Anyone else a Guitar Hero?

Tibor · Post by **Tibor** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:50 pm

Just picked up Guitar Hero III with wireless Guitar....F*ck its awsome.....and very addicting.

Dust Devil · Post by **Dust Devil** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:14 pm

Wifey kicks my ass so I don't play anymore

200hr Wonder · Post by **200hr Wonder** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:23 pm

I am white and have no rhythm I suck balls at it.

shimmydampner · Post by **shimmydampner** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:31 pm

I'm a hero with a real guitar, I don't need a fake one. Me and Jimmy rock out every night, along with some of our good friends.

Looks like a fun game though.

CID · Post by **CID** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:50 am

It's funny. For the price of the game you can buy a real guitar and then learn to play tabs. Then you can be a REAL guitar hero in no time flat.

corporate joe · Post by **corporate joe** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:38 am

My neighbour received Rock band for his XBOX. WHAT A BLAST WE HAD. Went back 40 years in time. It's the same as GH but it comes out of the box with drums, a guitar and a microphone. Picture middle aged men, in a living room, rocking it on an XBOX.

BoostedNihilist · Post by **BoostedNihilist** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:31 pm

CID · Post by **CID** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:50 pm

corporate joe:

What does that kit run you? Sounds like fun.

Night-Hawk · Post by **Night-Hawk** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:15 pm

I'm a guitar hero player too hehe. I'm done with the career on hard and halfway through on expert. Very fun game and even more fun when playing with friends !

Would definately want to try rock band !

corporate joe · Post by **corporate joe** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:39 am

CID wrote:corporate joe:

What does that kit run you? Sounds like fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd3E8zgqJM4: Game play footage. On expert difficulty, the drum is almost note for note identical to the real drum track (according to my neighbour's friend who used to be drummer).

It's out in the US comes out in canada sometime before christmas

shimmydampner · Post by **shimmydampner** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:42 am

I can't take it anymore. Doesn't anyone else think that this says something rather weird about society? Ok, it looks like it could be fun for a week or two, maybe a month, but as someone pointed out, by the time you buy these games and all the shit to go with them, you might as well have spent the money on a cheap starter instrument, be it guitar, drum kit, bass, whatever. They are affordable and none of those instruments are particularly difficult to learn to play.
I can understand that it's just a game and it's fun, but you just know that there's going to be thousands (or judging by the success of guitar hero, hundreds of thousands) of people out there spending hours a day wailing away on a plastic guitar. Meanwhile, if they devoted that kind of time and energy to picking up a real guitar, they'd be pretty decent before too long.
I don't know, it just seems so weird to me that rather than actually learning something, so many people would rather just play an over-simplified simulation. I mean, what if the next Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page never comes to be because he's hooked on Guitar Hero instead of the real thing!

corporate joe · Post by **corporate joe** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:10 am

shimmydampner wrote:I can't take it anymore. Doesn't anyone else think that this says something rather weird about society? Ok, it looks like it could be fun for a week or two, maybe a month, but as someone pointed out, by the time you buy these games and all the shit to go with them, you might as well have spent the money on a cheap starter instrument, be it guitar, drum kit, bass, whatever. They are affordable and none of those instruments are particularly difficult to learn to play.
I can understand that it's just a game and it's fun, but you just know that there's going to be thousands (or judging by the success of guitar hero, hundreds of thousands) of people out there spending hours a day wailing away on a plastic guitar. Meanwhile, if they devoted that kind of time and energy to picking up a real guitar, they'd be pretty decent before too long.
I don't know, it just seems so weird to me that rather than actually learning something, so many people would rather just play an over-simplified simulation. I mean, what if the next Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page never comes to be because he's hooked on Guitar Hero instead of the real thing!

I am not defending guitar here or contradicting anything you say, but my theory is that Guitar Hero and the like offer instant gratification. You'd have to practice for weeks doing theory and notes on a guitar before you could even hope to play the songs that you instantly play on guitar hero.

As far as rock band goes, there is no other way that 4 middle aged men who have limited musical knowledge would have gotten together and played a black sabbath song for under 200$ in less than 10 minutes set up time.

