Guitar Hero

[kayagum]

Am I the only luddite to think that this is one of the saddest phenomena of the 21st century?

I mean, is this for people who won't actually learn how to play guitar?

You may laugh, but IMHO Guitar Hero is analogous to the real world- people think they know how to do something, but really don't.

I'm just waiting for someone to say that [insert cheap DAW program here] is for people who think they know how to record, but really don't.

[getreel]

I think you are right in a lot of ways about GH. I also think that it could be good because it might actually help(or be helping) bring back the popularity of rock and guitar based music to the mainstream. My local music store has on it's sign right now something like this:
"Don't Play Guitar Hero, Be a Guitar Hero!"
I think they are right on with that. There are so many things people want to think they can do but really can't or wouldn't take the time to learn. It's the same with games like "The Movies" or even "Roller Coaster Tycoon" but it's not as blatant as having a fake little guitar and mocking stage moves while pressing colored buttons. As a "real" guitarist for 24 years, I have to admit I'm more than slightly offended.

[RefD]

my friends kids stopped getting together to jam and now get together to play Guitar Hero.

so i do not think your fears are unfounded.

[apropos of nothing]

Guitar Hero is an interesting development in the video game world. I think it was a reflection of the rush to alternate controllers that started with driving game controllers, continued with Dance Dance Revolution and has culminated (thus far) in the Wii. More articulation in video games is not neccesarily a bad thing. I can't stand DDR, and suck abjectly at GH, and resent it. Wii looks like great fun, and the wifey and I will probably end up with one at some point.

The best heavy metal guitar player I know LOVES GH, and is pretty good at it. He also hates MIDI gear for the abstraction, which even as a MIDI-using musician, I can understand, but find ironic in light of his love of GH. I guess he regards it as a toy, so seperating it from the world of instruments.

With an adequate controller, I think it'd make a great teaching tool, and I hear that there are programs that work with MIDI controllers in this way. I'm sure in five to ten years, we'll see interviews in TO, saying, "Yeah, I started with GH back in the day, and that motivated me to learn an instrument."

I also don't think its bad as way to demotivate people to play instruments. If they get side-tracked entirely by GH, did you really want them to be playing music in the first place?

I also like that they've used originals by a bunch of indie bands (including a CH-based ensemble) for some of the follow-up versions.

But yeah, as a game, it hurts my wrists and makes me look like a schmuck.

[markmeat]

It's one of my favorite things on Earth...


It's a toy...


I don't think it will change the world...


It's a fad...


RockBand for the 360 looks promising, though... it comes with 4 drum pads and a kick pedal, so theoretically, someone who masters that on the harder settings MIGHT be able to transfer that skill to actual drummer-ing... that'd be neat... to see more drummers out there.

MEAT

[JGriffin]

I don't get that riled up about it. It's a toy. It's exactly the same as a hundred other video games based on real-life activities: golf, tennis, football, driving a race car...You could also say Madden Football is sad because it's for people who aren't running backs. Silly really. Honestly, do you think Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods get this bent out of shape about "Golden Tee?" Come on. I mean, isn't this kind of the point of this type of game? Any game that's not shooting aliens or chasing after Gandalf, that is.

I've been a "real" guitarist for 33 years, doesn't bother me in the least. Neither, for that matter, does Karaoke, which is "Guitar Hero" for people who can't sing.

[Smitty]

if you think you can play guitar because you're good at guitar hero, then you're a moron. that's akin to thinking you can pull off awesome aerial skateboard moves in real life because you're good at Tony Hawk 4. in either instance, it will take anyone who tries to transfer their skill set approximately 2 seconds to realize their error.

i have GH3 for the Wii, and it is awesome. my girlfriend went from "why do you want that stupid guitar game" to "this is the best game EVER!" after about 5 minutes playing it.

[getreel]

yeah, I suppose it's a fine game. I guess I just hate it because I suck at it. That's OK, I suck at most games... and I'm old and grumpy sometimes, so that probably explains it.

