Living the Dream: Rock Band

Great article. It’s inspirational. I’ve been struggling for over a year to get something going. I’d easily wait 9 more if it can approach Guitar Hero’s success.

I want it! I want it! I want it!

Five large peripherals is too much.

Hey, is this your 1000th post?

As a professional musician (and software engineer), I can tell you what you experience with Rock Band is a teeny tiny inkling of what it feels like to actually play an instrument and perform with a band. If this turns you on, I suggest actually learning how to play an instrument then get your friends together and make real music. The musical purist side of me thinks this is just more derogation of the art form that is music – turning it into a quick-fix cheap-thrill further adding to homologized sausage factory that is the American music scene…that is why I rarely let out the musical purist side of me…This reminds me of a video game that would simulate the experience of “making whoopee” - sure it could be fun, but it will never come close to the real thing…playing that game with your friends and coworkers would be a truly odd experience.
:slight_smile:

Got it at midnight. It rocks.

Here’s another computer science student and aspiring Guitar Hero (I don’t own a Xbox360, so only Guitar Hero for me, but this is about the general discussion anyway.)
I can absolutely understand that rocking out on your Gibson is waaaay cooler than pushing colored buttons on some plasticky guitar. But that’s probably the nearest I’ll ever get to playing the guitar. Yo, I’m only a student, how could I afford guitar courses, let alone find time to practice? I have to pay the rent, you know… and that money has to be earnt in some time.

So what’s wrong with guitar games? They’re not real? Yeah, but it FEELS real (…when you know nothing about music theory, alright). And I really learnt something: my finger coordination has improved greatly, I’ve got some sense for rhythm now, and when I hear rock/metal on the radio, I can recognize the “patterns” much easier, which makes the song sound very different. As Alex Rigopulos said, it’s not a mash anymore. Beautiful.

Guitar games are the only affordable way for me to play great music “myself”. And I’m very thankful for that.

As a musician getting slightly annoyed by music n00bs drooling over the chance to Rock, I was going to go with the stance that quite possibly, I need to lighten up and there is hardly anything wrong with a game getting people cooperating in ways other than simulations of organised tribal warfare or vehicular gymnastics.

Until the idea was mentioned that getting to expert level on the drum kit actually gives you some sort of actual real-life drumming skill. It doesn’t. It might give you a sense of rythm that you didn’t know you had (deep down, you either do or you don’t – trust me on this one). It might train your ears to listen to music in a more granular way. It might give you a whole lot of other things with regards to music that musicians (after a LOT of hard and tedious practice) take for granted.

It does NOT give you actual drumming skill that you would not have to unlearn first before getting ahead again.

To wit: without proper technique you will most likely develop a style to move your whole arm to manipulate the stick (no, please hold your very obvious jokes), which is quite a tiring thing to do for longer periods of time, such as a few songs in a row. Especially if you need to up the tempo, variations and whatnot. The thing to do, however, is to do it all from the wrist, with a lot of attention to the fingers that hold the back end of the stick. I play both drums and guitar and find that the latter is more tiring because of the pressure I need to put on strings with my left hand.

I’ll stick to this: Rock Band will teach you as much drumming as Zelda on the Wii will teach you fencing.

[end of grumble]

btw: despite my purist grumblings, I do applaud Harmonix for tapping a market that obviously has lots of value. Large market potential and earning my respect, gratitude or general warm feeling have run on different tracks before.

@Mattkins

You talked about ‘the average guy’

  1. The average guy. He’s never played a musical instrument, and he
    barely even has a sense of rhythm. This game shows him rhythm and some
    of the basics of music and even a tiny ounce of basic guitar technique
    (pull-offs, hammer-ons) if he gets far enough in the game. Maybe this
    will even lead to him learning more about music.

That’s me. I have bad rhythm, but I LOVE Guitar Hero III on my Wii. I’ve learned more about music and guitar than I ever thought possible. I know darn well it is nothing like an actual guitar, but now I have a preview of what is in store if I decide to pick up a real guitar and try to learn… A lot more than I ever imagined.