Everyone wants results with as little effort as possible. Guitar hero offers that.

shimmydampner · Post by **shimmydampner** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:19 am

corporate joe wrote:Everyone wants results with as little effort as possible. Guitar hero offers that.

Well said. Sad but true.

Hey, speaking of Sad but True, let's rock some Metallica!

corporate joe · Post by **corporate joe** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:02 pm

Is tomorrow's Clapton playing Guitar Hero?
Guitar teachers disagree on whether the popular video game franchise will drive future interest in the instrument.
By Daniel Terdiman, News.com
Posted Nov 28, 2007 3:21 pm PT

In a recent South Park episode, we see two of the show's main characters, Stan and Kyle, rocking out to the video game Guitar Hero as a roomful of their friends watch, rapt. As they're playing, Stan's father walks in, asks, "You kids want to see something really cool?" and starts to play an electric guitar.

For a moment, the room is dead silent. Then, Stan asks, incredulously, "Dad, what are you doing?"

"I can actually play a lot of these songs on a real guitar," the father responds. "Want me to show you boys how?"

Stan spits back, "That's stupid, Dad."

Well, maybe not, say guitar teachers. In fact, the immense popularity of the hit Guitar Hero franchise--the third iteration of the game, Guitar Hero III, brought in $115 million during its first week on the market--may be the best thing that has happened to the instrument, to rock and roll, and to guitar instructors, in a long time.

"I have an overwhelming feeling that my business is safe for years to come when I see kids playing Guitar Hero," said Dan Emery, owner of New York City Guitar School.

"These kids are really enjoying playing Guitar Hero, and they're really being turned on to old classic rock" via the game, he said.

Emery said he actually sees Guitar Hero as perhaps the best recruitment tool his school could have asked for.

"I fully expect that (kids who play the game) will get into their 20s and they will have disposable income and they will decide to actually play guitar and they're going to call us up," he said.

Exact numbers of Guitar Hero-fueled converts to the real thing (kids or adults) are hard to come by. But something at work here clearly could be the most powerful advertisement for the guitar since the hit Richard Linklater movie School of Rock.

In that film, Jack Black plays a teacher who, through sheer passion for music, turns a class of rock-illiterate elementary school students into a head-bobbing rock band. After the movie came out, San Francisco guitar teacher Jay Skyler said his roster of young students exploded overnight.

"All of a sudden, I had 9-year-old students," Skyler said, "because all of a sudden, everyone wanted a guitar."

But now, with Guitar Hero turning into one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, Skyler said it's not just kids who seem interested in playing the real instrument. While some of his new adult students may not be willing to admit that the game drove them to him, he did suggest a definite cause and effect.

"My adult students, they don't want to cop to it," Skyler said of being Guitar Hero fans, "but they're all, 'Have you played the game?'"

The immense popularity of Guitar Hero does worry some of Skyler's fellow guitar teachers, who fret that the game may deter kids from being interested in picking up the real instrument. But Skyler doesn't share that concern, instead feeling that the long-term outcome will be positive.

"Basically, it's getting more kids into guitar," Skyler said. "So if you're a guitar teacher, or a band, you have to love it. They'll play with the toy for a while, but after awhile, they'll want the real thing."

There are those, of course, who believe Guitar Hero signals a death knell for real guitars.

"It's going to kill music," said San Diego bass instructor David Hilton. "It seems to me that as long as [Guitar Hero fans] can get really, really good playing this console--[and] it's not really easy to play [a real] instrument," that the guitar is dead.

But Hilton's fears may well be in the minority, and the enthusiasm of teachers like Emery and Skyler indicate that there's a real chance the ultimate result of millions of people getting hooked on games like Guitar Hero and now Rock Band will be a new love of rock and roll. Part of the equation, Skyler said, is that Guitar Hero teaches rhythm.

"In the game, you have four buttons [on medium difficulty]," he said. "You have to get them in time, in sequence. So in a sense, even though [you're] not learning the specific strings, you are building rhythm in a musical context, which is valuable."

