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Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the Great Question

Thursday October 25, 2007 at 05:00 PM

Guitar Hero, as we all know, is one of the most enjoyable video games ever created. It takes the joy and skill of playing music and simplifies it to a degree that non-musicians can play along. Soon, the world will meet Rock Band, the latest and greatest in the music video game world. It will be a four piece outfit - guitar, bass, drums and vocals - and, hopefully, will be just as fun to play as the first two Guitar Heroes. But back to the original for a second.

I've noticed that some of my friends who are absolutely amazing at Guitar Hero cannot pick out a single tune on a real guitar. In fact, many of them don't even know how to hold a guitar properly or identify a fret. Yet when they strap on a Guitar Hero axe their fingers fly effortlessly around the buttons and they execute complicated patterns that even a drummer with four-way independence would be hesitant to try. So the question is, why spend so much time learning Guitar Hero and not plain old guitar?

Aside from the chick-getting factor, learning how to play real guitar is a much more rewarding process. While I won't deny I was pumped when I got my first perfect score on a Guitar Hero song, I felt much better when I taught myself to play a C chord on a real guitar. But the promise of a long, slow learning process with the eventual reward being the ability to play a few songs isn't nearly enough to sway the casual player over to the the actual instrument. They'll never play real guitar. It's the people who can play something like this I wonder about...(Keep in mind, each colored button that goes by is one click of the pick apparatus and each color is a different finger position)

Now, for all I know the person who made this video is insane at actual guitar. However, I have friends who are nearly this good yet can't shred for the life of them. They spend hours upon hours perfecting their Guitar Hero technique when they could be jamming on a real axe. They clearly have rhythm. They have hand and finger coordination. They even have enough money to customize their Guitar Hero rig. What is stopping them from investing in a used Strat and becoming the next Hendrix or Page? Have we become so good at making video games that we are no longer interested in the skills those games are based on? In the future, will the best Guitar Hero gamers have groupies?

Or should we just enjoy a well-made game for what it is and appreciate that even though someone can blow through a nasty solo on an imaginary guitar, to do it in real life is still the sole domain of seasoned players like yourselves? Sounds good to me.

-Streeter

Tags: Guitar Hero, Opinion

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5 Comments:

Dan Zaccagnino said:
Thursday October 25, 2007 at 07:12 PM

You're friends customize their Guitar Hero axes? LAME... I'm with you Street, get them a Strat! Although the difficulty changes when you go from essentially having 5 "notes" on one "string" to having some 21 notes on 6 different strings.

Streeter Seidell said:
Thursday October 25, 2007 at 11:32 PM

Indeed, it's much harder to learn actual guitar but if they put the same amount of time and energy into it I bet they wouldn't be half bad. They're going to be bummer when they find out that star power isn't real, though.

Headstones 6ixty 6ix \\m// said:
Friday October 26, 2007 at 06:20 AM

Hey, guys! Come on. Let them have some fun. It’s all about strapping on a guitar, jamming to some of the coolest tunes of all time and rocking your ass off. Besides, there would be way, too many guitarists out there. It’s bad enough as it is.
Most of the kids, who catch the Guitar Bug and take up guitar lessons, don’t go beyond a few weeks and they’re off to something else. Fantasy or not, nowhere else can any Old Joe who is not a musician, be a rock star, where the crowd goes nuts when you rock and Boo’s you off the stage when you suck. You even get an encore when you’ve completed a level. The game rocks!
For those of you overly pretentious “musicians”, you need not worry about being replaced by the neighborhood twelve year old, brandishing a red, plastic, scaled down S.G. with a concealed memory card in the back pocket.

All you Guitar Heroes, Keep tilting those Guitars! \\m// \\m//

minime c. said:
Friday October 26, 2007 at 12:43 PM

Hahaa that s a very funny thread but let the people do where they have fun with.I know it s better to learn an instrument or to read a book or things like that but there is so many "YOU MUST DO " in this world then it is cool to have some fun and when this is the right thing for them why not ?
And pssssst Top secret but it can be that one of this heros learn later a real instrument,hmmm ,can be ???Hihihih

Dan Zaccagnino said:
Friday October 26, 2007 at 02:27 PM

"Besides, there would be way, too many guitarists out there. It’s bad enough as it is."

Haha...Headstones, you totally convinced me with that one : ) I didn't mean it in a pretentous way... Obviously there is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying some good ole video game time (I just finished an entire season of Tecmo Super Bowl on the old-school NES, Bo Jackson is amazing). However, I also think there's a difference between people who casually play video games and people who need to get outside and meet the rest of the world. My guess is the guy in this video is the latter and maybe if he applied his amazing skills to a real guitar he might not only get out of his apartment but he might also get a girlfriend - they dig guitarists. I say this all in jest. People should do what makes them happy and God knows the world doesn't need more guitarists : )

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Thursday October 25, 2007 at 05:00 PM

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