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.'"

I Don't Understand

[eldavojohn (898314)]

I'm an electric bassist and personally, I care not for Guitar Hero.

I mean, I've got a freaking bass & a computer with Linux & audacity [sourceforge.net] in my living room ... why play guitar hero? To play with the bands? If I want to do that, I strip the low end out of an MP3 on my computer and just play along with it.

I find it odd that someone who probably has their pick of basses/guitars & effect pedals would prefer the not as rewarding feeling of playing Guitar Hero. Well, to each their own I guess. I think the guitarist of Korn should go buy some Rickenbacker guitars ... I can't imagine ever getting tired of those.

The funniest thing is that my friend wants to play guitar ... so he buys Guitar Hero. Which provides you with no guitar skills whatsoever. This summary hits it right on the head that it improves your rhythm but does nothing for your melody or style of playing.

PS2 + Guitar Hero = $300. Decent acoustic starter Yamaha guitar is about the same. Take your choice. I suspect Guitar Hero would be a great toy for working on your sense of tempo ... but it's still a far cry from the coordination to play any other instrument.

Re:I Don't Understand

[Nos. (179609)]

Yup, it would be like learning to race by playing video games, or thinking you should be on the anti-terrorist teams because of your K:D ratio in Counter-Strike. Games are just that, entertainment. You may learn somethings, but its no substitute for real life.

Re:

[Ackmo (700165)]

Tell that to Denny Hamlin [nascar.com]...

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[mobby_6kl (668092)]

Of course the games aren't a substitute for real life, but while you would be learning close to nothing about racing from the latest NFS, or about flying from Crimson Skies, you could learn a lot of relevant information from GTR2 [gamerankings.com] and Falcon 4 [gamerankings.com]. Now, GH is completly different from the above two categories because it's just fucking retarded - you're pressing the buttons as they light up on screen! Wow, what a novel concept, and about as fun as the dancing minigames in Larry, Pirates!, Stubbs, and a shitload of

Re:

[drinkypoo (153816)]

Yup, it would be like learning to race by playing video games

If you knew anything about driving you would know that this is a completely valid strategy. Most people, even people who own and operate a car, really don't know shit about driving, so this isn't much of a surprise.

My driving skills - street driving skills - were greatly enhanced by playing the Gran Turismo series of games. Reading through the "driving school" data in the handbook and putting those skills to use in the video game taught me

Re:I Don't Understand

[OptimusPaul (940627)]

Guitar Hero is totaly fun to play, that's why you play it. I think that anyone who plays it because they want to learn to play guitar a deluding themselves, It's a game, nothing more. It's kind of like playing DDR to learn to waltz, just not going to happen.

Re:I Don't Understand

[twistedsymphony (956982)]

The point isn't to play along with the band, the point is to play along with your friends and have a good time. If you have friends who are musicians then you could probably all get together and have fun playing real music. Otherwise I think the majority of people (who are most likely not very musical) would prefer the video game version. Also I think it's a bit easier having one person carrying a slim PS2 and a couple of fake plastic guitars to your friends house then everyone hauling around heavy equipment... and then worrying that the neighbors will complain.

Re:I Don't Understand

[Xzzy (111297)]

why play guitar hero?

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.

Re:

[eldavojohn (898314)]

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

Re:I Don't Understand

[Knara (9377)]

I play electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. I love guitar hero. Why? Because it's fun to play. It's skillset is also wildy divergent from the skillset required for actual guitar work (because, well, it's a rhythm game for your fingers, not a melodic instrument). Some songs are indeed much harder to play in GH than in real life (mostly due to the fact that you can't move vertically from string to string and all chording is lateral).

Whenever there's a GH post anywhere, there's always some pretentious moron who has to point out that he plays guitar/bass/kazoo in real life, and that people who play GH are wasting their time. I dunno what motivates their need to do this, but it always happens.