[29 Lives]

sorry i could'nt reply to this thread any sooner....too busy playing GH!i'm actually kind of addicted to it.... i was very skeptical about it at first, but that's only because i sucked at it.... i don't even like Buckethead....in fact, i hate Buckethead, but i heard his song about 250-plus times since i bought the game......something always happens when i get real tired of playing GH though. i turn it off, and start to play my real guitar, because i get sick of playing other peoples songs....this is also the same instinct that kept from making decent money playing in cover bands over the years, and it's also the same instinct that will prevent any kid who really wants to rock out his own ideas, from only playing GH.

[Electro-Voice 664]

They just need to make the interface like one of those old Bond or Roland midi guitars. Eventually the guitar could be a six string job with frets and stuff. Then the game would just be like who can read tablature really fast?! I do like that the Guitar Hero game promotes devil worship. Just in time for Christmas

[fossiltooth]

I've never played guitar hero.

I'm not to keen on modern video games in general, but I think that fact that young people now have alternatives to first-person shoot-em up games and soul sucking mmorpgs is a good thing.

From what I've seen, Guitar Hero is essentially the game of Simon with a more complicated controller. I don't think kids who play guitar hero think they can play guitar. That's just silly. However, if someone has the kind of brain that can easily memorize patterns and spontaneously translate visual instructions into dexterous movements, they probably have the kind of brain that would allow them to becom a competent player if they decided to take it up.

What people love so much about video games are the fact that they offer immediate, clearly defined rewards for completing specific tasks. This is rarely the case in real life. Learning a real instrument will never offer the short-term sense of accomplishment that playing a game does. It takes discipline, foresight, commitment and a sense of 'higher purpose'. Try to sell those ideas to kids... or most adults these days.

You can't blame humans for desiring immediate reward. When I was more active as a musician, rather than a producer and engineer, I was more interested in writing than practicing because it offered more immediate gratification, and it stimulated me in a way that held my interest. Then, when I started to get into mixing, I became extremely interested in "practicing" regularly, for hours on end because it truly held my attention. Even though the rewards and progress might seem subtle to others, those small incremental advances seemed truly important and special to me.

My incremental evolution as a mixer continues to hold my interest more than my incremental evolution as a player. Different strokes.

Incidentally, I played Donkey Conga once. It was on display at a Circuit City when it came out. It was pretty fun! It makes you look ridiculous, and it's simple, accessible and challenging all at the same time. It's also essentially video Simon with a funny controller. Nuthin' wrong with that. If you hate Guitar Hero, it's most likely because you hate the aesthetic or perceived symbolism.

Again, I've never played it, so I might be missing something.

[Smitty]

What people love so much about video games are the fact that they offer immediate, clearly defined rewards for completing specific tasks.

i can only speak for me, but i feel like Guitar Hero 3, like so many other games coming out these days, is aimed less at being an involving single player experience than it is a great multiplayer experience. most of what you can do by yourself allows you to purchase options that are really only fun if you play against/with other people, either in the room with you or online.

being a new wii owner, i'm amazed at how many times the end result of a great game on that thing is a great social experience. it gets drug out pretty much immediately at parties.

[RodC]

Just about the same as listening to about 100 songs and wondering if anyone realizes that many many of their fav "songs" dont include any musicians?? Just a bunch of drum machines and loops. Whats even more horrible is a "hit" song that the man told them was good... then you take listen and its just one loop played through the whole song.

Am I gettin old or is there no appreciation for musicianship these days?

[A-Barr]

Anybody see the "Guitar Queero" South Park episode?

The kids are all sitting around playing GH, then Stan's father comes out with a real guitar and plays the song they were "playing" in GH and offers to teach it to them for real.

Stan, humiliated, says "DAD, what are you DOING? Playing real guitar is for OLD PEOPLE!"

But really, does anyone think there's a shortage of guitar players in this world?

[JGriffin]

Am I gettin old or is there no appreciation for musicianship these days?

You're getting old. The same was said by aging musicians in the '80s and '90s, and I'll bet in the decades before that as well, though I was too young to see it firsthand.