And for the record, I still can’t figure out why I can totally shred the complex solos on most songs ‘medium’, but can not for the life of me keep the rhythm parts on Barracuda. I bet playing the drums is right out for me!

g

Did someone mention cowbell?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QlqLLZQLNiA

I agree with Schmolle - myself being a drummer, you probably would mess yourself up by trying to learn drumming on these pad-thingies and then attempting to apply those skills on an actual kit. But one thing it would teach you is timing - and that’s a damn good place to start. Once you get that internal tick-tick-tick going in your head, that’s a valuable asset to have!

All the musicians vs rock band arguments aside, I can’t wait to play this game. It looks pretty fun!

And to Lee Hodge, who had the witty comment “what do you call a non-musician that hangs around with musicians…a drummer”, here’s one for you:

-How do you get a guitar player to play softer?
Give him some sheet music.

:wink:

to everyone hating on this game…i just want to point out that it is just that…a GAME!! and a damn good one at that! why must everyone make every little thing into such a controversy! i bought it the other day and it is absolutely awesome!

i’m a huge fan of rock but the peripherals for this game are just too bulky (imagine playing multiplayer (4 players) in a two - cell dorm) plus i’m sure they all come with there individual price tags.nice game though

I always thought that DDR and Karaoke Revolution would go great together (lead singer and backup dancers). Never liked Guitar Hero, though.

My sister is putting together a Rock Band band, but she wants me on bass, and I’d rather sing. But she (having heard my voice) knows better. See – it even gives you real like Rock Band drama! =)

(And no, we’re not going to really fight over it.)

More drummer jokes, then:

What do you call a drummer between girlfriends? Homeless.

What makes a drummer play softer? A piece of sheet music.

What makes a drummer stop playing? Actual notes on the paper.

What did the drummer get on his IQ test? Drool.

How can you tell if the is stage is level? The drool comes from both sides of the drummer’s mouth.

I went to a whole drummers’ convention recently. So many drummers, so little time.

What do you call a drummer with original ideas? Unemployed.

Why are Viola jokes so short? So drummers can remember them.

What’s the difference between a savings bond and a drummer? Someday the bond will mature and make some money.

Did you hear about the time the bass player locked his keys in the car? It took two hours to get the drummer out.

What’s the difference between a drum machine and a drummer? You only have to punch the information into the drum machine once.

A drummer, tired from being ridiculed by his peers, decides to learn how to play some “real” musical instruments. He goes to a music store, walks in, approaches the store clerk, and says “I’ll take that red trumpet over there and that accordian.” The store clerk looks at him a bit funny, and replies “OK, you can have the fire extinguisher but the radiator’s got to stay”.

Mommy, mommy, I want to be a drummer when I grow up! Sorry son, you can’t do both.

How can you tell when there is a drummer at your door? The knocking speeds up, and he doesn’t know when to come in

What do Ginger Baker and canteen coffee have in common? They both suck without Cream.

What’s the last thing a drummer says in a band? “Hey guys, why don’t we try one of my songs?”

At the Orchestra one day, a tuba player wanted to torture the drummer behind him, so he hid one of the drummer’s sticks. After looking around for a few minutes, with a frantic, wide-eyed expression, the drummer fell to his knees, flung his arms wide, and screamed to heaven: “Finally! The miracle, after all these years! I’m a Conductor!”

Why do guitarists put drumsticks on the dashboard of their car? So they can park in the handicapped spot.

How is a drum solo like a hard sneeze? You can tell it’s coming, but you can’t do anything about it and when it happens, it brings tears to your eyes.

Did you hear about the drummer who graduated from University? Me neither

How can you tell a drummer is walking behind you? You can hear his knuckles dragging on the ground.

Why do drummers have lots of kids? They’re terrible at the rhythm method.