Not only that, but the wide variety of songs included in the various editions of Guitar Hero may be opening up kids' ears to music they haven't previously been familiar with.

"It's also interesting kids in great bands of the past that they might not have been exposed to," Skyler said. "So I think we'll see a resurgence of rock. Rock and roll is about fantasy. If you can go and you're having a good time [and saying], 'Hey, I'm jamming with Slash,' that's great."

Even more important, suggested Emery, is that the guitar is a unique instrument when it comes to the way people connect with it.

"The thing that drives guitar playing is not the same thing that drives violin playing [or] piano playing," Emery said. "It is the desire to connect with the spirit of rock and roll, and anything that builds the spirit of rock and roll is going to build the spirit of guitar."

And that, of course, is good for those in the business of teaching the instrument.

"When a kid gets filled with the fire of rock and roll, they're going to practice four hours a day," Emery said. "Desire drives the guitar business. So I view [Guitar Hero] as a totally good thing."

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:32 pm

having played guitar hero on expert and guitar, some songs on expert are MUCH harder than the real thing.

onmyway · Post by **onmyway** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:41 am

Ok, I play both the real thing(barely) and the game. I dunno, I love playing the game, especially when people come over and jam with me on it. Everyione can participate and enjoy themselves. To have the percussion and vocals, you really feel part of the band! What can I say, I'm addicted!

Hedley · Post by **Hedley** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:36 am

what if the next Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page never comes to be because he's hooked on Guitar Hero instead of the real thing!

I spend a lot of time worrying about that, too. What if the next John Holmes or Ron Jeremy gets hooked on masturbation instead of the real thing? Where is the next generation of porn stars going to come from?

Guido · Post by **Guido** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:30 am

Hedley wrote:
what if the next Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page never comes to be because he's hooked on Guitar Hero instead of the real thing!
I spend a lot of time worrying about that, too. What if the next John Holmes or Ron Jeremy gets hooked on masturbation instead of the real thing? Where is the next generation of porn stars going to come from?

You... you mean, I coulda been a porn star!?

So many wasted dreams...

Sulako · Post by **Sulako** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:36 pm

I just picked up "Rock Band" at Best Buy in the USA, so if anyone wishes to rock out with myself and Lisa, look up "Sulako" as a member on Xbox live

Hedley · Post by **Hedley** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:38 pm

I coulda been a porn star!? So many wasted dreams ...

That's not all you've wasted! A sperm bank will pay you $50 for a donation, so you've let a fortune slip through your fingers over the years

wrenchturner · Post by **wrenchturner** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:19 pm

Hedley wrote:
I coulda been a porn star!? So many wasted dreams ...
That's not all you've wasted! A sperm bank will pay you $50 for a donation, so you've let a fortune slip through your fingers over the years

Actually, he's in aviation, I think they screen people like all of us out??

shimmydampner · Post by **shimmydampner** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:51 pm

Hedley wrote:I spend a lot of time worrying about that, too. What if the next John Holmes or Ron Jeremy gets hooked on masturbation instead of the real thing? Where is the next generation of porn stars going to come from?

Why do you care about the male porn stars? Shouldn't you be worried about girls like Jenna and Brianna and Valentina?
Turd burgular.

shimmydampner · Post by **shimmydampner** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:02 pm

C-GGGQ wrote:having played guitar hero on expert and guitar, some songs on expert are MUCH harder than the real thing.

That could just be a function of your ability with the real thing. Guitar isn't that hard an instrument to play, but I don't think that anyone would really argue that a guitar with upwards of 21 (electric) frets and 6 (or occasionally 7) strings providing 126+ different possible positions for the 5 fingers of just one hand, while the other can pick or strum just about any combination of those six strings is easier than a game with 5 buttons.
Then there's the subtle nuances that come with years of experience to make sounds that beginners can't, combinations of effects and guitar and amp setups, etc, etc.

FlyYukon · Post by **FlyYukon** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 2:07 am

For those pilots out there.. .. yeah you..

http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/ Free!! You can pickup song kits online too for free.