choking controller being operable when said arm is operated in the direction opposite to the predetermined direction during execution of the choking function, to provide control to issue a choking-off instruction to turn off the choking function, and to return the pitch of the musical tone being generated by said musical tone generator to an original pitch designated by said pitch designation operating elements before the choking function is started.