Re:I Don't Understand

[rAiNsT0rm (877553)]

Well, Mr. la-de-freakin-da-know-it-all, I am a world class Jazz Kazooist, have been for the past 62 years, and I for one find Guitar Hero to be complete and utter crap!

The skills and nuances of the Kazoo are leaps and bounds above a silly plastic guitar. I mean when you have the stage lights on you, and the upright bass and cow bell are hitting that sweet spot that makes the ladies swoon, THAT is what it's all about. Not strumming a chintzy red toy!

Get a clue!

Re:I Don't Understand

[Thorkytel Ant-Head (593092)]

Did you actually read the article? It mentions some musicians who have songs in the game, but also other musicians who are not affiliated with it whatsoever, and they are all obsessed with the game. I'm sure that your $300 starter guitar won't sound anything like Black Sabbath, even if you did take years practicing Iron Man. With Guitar Hero, you can spend a short amount of time practicing, and feel like a lead guitarist on tons of classic songs. Maybe I don't want to spend years learning to master the guitar. Maybe I just want to play for a while, feel like a lead guitarist, and then get back to my life. What's wrong with that? As to why a real guitarist would play this game, it's the same reason why my pilot friend plays flight-simulator games in his spare time: because it's fun. You might as well ask why someone would play a fighting game, instead of studying martial arts and becoming a black belt, or play a first-person shooter, instead of learning to operate a real firearm. No matter how long I practice, I will never fight hordes of enemies in hand-to-hand combat, single-handedly repel an alien invasion, or flawlessly play the entire solo to Free Bird in front of a packed arena audience. But like many others, I play video games as an escape, to do things I could never do in real life. And apparently, even Real Musicians agree with me.

Re:I Don't Understand

[idobi (820896)]

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.

Because no matter what your resources are, it's pretty hard to get 3000 people to come to your living on a whim so you can play rock star.

Re:I Don't Understand

[focitrixilous P (690813)]

It's like saying you could go out dancing, so why play Dance Dance revolution? It's fun for completely different reasons then actually dancing. The same thing applies to Guitar Hero, it's almost completely different from actually playing guitar, but it's still fun for some people.

Re:

[C0rinthian (770164)]

DDR is hilarious when alcohol is involved.

Hi There

[ludomancer (921940)]

Hi, and welcome to the world of marketting.

This article was not written to talk about the bands in question and their love of playing a video game. It was written to give exposure to the Guitar Hero franchise of games, and bring attention to the impending release of the game's sequel, which is now an MTV property (who incited the writing of this article to generate sales).

Now that you realize your error for even giving it attention, please take your haughty "Hi I'm a real musician, allow me to tell you how much better I am than you" attitude elsewhere. It's really worse than the brainwashing corporations responsible for this kind of media in the first place.

Thanks.

Re:I Don't Understand

[Dr Faustus 60 (886309)]

I agree. It's like when I bought DDR to learn to dance. No chicks come flocking when I bust my moves on the real dance floor, but I score 100% every time. Weird.

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[tatonca (305375)]

"Which provides you with no guitar skills whatsoever. This summary hits it right on the head that it improves your rhythm..."

So either it does do something to improve playing skills (rhythm) or you don't believe rhythm is important to learning to play guitar. So which is it?

The number of guitar 'players' out there that have no rhythm at all is astounding. They play a collection of notes at random velocity - impressive when you're drunk or stoned at a party, but not terribly entertaining otherwise, and cer

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[AcidLacedPenguiN (835552)]

I too am an electric bassist, and I think you're missing the point. For most people, the learning curve to be relative good at Guitar Hero is at most a handful of hours, but the learning curve to playing a real guitar (well enough to be fun) is around the handful of months mark (and that's with a lot of hard work and dedication) How many people do you know who have mastered the solo to Symphony of Destruction within 12 hours of picking up a guitar for the first time? Also, even if you do pick up a guitar an

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[ProppaT (557551)]

Asking why you would play guitar hero when you could play a regular guitar instead is kinda stupid.

