Guitar Hero - Good/Bad? Pros & Cons?

[dpgumby62]

I have searched through old threads, and haven't really seen this topic discussed in depth, but what do you all think of Guitar Hero?

 

Is it an abonimation and a general pox upon the music scene, or can it expose gamers to music, songs, bands and guitar players they would otherwise not get to hear, and encourage them to take up guitar for real?

 

I admit that at first I was sceptical and thought it was just another gimmacky computer game, but when searching old threads on this topic, I noticed oilpit mention it was something which encouraged him to take up learning guitar after hearing stuff like Sweet Child and Hells Bells and the like, which is a good thing, IMHO.

 

I am interested to hear the views, both for and against, on Guitar Hero's merit/worth, or lack thereof.

 

Bugger! I think this should have gone in the "Gibson Lounge" area of the forum. Oh well....... too late now.

[:oilpit:]

Guitar Hero has it's place

For children under 12 years old who also play an instrument.

Otherwise it's more addicting than heroin, and you get made fun of if your real good at it, I know.

But I also get made fun of for playin real guitar, so idk

I'd say it's bad most of the time about 93% of the time

[dpgumby62]

thanks for the input, oilpit.

You get made fun of for being too good at it? Is that like considered uncool or something?

And no one should ever make fun of you for playing real guitar, thats just wrong. Play it loud, make em weep, and make their ears bleed.

[:oilpit:]

turns out guitar is no longer cool with the yunguns now adays

It's all about hip hop

Who knew...

[slimjimdom]

I think it's a great game. Really fun after a few drinks with a group.

[the_HEWC]

I always try to explain to non guitar playing friends that it is nothing like the real thing... Maybe that is just a bad excuse since I suck at guitar hero

 

The most difficult thing is that the part your supposed to play sometimes switches between lead and rythm guitar, and off course if it is a song you already know then it feels just stupid learning how to play it with buttons..

 

Thats just my opinion, otherwise it is a fun game to play with friends.

[Thermionik]

Your 'abonimation and a general pox upon the music scene' about sums it up.

 

People keep taking those rubbish guitar starter packs back to the shops where they bought them, complaining that they don't sound like guitar hero and can they have their money back, 'cause it is trash and hurts their fingers and ears.

 

But then I would say that.....

 

.....I've still got a copy of Chet Atkins 'Play Guitar in a Day'.

Printed.

On Paper.

You had to read it.

No video, no audio even.

Just words printed on a page..... those were the days

[dpgumby62]

Yes, i remember those times too, Thermionik. No video, not even guitar tab, just regular musical notation printed on the page, and a cheap accoustic which hurt the fingers. Happy days!

 

As an aside, I think sampling is a bigger pox on the music world, but I think I'll leave that for another thread.

[Craig10119]

I don't like it. Firstly a lot of guitar hero players talk about how "realistic" it is...

 

I can see the fun in it... Even tried it myself. And yes, I did suck at it too... I suppose it's harder for a musician(particularly a guitar player) to play. It defies logic... Say for example you're "playing" a song, and in the first verse, a certain button seems to subsitute for an A chord in the verse... By the time you get to the second verse, you start getting cocky, and when it comes time to "play" that A again, the computer tells you that you hit a wrong note...

 

I can see the positives to it though. It would encourage more people to start playing the guitar, but a lot of people don't get that far. And most of the people who do pick up the guitar on the back of playing guitar hero tend to quietly quit once they realise how difficult it can be to learn.

 

My friend's little brother borrowed his acoustic and asked him what notes substituted for what buttons. True story.

 

The best example was rush failing to "play" tom sawyer in rock band (the game).

 

A lot of guitar hero players also can't stand the fact that it "hurts" to play the guitar. My first ever guitar had a maple fretboard that ended up covered in blood. I'm sure that everyone here had the same problem in the begining. It just seems to get people in a false sense of security. They get the whole attitude "i'm great at guitar hero, so I must be great at the real thing"

[RichCI]

I think it's good as it gets kids into guitar. My neighbor, who noodles around with guitar, has the whole Rock Band setup with the drum kit and the works; what I found frustrating is that you have to sort of play before the note as playing right on the note causes a "miss."

[Thundergod]

I think it's one of the worst things that could have happened... if you want me to elaborate I will. Just ask.

[Thermionik]

.

.

 

Please oh Thundery one..... elaborate

.

