Why I hate...."Rock Band"

[leicester35]

...and by extension Guitar Hero and everything else that pertains to this stupidity...

 

My older sister has a 15 year old son. Last birthday, with a bit of guidance from me, he received a Squier Deluxe Stratocaster and a practice amp. I taught him to play the riff from Smoke on the Water there and then. He was over the bloody moon about this, and for a while he began having lessons with a local teacher.

 

So I drove up to Leicester to see the family last Sunday, and guess what? - the Strat is gathering dust in the corner of the room, and he's now a virtuoso button presser on a plastic toy version of the real thing.

 

What is that all about?? When I was 14 I thought my crappy Hohner acoustic was as exciting as it got. When I turned 17 and bought one of the first Yamaha Pacificas, I was sure that I had found my reason for being in life...getting on the bus to go to band practice with my electric guitar in its case felt like a declaration to the world, "Yes, actually I am a musician."

 

So I'll never understand the appeal of dancing around in front of the telly with a plastic guitar, deluding oneself that the activity is in some way creative or indicative of talent. At least air guitarists just get boozed up and look silly at Slade cover band gigs. These new "Guitar Heroes" have half convinced themselves that they're the real deal. Mind you, my idiot cousin spends his life flying from Heathrow to JFK and back via Microsoft Flight Simulator. I'll have to ask him one day: "Does some small part of you actually think that you are the captain of a 777?"

 

For a good (and savage) critique of Rock Band, read Carrie Brownstein's (the guitarist from Sleater-Kinney) experiences, when trying it out for a marketing company....Hilarious.

 

http://www.slate.com/id/2177432/

[Ricochet]

...and by extension Guitar Hero and everything else that pertains to this stupidity...

 

 

I know what you mean...I downloaded it because I was curious. Played one and half song and deleted it from my computer.

[RobinTheHood]

I think this says it all.

The allure of Rock Band seems to break down not by people's interest in music or their skills at playing it, but by people's love of either karaoke or video games.

 

Maybe if more people play Rock Band or Guitar Hero instead of real instruments, there will be less crappy bands out there.

 

Uh, I'll just show myself to the door now.

[RevCharlieD]

My Humble Opinion... We are victims of our own success. We created the computer to save time and increase accuracy in computations and calculations. We created a society built on convenience and instant gratification. Precious few are willing to invest the time and energy into learning anything. Music has been displaced on our colonial school system by less expensive and more profitable endeavors. I won't go down the "when I was a kid" rabbit hole. See what we've done to the internet, email, and yes computer games.

 

Learning an instrument is an important step in personal development, especially to develop hand-eye coordination, abstract thinking and being able to relate to the opposite sex. I love music from the first note I remember. Imagine my delight when I discovered that girls liked musicians. Talk about fringe benefits!

 

I don't know the answer. I sympathize with people that invest in an instrument only to have it sit in the corner and gather dust. I have a similar story about my grandchildren. Unfortunate, but that's life.

 

What can we do except to encourage those that seem to have the desire and give them the benefit of our hard learned lessons... if they want to learn from them.

[essessemm]

I guess I just don't see it the way some you do. It's a game.

It's incredibly fun to play with the family or at parties, and I don't know anyone that believes that being any good at it makes them a musician. I just don't get the connection there.

 

If you're not into video games don't play it, cause that's all it is.

[captmidnight]

You do know it works the other way around also...have seen more than one youngster on the forum here and in person that got started on Guitar Hero and now wants to learn how to play the real thing.

So if it does make even one out of a thousand want to learn to play a guitar, I think it is a good thing...besides that...IT"S GOT REAL MUSIC ON IT! LOL how else are the kids of today gonna hear some of those classic rock tunes?

Thats my 2 cent worth and with deflation now a days about 1/3 of that.

Capt

ps...I suck at it, my step daughter has it and wanted me to play the damn thing, and if I had hair I would have pulled it out.

