Poll: Effect of Musical “Games” on Potential New Musicians
We’ve done a bunch of posts in the last few months spotlighting new and emerging music technology applications (i.e. iPhone and Guitar Hero). I’ve been on both sides of passionate debates over whether these technologies are actually good for young and developing musicians. I’m curious what the drumFunny community thinks. Do games like Guitar Hero take the real work and commitment out of music, do they inspire new generations of musicians, or do you think they have zero effect in the end? Cast your vote and give your thoughts in the comments.
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I saw on science channel there are new music based games being made. The one i saw there was a camera that tracked your hand position on a guitar and you had to match it with what was on the screen. Basically making it a much more realistic guitar hero.
When I started playing Guitar Hero, I was emerged in a great genre of music. I then went down to the drum department of my local music story and there was a guy pounding down a beat in tradition and I went “Why is he holding his sticks like that?” And thus I was introduced to marching
I voted “no” here.
Rhythm games are a boatload of fun, don’t get me wrong.
But to get better at an instrument, you’ve got to practice that instrument.
The opportunity cost of acing “Through the Fire and the Flames” on Expert is several hours of practicing your scales and your sweeps on your real guitar. Without those practice hours invested, you don’t get better at the real instrument.
I actually did some research on this last year with a focus group and everything. While no one in the “Non Instrument Player” group decided to start learning trumpet (they were all in college already) we did notice an increase in sight reading accuracy from the musicians. I myself have noticed my sight reading improve after playing these games for a good amount of time. We decided that having to anticipate mentally where your hands need to be and looking ahead at the scrolling music were the main factors in this.
no
because these games don’t help aspiring musicians really learn how to be a musician they just give an easy way to let the average joe pretend to enjoy the process of music making that a real musician has already recorded…there’s nothing wrong with this, this just isn’t the way to become a musician
I have two kids in the ensemble i teach that said the olnly reason they started drumset was becuase of rockband, and there pretty good
okay rockband drums are the only exception to this argument
What about the kids who play games who are musicians too? I cannot play drumset on rock band or anything because I am a jazz and funk drummer so i make up what I play to go with the song.
But really its just a game, its a fun way to relax and a whole new way to play/have fun with friends
i’m sort of undecided. i’ve played trumpet for about 4 years and guitar hero for 2. guitar hero is fun and all but its no subsituite. i can beat just about any song on expert for guitar and alot of it comes from being familar with rhythms. i think it can harm uninformed kids who dont bother trying an instrument out (which everyone should). now the drum part of it is so similar, i think its a great teaching tool for drummers w/o easy access to a set. so if they have GH they can pratice on that because its so similar.
I don’t know if it helps aspiring musicians, but it does help musicians some. I’ve played trombone for 4 years, and started playing Rock Band when it came out (so, 2 years, maybe?)
I used to be horrible at sight-reading, and at Rock Band as well. But I was a great trombone player even when I was a beginner. I’d just have to prepare things more than others (I practiced 2 hours a day, no joke. I sounded great though.) And I played Rock Band a lot, and eventually got to the point where I could play almost everything on Expert, and get in the high 90’s, percent-wise. My sight-reading skills erupted, and now, I’m as good at sight-reading as all of the Seniors (I’m a freshman, by the way)
And I have two close friends on drumline, both freshmen- one snare and one bass. They both play drums on Rock Band and real life, like they’ve been playing for 10 years. They’re both amazing. So it does help existing musicians, a lot more than aspiring musicians.
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