You might not suppose that, after more than a thousand years, there’s much room for improvement in the noble guitar. Apart from an electric spinoff about 80 years ago, it’s pretty much always been the same: a body, a neck and six strings.

But music has taken some interesting turns in the last few years. Video games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” started an international wave of new interest in the guitar. Software like GarageBand and Logic let musicians record and edit music on their computers. And YouTube has made possible a new meritocracy in music: If you’re talented, you’ll get discovered.

Into the intersection of these trends comes a fascinating, one-of-a-kind new instrument called the You Rock guitar ($200) from Inspired Instruments.

Its solid plastic body is small and not as heavy as wood, but much more substantial than the hollow plastic that most “Guitar Hero” heroes are used to.

You play real steel strings with your right hand. But they’re only 6 inches long; they don’t continue up the neck. Instead, your left fingers, on the neck, press what turn out to be only touch sensors.

So what does this accomplish? In certain niches, this hybrid does a better job than anything that’s come before it.

Portability

The sound from this guitar doesn’t come from the ringing of the strings; instead, the strings are just triggers for MIDI data. (MIDI, pronounced “middy,” stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface; it’s a standard communications language for musical information. Basically, it lets electronic instruments talk to computers.)

As a result, this guitar can do some neat tricks. For example, you can pop the neck off for travel.

You can plug the You Rock into an amplifier, as with a real electric guitar. But you can also plug in headphones or earbuds, a rare feature indeed.

Since the You Rock can get its power from four AA batteries, it’s an incredibly portable and private practice instrument. You can play when you’re in a rowboat, up in a tree, next to a sleeping partner — all places where ordinary electric guitars would fear to tread.

And you’re not just carrying around one guitar; you’re carrying 100. The You Rock is a full-blown synthesizer. It can sound like a gentle nylon-string acoustic, a rich 12-string folk guitar, a screaming, distorted heavy-metal axe — even an organ or a string section.

Game controller

Most people play “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band” with a cheap fake guitar that has no strings at all. Your left hand presses five color-coded plastic buttons on the neck, and your right hand strums a plastic flipper. You rack up points by playing famous songs along with your “band” — but in this simplified world, you have only those five buttons to worry about. Your left hand never actually moves on the neck.

The You Rock guitar can replace that chintzy game guitar. Color-coded spots on the side of the neck correspond to the five keys. You do, however, need to insert a $20 wireless converter cartridge, tailored to the game and console version you own. (Cartridges for Wii and PlayStation 3 games are available now; Xbox 360 is coming soon.) You also need to practice, because pressing frets instead of plastic keys feels a lot different.

MIDI controller

This may be the You Rock’s secret weapon.

For years, keyboard players have been able to connect their MIDI keyboards to their Macs and PCs. They use software like GarageBand, Logic, Cubase or Performer to record, edit, enhance and play back their performances.

Guitar players haven’t had such luck. Oh, sure, you can buy a MIDI pickup for your guitar. That’s a special microphone that converts the strings’ pitches into MIDI information for your computer.

But those pickups cost $800 and way, way up. Worse, there’s a lag. The conversion from sound to MIDI data takes a fraction of a second, making it frustrating to record fast, precise performances.

Yet the $200 You Rock is a zero-delay MIDI guitar. For real guitarists, this feature screams of possibility. For example, the You Rock can connect to GarageBand for the iPad. Can you imagine? An entire multitrack recording studio now fits into a backpack.

Now, I’m a musician, but not a guitarist. To evaluate the You Rock, I assembled an advisory panel. They included two students — my own children, 12 and 14 — and two instructors at the local guitar center.

My daughter loved the silent-practice feature. My son noted that in most regards, the You Rock plays exactly like a real guitar. But without real strings, you can’t do pull-offs from an open string. You also can’t “bend” a note.

The local guitar teachers didn’t look impressed when they saw the plastic body and missing headstock. But they quickly came around.

“It’s the ultimate travel guitar,” concluded one. Another doubted that a real guitarist would travel with it or perform with it, but said that even professionals would love its MIDI features.

So for amateurs, MIDI-inclined professionals, and maturing guitar heroes and heroines, this versatile, inexpensive instrument is truly valuable. Put another way: You Rock, you rock.