[Schtang]

I tend to agree with you. Though most people see it as just a game and don't delude themselves that they can atually play. But the big problem is instant gratification - so many people don't want to do the hard work to learn an instrument so a game is a instant high without all the work. The other side of the arguement is the game itself needs practice to become competant.

[SlagJones]

...and by extension Guitar Hero and everything else that pertains to this stupidity...

 

My older sister has a 15 year old son. Last birthday' date=' with a bit of guidance from me, he received a Squier Deluxe Stratocaster and a practice amp. I taught him to play the riff from [i']Smoke on the Water[/i] there and then. He was over the bloody moon about this, and for a while he began having lessons with a local teacher.

 

So I drove up to Leicester to see the family last Sunday, and guess what? - the Strat is gathering dust in the corner of the room, and he's now a virtuoso button presser on a plastic toy version of the real thing.

 

What is that all about?? When I was 14 I thought my crappy Hohner acoustic was as exciting as it got. When I turned 17 and bought one of the first Yamaha Pacificas, I was sure that I had found my reason for being in life...getting on the bus to go to band practice with my electric guitar in its case felt like a declaration to the world, "Yes, actually I am a musician."

 

So I'll never understand the appeal of dancing around in front of the telly with a plastic guitar, deluding oneself that the activity is in some way creative or indicative of talent. At least air guitarists just get boozed up and look silly at Slade cover band gigs. These new "Guitar Heroes" have half convinced themselves that they're the real deal. Mind you, my idiot cousin spends his life flying from Heathrow to JFK and back via Microsoft Flight Simulator. I'll have to ask him one day: "Does some small part of you actually think that you are the captain of a 777?"

 

For a good (and savage) critique of Rock Band, read Carrie Brownstein's (the guitarist from Sleater-Kinney) experiences, when trying it out for a marketing company....Hilarious.

 

http://www.slate.com/id/2177432/

 

 

 

Not sure why you have your panties all in a bunch. It's a game, a toy, it's pretend. Anyone who thinks that by playing Rockband will make them a real musician is stupid and anyone who gets so worked up over people playing a game is IMO equally stupid.

Not everyone is talented or disciplined enough to become a musician, not everyone has to be a musician either. If people want to play some make believe, then so what? At the minimum, I see young kids getting into some classic rock songs and appreciating some rock history rather than thinking Jonas Brothers are the greatest ever (GAG!).

I have also seen people who have actually begun learning a real instrument because of these games. It inspired them to try the real thing and create real music with their hands rather than just tapping buttons.

Perhaps your nephew would have quit playing the guitar anyway, regardless of a video game. It takes a certain amount of determination and people have been letting the guitar gather dust in the closet long before RockBand came along. To somehow blame a video game? I think that is some lost perspective.

When you played cops and robbers as a kid, did some part of you think you were really a cop? or robber?

[duane v]

Some are just not meant to play an instrument.... To be honest, one of the reasons for me in wanting to play in a rock band, was the chance of having nice looking chicks at my disposal :-/

 

In the words of John Lennon "what ever gets you through the night."

[SkEpTiKaL]

<sarcasm>

Oh yeah, those Guitar Hero kids, how dare they play a video game that lets act out a dream as a musician. And those kids playing shooting games, dear God, what are they doing? How dare they pretend they are soldiers fighting a war! Why should they pretend with their plastic controllers instead of going outside and shooting each other?! Those playing other games should go out and kill real monsters!

</sarcasm>

 

Seriously, this is how I see it: It's a Video GAME for a reason. Guitar Hero lets you jump right in and start playing the songs that you like. It is WAY different on regular guitar. You have to put alot of time, effort, and commitment to play what you want to hear on a regular guitar. Guitar Hero epitomizes every person's want: Instant Gratification.

 

P.S. I will probably get flamed for this post because certain people don't like it when you oppose their opinions. That's fine. And yes, I do enjoy playing real guitar a lot more than the video game.

[tulsaslim]

When 'rap' replaced 'music' it was only a matter of time before this kind of crap replaced 'playing an instrument'.

[leicester35]

Guitar Hero epitomizes every person's want: Instant Gratification.

