In living rooms, dorm rooms, and bar rooms there's a familiar click-click-clack and whap-whap-whap often heard along with classic rock hits. The video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band have been a staple of pop culture for half a decade now. The plastic guitars and rubber drum kits that come with the games have taken on iconic status and YouTube is populated with videos of teenagers nailing the games' toughest guitar solos.
That's all great, but when the game is over, are these really anything more than just games? Do any gamers step up from Rock Band to a real band?
Here's what we know: Guitar Hero and Rock Band are music-based video games that simulate playing real instruments. Players use controllers shaped like real guitars or drum kits to play along with dozens of blues, rock, and metal songs from the past 50 years—everything from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan to Slayer. Since the games first came out in 2005, the two franchises have sold a combined 36 million copies.
Sales dropped more than 40% in 2009, but even with their influence waning, these games remain popular. Research suggests that they do move some kids toward genuine music-making. According to a study by Youth Music, the largest music charity in the UK, more than six million British youths between the ages of three and 15 play one of these rhythm games. About 2.5 million said that the games inspired them to pick up a real instrument.
Erik Puslys, chair of the guitar department at the Community Music Center of Boston, can't say for sure that there's any direct correlation between the games and students picking up a guitar. But he is surprised at the number of his young students who are familiar with the music of guitar-centric rock acts from the '70s and '80s, like Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, and Guns N' Roses, all of whom have songs on Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
"[The games] keep kids interested in guitar, and help keep students coming in," Puslys says. "You just don't hear guitar as prominently on the radio anymore. There are no songs with a recognizable guitar intro like there used to be. It's great that these games can keep that going."
That said, the games probably have a limited impact on musical ability. The drumming and singing aspects of the game translate to real drumming and singing. But the five-button plastic guitar has little in common with a real six-stringer, Puslys says. Critics like Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Prince have also spoken out in doubt of the games' lasting musical impact. Budding guitarists might be frustrated when the real thing turns out to be much harder than the virtual version.
However, games like Rock Band definitely improve eye-hand coordination, which translates to a keener sense of timing and rhythm. And perhaps most importantly, they allow nonmusicians a semblance of the joy that comes along with playing music in a group setting, even if it is just a simulation. Sometimes that's the closest friends and families will come to playing in a band together. That's something worthwhile. Rock on.
MIDI Guitar and Controller All In One
Some enterprising designers are building bridges between guitar-based video games and real guitar. Take, for example, the YouRock guitar. It's a Guitar Hero and Rock Band controller and a fully functioning electronic MIDI guitar.
It has frets, it has strings, it has pretty much all the trappings of a real guitar. It has built-in backing tracks so beginners can play along and it can plug into an MP3 player so users can practice over their favorite tunes. It hooks up to all three major consoles, and the frets are colored just like the plastic facsimiles. Instead of whacking a spring-loaded strum bar, players strum strings to trigger the notes on screen.
It is a great gadget for gamers to get a better feel for what real guitar playing is all about.
