Guitar Hero brings business to six-string tutors -- Joystiq

Guitar Hero brings business to six-string tutors

by Griffin McElroy { Dec 1st 2007 at 12:00PM }

We've seen incontrovertible proof that being a talented guitar player doesn't necessarily translate into being naturally skilled at Guitar Hero -- but does the same hold true in reverse? According to a recent CNET News article, the game's immense success over the past three years has brought a surge of business to guitar instructors. However, their new rock apprentices aren't ham-fisted novices -- one teacher reports that Guitar Hero is responsible for "building rhythm in a musical context" in many of his pupils-to-be.

Personally, we were more inspired to don our axes after playing Gitaroo Man, but there aren't many guitar instructors out there who can teach you how to turn your dog into a guitar-storing robot, or how to shoot beams of light out of your guitar (aside from Ted Nugent, of course, but he's not taking any new students at the moment).

Tags: Guitar-Hero, GuitarHero

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

FrankTheCrank @ Dec 1st 2007 12:08PM

As a guitar player for a long time, I think this is just awesome. Perhaps, rock and roll/hard rock has a chance of surviving considering the current culture of Pop/Hip-Hop....not that I don't like hip-hop...but when was the last time a metal album hit #1 and stuck there for a while....it's been a while.

In the meantime, I must hit the store for some more aquanet. Laterz!

DSR7997 @ Dec 1st 2007 12:16PM

I have been playing for about 25 years myself and I have noticed that on the songs that I actually know how to play on guitar I really suck at on Guitar Hero. I can't seem to get my hands and fingers to do different things than what they have been trained to do.
Unfortunatly the aquanet now irritates my bald spot. :(

sheppy2.0 @ Dec 1st 2007 12:53PM

Umm, hate to say it but Rock 'n Roll has usually been a backseat driver for the music industry. The few periods it took center stage it was a largely pop experience. See: 80's.

Also, Hip-Hop, R&B, and Rap music sales are declining. It's been speculated by several that Rap in particular needs to incorporate, and not just sample, more traditional forms of music to survive the decline.

Of course, what do I know considering my current fav song incorporates marching drumlines, synthwave, country, and electronica. But what can I say, Basement Jaxx can mix any music style, I'm convinced.

INCH75 Vocals @ Dec 1st 2007 1:02PM

Although Metal hasn't had a #1 hit in a while, as a genre it's outselling Rap. See this USA today article.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-06-14-rap-decline_N.htm

Fernando Rocker @ Dec 1st 2007 12:08PM

The only thing that Guitar Hero may help, is in the timing and maybe keep the rhytm.

But thats it.

Fernando Rocker @ Dec 1st 2007 12:09PM

But not to do rhythm styles...

gonk @ Dec 1st 2007 12:13PM

and it gives people the desire to learn real guitar

Fernando Rocker @ Dec 1st 2007 12:24PM

DSR

That exactly thing happens to me... specially the sections with palm mutes.

Game Artist @ Dec 1st 2007 12:59PM

Timing, some experience read a form of sheet music. (yah its not complex, but its better than nothing) And it also develops finger dexterity.

Thierry @ Dec 1st 2007 12:09PM

I'm not taking guitar lessons yet, but I just bought an acoustic yesterday, it's pretty fun so far. Reading the music notes feel like looking at the coloured buttons in guitar hero.

DSR7997 @ Dec 1st 2007 12:16PM

My reply was actually for Frank.

The Jaded @ Dec 1st 2007 12:19PM

Are we sure that this isn't just Activision paying CNet off to say this?

gonk @ Dec 1st 2007 12:23PM

lol

jman @ Dec 1st 2007 11:11PM

wow, maybe with this kind of success, they can come out with games like "drive your vehicle well - hero" and "don't be a lying politician - hero" and perhaps the new favorite - "don't talk on your cell phone too loudly, you a**hole - hero". i think this hero franchise has just found unlimited possibilities...

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 1st 2007 12:29PM

Oh I found alot of lulz in that post.

+1 for you my good man!!

Frenzy @ Dec 1st 2007 12:54PM

LOL :)

hvnlysoldr @ Dec 1st 2007 5:10PM

How about No More Hero?

mr mobius @ Dec 1st 2007 1:01PM

Wonder will Rock Band come out with a similar article for drums.

Dragod @ Dec 1st 2007 1:58PM

They've already said this somewhere.... I read it once. Something about "The Guitar may not teach real guitar, but the drums teach you the basics, like drumming fast and hitting the correct places"

grapejoos @ Dec 1st 2007 2:11PM

I'm sure this would be just as true for Rock Band, if not moreso (and that they'd love to get publicity out of it). Having played both guitar and drums before (badly), both games help with the basics and, most importantly, foster the desire. But playing the drums in Rock Band is actually great drumming practice, even on lower difficulty levels. It forces you to get your kick pedal moving independently in a way that's difficult to accomplish when practicing with sheet music. Of course, with real drums, there is a hi-hat pedal to contend with, but a lot of rockers don't really use it properly anyway.

bobartig @ Dec 1st 2007 2:15PM

My drummer friend (who's also a game developer), came by to play some rock band yesterday. In just a few songs, he was rocking away on hard. Whereas he was somewhat distracted by the fact that what you play is often not what is happening in the song, he was really impressed at how RB had the potential to really develop your footwork skills.

