Guitar hero and rock band= worst thing ever

[Gbassman815]

man....i dont know about you guys, but i think that rock band and guitar hero are the worst thing to ever happen to guitarists, bassists, and drummers alike.......i cant stand it when someone comes up to me and starts talking **** and saying that they are musicians just because they play rock band.......its even worse being a bass player, because everyone thinks that bass players arent any good, because on rock band, the bass part is sooooooo easy......it just pisses me off...............end of rant

[MadMan118]

It's a video game dude. Chill.

[idoru]

It's actually done more for sales of new guitars to kids than anything else in the last 5 years. And it's fun, too - especially when they dig up all the old master tapes for the audio, so you can finally HEAR the bass (Metallica, anybody?).

c-

[WookieeForLife]

OP joined in Feb so I don't think he was here for the other discussions. We fought about this for months on this forum. Just to let you in. Neither side will win. Ever. It's just one of those things.

[dave64o]

Oh LOrd, not another one of these threads .....

What kind of idiots do you hang around with who think they're musicians because they can play that video game?!?!

I'm convinced that most of the furor from musicians I see here and in other forums comes not from actual experience with people like that but from their feelings that people WILL think they're musicians because of those games. I watch my 12 year old son and his friends play them all the time and NONE of them have ever hinted that they could play the real instruments after playing the game. It's simply a video game and they have fun with it.

On top of that, those games are introducing kids to some fantastic classic rock they never would have paid attention to otherwise. My son has heard me play most of those songs for most of his life but to him they were always "old man music" and Radio Disney was more interesting to him. But now that those songs are on a hot video game, those songs acquire instant "cool points" that Dad could never give them. Don't believe me? I asked my son to go see Joe Satriani with me not too longer ago but he wasn't too interested. Then all on his own heard that Mountain was the opening act. HE CAME TO ME to ask if we could go after all, all because he heard "Mississippi Queen" on Rock Band and liked it.

Personally, I think all the furor coming from musicians is a bunch of nonsense. I've never heard race car drivers complain about people coming up to them all day long and bragging about how great a driver THEY'D be simply because they can play a video game. Nor have I ever heard pro football players make the same complaint about the bragging about they're football skills based on their performance in Madden games. I've played Wii Fit but I'll never brag about how great a hamster I'd be simply because I can negotiate the Hamster ball down the Wii River faster than anyone else I know. Etc. Etc. Etc.

It's a video game, it's fun, no more, no less. Lighten up.

[LeonD]

One downside that I've seen is that I had a kid come to me for guitar lessons. His grandmother bought him eight lessons for his birthday.

So he comes to the first lesson with his electric and amp (purchased as a package from the local GC). Cool. We go over all the parts of the guitar and settings on the amp.

Then I ask him what type of music he likes. He names off all this classic rock. Come to find out, he lives on the music video games. Cool.

So then we do the lesson. Some one finger per fret exercises. Alternate picking. Some strumming muted strings. He says he understands everything and he goes on his way.

He comes back the next week no better than the first. Very obvious he didn't practice. So we simplify and go over everything again. He tells me he understands everything and goes on his way.

And I never see him again.

My take is based on some of his comments, he had the videos mastered and he thought the real instrument would be just as easy. When he found out how much work it would really be, he threw in the towel.

Now I will give him credit, at least he knew what music he liked (most kids just want to play and are a step removed from the actual music (especially if they are very young)). But the video did give him a false sense of mastery.

LeonD

[Gbassman815]

see....i'm living in a college dorm, and the big party game is rock band.
now, alot of people know i play bass, and ask me to play rock band with them.
now i also suck at rock band......so all of the people instantly assume that i suck at bass just because i suck at rock band.
and then these people who just play rock band all day, and do absolutely nothing else, come to these parties, and play all of the songs perfectly on the hardest difficulty, and then try to tell me that they are better musicians than me.
it just makes me mad, because i've been playing for like 10 years, and being an advanced player, and these people not respecting it just sucks.

[El Beardo]

Originally Posted by dave64o

What kind of idiots do you hang around with who think they're musicians because they can play that video game?!?!

