International guitar-giant Fender is set to buy Riffstation - an Irish start-up that has developed sophisticated guitar tuition software.

Irish Independent reports that the deal is worth €5m - the company was started by Dan Barry and Mikel Gainza in 2010, both of the founders have worked for the school of engineering in the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Riffstation identifies the basic cord structures of songs and allows guitarists to isolate riffs, solos and chord changes when learning songs, and to remove guitar tracks from songs to turn them into backing tracks to practice over. 

This isn't the only Irish guitar innovation that's been causing a stir, late in 2014 Bob O'Reilly Guitars beat its target to raise €15,000 on the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to make midi guitars - taking in €22,884.

Fender is owned by the investment firm TPG Growth. While Fender's bread and butter is still selling guitars and amplifiers, in recent years it has been putting more of a focus on developing its digital offerings.