Become A Real Guitar Hero
Feb 29, 2008
Between Activision's powerhouse Guitar Hero franchise and MTV's upstart Rock Band, millions of couch potatoes have been turned on to the power of rock n' roll gaming. Unfortunately, the button-mashing skills that serve them so well at home don't translate to success with a real instrument at a club.
But as more and more gamers are playing to the beat, the demand for software that will actually teach them how to play for real is on the rise -- literally.
On display in a packed booth at the recent Game Developer's Conference, Guitar Rising takes the basic concept of Guitar Hero -- players strum along to popular songs for points -- and turns it into a legitimate teaching tool by exchanging plastic game peripherals for bona fide wood and steel guitars.
Best of all, there's no need to make room for yet another piece of bulky hardware: Using a small USB converter similar to the kind employed by everyday living room musicians, Guitar Rising can be played with any electric guitar. Simply plug a standard electric guitar cable into one end and plug the USB out into any USB port on your PC to be up and rocking.
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How to become a real Guitar Hero:
- Develop your inner critic. Unlike Guitar Hero, when you're practicing in real life nobody's going to boo you when you make a mistake.
- Practice, practice, practice. Every day. Put the plastic guitar out of reach, and every time you have the Guitar Hero itch, reach for your real axe instead.
- It's gonna hurt. Sorry, but it is. You're going to need to develop callouses on your fingers and train a whole lot of left-hand strength. Steel strings are a lot harder to push down than plastic buttons.
- Consider lessons. It sounds like a cop-out, but a good teacher will stop inexperience turning into bad habits that'll dog you for ever.
- Check out the Guitar Hero Songbook, from Hal Leonard. It contains notes and tab for all your favorite Guitar Hero 1 and 2 songs, and you'll find it in any good music store.
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Obviously, using a real instrument introduces some new problems. Real guitars have six strings and over 20 frets, making things much more complicated than just pressing 'Red' and flicking a strum bar. Since it's primarily a teaching tool, Guitar Rising uses a color-coded version of classic guitar tablature that should look instantly familiar to both guitarists and gamers alike. If you're playing through a song correctly, you're effectively sight-reading.
Exactly which songs will you be able to play? That's still up in the air, but according to Guitar Rising developer Gametank, licensing hasn't been particularly problematic. (Considering how well artists included in Rock Band and Guitar Hero have fared, that's hardly surprising.) And since the game converts your guitar signal into USB form, there's reason to believe it might actually make its way to USB-equipped home consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3, although currently it's due only on the PC later this year.
More information can be found at guitarrising.com
