Guitar Hero Is Big Hit With Bands

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "An unlikely but growing group of rock stars are also avid players of Guitar Hero, a PlayStation title that uses a miniature plastic guitar to let gamers pretend to be, well, rock stars, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'Michael Einziger, the 30-year-old guitarist for the hard-rock band Incubus, says he was "shocked at how hard it was" to play the videogame's version of his song "Stellar." He admits he was handily beaten by his then-14-year-old sister, Ruby Aldridge, when the two of them squared off earlier this year. "It doesn't have anything to do with playing guitar," Mr. Einziger says. "It's all rhythmic." When the four members of the punk-pop band the Donnas got together to play Guitar Hero last week, guitarist Allison Robertson took some good-natured ribbing from her bandmates, says drummer Torry Castellano. That's because Ms. Robertson had a hard time playing along with the band's own song "Take It Off." "Expectations for her are pretty high because she's the guitar player and because she's so good at videogames in general," says Ms. Castellano.'"

Big deal.

[Moderator]

'Michael Einziger, the 30-year-old guitarist for the hard-rock band Incubus, says he was "shocked at how hard it was" to play the videogame's version of his song "Stellar."

In a related story, thirteen year old "Guitar Heroes" are shocked at how hard it is to play Randy Rhoads' "Suicide" solo on a real guitar. Give me a break. When I first heard of this game, I was fascinated at the idea that something so popular might also be educational. I was thinking something along the lines of you plug your guitar into the PS2 and play along, maybe like Guitar Pro. Then I saw that the 'guitar' was really a reshaped video game controller with four buttons. What a waste. Then again, having to learn scales and reading sheet music wouldn't sell now would it?

Hmm

[FirienFirien]

It seems like the implementation might be a bit strange/broken when the person who wrote and played a song can't get a good score. Or is the controller too different from a real guitar?

/wonders whether to suggest being able to plug in a real or midi electric... at the moment my housemate, who is a little tone deaf, is attempting to learn the guitar. Apps on every platform can register a midi signal, and a real signal can be fouriered into played notes. Much of the implementation must be there in the code; would it be difficult to create a more... professional version? I for one would not be averse to my housemate being able to see where and what he was doing wrong!

It isn't completely without benefits

[The_Dude]

I hope no one would argue that playing Guitar Hero would help you learn to play actual music on a guitar, but it does exercise your fingers pretty well and developing the coordination to be able to play on the hard and expert levels should translate in part to playing a real instrument.

Re:I Don't Understand

[eldavojohn]

Because it's a fun game? Rhythm games are popular for a reason, because it's an extremely easy concept to grasp but can be extremely hard to pull off perfectly. Doesn't matter if you're a musician or a mill worker, if it's fun, there's no reason not to play it. It in no way threatans or diminishes "real" music production, it's simply binding together two popular activities: Being a rock star, and playing video games.

Good answer! Seriously, for the average person, this is a great game. But this article is talking about real musicians (whose music just happens to be in the game). Sounds really stupid to me. Sounds like these musicians are just promoting it because they get a dime for every copy sold. I hate to be cynical but that's why my initial post apparently made me sound like an ass.

Once again, I wasn't saying no one should play this game, I was just confused why a musician with unlimited resources would play it.

Honestly, if you love guitar hero, I don't know why you would be crazy for playing a real guitar. That's just my opinion, mod me as flamebait if you want ...

Re:Wohh.. Watch it pal

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

WOW!
Well, I was mostly just kidding. COORELATION != to Cause & Effect. It's true that I might have rare "natural" abilities, or am some kind of mutant.

But since you replied, could you please explain your response by clarifying the sentance:

Constantly exceeding the speed limit suggests that there are other things which would make me think you are a poor driver.

I really don't know what your trying to say here.

Also, How are you defining "GOOD"? Is a Good Driver one who never gets a speeding ticket, never has an accident but drives 59 in the passing lane? Is it the nice guy who signals, and lets people in all the time, but allways "California" stops?. Is it someone who has a chase to caught ratio of 100:1 or 100:0? How long does it take for a person to become a good driver? If a person had a few accidents but then went the next 10 years without? What about exercising the ability to execute a flawless J - turn in an emergency situation? (this really happened to me, I was going up a steep hill in a 4x4 on icy terrain, and well, ABS doesn't work going backwards (not on street roads either)

As for shooting expierience, I hit four out of my first 5 clay pigeons with a shotgun, the fith was thrown before I was set. My first Duck was shot on my first try also. (My brother in law took me out. I ate it, wasn't fond, and haven't hunted since) The rifle thing happened shortly after. I do think video games taught me to wait until I was 100% sure I would hit the shot before I took it. I can say that video games don't prepare you for the KICK or the shoulder pains. (Honestly, I was crapy with the handgun. The kick throws your hand all over the place, and I was never "set" for my second shot.)