A Surprising Musical Truth from Rock Band 2-- by Nate Winter

Since the advent of Guitar Hero (all those eons ago), there have been plenty of comparisons between playing this musical video game and playing real musical instruments.

Because I'm a guitarist, my friends who first bought the game were eager to see how my real-world axe-pertise translated into on-screen Guitar Heroism. And frankly, so was I. The results, at least for the first evening of play, though, were highly disappointing.

It's different. With real instruments you have to play every note you hear. But in Guitar Hero/Rock Band, you press a button for every 4 or 5 notes you hear. And the easier you set the difficulty level of the game, the fewer buttons you press. So it's tricky at first to get out of the 1:1 mindset of notes you play to notes you hear.

Suffice it to say that playing "guitar" in Guitar Hero/Rock Band bears little resemblance to playing a real guitar, especially in a band. Same goes for the bass guitar. Singing in Rock Band is pretty comparable to singing in a real band, there's just no screen showing you the words. Same thing with drums-- the fundamental movements in Rock Band are right, but real drumming is more involved, since most drum kits have more than five elements.

About a year ago my aunt and uncle asked me about Rock Band, since their grade school-aged daughters are into music. I explained that it’s a fun game, and that the kids would probably love it. But my recommendation came with a clear warning: "Don't expect playing Rock Band to teach your kids anything about real music." And I stand by that. It's an incredibly inventive game that's fun to play with others. Plus you get to listen to cool music while you play. But it's a vast departure from the reality of playing music, which I think explains the game's broad appeal.

I think a lot of parents shared my aunt and uncle's presumptions. They thought Guitar Hero/Rock Band would be the spark that ignited their child's musical curiosity and led to a life of musicianship. Or at the very least the game would expose their kids to some rock n roll classics they otherwise wouldn't know.

But I think South Park exposed the truth best in its episode about the game. When given the option to play a song on Guitar Hero or learn that same song on a real guitar, the kids picked Guitar Hero without a second thought. Hilarious because it's true.

So forgive the lengthy preamble-- the surprising truth is coming. Let's fast forward to today. A buddy of mine got Rock Band 2 for Christmas. He and I played it together when he first got it set up at home. And it was hella fun. A few days later he emailed me explaining his progress since our jam session:

I unlocked a few more songs, but I’m on these marathon challenges and after 6 songs in a row I can't play Hungry Like the Wolf anymore.

This comment struck me. Now there's an insight about what it's like to be a real musician. When you're in a band, you have to play the same songs night in and night out-- even if you don't feel like it, and even if you’ve heard those songs so many times that you hate them. (I'm speaking from experience, here, as well as common sense.)

If you're a popular band (which I was not), then you're in even deeper. Not only do you have to play your hit songs over and over, but you also have to keep your distaste for those songs under wraps. Nothing makes people hate a celebrity faster than when he or she complains about having to do whatever made them famous in the first place. And if you gripe about your popular song? Then you've insulted all of your fans, which fans tend not to appreciate.

So lo and behold, Rock Band has a lesson to teach about real musicianship after all. And ironically, it's one of those lessons that makes you want to give up rather than rise to the challenge. But it's a lesson nonetheless. And all you have to do is play Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf six times to learn it. Small price to pay, in my opinion.

-- Nate Winter

Note: special thanks to Justin Geller, whose insightful complaining inspired this article.