Guitar Hero drives interest in playing real guitar

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 4th December 2007
Comments (16) Stumble
Yes, it's official - this picture NEVER gets old.

Yes, it's official - this picture NEVER gets old.

Guitar Hero 3 is like a plague in the bit-tech HQ at the moment. Tim is the worst culprit, regularly skulking away and locking himself in the console room for hours on end, but we're all guilty of indulging.

The good news though is that that time may not be as wasted as you'd think. According to a recent CNet article (not that anybody really trusts them very much at the moment) the Guitar Hero series has noticeably increased interest in playing the actual guitar.

The past three years have seen a fairly dramatic increase in business for guitar teachers, but more importantly the new pupils aren't all untalented wrecks either. It turns out that playing Legends of Rock has helped the novices pick up some basic music-making skills.

One of the instructors interviewed in the article credits the game as helping to build "rhythm in a musical context". Yep, sounds like something a hippy would say.

Now we put the question to you in turn: Have you played Guitar Hero? Do you play the real guitar? How do the two compare and complement each other? Let us know what you think in the forums.
Quote Kurayamino 4th December 2007, 07:52
As long as these people picking up the guitars are not playing stuff such as Busted and Sum41 then thats fine. 'tallica
Quote Clocked 4th December 2007, 08:13
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurayamino
As long as these people picking up the guitars are not playing stuff such as Busted and Sum41 then thats fine. 'tallica

QFT
Quote Krikkit 4th December 2007, 09:13
Anyone picking up a real guitar because of GH is a good thing, no matter what they play when they get there.

I started playing guitar a few years ago, and by the time I got into guitar hero I had almost lost interest in it, mostly because I wasn't inspired to learn any material of the right level, for whatever reason, but that kick helped me take it back up and relearn some new stuff, and different ways of thinking. Now I really enjoy playing both. :D
Quote Djizasse 4th December 2007, 10:46
It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but GH was the reason I bought a real guitar and started playing.
I'm a "computer musician" and GH made me more aware to the song structures, i started to listen to rock music and "analyse" it. After playing i HAD to buy a real guitar :)
Quote DXR_13KE 4th December 2007, 10:47
at least it has logic in the part that it helps develop rhythm.....
Quote Arkanrais 4th December 2007, 10:56
I aspire to master this. unfortunately by the time I would come close to mastering it, my hands would have either dropped off or I would be old and senile.
Quote mikeuk2004 4th December 2007, 11:38
Its s simple way to get into guitar and a great tool to learn from before getting the real deal. I can definatly see it getting more people interested in the instrument. I myself never really took note how import the guitar is in music, and now when I stick my MP3 player on I start to reconise the guitar from the singing and drums, piano etc. Its giveren me a new view on music.
Quote Lazarus Dark 4th December 2007, 14:29
I'm really into the metal scene and I can verify that a large percentage of guitarists in metal bands (including very famous ones) are really into GH. Especially the two player mode. They love to try to one up each other.

Not many seem to be too excited about rock band though. Guess they don't need a virtual simulation of their jobs, lol.
Quote tornadolphin 4th December 2007, 21:03
I heard with Rock Band that playing the drums on the expert level is almost exactly the same as playing the drums in real life on that track. In reviews they even recommend those that play the drums to start on a higher level because the transition is so easy. That can't be said for a guitar player playing Guitar Hero for the first time.
Quote Amon 4th December 2007, 21:04
Can the same be said of America's Army?
Quote Krikkit 4th December 2007, 21:14
Quote:
Originally Posted by tornadolphin
That can't be said for a guitar player playing Guitar Hero for the first time.

I have to disagree there - when I first played GH I wasn't a great guitar player by any stretch of the imagination, but I picked it up in about 15 minutes...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
I aspire to master this. unfortunately by the time I would come close to mastering it, my hands would have either dropped off or I would be old and senile.

If you can finish GH3 on expert you'll be well on your way to be able to play that - a bit more practice doing big runs and a few more technical moves (there're a surprising number of fairly realistic movements in that one as opposed to the usual GH fair) and you'll soon have it. Mastery could be a way off, but you'll certainly be able to get through it without too many worries I would think. :)
Quote Veles 4th December 2007, 21:21
I did pick up a guitar and part of the reason was guitar hero, got quite good at it so I thought I'd try the real thing again (used to "play" acoustic when I was younger and started to learn a few tabs on it a few years back but gave up after a bit as a 3/4 size acoustic is hardly a good guitar for shredding :p), haven't really got anywhere yet as I'm a bit busy.

What I'd really love to learn to play is the bass, but the bass section in most songs is pretty simple and boring and often drowned out almost completely by the guitar, drums and singing.
Quote The_Beast 4th December 2007, 22:19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurayamino
As long as these people picking up the guitars are not playing stuff such as Busted and Sum41 then thats fine. 'tallica

QFT


I'm really tempted to pick up a cheap $100 USB guitar just for kicks
Quote tornadolphin 5th December 2007, 01:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krikkit
I have to disagree there - when I first played GH I wasn't a great guitar player by any stretch of the imagination, but I picked it up in about 15 minutes...

I was more trying to say that if your a drummer then the skills you have lends itself nicely when you play the drums on GH, but if your a good guitarist, it doesn't work that way around as much. In other words, your drumming skills emulate better then your guitar skills you may already have when playing Rock Band.
Quote NaThRo 5th December 2007, 01:43
I play Bass and have for many years.
I'm not heaps into console gaming, but at a LAN a few months ago one of the guy brought his console (PS2 or 360, can't remember) with GH2. Some of the others who had played it before were having a good time so I though I might give it a go.
I found my existing skills helped loads as on my first song I beat my competition without much trouble.
Not sure how it would translate in the other direction.

I haven't played GH since then... But still play my beautiful Bass every opportunity I get ;)
Quote Djizasse 5th December 2007, 10:37
I also found that to have fun with a real guitar i just had to plug it to an amp with overdrive or to something like NI Guitar Rig. The sound is amazing, i just had to learn 3 or 4 power chords (lots of tutorials on the net) to have fun :)
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