ROCKBAND is so freakin' cool!

[James Steele]

Due to technological, political, and societal "progress," it seems one can "survive" as an individual with little social interaction, but one cannot necessrily "thrive."

And yet we see a move away from "tribal" customs. Would you agree that music is very tribal, and as such important to us "thriving?"

Completely.

[dave pine]

all i can say is this.....
http://laughingsquid.com/rush-playing-t ... rock-band/

[MIDI Life Crisis]

all i can say is this.....
http://laughingsquid.com/rush-playing-t ... rock-band/

Thanks Dave. It is as I thought, Karaoke with utensils. Playing to a recording can be fun and educational to a certain point, but RB seems totally lame, IMO. Maybe if I was 9 years old...

[carrythebanner]

And to add....the ROCKBAND version comes with a microphone for vocals and a Drum Kit.

Which can both be utilized outside of RB itself:
- The mic is a standard USB mic. Plug it into a Mac and it shows up as a class-compliant audio input device.
- WIth a little trickery, you can use the drum kit as a MIDI controller. Install something like this utility, hook up the kit to a USB port, then run DP with MIDI Keys open. Sure it's not velocity sensitive (I think the kit with Rock Band 2 might be, not sure; in any case, I don't know if that would be maintained through this process), but it's pretty impressive for a video game controller.

[Dwetmaster]

I work for Electronic Arts and we get most of these game before they even get lauched. I'm probably the only guy that is NOT a gamer in our Studio and as soon as the game came out, EVERY programmer wanted to test me out because I am the Musician of the studio. The rest of them being graphic artist and programmers.
Well I have to admit that when I first tried, I failed soooooo bad
I was almost ashamed. I can't do the guitar with no pitch thing... I can't play without my ear and five buttons to express 12 notes isn't doin' it for me. To me going up in pitch means going up the neck and vice versa. There are no relation on the neck vs the notes and that's why I can't get it...

But then I tried the drums and WOW!!!
I think that the rhythmic aspect of RB fits the Drums better than any other instrument. I still get beaten by RB fans but man is it fun. I found some site where they actually translated some RB songs with the colored dots to actual musical notation I understand. I haven't gotten the chance to look at it so far but I think that with the chart I could beat anyone here without even looking at the screen!!!

Unfortunately that would mean I would need to get a new T.V., AND a game console to play. Sorry but that new MacPro is gonna come first...

[James Steele]

Speak of the devil... someone sent me a joke email with this graphic just a moment ago... hehehe...

[Resonant Alien]

These discussions are always fun. I personally have played Guitar Hero and did not enjoy it. But, the reason I did not enjoy it is because I am a guitarist, and playing Guitar Hero is a totally different thing than playing a real guitar.

First, let me say up front that I initially had the same reaction as many of you, being a musician, and I am not trying to put anyone out for their comments, but I think we should look at it in context..

We must first realize that we are not the target audience here, anymore than we are the target audience for MarioKart or any other video game. Sure, we have a Wii, we play it, and I a lot of my peers play too, but we are not the main consumers.

Second, we must consider the reason for this game. It is a game - it is not intended to be an instructional tutorial on how to play an instrument. There are people that play RockBand/GuitarHero that have absolutely no desire to learn a real instrument. They are just playing a game. In that respect, it is no different than Madden Football - should we ridicule everyone who plays Madden Football as pretenders, and question why they don't go out and play real football? Do real football players make fun of people who play football video games?

Having played Guitar Hero, although I sucked really bad, I can completely see how this game can help a kid learn rhythms. I do not believe that GH or RB can help anyone learn anything about the guitar or singing, but it can absolutely help with learning rhythms. The hardest part of GH is that you are not really playing the guitar part - you are hitting different buttons on the controller at appropriate times with the rhythm of the music, so there is no doubt it can be a good starting point for learning rhythm and staying in time with music.

I look at it this way - music lessons are boring, and suck. I took 2 guitar lessons when I was 12 and quit because it was so boring. Instead, I listened to records, bought Tabs and learned the stuff I wanted to play, and became a pretty good guitarist. That said, I wasn't really really tight rhythmically with a band until I actually started playing in a band in high school. Even though I was good playing by myself, it took jamming with a real band to get that rhythmic sense down. RB might be an alternative way for kids that can't form a real band for whatever reason to get some of that rhythmic sense down in a different way.

Heck, my 5 year old son plays the crap out of the hardwood floor with a pair of chop sticks....maybe I should tell him to stop pretending and get a real drum set

[MIDI Life Crisis]

- music lessons are boring, and suck.

Heck, my 5 year old son plays the crap out of the hardwood floor with a pair of chop sticks....maybe I should tell him to stop pretending and get a real drum set

Well, music lessons are boring and suck when the teacher is boring and sucks. That's another thing. The key word in real music playing is discipline and acquiring that while still having fun is not for everybody.

As for your son, I'd say get him a set of pots and pans for Xmas (or Chaunuka or Quanza or my favorite holiday, Justforthehellofit.)

[James Steele]

For the Zamfir fans...

[MIDI Life Crisis]

For the Zamfir fans...

See what happens when it rains in SoCal...!

[jeff sanders]

i wonder how hard it would be to adapt the game to allow real instruments to control it? kids could play a game and learn to play for real at the same time. kinda like karate kid painting the fence deal.

[SixStringGeek]

For the Zamfir fans...

I tried that game - it blows.

[BradLyons]

James,

Since I do a lot of Praise and Worship Music, do you have a graphic for PRAISE BAND? OR what about BIG BAND? Hmmmmm what about POLKA HERO?? ha those pics are great, man. My wife and son are "rawkin' out" right now.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

James,

Since I do a lot of Praise and Worship Music, do you have a graphic for PRAISE BAND? OR what about BIG BAND? Hmmmmm what about POLKA HERO?? ha those pics are great, man. My wife and son are "rawkin' out" right now.

Sorry Brad. Religion is off limits. If we go there I'll have to request the Non-Believers Band from Hell

Does non-belief constitute religion???

[James Steele]

If we go there I'll have to request the Non-Believers Band from Hell

Redundant! J/K