(for the next joke, be aware that Buddy Rich was not the nicest guy in the world)

A musician who used to play with Buddy comes back from Europe looking for a gig. He phones Buddy’s place and Buddy’s wife tells him that she is sorry but Buddy had died. Ten minutes later he phones again. Once again she tells him that she is sorry but Buddy had died. Ten minutes later he phones again and asks the same question. She gets angry and again tells him that Buddy has died. Angrily, she asks him why he keeps phoning. The musician answers, “I just like hearing you say that.”

And my favourite (probably due to the fact it’s more derogatory to bassists than drummers) joke is last. My drum teacher once took a full ten minutes telling the joke while we were walking out of the building at the end of the day.

A man goes to an exotic tropical island for a holiday. As the boat nears the island, he notices the constant sound of drumming coming from the shore. As he gets off the boat, he asks the first native he sees how long the drumming will go on. The native looks about nervously and says "very bad when the drumming stops."
At the end of the day, the drumming is still going and is starting to get on his nerves. So, he asks another native when the drumming will stop. The native looks as if he’s just been reminded of something very unpleasant. “Very bad when the drumming stops,” he says, and hurries off.

After a couple of days with little sleep, our traveller is finally fed up, grabs the nearest native, slams him up against a tree, and shouts “What happens when the drumming stops?!!”

“Bass solo.”

That’s great! The loading screens in Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II also include many drummer jokes…

Plain and simple: Its a game
FPS games aren’t supposed to replace the real experience of a firefight, rock band / guitar hero isn’t supposed to replace the experience of learning and playing instruments in front of a crowd.
Its supposed to be fun! The majority of people in this world haven’t played a musical instrument before and rock band gives them a chance to feel like a rocker, playing songs that they know and love.
My four year old grabbed the mic yesterday and sang through OK Go’s Here it goes again; whenever I finish a song he always tells me “Daddy you rock” (complete with horn hand gestures |_ _ | ), but he was able to scream “I rock!” If this inspires him to sing more and take up music, great, but if not, at least he’ll have fun rocking, which i think nearly everyone who buys a rhythm based game is looking to do, just have fun. If you want to learn to play, get a real instrument and practice til your fingers bleed.

As MattsterChief points out, nobody would compare a FPS to being in a real firefight. I feel it’s a huge credit to Harmonix that we are even having a debate about whether playing GH or Rock Band is anywhere close to the real thing :slight_smile: Well actually means they really are much closer to the real thing than any other game (still far, but closer).

Some of Alex Rigopoulos’s arguments were really spot on I think. Being good at the game don’t make you good at playing the real thing, but they can help you learn a few basics, like hand coordination, learning to hear the different instruments, rythms basics. Of course there are a lot of other things in playing music, lots lots, and real musicians certainly see all that distance much more than the rest of us mortals. Still, everybody has to start somewhere. Why not by playing a game that is actually fun?

I’m really enjoying Rock Band right now. Having a blast singing, even if I suck at it. And feeling like picking up my real guitar again! Thanks Harmonix! :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

And for the record, I still can’t figure out why I can totally shred
the complex solos on most songs ‘medium’, but can not for the life of
me keep the rhythm parts on Barracuda

As you’ve probably noticed, the rhythm part on that particular song is a bit different from most. The best way to explain how to get it (assuming they played it right and what you need to learn is similar to what you would need on a real guitar) is to play the notes as parts of a triplet, similar to Metallica’s Four Horsemen. Alternate picking may be another way to get it (and is how most people play triplets in the first place).

Of course, definitions and explanations of either term can be found via google on any number of websites attempting to teach people to play guitar.

Since you have a limited number of buttons to use in the game, the solos can be fairly easy if you can use all of your fingers and get your speed up. On the other hand, keeping a rhythm that’s even the slightest bit unusual or requires any special techniques can be extremely challenging for people that haven’t spent much time even listening to a rhythm, let alone trying to play them.

Two pieces by Sleater-Kinney’s (ex) guitarist on the allure and appeal of Rock Band

Original Slate article:
http://www.slate.com/id/2177432/pagenum/all/

Follow-up:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/…ot_gamers.html

And hey, she owns real instruments… and performs in a real rock band!