 

And therein lies the problem... I accept that the thing itself is harmless - as you point out it's just a video game. But what it provides is ready made entertainment (by means of pretence and escapism) which leads to the gratification, as opposed to learning to play an instrument, which may also be gratifying but is also rewarding. In other words, Rock Band may be fun, but it is also inane.

 

Still, to each his own. There are worse things in this world than people pretending to be famous rock stars in their living rooms.

[Notes_Norton]

Perhaps he is a dancer and not a musician.

 

From my earliest memories, I played with music making toys. Those little toy pianos, xylophones and other music toys were a constant fascination with me. I remember playing my little "no black note" piano when I was probably about 5 years old (judging from the house I remember living in) and figuring out which note I had to start on to play "3 blind mice" and have it sound right. And for other songs, I got frustrated because there weren't enough range on the instrument.

 

I was constantly attracted to musical instruments, and if we visited a home where there was a piano, that's where I sat until I was forced to stop.

 

I figured out tunes on those plastic recorder-type devices, and wanted to play in instrument for as long as I remember. Unfortunately my parents couldn't afford a piano. When I got in Junior High School, I was given an opportunity to join the school band. I started out on drums (everybody did) and when a tenor sax became available, I guess my hand went up more enthusiastically than the other drummers who wanted to get out of the percussion section. I've played the sax almost every day of my life since then.

 

They could have given me Guitar Hero and I would have still wanted a real instrument, and once I had the real instrument in my hand, Guitar Hero would have gathered dust.

 

I had a chemistry set, microscope, and other non-musical toys when I was young, but none of them lasted. Music did.

 

Not everybody has what it takes to be a musician (whatever that is). Some people are dancers, artists, doctors, lawyers, or whatevers.

 

If he really wants to be a musician, he'll pick up the guitar instead of guitar hero.

 

At least that is the way I figure it.

[Charles Obscure]

I'm very good at Wii bowling.

Does that mean I actually suck at REAL bowling?:-

[IntelligentAl]

I'll be honest, I do have Guitar Hero and I think it is a really fun game to play.

 

I started playing real guitar well before I bought Guitar Hero, and even when I did get, I never stopped practicing on my real Les Paul. The way I see it, like others have said before, it is a game and should not be seen as anything other than a game. When I think about it, Guitar Hero probably made me practice real guitar even more because I realised that if I keep at it, one day I could be as good as those that I am pretending to be on this video game. And it has some awesome classic rock!

 

It's nothing to get worked up about...

[leicester35]

I'm very good at Wii bowling.

 

What the bloody hell is "Wii bowling"??

 

...apologies, I just googled it.

 

The Nintendo Wii...looks a bit like the Sega Megadrive for our times (not that I ever had one of those either.)

[RSDx]

I will admit to once trying one of these games (I have no idea which one) at a party - playing it is too fvcking hard when you've been playing a guitar for 40 years...and know how to play more than a few of the songs...LOL The game had Aerosmith's Same Ol' Song and Dance ....... a Sex Pistols song (Anarchy in the UK ???)

Was not fun for me, but most there seemed to like it...and were quite good at it. I sucked out loud at the game, but was the only guitarist there.... Me no care, just another stupid game..... gimme most any game in the Legend of Zelda franchise and I'm all over it !!!:-

[duane v]

 

. There are worse things in this world than people pretending to be famous rock stars in their living rooms.

 

I'm sure at one point during the journey of our musical endeavors, we've all fantasized/dreamed of capturing the brass ring. Even sport jocks dream of winning the Super Bowl, even the guys that play that god awful sport soccer, dream of winning the world cup.