That's what I thought when i read that too. I've never heard anyone claim to be a "Guitar Hero trained" musician before. I have noticed how it's helped increase guitar/bass sales, got the guitar/bass teachers new lessons and not only that but now the beginning guitar kids want to learn songs from The Beatles instead of songs from Fall Out Boy

[stflbn]

Hand them a real bass or guitar and ask them to play any complete song thats recognizable. That should pretty much take care of that discrepancy.



.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by Gbassman815

see....i'm living in a college dorm, and the big party game is rock band.
now, alot of people know i play bass, and ask me to play rock band with them.
now i also suck at rock band......so all of the people instantly assume that i suck at bass just because i suck at rock band.
and then these people who just play rock band all day, and do absolutely nothing else, come to these parties, and play all of the songs perfectly on the hardest difficulty, and then try to tell me that they are better musicians than me.
it just makes me mad, because i've been playing for like 10 years, and being an advanced player, and these people not respecting it just sucks.

Easy. Learn some of the songs these morons play on Rock Band. Make sure you have them PERFECT. Bring your bass and amp to the next Rock Band party. While the morons are Wooten-ing it up on Rock band, you play along on your bass. When the song is over, tell them "OK, Vic, now try it on the real thing." and hand them your bass.

Problem solved. Permanently.

I find it mind boggling to think that so many college-aged people actually think that way. As I said above, neither my 12 year old son nor any of his friends ever talk about how great a musician they are. But as I also said, they have no illusions about walking onto an NFL field and replacing any of the prima donna, diva-licious superstars of the moment nor do they thing they can out drive whoever the hot NASCAR driver is, nor do they think they can out box a boxing champ. AND they're only 12-13 years old. But college age kids can't tell the difference? It terrifies me to think these morons will be supporting me in a few years when I'm old ....

FWIW, I play along on my bass when my son is playing it, and sometimes when he's playing it with his friends, and they love it.

[R. Laevinus]

...well, while I see both sides of the argument, I will offer this interesting little tidbit:

There is a local bar near me that used to offer karaoke nights. Now and then, when they could manage it, they would bring in a band to play for the karaoke rather than use recordings.

Aaaaand now, they have Rock Band nights instead. No joke.

So, be it a great evil or a great boon or neither at all, we do have to chalk up a casualty to Rock Band, in terms of a bar night no longer available for us to play at.

[rob2966]

The other option is to sit down with the game for 1 weekend, your real instrument expertise will give you the advantage required to become pretty damn good for the next party

I love the games, for most of the aforementioned reasons. The way it exposes young kids to classic rock music can only be a good thing. It also exposed me to some cool new music (Rise Against for example).

Even better than the guitar is the drums though (I use the GHWT kit). The drums could actually be considered a trainer for the real thing. It does not help with all the nuances, etc.; however, it will greatly improve your coordination, one of the big learning curves for real drums.

Later
Rob

[Etingi]

yeah you can learn some interesting kick patterns from playing the drums on expert level. It keeps you on your toes and ready to change it up too if you don't know the song already.

[sobie18]

I like Halo.

[alembicguy]

Learn to play the real thing cause nobody ever has or ever will get laid playing Guitar Hero!

[Gbassman815]

Originally Posted by alembicguy

Learn to play the real thing cause nobody ever has or ever will get laid playing Guitar Hero!

+1

[TerrorRhythm]

No one ever came up to me and said they were better at music because they were good at guitar hero.

Ever.

[R. Laevinus]

Originally Posted by alembicguy

Learn to play the real thing cause nobody ever has or ever will get laid playing Guitar Hero!

Maybe not Guitar Hero, but potentially Rock Band? See my post above...

[jollygiantchris]

Rock band is almost solely responsible for the Beatles remasters. This is not a bad thing. (too bad they didn't remaster Metallica >:d)

[LarryO]

So if I'm win a lot at Madden 10 should I go to a walk on tryout with an NFL team? Im also pretty good at rainbow six......maybe I'll do special forces.....LMAO