With the release of The Beatles Rock Band edition I've been hearing a lot about how great this is for music and how a new generation are being introduced to music. I heard a commentator on ABC News yesterday talk about how great it is that people can finally participate in Beatles music. Now while its true that games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have gotten a lot more publicity out bands and are certainly going to be very good for Paul and Ringo's net worth is having games like those really good for music in general? I see a couple of problems with the idea that those games are good for music in that while the Internet has broken commercial radio's hold on exposure and availablity of music if a whole generation's primary introduction to music is through video games wouldn't the video games then become the gate keepers to widespread exposure to that type of music? So while Rock Band might introduce a new generation to The Beatles that doesn't do anything for exposure to a wider performers and genre's of music. I would see it as doing the opposite that Rock Band and Guitar Hero would be more interested in putting on music that already had been commercially successful rather than being more interested in variety. I'm not very familiar with Rock Band or Guitar Hero, having only played Guitar Hero once, but it seems like the selection of music would also tend to favor music that could translate easier to game play. In otherwords music that heavily favored guitars and the standard instruments of rock and roll. This would seem to rule out more unusual or experimental music. In the case of Guitar Hero the nature of the game means there is a focus on the melody lines of the guitar portion so to be successful in the game you can't focus on the other parts of the song. Another problem that I can see with the medium of the games is that the appreciation of music might change as rather than appreciate the music of itself we look at it for how it works with the game. Could it come to the point that we can't have a hit unless it also plays great on Rock Band or Guitar Hero? Finally I have hard time seeing the argument that by playing the game you are participating or understanding the music. It seem to me that playing Rock Band is about as much participation in the music as playing Call of Duty is participating in D-Day. To me about the only musical skill or understanding gained is being able to keep time with particular instrument lines but other than that its not the same as actually learning to play the music anymore than air-guitar is guitar. People are certainly free to interpret the music through other means than actually playing music but the problem I have is the idea that playing Guitar Hero is somehow equivalent to participating in the music. As I said above though I've only played those games once and am not video gamer in general, also I play guitar so I will admit I have a bias. Being somewhat older than average fans of Rock Band and Guitar Hero I am also willing to say I might be a curmudgeon on this but am wondering what others think.
i think it has helped music in general. you have some classic hits that children today would not have been exposed to and they are not only hearing the songs but memorizing them. I know of some kids in high school who have bought/downloaded cds of artists that were in guitar hero because they were interested in some of the other songs the bands had produced. i think its a good thing better than most of the crap that is spewing out on the radio today. esp with the beatles coming out today not many kids will have heard the greatness that is the beatles outside of a few tv/movie spots but now they can hear a decent amount of their hits.
I have never played either game. Define participating in music. Is listening participation? how about nodding your head or dancing? Drumming on the table to a beat? How about that in an admittedly limited sense they can see how music is made of parts, and learn a coordinated series of hand movements that represent notes which are meaningless by themselves but relational.... which is why you can recognize a melody in any key. As far as games shaping music, well, I mean could music be any more cookie cutter than the current paradigm? If artists create music explicitly for, or over time just shifts the industry slightly then so what? Music was once heavily influenced by the Vietnam war. What stands the test of time stands on it's own merits musically. For goodness sake, this is the age of autotune and you're complaining about some kid rocking out to the Beatles. I can also see future generations of these controllers becoming better, more representative and instructive regarding real instruments I predict a project natal therimin in the near future.
Guitar Hero made me interested in learning to play guitar. I enjoyed being able to simulate the experience of playing an instrument that kicks so much ass. Of course Its nothing like pushing a couple buttons, but it does teach you rhythm, timing, etc which is really what a lot of beginning guitar players struggle with. and BTW, most of the music coming out these days (as evident by that thread professorjay started) equates to no more than pushing a few buttons. Been playing the real guitar for about a year now and i love it, its challenging and takes a lot of practice but its very rewarding. Still love playing songs on Rock Band though, but only the hard stuff, because the finger tapping solos are the only real fun part of video game guitar playing.
I've never played either of those games, but I've read that the Beatles game puts an emphasis on vocal harmonies which gives players a greater appreciation of the Beatles' musicianship. I think it could make kids more interested in picking up an instrument like the guitar or drums. If the singing component advances, that could help people develop "an ear for music". It's conceivable that serious musical training could, in time, make its way somehow into these games. Maybe musical composition at some point becomes a gameplay feature.
I have seen my son learn basic drum patterns, rhythm, and the "mathematical" aspects of music. It also prompted him to buy his own kiddie acoustic guitar with his birthday gift cards. Playing it has even given me a greater appreciation for some songs and bands that I hated.
I think you’re digging too deep on this, rocketsjudoka. I play drums and guitar and I love the game. Why? Because it’s a GAME. Most of my musician friends love it as well. The funny thing is, most of them (along with myself) started out with a bias against the game for the same reasons you list. But once they (and I) loosened up and tried it, they all loved it. I don’t think it’s doing any damage to the art any more than Madden is doing to the NFL. How often do you see NFL players playing Madden? All the time because it’s a GAME. I have a niece who wants me to teach her to play guitar over the Christmas holiday. Why? Because she loves GH. I don’t think she would’ve even been the slightest bit interested in learning if not for the game. And the drums…. Seriously, if you’re playing on expert, you are basically playing the drums. Hell, I can barely get 90% playing Tool songs on ‘expert’ and I’ve been playing for real for over a quarter century! IMO the game is exposing kids to music they normally wouldn’t be exposed to and that’s a GOOD thing. I can’t tell you how cool it is that my 8-year old nephew knows the words to Rock and Roll All Night by KISS.
it's not only Rock Band. look at the soundtrack to Madden football. If a person plays madden regularly, the songs get stuck in their head.
That's a good point. Like I said in my 1st post, we're practically already there as far as the drums go. They are already a great teaching tool IMO, and I say that as someone who has been teaching drum lessons (on and off) for over 2 decades.
While Guitar Hero may not introduce more experimental music, as you note, it's not suddenly putting an extra burden on those bands coming from left field. That stuff typically finds it's way through unconventional channels anyways, irrelevant of the mainstream. And I'd rather see kids get introduced to time proven 'classics' rather than the flavor of the month on MTV.
I really really HATE the fact that I play this GAME (the few times that I do at Worst Buy) and that I play "Eye of the Tiger" so well and get so many points on it on that particular song, and then I show up at my friends' band jam session and grabbed his guitar and try to play that same song with a REAL guitar and I can't. DAMN YOU, GUITAR ZERO! DAMN YOU!
They could beef up Expert mode by actually making you have to do down/up strums. That would be brutal.
Personally, I think GH/RB is a shortcut. Instead of spending years of practice on a real instrument, users can "experience" the rewards of playing drums/guitar instantly. I'd rather just invest the $150 into a real instrument for my kids and teach them myself. That way they are also learning the values of hard work, patience and commitment.
I've never played this game buut have heard about it everywhere. I've always figured it's like a variation of rhythm games like Dance Dance Rev. type games, am I correct?
