Bare Guitar And Plastic Cellos
Posted on | November 25, 2007 at 11:36 pm | 5 Comments
Karaoke, what have you wrought?
At my family’s Thanksgiving Day celebration, I finally got to play Guitar Hero for the first time. It was Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on my nephews’ Wii. I tried “Rock Me Like A Hurricane” a couple of times and totally tanked. My nephews laughed at me and my girlfriend left me. Some say that the experience of playing Guitar Hero has nothing to do with playing an actual guitar, but since I pretty much suck at real guitar also these days, perhaps there is some relation. Although I must say I did better the second time I tried it. My brother-in-law’s brother, who has never been in a band and was also playing for the first time, did a much better job on the song than I did. But he can pretty much play the song on a real guitar anyway, for some unknown reason. So, again, maybe there is something about the experience that relates to real guitar playing. You certainly do need a good sense of rhythm. And anticipation.
And now, in addition to Guitar Hero, there’s Rock Band, which lets you and three friends be a 4-piece rock band. The game costs like $170 and comes with a mini drum set, microphone, and a strat-shaped “guitar” (used for both guitar and bass). Again, I wonder if competence at the game is any gauge of competence at real-life rocking. Maybe it will spur on kids to form their own bands, and that would be a good thing. But more likely, it will just cause “battles of the rock bands” to spring up, with mock bands competing against each other like in that already-classic Guitar Hero “A Star Is Born” episode of South Park a couple of weeks ago. (If only Rock Band had come out before that episode, it could’ve been used to great effect there. Cartman would’ve made a great drummer, and I see Butters as the bass player.) The selection of songs that Rock Band comes with looks interesting. The game boasts 58 songs, including favorites of mine like The New Pornographers’ “Electric Version”, The Pixies’ “Wave Of Mutilation”, and Blue Öyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper”. And supposedly thousands more will be available for download later. I’m waiting for “Inverness” by The Loud Family before I buy the thing.
So what’s next in this genre? Most likely Polka Band. And then Orchestra. You and thirty of your best friends can get together in front of the TV set and fake play your way through a Beethoven symphony on plastic woodwinds, violins, and cellos. Although you’d probably need a really big TV screen in order to display all the separate parts. But just think of how it would give today’s kids an appreciation for classical music.
Jogged Today: No, slept in. Holidays breed laziness.
Today’s Weight: 163 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Various things from the luncheon at the funeral.
Pet Peeve of the Day: The Broncos being ahead by two touchdowns and then blowing the lead. Why do I always watch when they lose? I want to see a win!
Latre.
Comments
5 Responses to “Bare Guitar And Plastic Cellos”
November 26th, 2007 @ 3:31 am
> Maybe it will spur on kids to form their own
> bands, and that would be a good thing
Remind me to ask you what you meant by that after I stop laughing.
November 26th, 2007 @ 8:03 am
I meant that video games are the new Punk Revolution. Now if only the teens were a little more disaffected…
November 26th, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
What, I can’t embed a video in a comment? I thought this was a rocktocracy!
2-year-old rocking out
November 26th, 2007 @ 4:47 pm
Ah, so you weren’t advocating kids take up more noisy hobbies? Well, that’s less funny. Then again President Reagan reckoned that video games would help train the next generation of soldiers, and the FPS hadn’t even been INVENTED yet…
November 28th, 2007 @ 9:10 pm
Here’s a cool review of Rock Band by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein. (Thanks, Rex!)