Music video games spawning rocker wannabes, say guitar teachers

21 hours ago

TORONTO — They may have mastered their domain in the real world, but in the virtual landscape of "Guitar Hero," rock legends are no better - and sometimes far worse - than the amateurs.

"I play guitar good, I just kind of suck at the game 'Guitar Hero,"' Poison frontman Bret Michaels admits in a promotional video for the hit video game franchise in which players press buttons and a strum bar on a fake electric guitar in time with popular rock songs.

Glen Richardson, a guitar instructor at Walters Music Centre in Toronto, sympathizes. "I tried it once ... and didn't like it. I couldn't do it!" he says with a laugh.

"It's a little confusing for someone that plays the instrument already," Richardson says. "It's kind of like stepping backwards, but it was interesting. A lot of fun. Good songs."

The thrill that non-players can feel in being able to shred like guitar virtuosos, even if it's just in front of a TV with a plastic Gibson SG replica, has resulted in some new students for Richardson.

"They try the video game and that inspires them, gives them just enough motivation or encouragement to try a real instrument," he says.

At Rufus' Guitar Shop in Vancouver, enrolment in guitar lessons has increased "measurably" in the past year, says sales associate Lance Peterson.

He chalks up the trend to the popularity of the four "Guitar Hero" incarnations (a fifth is being released in June) and "Rock Band," another video game that involves playing fake instruments, as well as singing, in time with tunes.

"People have gotten into guitar that wouldn't otherwise," says Peterson, adding that while such games don't really teach people how to play an actual instrument, they are helping non-players learn rhythm.

The games are a cultural phenomenon. Figures released Thursday from NPD Group show "Rock Band Special Edition Bundle" for the XBox 360 was the second-highest-selling video game in Canada in February, followed by "Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock," also for the 360, in the number 3 spot.

David Gannett, a guitar instructor at the Rufus shop, says the games - which feature many classic rock tracks - are also influencing what younger guitar players want to learn.

"I kind of got a sense something was up when a nine-or 10-year-old boy comes in asking for (sheet music for) 'Ziggy Stardust' by David Bowie," he says.

Social gatherings are also being centred on the games, with "Guitar Hero"competitions sprouting up at venues across Canada and the United States. At Rockie Raccoons Eatery in midtown Toronto, "Rock Band" enthusiasts gather once a month for an open jam session, virtual style.

"It's cool because you play this and you get to learn the songs and stuff and it motivates you to actually play the real song on the real deal," says jam session participant Jeff Figueroa, who plays a bit of acoustic guitar.

Eric Brazier, organizer of the Rockie session and founder of events company Semisolid Media, has heard a few people express interest in learning how to play the real drums after taking on the video game.

"With the drums in 'Rock Band,' you need to learn rhythm, you need to improve your own rhythm and you need to improve your own ability to have your different appendages doing different things at the same time," he says.

Samia O'Day, director of the Montreal Academy of Music, likes that the games help "people to imagine the possibilities" of playing while perhaps developing rhythm and enjoying a piece of music right away.

"But I guess the biggest problem is if and when it does bring kids to the lessons, are they able to stick with it?" she says.

"Or are they disappointed because they can't even come close to ... those kinds of performances in just a few lessons?"

Jeffrey McFadden, a classical guitarist and University of Toronto music professor, has similar concerns.

"The culture of instant satisfaction is kind of embodied in this game ('Guitar Hero'). You don't have to go through any process to get kind of the vicarious satisfaction of actually playing the instrument, and so I think that's kind of problematic and it gives a distorted sense of reality about it probably," he says.

"There are implications I think for guitar pedagogy that you might have now more students coming to the instrument, but they're coming to it having gone through the experience of this 'Guitar Hero' thing with really distorted expectations of what they're going to be able to learn."

Jason Priest, owner of Little Rock Jams in Little Rock, Ark., has found a solution.

At his guitar school, they tell newbies that "for every minute you play 'Guitar Hero,' we want two minutes of real guitar practice," says Priest, who holds "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" competitions for students to help them develop a sense of performing.

For those trying to make the leap from a virtual instrument to the real thing, McFadden offers this advice.

"Try to be patient, do it as carefully as they possibly can, taking the advice of their teachers at every step, and do it very gradually ... avoid the temptation to just kind of leap ahead to the exact piece that you want to play," he says.

"It's as if you had an interest in medicine so you went into medical school the first day, and it was like, 'OK, the feet are on the bottom, the head is on top, let's do some brain surgery."'