[surfpup]

There are cons aplenty. I can see one pro, however... kids have become interested in some great classic rock and excellent guitar players. Now they come in asking to learn how to play better stuff! I mean c'mon without GH no kids were asking me to show them Jailbreak! They had never even heard of Thin Lizzy until GH.

[solacematt]

god I friggin hate guitar hero. I've actually heard a kid in best buy refer to Slash as 'that guy from 'guitar hero.' It'snot just kids that play that game though, there's a whole lot of adults that play it too. I don't have much time to watch tv, but I DVR VH1 Classic 120 Minutes, (which is a joke compared to the original show from the late 80's/early 90's) and they cut the show down by like two videos now to show a sort synopsis from the latst show of their 'rock band' or 'guitar hero' whatever show where adults who, apparently have some of the highest scores in the country, compete against each other. I saw Dio and Sebastian Bach on the show hosting a few times. I get a bit sick and usually head for the toilet when I see this come on, and hit the delete button on my DVR.

The only good thing I see that comes out of these two horrid games, are that the help sponsor entire tours for real bands. The downside, I went to opening night of Cruefest, which was partly sponsored by one of the two games, can't remember which one, but before Motley went on, they actually brought up the two winners from the side stage to play the game on the large stage displayed on the two big screens. During the opening bands (Trapt, SiXX AM, Papa Roach and Buckcherry), they actually had a competetion for the game at the small stage. Apparently a lot of people were over there too. I even see at some shows they'll have the game set up outside the venue by the main doors a a boothe and people will be outside playing the game not even checking out the openers. Sad sad day we're in

[Asoa]

I think the game is excellent fun and quite cool.

 

Fisrtly, playing Guitar Hero is NOTHING like playing a real guitar, anyone that tells you any different really doesn't know any better.

 

I draw similies of Guitar Hero to the pop group "Busted", in as much as it offers young kids an entry into rock, metal, punk music that may have otherwise eluded them.

 

Over the last year my 10 year son has been playing GH 2 and 3 on the PS2 and now listens to Foofighters, Metallica and the likes, he also has has been bought his 1st acoustic guitar which he is busy learning simple chords.

 

What more could a proud father want.

 

I am not saying that this would not have happened without GH but i am convinced it helped.

[Silverbursted]

IMO it's trash. The examples given above are very valid; the other kids still make fun, parents are returning REAL guitars in favor of a plastic button machine. The kids do not have to learn theory or an an appreciation of the hard work and dedication it takes to be good at, well pretty much anything. You can pull it out of the box, plug it in, and withing a couple of hours, you can wiz through GNR or AC/DC on expert level. It gives immediate satisfaction, so why should a kid spend hours, days or years before becoming accomplished at playing guitar, bass or drums. For that reason, I don't think this game turns people to real musicianship, it's just another shortcut that we as a society will pay for later.

[solacematt]

IMO it's trash. The examples given above are very valid; the other kids still make fun' date=' parents are returning [i']REAL[/i] guitars in favor of a plastic button machine. The kids do not have to learn theory or an an appreciation of the hard work and dedication it takes to be good at, well pretty much anything. You can pull it out of the box, plug it in, and withing a couple of hours, you can wiz through GNR or AC/DC on expert level. It gives immediate satisfaction, so why should a kid spend hours, days or years before becoming accomplished at playing guitar, bass or drums. For that reason, I don't think this game turns people to real musicianship, it's just another shortcut that we as a society will pay for later.

 

That's the problem that the internet has afforded us. Instant gratification. I'll admit, I like the net, I use it everyday, but the electronics generation really has taken the fun, surprise, wonder, and magic out of things. That kid ma learn that simple as hell to play on a real guitar AC/DC song and say, man, that was hard. That wasn't as much fun 2% as much fun as playing it on Guitar Hero, and put the guitar down and pick up the controller.

[Homz]

I was actually watching "Rock Band 2" this morning on tee- vee. The bands (used loosly) lead singer actually said, "If it weren't for the fact that we don't actually know how to play instruments we would rock".

 

That's the best statement from a band/fauxBand ever.

[Thundergod]

god I friggin hate guitar hero. I've actually heard a kid in best buy refer to Slash as 'that guy from 'guitar hero.' It'snot just kids that play that game though' date=' there's a whole lot of adults that play it too. I don't have much time to watch tv, but I DVR VH1 Classic 120 Minutes, (which is a joke compared to the original show from the late 80's/early 90's) and they cut the show down by like two videos now to show a sort synopsis from the latst show of their 'rock band' or 'guitar hero' whatever show where adults who, apparently have some of the highest scores in the country, compete against each other. I saw Dio and Sebastian Bach on the show hosting a few times. I get a bit sick and usually head for the toilet when I see this come on, and hit the delete button on my DVR.

