Is "Guitar Hero" Bad for Guitarists?

[Valley Arts Kid]

I'm sure I'll get a bunch of sarcastic, half-witted remarks for this, but it is a serious question.

Is playing "Guitar Hero" bad for guitarists? My daughter got the game for Xmas and I played it for like 3 hours, then when I picked up my guitar it felt strange for a moment. So now I'm wondering if the game might alter a guitarist's fingering memory, habits, etc.

 

[Big Kenny]

I'll go first, it's a game, if it affects your playing, STOP! If you find you have to color code your frets or strings, STOP! If you start covering Foghat, STOP! (unless you cover it really well, then hit the road and make some $)

 

[JPXTom]

I play guitar hero and rock band all the time and dont have an issue with my playing...that i know of

 

[Valley Arts Kid]

I'll go first, it's a game, if it affects your playing, STOP! If you find you have to color code your frets or strings, STOP! If you start covering Foghat, STOP! (unless you cover it really well, then hit the road and make some $)

LOL! After 30 years, I try to alter my playing every day.

 

[JPXTom]

I am curious if playing drums in rock band would make u a better/worse drummer...

 

[L mandrake]

my 2 sons and 2 step sons (guitar hero addicts and budding guitarists) report that they are noticing their pinky (little finger) action improving.

If you play guitar and then play the bass for a few hours I think you will notice the same transition difficulty. I believe that no permanent damage has been done! BUT.....for the love of jesus mary mohammed and vishnu stop now before it is too late man!!!

 

[dgatwood]

I am curious if playing drums in rock band would make u a better/worse drummer...

Depends on whether you wear sufficient hearing protection or not.

 

[starbuck26]

whoa there cowboy...

I think we're missing the point of Rock Band, Guitar Hero, etc.

The point is to be a rock star.

It probably won't hurt your playing, but it will definitely help you learn to swing a guitar around and play behind your head on stage. Backflips, etc.

My friend broke a tooth while jumping off a couch while singing Paranoid the other day. Broke a tooth.

Effing Rock Star.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

If you start covering Foghat, STOP!

:lol:

Eh, as long as you don't get totally hooked and it cuts into your practice time... My roommate just got it for Christmas, and actually in the (2 ) days we've had it, it's helped me. Aside from the rhythm training, which is useful I guess, it's also made me really focus on making sure I'm getting in good practice time before I go downstairs, crack a beer, boot up GHIII, and pass the guitar back and forth with my roommate seeing who can get the highest score.

 

[L mandrake]

I think we're missing the point of Rock Band, Guitar Hero, etc.

The point is to be a rock star.

It probably won't hurt your playing, but it will definitely help you learn to swing a guitar around and play behind your head on stage. Backflips, etc.

My friend broke a tooth while jumping off a couch while singing Paranoid the other day. Broke a tooth.

Effing Rock Star.

I thought the whole point of playing Paranoid was to finish off by breaking a tooth or an arm or something

 

[giraffe]

guitar hero seems to have zero tolerance for being early (even the smallest amount) but is plenty happy to let you lag a little.

could possibly lead to bad habits?

i don't know.

 

[the_crowing]

I can't play the game for crap. The "fingerings" just seem so awkward and unnatural to me. I keep thinking "That's now how you play that..."

 

[Nick_Black]

It's worked wonders for me. I can play much faaster/acurate now, and it's imeasurably improved my rhythem skills. (I usto have a terrible sense of rhythem.. even after playeing for about 12 years...)

so I think it's a great help, if you skilled but lack in the ways of speed, and rhythem.. yes it might afffect your muscle memory a tad, but after picking up a real guitar it taked me about 5 mins to get usto it again.. or less..

 

[CoolCat]

I saw a kid really moving the fingers, so even though I jhate it...I think it's good for keeping the fingers worked and timing too.

its another hour or so on music...compared to killing Nuns in GangDeathCab games.....its great. FHk it.....

 

[danny.guitar]

I keep thinking "That's now how you play that..."

I never played, but I see kids playing it in the mall or wherever, and it looks nothing like playing a guitar at all.

 

[L mandrake]

Maybe in a couple of years or so we will start hearing lots of stories about the thousands of kids that had no real interest in playing the guitar until they got really good at guitar hero, then they wanted to really play it themselves. Wishfull thinking maybe, but who knows. At some point, 'Guitar Hero 10 ' might incorporate a real guitar.

 

[hardwire666]

I hate guitar hero with all my F'n black heart. If I ever meet the guy that siad "YEAH! LETS MAKE THIS!" I'm gunna break his nose. On a funny note I find the game horribly in accurate. How can you be a guitar hero with no whiskey, whores, a pack of smokes, or major narcotics? And then there is rock band. Now, I dunno about any one else, but unless it comes with lawyers, fans to sue, and/or assault, and when your all done you get to bang your band mates wife this is also just another false representation. And lets not forget the eventual downward spiral into a heroine enduced coma. Abruptly followed by the VH1 behind the Music special.

LIES!! LIES I TELL YOU!

 

[L mandrake]

I hate guitar hero with all my F'n black heart. If I ever meet the guy that siad "YEAH! LETS MAKE THIS!" I'm gunna break his nose. On a funny note I find the game horribly in accurate. How can you be a guitar hero with no whiskey, whores, a pack of smokes, or major narcotics? And then there is rock band. Now, I dunno about any one else, but unless it comes with lawyers, fans to sue, and/or assault, and when your all done you get to bang your band mates wife this is also just another false representation. And lets not forget the eventual downward spiral into a heroine enduced coma. Abruptly followed by the VH1 behind the Music special.

LIES!! LIES I TELL YOU!

You obviously havent had the opportunity to play GUITAR HERO 4 yet, the only difference is that it is the band mates mothers, not wives, that you get to bang in a drunken stupor.

 

[hardwire666]

I cant belive they got that in there. I figured Axle Rhodes would've thrown a fit for slander, or likness rights, or some other whiney alchoholic pansy move.

 

[L mandrake]

I cant belive they got that in there. I figured Axle Rhodes would've thrown a fit for slander, or likness rights, or some other whiney alchoholic pansy move.

....but the best part of it is, at least in the advanced play, if you beat it, you dive thru the tv screen and into the mosh pit and you are paraded around like the rock god that you are.
kind of where the virtual world and reality tv collide