The Guitar Hero Generation: Playing for Peanuts

By GregManning

I understand that Guitar Hero has become a staple in gaming world. It gives bands with great rock musicianship a new outlet (i.e. Dragon Force) for exposure. It also provides established bands a chance to gain respect with a much younger generation. As a matter of fact, I feel it’s quite an entertaining game. This game has become such a source of passing time that it shows up at parties, bars, school functions, even art gallery openings. International competitions are being held as we speak. Our age group is beginning to become known as the guitar hero generation. However, I have some major complaints that I would like to share regarding the game itself, as well as some of the major ideas it instills.

The first major issue that needs to be addressed about this game is simple. In many cases, you are not hearing the actual artist play the song itself. After doing some research, it was brought to my attention that this was done because of the difficulty of programming the games guitar mechanism to sync up with certain recordings. In other cases, it was a copyright issue. This is quite a conundrum. There are some individuals who are learning about classic staples of the rock world through what is essentially a karaoke track. Some people may say that this is not a big issue. I tend to disagree. Can you imagine hearing a MIDI version of Stairway to Heaven several hundred times before actually hearing the original? What could potentially have been a mind blowing experience would be lost forever. This has major long term implications. Listening to music requires a great sense of refinement. Developing this sense requires years of choosing the music you think is of a high caliber. By having long exposure to these “cover” tracks will greatly affect those who have yet to develop that sense. I am not talking about people who are approaching their twenties and beyond, but the group of 8 and up who play this game at near obsessive levels.

Secondly, I am going to speak about what I like to call the “Tony Hawk” effect. Skateboard culture is a wonderful thing. However, learning how to skateboard takes years of hard work and lots of scrapes and broken bones. After Tony Hawk hit stores, many were introduced to this type of culture for the first time. Everyone became very enthusiastic about the skateboard. The only issue was that this game was highly unrealistic. It is physically impossible to do nearly all of the things executed in the game in real life. Many people who loved the game picked up a board, and were amazed to find themselves not being able to kickflip within first few days of riding. Thus discouraged, went back to living their dream through fantasy. The same type of effect is happening with guitar hero. I am a guitarist of 12 years. I cannot play guitar because I am so used to playing the actual instrument itself. What is going to happen to all of the younger individuals immersed in guitar culture who have no idea the amount of time and dedication it takes to master a real instrument? By living through fantasy, you are condemning a potential reality.

I by no means am trying to completely bash guitar hero. I would just rather see more people striving for musical excellence, rather than opting out.