[alcorn429]

Wow.. theres alot of hostility in here. I'll through my two Cents in and maybe it'll get the game some points. I bought a guitar when I was 16 ( a squier strat combo) and tried like hell for a whole month to learn how to play it. Then it sat in my closet for afew years. A little over a year ago my girl friend bought me the game for my ps2 and I started playing all the time. I had it for afew weeks and while it was fun to "Jam" with some awesome songs, there was no feel or real experience to the game. its simply listening to your favorite songs and pretending to play guitar. So anyways, I'm at lunch talkin to a friend of mine and we start talkin about the game. He's a semi - pro guitar player and he's been playing for years. He just tells me that if I can play that game then I can play real guitar. All I gotta do is put in the time and effort. I took the squier out that very day and have played every day since. I guess I'm one of those people who got started because of that game. So I'm not going to bash it. Maybe your nephew will comeback to guitar someday and maybe its just not for him. Don't hate the game, hate the player.

 

Also, I think its a generational thing. I was never really into video games but my brothers always have been and its just something that the older generations just can't and won't understand. Just like my generation doesn't understand disco and bell bottoms.

[SlagJones]

When 'rap' replaced 'music' it was only a matter of time before this kind of crap replaced 'playing an instrument'.

 

This is the type of thinking I don't understand. It's just a game, it is NOT replacing playing a real instrument. Anyone that thinks it does needs some help.

I don't believe there is anyone that plays these games that think they are REALLY guitar players or rock stars and if they do, they have issues far deeper than playing a game.

[SlagJones]

 

And therein lies the problem... I accept that the thing itself is harmless - as you point out it's just a video game. But what it provides is ready made entertainment (by means of pretence and escapism) which leads to the gratification' date=' as opposed to learning to play an instrument, which may also be gratifying but is also rewarding. In other words, Rock Band may be fun, but it is also inane.

 

Still, to each his own. There are worse things in this world than people pretending to be famous rock stars in their living rooms.[/quote']

 

Why do you feel that it's an all or nothing proposition? You CAN Rock Band and play a real instrument too. As it has been said before, there are people who realize that these games are not real and choose to pick up real instruments because they wanted more than the game could offer. On the other hand if someone plays only these games and never picks up a real instrument, there is nothing wrong with that either. It doesn't make someone somehow less of a person because they aren't a real musician. I just sense this backlash is some sort of elitism. "I can play a real guitar but you just play a plastic toy."

You have never had fantasies or played make believe? You never participated in anything that provided instant gratification? I guess Disneyland is equally inane. So be it. I guess not everyone can be as serious and purposeful as you. Is it a problem that I can instantly enjoy a great Beatles tune but I can't play it. Maybe someday with practice and some hard work, maybe I'll be able to play that song but in the mean time, instant gratification will do nicely.

[TWANG]

I play Doom.

I don't think I'd really know how, or want to kill aliens however.

 

My son plays Rock Band. has the whole get up..

friends come over, they play drums and bass and guitar and sing and laugh.

 

previously, it was another game.. and before that another.. and on back to his first pc.

 

he's had sega and playstation and x box and ipod and mp3 players and every techno doodad that came out.

He's much better than me at all of them.

 

he rarely drinks, and then little.

He doesn't booze it up, smoke it up, or knock anybody up. Or down.

 

he works hard.. all through high school and into college..

his friends are tight and trustworthy..

his grades are good his outlook reasonable his expectations mature..

 

he's a bit of a geek, with a little nerd tossed in.. who looks metal in his black leather trenchcoat and loves his johnny cash poster..

he listens to every kind of music imagineable, and turns me on to a lot of stuff I know I would have missed.

He listens to my suggestions, too, and sometimes we even agree.

 

I've played the game with him.. but right now, I'm trying to catch up on the new controller by practicing Doom on the X box.

It's fun, this rock band. Not satisfying enough musically for me. But he's got a lot on his plate. And has chosen another art to persue.

(Artisitic interest was a triumph, I believe. Should I care whether he was a violinist over a sculptor?)

 

One of these days I'll get the Rock Band Tab book, and his friends and he will let me set up and jam with them.

I'll probably be worse than them.

 

They'll like what they're doing, and I'll like what I'm doing.

We'll like doing it together.

 

I'm sorry he doesn't play.

I'm also sorry he isn't as good looking as Paul Newman, smart as Gore Vidal, rich as 'choose a rich guy', etc.

