Guitar Hero

[lamradio]

At first I thought that Guitar Hero was bad for lead guitar, but I'm not so sure anymore. What do you think?

[John Smith]

I don't know if Guitar Hero is going to get more people playing guitar or not. What I do know is that it is exposing my kids to music they would not normally listen to.

[ikol]

Rock Band is even better because it has drums and vocals, both of which more closely resemble the actual instruments.

[Guest David Puddy]

i just don't find the game fun.

[Lynch]

I have been playing guitar for about 12 years, and I played Guitar Hero for the first, and only, time a couple of months ago. I SUCKED at it. I think there is very little in common between playing real guitar and the game. Granted, with the game it really works your hand-eye coordination and you have to be pretty damn fast, but will someone who is inspired to play guitar from Guitar Hero make music worth listening to? Learning to play guitar requires alot of dedication, patience, and an ear for music.

Maybe, if it makes alot of people want to suddenly learn to play guitar, there might be alot of cheap used guitars on the market soon, haha.

Anyway, if it gets more people interested in music, then giv'r!

[lamradio]

Learning to play guitar requires alot of dedication, patience, and an ear for music.

Maybe, if it makes alot of people want to suddenly learn to play guitar, there might be alot of cheap used guitars on the market soon, haha.

Anyway, if it gets more people interested in music, then giv'r!

 

Great point. Maybe future guitarists are going to learn to play, regardless of what music or game they are exposed to. Like I have known many people that adore music and guitar, have tried guitar, but just can't seem to take off with it.

[MattZ]

The circuit city (?) near my office on 5th Ave has two Rock Band setups right by the store window. Crowds gather outside at the window to watch teenagers play the game. There is one dude that plays the guitar behind his back and sticks his tongue out. I am not joking.

[poppydawn]

I thought it was goofy at first, but the game's what finally motivated my husband to start learning to play guitar for real. I haven't seen him so excited about a new hobby in forever. Yeah, he might not get very far, but at least he's finally giving it a try.

 

On the same note, I've always had a terrible fear of singing in public after a really bad incident in sixth grade. As much as I love music, I've always been hard-pressed to even quietly sing along at concerts or sing lullabies to my kid. Some friends of ours recently got Rock Band, and I was thrown into being the lead singer. Lo and behold, I nailed the song. And then another and another and another. Turns out I can carry a tune after all. It took a silly, overpriced video game to finally get me to dump 20 years of baggage.

 

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are inspirations to our people and will save society. Maybe.

[Lynch]

Great point. Maybe future guitarists are going to learn to play, regardless of what music or game they are exposed to. Like I have known many people that adore music and guitar, have tried guitar, but just can't seem to take off with it.

Friends and co-workers have heard me play and wanted me to teach them but it has never worked out. I learnt to play by ear, and can't read a single note. I just listen and figure it out. It's not like teaching someone to drive a car or ride a bike. I remember how frustrated I was when I first started playing and the F-bombs would fly (especially with "C" in the first position, I could NEVER do that one properly at first). Not sure how I stuck with it but somehow I did. I also come from a musical family and was always around guitar players as a kid.

[Gobias Industries]

it definitely can inspire people to try to learn instruments, but playing Guitar Hero is nothing like playing guitar...and vice versa.

 

it really pulls more people towards video games because for one it satisfies the need for air guitarists for something concrete, and it easily pulls the casual gamer in, unlike the real guitar which is daunting for the average joe who doesn't really know music. it also creates an appreciation for rock music and lead rock guitar.

 

so it's really both answers, so i'm not going to vote

[a.miller]

The upside is that it's exposing America's youth much better music (from the past) than most of the crap that's out there now. Still, for the price of those games you could go get a guitar and really learn some songs. Just MHO.

[anthony]

I am going to be optimistic and hope that it turns kids onto playing the real thing.

[Twisted Acres]

I used to think very little of it, but now that my 10-year-old (he'll kick my ass if he knew I didn't say 10-and-a-half-year-old) nephew has started learning to play some of the riffs he's been emulating on a real live guitar, I think it's good. He got a bit of a headstart on the ideas of timing and phrasing... and he's checking out some bands he would never, ever have simply sat down to listen to at his age. He's very frustrated by the pains on his fingertips and at the bottom of his thumb, but he wants to work past them and improve. I glow with pride when I listen to his choppy innocent versions of rock's greatest riffs, and 80% of the reason he's doing it is because of that game (the other 20% is because I got my hands on his iPod and secretly filled it with other tracks by the bands he's hearing on the game).

[WaronWar]

It's certainly not going to improve one's skills to say the least.

 

But at the very least they do have Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" on the third verison, which is a great song. However, most of the lead guitar stuff on the songs on the game are just over the top nonsense.

[Elixir Sue]

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are inspirations to our people and will save society. Maybe.

 

I haven't had a chance to play Rock Band yet. I'm pretty excited about trying out the drums sometime, though. I have a lot of fun playing Guitar Hero, but it hasn't inspired me to learn to play a real guitar. I'll leave that to people with actual musical ability.

[stooka]

There is something about hearing a six year old bust out all the lyrics to Next To You.

 

Bands would be crazy not to allow their music on these games!