For some songs on hard, and almost all songs on expert, you're playing every base beat in the song. So whereas the drum sequences aren't complete, you're building a lot of the neuron paths for foot+hand coordination, which apply directly to any future drumming work.

My GF's father, who is a flamenco guitarist and former guitar builder, and he was pretty impressed with how Guitar Hero built a strong sense of rhythm, and finger motor independence, which he knew were important for developing real guitar skills. So, even though GH is pretty abstract, there's a lot of motor-skill based benefits that would apply to playing a guitar, or other instruments.

beans @ Dec 1st 2007 1:12PM

Real guitars are for old people.

Dragod @ Dec 1st 2007 1:57PM

Well, duh.

I got Guitar Hero II when it came out for 360, and after about a month I was on Expert, starting from Easy.

I liked it a lot, and my friends played guitar and needed a bassist. So, I picked up a really cheap (Target, lol) bass that I'm learning on. I can move my fingers pretty fast, compared to when I tried to learn a song on my mom's old guitar.

I think it's helped me. I can keep time better, and I can stretch my fingers (That was my main complaint when I tried the first time)

Well, duh it doesn't teach you real guitar, but it does have elements that translate well into actual guitar. When I see people saying they'll never play Guitar Hero because it's just fake, I kinda laugh. It'd probably help their playing.

giantenemycrab @ Dec 1st 2007 3:41PM

I don't click on stories that link to anything CNet.

LaughingTarget @ Dec 1st 2007 4:49PM

Next month, we'll see an article about how tons of people quit playing guitar because it isn't remotely similar to the game. There are no colorful lights to follow, you can't be an expert after a month, no one is cheering when you get it right and no cash is flowing in the door. Plus, learning song notation isn't exactly cake. Sure, basics are fine, but the more advanced stuff tends to be confusing.

Next they have to work with real rythm and beat, keeping up with the exact timings of a metronome on the hundreds of different speed variations. Not to mention trying to get a handle of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16 beats under each of them as well as knowing how to deal with holding notes for lengthy times.

Next comes when the gamers' soft fingertips get torn apart by the E string, the muscles screaming when the fingers have to actually move into unusual positions Guitar Hero doesn't even come close to simulating while trying to those same underutilized muscles bend strings.

Not to mention trying to keep a tune. It is easy when all you have to do is match up colorful buttons to lights on the screen, but try and MAKE something that sounds good? There is a huge killer right there. The various rules about what actually sounds good together, from the basic blues chords up to Jimmi Hendrix are hard to keep together. It takes months to be able to do anything halfway decent in an impromptu blues chord, let alone pull out a Led Zeppelin song.

All of this difficulty takes months of hard work with zero rewards flowing in. No achievement points, no step-wise reward system to keep the player strumming away, nothing.

Now, if someone figured out how to make a six string, plug it into a console and get the game to do everything a guitar actually can do, then we would have a lot of excellent players. However, all Guitar Hero will manage to do is disillusion a lot of people about music when they can't "beat" it in a few short weeks. It takes a lifetime of commitment even the most die hard MMO players would have a hard time swallowing.

Why do I know all of this? Because I was a gamer who went to play guitar after enjoying the first Guitar Hero. I managed to stick with it and even after these years am only still marginal at best, barely squaking out a Normal rating in the game's nomenclature.

If you liked Guitar Hero 3 and want to pick up playing, know what you're getting into before dropping the hard earned cash on expensive tutors and expensive equipment. An El Cheapo Squire Fat Strat is twice as much as the entire game and included controller, not to mention the other necessary equipment and tutor fees.

p3arl @ Dec 1st 2007 9:24PM

i belive that the deline in rap/rnb music sales is proportionate to the acessabillity of the internet and ease of access to pirated music.
Demographic differences could also be directly relevant to how tech savvy and computer literate different genre listeners are.

Generally speaking rap/hip-hop/rnb listeners will be younger and your hard pressed to find youth today who dont know about file sharing networks or torrents. older rock fans though possibly computer iterate (since it is increasingly difficult to function in society without email) it is unlikely that they know of aforementioned pirate methods.

to sum up simply, USA today journalists would likely use record sales and iTunes store figures to base their argument where they havent given thought to the demographic that appeals to rap/hip-hop has descended to methods of acquiring music in ways that cant be traced, or if traced, difficult to obtain statistics