Guitar Hero Getting More "Real?"

Recently, a company called Open Chord has released an electric guitar that can also be plugged into your Xbox or Wii and be used as a Guitar Hero/Rockband controller. When I first heard of this, I thought, "Oh cool!" That was the last time a positive thought crossed my mind.

After watching their "demo" video, it makes no sense. You have to plug the guitar into an amp and then into the system, so when you play random notes and chords in accordance with the game, it sounds like crap. I wonder if they realize that songs require more than just the first 5 frets to play.


Don't get me wrong, I love me some Guitar Hero. I don't see anything wrong with the game. If anything, it is inspiring kids to listen to rock n' roll again and maybe even take up the real guitar.

I was chatting with the owner of Advance Music here in Burlington, VT one day about Guitar Hero. He told me that since the game was released, he had seen more and more kids coming in with their parents to pick up a starter pack because of the game. Now to me, that sounds awesome. Any way we can get kids to listen to real music again is fine in my book.

I digress...

My point here is lets keep the game and the real thing separate. Its call well and good to try new innovations and whatnot, but a real guitar doesn't belong in a video game. If you want to learn the guitar, pick yourself up a nice Squier starter pack and check out some YouTube guitar lessons. They're extremely helpful.