A guitar is something that will be with him for the rest of his life, not the actual instrument itself, but the experiences he lived with his first instrument. The same won't happen with the videogame.

"Hey dad, I wanna say thanks for giving me that guitar game 15 years ago, that made me learn so much about music, interacting with other people (playing online!), being focused in a form of art and learning about culture through music" Nah, won't happen. Just get the real guitar for him and show him some licks.

It's made of plastic!!! The "guitar" is plastic!!! WHAT???

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'07 Squier Affinity Sunburst Strat SE
Fender Frontman 25R
Boss DS-1 Distortion
Danelectro D-2 Fab Overdrive
Delta Lab Multi Effects

Its still just a game. Not everyone can play the guitar. Some don,t have interest in playin a guitar but like to play games.

The guitar games obviously aren't preventing kids from playing guitar. The choice is not GuitarHero or guitar; it's GuitarHero or, say, Grand Theft Auto (or whatever). Some (most) kids are going to choose games, or reading, or sports, or whatever rather than playing a musical instrument, just because they aren't interested in playing an instrument.

Don't blame software for your kids' personal interests. If there was no Guitar Hero, or even video games, they're still not going to go out looking for a guitar.

Now, you could MAKE them learn an instrument, particularly if they're young and you want to expose them to all their options. But at 16, I think you won't get very far.

Agreed, this is probably the best option.

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Music's the only thing that makes sense anymore, man. Play it loud enough, it keeps the demons at bay.

Hehe....It's actually BECAUSE of Guitar Hero that I decided to pick up a real guitar and start learning like my guitar idols. I got bored at GH because I was just too good for it! And now since I have my guitar, I play that WAY more then Guitar Hero, which I bet I haven't played in about a month or two. I still play GH once in a while, it's just not as fun to me anymore. It's a challenge, but a necessary one if I want to get a band together.

As for your son, I would get him the real guitar. He should realize you spent more money on him getting a real Telecaster than some GH wannabe game He'll realize how much more fun it is to play something like the bands on GH on a real guitar than just trying buttons, or strings in this case, trying to beat a score someone has.

Point is, it's WAY more fun playing like an idol on a Tele, Strat, or Star and hearing yourself playing like them than trying to beat a score on a game!

And...its much cooler too..at least where I live, not sure about anywhere else. If you play real guitar, you get fans and maybe even chicks, though I maybe wouldn't mention the last part!

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"I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend."

-Freddie Mercury

I think that all of this, "Kids these days! Texting and video games are ruining their lives!" is a little bit undeserved. Weren't your parents telling you not to waste too much money and time on comic books and movies when you were a kid? Didn't they think you were stupid for liking stuff like that? And not every kid is like that, I know quite a few who play and enjoy real guitar much more than anything else. Personally, I like the game (Rock Band and Guitar Hero, that Power Gig thing looks like crap). But for what it is, pressing plastic buttons and listening to some good music with your friends. It's fun that way. Not as a substitute for the real thing. I'm sure there are a few jerks in the world who think of it as a substitute, but not many.

I started guitar a year or two before guitar hero came out, but I know of some people who took an interest to guitar because of those video games. It always saddens me a little when I have to explain who my favorite guitar player is to people by saying, "He's the guy who wrote Pride and Joy... You know, Guitar Hero III" or by saying "He's the brother of the guy who wrote Pride and Joy... You know, Guitar Hero III", but I'd rather they know that than nothing at all. I was also really surprised when a bunch of my friends started listening to Cream all of a sudden. They heard Sunshine of Your Love from the game and ended up being huge Cream fans. So I think it's done more good than harm.

However, I'm not looking forward to the day someone brings one of those plastic things into the shop for a set up. "But they said it was a real guitar! Why can't you fix it?"

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
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My brother-in-law learned to play the drums on rockband. Now he's pretty good on a real drumset. I never really liked the guitar games, I would rather be writing my own stuff or learning scales or something.

I began playing guitar before I tried out Guitar Hero and Rock Band (and I'm 14 yrs old). To me playing the guitar is easier than GH. And it takes more musical talent to play the guitar. On Youtube I should try to do a comparison of GH vs real guitar (for me).

http://www.youtube.com/user/JFAcoustic

Some of my friends (who can't even play) say that guitar hero is easier than real guitar. I guess its what you are used to.
-Josh Felton

This really hits the core of the issue. To be mad at electronics for "what it does to the youth" is to continue the exact same line of thinking that made your parents tell you to stop playing so much guitar, etc. For the record, I always cared more about playing guitar than the rest of this stuff, but access to the internet was so pivotal in my growth as a player because through it I had access to a lot of music that was influential to my playing that I wouldn't have had as easily otherwise. Also, through the internet, I could get my hands on tabs (and as unreliable as they are, which I found out after a little while, it was a start). Additionally, I was able to do a staggering amount of research on anything guitar related - playing, how it works, how to maintain a guitar, etc. So yes, technology helped me, because I used it as a tool to achieve an end, and not as an end in and of itself.

You can't generalize anything like this. Some people get turned on to good music by guitar hero, some just wanna play a game. Some people play guitar hero and become interested in playing guitar, and move on to that. Others would rather play guitar hero than guitar and that's just the way it is.

The bottom line is that you can't force anyone to do anything, you can only encourage. So yeah, keep him exposed to the real guitar, but in the end if he's not interested, he's not interested, and it's better to accept the kid for who he is than to constantly try to push him to be something that he's not.

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life is too short for bad tone.

You guys really sound like such bitter old F***s. The games have introduced more kids to rock music and instruments and served as a gaterway than you will ever know or understand.

Jesus, it's like telling a kid who plays NFL Madden to go play in the NFL for real.

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^ how on earth did that get passed the censor?

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

Lemme edit that, lol.

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http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/127947
need I say more?
J

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I can't find the Crossroads, my GPS must be broke....


2001 Fender Highway One, 2004 Fender SE Ash, 2011 Fender 200 SCE '99 Washburn WR120Pro, Amps: Fender Stage 160, Vox Valvetronix 30, Peavey 212 400 watt, Ibanez 50 watt Toneblaster