None of my sorrows or disappointments add up to a complaint worth 1/100th what he's already become.

 

Take the long view.

It's quite nice, really.

 

Now, get off my lawn!

 

TWANG

[leicester35]

 

This is the type of thinking I don't understand. It's just a game' date=' it is NOT replacing playing a real instrument. Anyone that thinks it does needs some help.[/quote']

 

OK! I back off...I'm sorry... As I said, let those who want to play "Guitar Hero" play "Guitar Hero." I was just kind of mad because my nephew had basically begged for a guitar for a while...I selected a suitable one and chipped in a fair bit of the money to buy it...and 6 months later he's dropped it in favour of Guitar Hero / Rock Band or whatever. I think I'd be less annoyed if he'd just dropped guitar altogether - we all start things that we turn out not to like - but when I saw him "pretending" to play Paranoid and I asked him, "Would you like me to teach you how to play that for real," and his reaction was basically, "this is real for me, thank you very much," I was a bit pis*ed off. Still, teenagers. I bet I was horrible at that age too.

 

I agree with what some of you have said...if he stays liking music, maybe one day he'll get tired of pretending and want to play it for real. If that's the case, then at least he has a guitar ready and waiting to learn on.

 

Personally, I don't play video games. Nothing snide intended by that statement - they're just not my thing. I didn't have access to them as a kid, and I don't have a desire to start playing them now - but I accept that it's not my place to question how other people get their kicks.

[leicester35]

I play Doom.

I don't think I'd really know how' date=' or want to kill aliens however.

 

My son plays Rock Band. has the whole get up..

friends come over, they play drums and bass and guitar and sing and laugh.

 

previously, it was another game.. and before that another.. and on back to his first pc.

 

he's had sega and playstation and x box and ipod and mp3 players and every techno doodad that came out.

He's much better than me at all of them.

 

he rarely drinks, and then little.

He doesn't booze it up, smoke it up, or knock anybody up. Or down.

 

he works hard.. all through high school and into college..

his friends are tight and trustworthy..

his grades are good his outlook reasonable his expectations mature..

 

he's a bit of a geek, with a little nerd tossed in.. who looks metal in his black leather trenchcoat and loves his johnny cash poster..

he listens to every kind of music imagineable, and turns me on to a lot of stuff I know I would have missed.

He listens to my suggestions, too, and sometimes we even agree.

 

I've played the game with him.. but right now, I'm trying to catch up on the new controller by practicing Doom on the X box.

It's fun, this rock band. Not satisfying enough musically for me. But he's got a lot on his plate. And has chosen another art to persue.

(Artisitic interest was a triumph, I believe. Should I care whether he was a violinist over a sculptor?)

 

One of these days I'll get the Rock Band Tab book, and his friends and he will let me set up and jam with them.

I'll probably be worse than them.

 

They'll like what they're doing, and I'll like what I'm doing.

We'll like doing it together.

 

I'm sorry he doesn't play.

I'm also sorry he isn't as good looking as Paul Newman, smart as Gore Vidal, rich as 'choose a rich guy', etc.

None of my sorrows or disappointments add up to a complaint worth 1/100th what he's already become.

 

Take the long view.

It's quite nice, really.

 

Now, get off my lawn!

 

TWANG

 

[/quote']

 

But that was all a bit sanctimonious to be fair. Did you, perchance, used to drive around with one of those profoundly irritating "My kid is on the honour roll" bumper stickers? I suspect that you probably did...

 

And I promise to get off your lawn just as soon as my rottweiler's finished crapping on it.

[tom nair]

Like others have said, if they really want to play they will. I started out on tennis rackets. Played them for at least four years in a band complete with cardboard drums to the neighbor girls while we imitated Beatles tunes. It was great and i will never forget it. I have been playing since I was twelve and I am fifty two. It really dose not matter where it comes from. Some people get it and the vast majority don't. It's one of the greatest minority groups to be in. Let's face it . How many times have you told someone you play, or played for them. Most of them always say they always wanted to do that. It always makes me feel good.