Is Guitar Hero the Real School of Rock?
We have never understood why anybody (even a child) would pick up a guitar that looks like it was made by Fisher Price rather than a real one. But they do. In 2007, Guitar Hero III (the latest incarnation) generated over $1 billion in sales. And that is just Guitar Hero, we’re not even talking about Rock Band and its own monster sales. While to some (i.e., us Fretbasers) this might sound like gloom and doom for the creation of new music, a correspondent for The Atlantic doesn’t think so. Read on to find out why not.
In an article in the March issue of The Atlantic, the correspondent James Parker suggests that Guitar Hero and its ilk are extending the life of rock and roll. In the words of Greg LoPiccolo, the VP of Product Development at Harmonix (maker of Guitar Hero):
“The game does set you up, in a way, to be more receptiove to learning about how to create music. You learn about time, you learn about what the parts are…There’s this natural intuitive knowledge about how songs are composed and arranged that the game totally gives you. My guess is that in five years’ time there’ll be an explosion of garage bands.”
Hotel managers better beware.
Tags: Guitar Hero, Harmonix, rock band
As a high school teacher I can tell you right now that Guitar Hero has lead kids to rock n roll in droves. They all know GnR, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Ozzy, etc. When I was a kid, I would have been hard pressed to name any of my teachers’ favorite bands from 25-30 years ago. I keep telling them to create their own pop culture and stop stealing mine. Oh well.
Karaoke Revolution was a lot of fun. Although I would love to have a voice trainer based on the same technology, we realized immediately that doing well at the game wasn’t about singing well. That didn’t make it any less fun, though. In fact, it may have actually made it more fun.
Likewise, Guitar Hero and guitar playing are wholly separate things to me. I enjoy both for very different reasons.
The Rock Band drums come very close to not only being a fun game but actually developing some skills that might transfer to an actual kit. (As far as this non-drummer can tell.)
In any case, comparing these games to actual musicianship is, I think, missing the point and the fun of the games.
In addition—similar to Tim’s comment—I think Guitar Hero and Rock Band are important as a new channel for recorded music. It’s a new way to promote your music. It’s a new way for listeners to get and listen to your music.
This is a little like the whole marketing makeover the music industry has gone through over the last few years – from selling albums to selling mp3 and ringtones. You kind of need to join the change in order to stay valid – and it might be that this is another one of those changes.
@ Robert Fisher: I agree with you… Playing musical video games and playing music is different but I recently found some interesting data about the impact of these video games on youngsters and how many of them took the plunge and decided to play actual instruments… And it is amazing. These numbers are reported at end of this article http://tinyurl.com/bf5rr7
Beatles: Rock Band To Teach Vocal Harmonies | Fretbase: Guitars, Tabs, Chords and More – April 16th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
[...] video games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. We’ve posted a number of times on this debate here, here and here. Some see it as poor substitute for the real thing but I find myself in favor of [...]