That's like asking "why masturbate when you can have sex?" Masturbation is easier, cheaper, less time consuming, and addictive. Plus, this is slashdot. Having sex would require effort, something very few of us around here care for.

Re:I Don't Understand

[Alzheimers (467217)]

I'm an Air Guitarist and personally, I care greatly for Guitar Hero.

I mean, I've already got a PS2 and a HDTV in my living room ... so why play guitar hero? To play with the bands! I want to do that, while jumping off my sofa and falling to my knees like I do when listening to Van Halen MP3s through Winamp.

I find it odd that someone who has an appreciation for powerful guitar music would not enjoy to play an adrenalin-pumping video game. Well, to each their own, I guess. I think amateur guitarists would rather just sit in an empty room playing with themselves than dream of being in a big-name band like Korn...I can't imagine ever getting tired of that.

The funniest thing is, I've got several family members who play guitar. They've tried to teach me, but I have no guitar skills whatsoever. This summary hits it right on the head that you can still feel like a rock god and skip the blisters and the arthritic knuckles and angry neighboors.

Fender Strat = 1399. PS2 + Guitar Hero + 40" DLP HDTV is about the same. Take your choice. I suspect a real Stratocaster would be a great chick magnet ... but it's a far cry from the thrill of finishing Crossroads on expert.

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[arnie_apesacrappin (200185)]

Alzheimers (467217)

Take your choice. I suspect a real Stratocaster would be a great chick magnet ... but it's a far cry from the thrill of finishing Crossroads on expert.

Actually, the Les Paul seems to win over more chicks than the Strat. I've got 2 Strats, a Tele, a Jaguar, 2 Mustangs, a Jag-stang and a Coronado II from Fender, but the one that wows them is the Les Paul.

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[Harlockjds (463986)]

>PS2 + Guitar Hero = $300.

129.99 (ps2 price) +79.99(gh2 with controller) =209.99

where the heck is your extra 90 bucks coming from?

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[revlayle (964221)]

Dude.... CANADIAN dollars!

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[Harlockjds (463986)]

what is this moon money you speak of...

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[Senjutsu (614542)]

I'm pretty sure $134.99 + $89.99 doesn't add up to $300, either. Even in Canada.

ha, the donnas

[know1 (854868)]

male guitarist often make jokesabout women not being able to play guitar (we know it's not strictly true, it's just about a one to ten ratio in comparison to males) but the donnas couldn't play that song with real instruments anyway so they were bound to be at a disadvantage. (christ girls, there's more to the guitar than power chords)

Re:ha, the donnas

[bunions (970377)]

> there's more to the guitar than power chords

that's like saying there's more to a steer than savory, delicious beef - there's also tripe, lips and hooves. I mean, sure it's true, but [i]so what?[/i]

Re:

[bunions (970377)]

Hey, internet guy, you seem kind of angry - maybe you should take a few minutes and just relax for a while. You know, just kick back and mellow out.

Hmm

[FirienFirien (857374)]

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!

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[poot_rootbeer (188613)]

a real signal can be fouriered into played notes

Not so much. A single monophonic melody, perhaps, but we're still yet a long way away from computers being able to transcribe complex, polyphonic, multitimbral music into its component pitches.

No joke.

[SocialEngineer (673690)]

I tried it out in a store once. I am a classical guitar player, and have been a musician for over 13 years now. Picked the thing up, and discovered that I sucked :P

There aren't too many similarities to actually playing guitar, though. I'm used to working with scale patterns spanning the entire fretboard, using techniques such as sweep picking, finger picking, etc. Kinda hard to do that with the few buttons the thing has plus a switch/lever/whatever it is for picking :)

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[Alzheimers (467217)]

If you're finding Guitar Hero complicated, Doom II might be a bit of a stretch for you...Might I suggest, Pong? That doesn't have any buttons at all!

