If you haven’t heard of the game “Guitar Hero”, then you’ve been living underneath a rock. It is only the single most popular video game in existence. I teach many kids private guitar lessons, and let me tell you the songs on these games are extremely popular.
Let me give you an example.
I had a 12 year old kid request to learn a song by some aging old southern rock band called 38 Special, no offense. But I never thought the day would come when a 12 year old would want to learn “Hold on Loosely”, and even a song by Eddie Money! And let me tell you this is not an isolated incident. There have been numerous requests for these songs and others, all because these songs are on Guitar Hero the video game.
I think this is a good thing. A lot of songs on this game are very good, and have challenging guitar parts, which in turn will make the student practice and learn these songs, instead of some of the newer songs which don’t really have anything challenging in them at all. I love some of the new rock, but let’s face it, a song by Semisonic, or Breaking Benjamin is far less challenging than learning “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns & Roses.
Here’s a short list of some of the songs that have been included in Guitar Hero.
“More Than a Feeling” by Boston has become the new anthem for the middle school kids. It’s pretty unbelievable how one video game has changed the music industry. What happens when all these kids start writing their own music? In five years or so, the songs on the radio will have been written by kids who grew up with Guitar Hero and learned all those songs. How will this affect the sound of the music in the next 10 years? I believe the classic rock sound, and being a great guitar player will come back into the mainstream.
Even the rockstars of the music industry are taking note. Notice who is in the commercial for this game, and featured inside the game itself. No other than mega rock star, Slash, from Guns & Roses. And look who has a brand new signature Gibson Guitar out now, Slash of course. The biggest guitar manufacture is pushing this as their biggest campaign right now. Every kid now wants to learn how to play like Slash. For many kids, he is considered the greatest guitarist of all time.
Legendary band Aerosmith are having an entire game dedicated to them. You will go through the game performing all of the Aerosmith classics. What does this say about the marketing of bands inside video games as well? Do you think Aerosmith will sell millions of Albums because of this? I would say yes.
There’s no denying Guitar Hero. It could single handedly jumpstart the struggling music business like nothing before. Which is good for me since I teach people how to become a real Guitar Hero!
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I’ll try and deny guitar hero.
I think you make a mistake in thinking that there’s a connection between banging multi-colored buttons and the ability to produce something musical. Tab has already degenerated the guitar scene enough as it is, where guitar playing has become less music-oriented and more similar to painting by numbers. Tab has opened things up, but it has also resulted in guitarists who are less knowledgeable about their instruments and not nearly as capable of picking things up by ear — a very important skill on the road to musicianship. Guitar Hero does very little to bridge the gap between the video game medium and actual guitar playing, in my opinion.
I highly, highly doubt the vast majority of people who pick up Guitar Hero will go on to do anything but play the game. Though I’m sure some will go on to buy actual guitars, I imagine even fewer will become proficient at the instrument. In the end, even a single person introduced to the instrument is better than not being introduced to it at all, but I tend to believe any connections to Guitar Hero and musicianship are pretty overstated.
Good point. At this time there is no hard data, but it’s safe to say that more guitar driven classic rock bands are now listened to by middle school kids. Even the kids who don’t play the game, are learning about them through their friends.
I don’t think Guitar Hero helps musicianship, but it has made better bands cool again to the kids. Not many kids knew who 38 special was 10 years ago and I see more kids wanting to learn solos than before.
Obviously the music industry is losing the mp3 battle. Bands that have their songs in Guitar Hero are noticing a surge in ticket sales and popularity. I have a waiting list for my private guitar lessons, and I think Guitar Hero may have something to do with it among other things.
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Just because the kids don’t always really learn how to play guitar, doesn’t mean GH isn’t impacting the music industry. At the very least, it’s exposing kids to decent music (and .38 Special rocks!) instead of the pre-packaged, pop crap that’s on most of the top 40 stations. As a sign of the apocalypse, I give you High School Musical.
Think Aerosmith thinks GH is important? A lot more people who didn’t follow them are going to be exposed to their music as soon as the new GH gets released.
Yes Aerosmith are loving this game now. Walk This Way comes out in June. Right now it’s the flash banner ad on the Yahoo home page.
In my opinion Slash has been converted to “Guitar God” status. He’s an awesome guitarist, but being on the front of Guitar Hero can’s hurt. Gibson also releases the Slash guitar April 1st. It’s no coincidence that Guitar Hero helped that to happen.
I can’t wait to see where this game takes music!
Well I’m confused. I don’t know what’s the problem here. What’s wrong. At first I thought it looked really smart, but I’m not sure any more
I think Guitar Hero has had an important impact on classic rock, at least at my house. My kids now let me listen to my radio station again!! I don’t necessarily think it will produce more musicians, but I think more people will appreciate more types of music.
i wish they woudl make a guitar hero version for bitney spears and high school musicals 1 & 2!!!!