The only good thing I see that comes out of these two horrid games, are that the help sponsor entire tours for real bands. The downside, I went to opening night of Cruefest, which was partly sponsored by one of the two games, can't remember which one, but before Motley went on, they actually brought up the two winners from the side stage to play the game on the large stage displayed on the two big screens. During the opening bands (Trapt, SiXX AM, Papa Roach and Buckcherry), they actually had a competetion for the game at the small stage. Apparently a lot of people were over there too. I even see at some shows they'll have the game set up outside the venue by the main doors a a boothe and people will be outside playing the game not even checking out the openers. Sad sad day we're in [/quote']

 

 

 

+100000

 

After this post, no need to elaborate further.

 

I hate that thing.

[DamienAzrael]

god I friggin hate guitar hero. I've actually heard a kid in best buy refer to Slash as 'that guy from 'guitar hero.' It'snot just kids that play that game though' date=' there's a whole lot of adults that play it too. I don't have much time to watch tv, but I DVR VH1 Classic 120 Minutes, (which is a joke compared to the original show from the late 80's/early 90's) and they cut the show down by like two videos now to show a sort synopsis from the latst show of their 'rock band' or 'guitar hero' whatever show where adults who, apparently have some of the highest scores in the country, compete against each other. I saw Dio and Sebastian Bach on the show hosting a few times. I get a bit sick and usually head for the toilet when I see this come on, and hit the delete button on my DVR.

The only good thing I see that comes out of these two horrid games, are that the help sponsor entire tours for real bands. The downside, I went to opening night of Cruefest, which was partly sponsored by one of the two games, can't remember which one, but before Motley went on, they actually brought up the two winners from the side stage to play the game on the large stage displayed on the two big screens. During the opening bands (Trapt, SiXX AM, Papa Roach and Buckcherry), they actually had a competetion for the game at the small stage. Apparently a lot of people were over there too. I even see at some shows they'll have the game set up outside the venue by the main doors a a boothe and people will be outside playing the game not even checking out the openers. Sad sad day we're in [/quote']

 

Matt....it's **** like this that makes me remember why we've been friends for so long...

[Thermionik]

.

.

 

If it weren't for the fact that we don't actually know how to play instruments we would rock

 

That is..... priceless

[dark]

GH is no different than pretending to play instruments with a Ninetendo Ii.

 

Games are for kids. This is a kids game. Games are not real. Games do not make one play a guitar better. Only playing a guitar makes you play guitar better.

 

Time spent on playing the game could be spent practicing. What a novel idea.

[rocketman]

Well video games do have the plus of giving better coordination. This is a fairly recent journal publication in Nature Clinical Practice Urology that supports this notion. I've never played it but from what I can see it looks like it will help one's coordination. BUT, c'mon, it should never be used as anything but a toy. If one is spending 2 hours a day on video games like this and only 30 minutes practicing an instrument, then our cultural world is doomed!

[elessar820]

I love playing guitar and I love playing video games. I like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I haven't gotten Guitar Hero World Tour, but I do have Rock Band 2. I don't compare the real thing and a video game, that's just stupid, but the games kind of stop being fun after a while, they lost their appeal. Rock Band 2 is very repetitive with a mostly lame music selection. Honestly, the only songs I really liked on it were Alive by Pearl Jam and Colony of Birchmen by Mastodon. So, I guess I'd rather just play my guitars for real and Madden 09 and wait until Christmas for Resistance 2 and until March for Resident Evil 5, now those look like great games.

[phil325]

god I friggin hate guitar hero. I've actually heard a kid in best buy refer to Slash as 'that guy from 'guitar hero.'

 

LOL i experienced the same exact thing, this bumbling idiot of a kid saw slash's cardboard cutout at guitar center (promotion for the slash LP's) and all he had to say was "it's the guitar hero guy!".

 

yea it is annoying at times, but there is an upside to all this. those hip hop kids and pop music addicted hormone driven kids get to be exposed to bands like AC/DC, aerosmith, GNR, rush, pearl jam, and the list goes on. i guess you can say it's the gateway for broader musical tastes and possible musical influence that drives them towards picking up a real guitar, drums, or mic.

 

so yea, take into account good and bad i say.