Guitar Hero: not about playing guitar

[dolson (634094)]

"It doesn't have anything to do with playing guitar,"

Finally, someone admits that Guitar Hero is not about playing guitar. It's just DDR played with your fingers.

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[thesandtiger (819476)]

Uh... I know not one single person who thinks this game is remotely like actually playing a real guitar. It's a game. It's fun. You know - like Contra isn't remotely like being a special forces guy who runs around in South American jungles, or how Civilization isn't at all like actual history or...

Well, the point being, "realism" is not the thing they were aiming for, I think. Making a fun game and selling lots of copies is. Mission accomplished!

Re:Guitar Hero: not about playing guitar

[hal2814 (725639)]

"It's just DDR played with your fingers."

And DDR is just Simon played with your feet. It seems we've come full circle.

Well duh...

[Chaffar (670874)]

Just because you're an expert at Fight Night doesn't mean you can take out Mike Tyson in a real fight... or vice versa.

It's just mindless fun. I don't think it was written anywhere on the box that it would turn you into a guitar god overnight (or if it did, you're an idiot for believing it).

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[thewils (463314)]

...doesn't mean you can take out Mike Tyson in a real fight...

Agreed, no-one in their right mind would want to do this for obvious reasons, but I wonder how many people who play driving games think that they are getting skills that they can transfer to the road. I've seen quite a few drivers who thought they were still in a video game judging from the way they drive.

Incubus?

[bubbl07 (777082)]

As much as I love Incubus, I'd hardly classify them as "hard rock." When I think hard rock, bands like Metallica (Black Album era) and ACDC come to mind. Maybe that's just me, though.

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[Alzheimers (467217)]

And Sugar Ray is just a boy band, music for chicks, right?
On the radio.

Do you even *own* S.C.I.E.N.C.E.?

It's a video game, y'know.

[emmagsachs (1024119)]

The only relation Guitar Hero's controller -- with its five coloured plastic buttons, in single file, to be pushed when the correctly coloured circle is shown -- is that they're housed in a casing built to resemble a guitar.

You can play Guitar Hero 24/7, practicing until your fingers bleed, but at the end of the day, you still can't play guitar. It isn't Guitar Simulator, it's a video game with a miniature plastic guitar for as its controller. It has nothing to do with actual guitar playing skills.

GTA won't teach you the skillz to be an archcriminal, and America's Army isn't a replacement for boot camp.

It isn't completely without benefits

[The_Dude (26374)]

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:It's a video game, y'know.

[tholomyes (610627)]

Personally, as a long-time self-taught hack guitarist, I find that it improves my guitar playing-- it really has increased my finger speed, and can't hurt my coordination or sense of timing.

Re:It's a video game, y'know.

[by Anonymous Coward]

>GTA won't teach you the skillz to be an archcriminal, and America's Army isn't a replacement for boot camp.
But, Jack Thompson said it would. He wouldn't lie would he?

Of course it is....

[justkarl (775856)]

They get royalties.

I gave up trying to get through Guitar Hero

[advocate_one (662832)]

I went out and got a real guitar instead... it's far, far easier...

Oh the pain...

[steveo777 (183629)]

I remember the first time I tried the game. And every other time. I refer to the game by its TRUE moniker, "Carpal Tunnel Hero."

What is so much better about Guitar Hero?

[Myria (562655)]

I hear all these things about Guitar Hero yet it's just a ripoff of Guitar Freaks, part of the Beatmania/DDR/etc. series from Konami. What is so new about Guitar Hero that makes it get all this press? Why didn't Guitar Freaks get it 5 years ago?

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[MarcoAtWork (28889)]

maybe because guitar freaks had j-pop and guitar hero has barking at the moon, smoke on the water, more than a feeling, ...

Just confirms...

[JustNiz (692889)]

As a bass player who's played in many rock bands this just confirms what I've found.. many lead guitar players get away with having bad or even no sense of rhythm/time.