Would developing mad Guitar Hero skillz help make you a better real guitarist in any way?
I don’t think so, no. However, I can say that learning (very, very slowly) to play guitar helped my Guitar Hero skills. Specifically, it limbered up my pinky and made it a bit easier to play the fifth fret button.
I can’t find it, or remember more about it than what I’m about to say, but I saw linked somewhere a YouTube video in which one of the bands whose song is in Guitar Hero (or was it Rock Band? - this is a big reason why I can’t find it) tries playing it, and fails. So I doubt the skill sets are similar enough.
Guitar hero might be a slight help in developing your sense of rythm, I believe.
I’ve found the game useful as a way to study songs, and it might be of some minimal value in helping to understand timing, rhythm and song structure, but as a how-to for beginners-- it’s no more useful than trying to learn karate by playing fighting games.
You might be thinking of Rush when they played Tom Sawyer on expert in Rock Band for the Colbert Report.
There’s a few videos like that. This is the one I remember best. It’s the guitar player for anthrax, playing guitar hero 2.
I used to play bass, and I utterly suck at Guitar Hero. It doesn’t behave like a normal guitar, you have to learn it from scratch. I did much worse than people who haven’t played guitar or bass before. Probably because I’ve learned how to play the real thing, and I can’t help but expect the guitar control to function the same way. It doesn’t, so I panic and then freeze.
So, I don’t think it’s going to help you with the actual technique, but like others said - getting a feel for music and rythm maybe. Which is never a bad thing. And it’s good practice for actively listening to the different elements of a song.
I played Guitar Hero for nearly a year before deciding to go out and buy a real guitar. Except for maybe increasing finger strength, it hasn’t helped at all. I’ve been taking lessons for six months now and I can only play pieces of about 20ish songs.
No, and infact it probably will HINDER a new guitarist from learning the instrument, simply because that isn’t how real guitars are played.
What…you mean I actually have to pluck 6 different strings rather than push a lever? What, you mean there are actually chords to play with your right hand rather than 5 buttons? Fuck that, I’m just gonna play Guitar Hero!
how about that drum game then?
It certainly won’t help you learn to play a real guitar, but if you know how to play a real guitar, you will likely start out better at Guitar Hero than a non player. The game takes rhythm, timing, and the ability to do different things with both hands. I’ve played guitar for 12 years, and when I picked up guitar hero, the action on the fretboard and the strumming motion were natural, but the actual game isn’t like playing a guitar. I did pick up the game quickly, though.
I just beat Guitar Hero III on Medium difficulty, and that was tough for me (Had the game 2 weeks), and I don’t even know if I want to try Hard.
I will say that the only song that really screwed me up was when I was playing a friend’s Guitar Hero 2 (or 1), and a song came on that I knew how to play on a real guitar…screwed me up royally, as my muscle memory kept trying to play the real song, which doesn’t really jive with the game.
BTW, if you can pass Through the Fire and Flames on Expert, you have no life. (I ended up just mashing the buttons haphazardly when it came on during my 'victory credits, and that was on Medium!)
I completely disagree. As a (admittedly very amateur) guitarist and a big fan of guitar hero/rock band, I think Diogenes is right on. It’ll teach you some rythym, although obviously it won’t go very far in improving your left hand fingering.
But playing the guitar hero and rock band games went a long way in furthering my understanding of music. You really get to understand how songs are structured much better by playing in the harder (preferably expert) difficulties of guitar hero and rock band.
I can’t vouch for Guitar Hero 3 since I’m a Harmonix fanboy and have only played the games they created, and I’ve heard rumors of over-charting in guitar hero 3, which sure doesn’t help you understand songs any better. YMMV.
What I think these games might be good for is teaching an elementry skill of sight reading. I’ve played the guitar, piano and vocals but one thing I have never been able to do is sight read. I can’t look ahead and put my fingers where they are supposed to go even on the simplest piece. There is just some disconnect in the way my brain works. Likewise, I am completely retarded on guitar hero and I look like a convulsing monkey on Dance Revolution.
Couple of anecdotes:
(1) 30-something friend of our, amateur musician (guitarist) found Guitar Hero doubly hard because his fingers wanted to play the songs the way they would be played on a guitar.
(2) 15-year-old nephew, very amateur musician (drummer) found Guitar Hero exceptionally easy because the rhythm comes easily to him.
I’m interested to know how much learning Rock Band drums carries over to real drums. It’s not like the guitar where it’s a total abstraction - you’re doing the real basic action of drumming (hitting drums and pressing a pedal), just on a smaller scale and simplified. I’ve read - I think it was a musician but I can’t recall who - that the guitar play won’t teach you anything about playing the guitar, but if you can drum Rock Band on expert, you’re pretty much drumming for real.
Even better with the drums from here: http://www.drumrocker.com/
I play the drums on expert, and it seems pretty damned real to me. It will be much more so in Rock Band 2, when the drums become velocity sensitive.
What you’re not learning is the very important skill of being able to keep time on your own. But in terms of stickwork, learning to separate your foot from your hands, and leaning the basic drum beats, it’s pretty close.
I saw a video of a guy who had never played real drums sitting down to play with a band behind a real drum kit. They played one of the songs from the game, and the band’s drummer was astounded by how good the guy was at it.
There are people who buy real drum kits and put Rock Band songs on in practice mode so you can’t fail, and they just play real drums along with the note chart.