Radiohead was wrong – not just anyone can play guitar.
I’m living proof. Despite a childhood spent immersed in piano lessons and a love affair with the trumpet, I couldn’t fathom how an instrument like the guitar could produce such rock-awesome sounds.
And then, serendipity struck – the video game Guitar Hero had arrived. Within hours, I found myself wailing through solos, crunching on the whammy bar, and even singing along in my awkward, broken voice.
I looked beyond ridiculous. But as a veteran player of the dancing game Dance Dance Revolution, I suppose I’ve done worse.
It puzzles me that someone couldn’t appreciate the appeal of Guitar Hero. The game imbues its players with the thrill of feeling like a rock star without the cocaine habit; in other words, it’s a dream most people will never realize.
What surprises me the most is how closely Emily Hemson’s dream of a time “when everyone would be sitting around while someone played guitar” resembles the mission of Guitar Hero’s developer, Harmonix Music Systems (“What’s wrong with a real guitar?” ODE April 25, 2007). As they state on the company’s Web site, the game’s creators “formed Harmonix initially not to develop video games, but rather to create new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music.” I’m hard pressed to see how that is anything but a benevolent goal.
Perhaps the strongest testament to the game’s relevance is its motivating nature: I actually started playing guitar. The real kind. And yeah, it’s still as challenging as ever; but as with learning any instrument, it’s a very rewarding process.
Years from now, when the video game industry has moved onto other things, I’ll still be playing my real guitar, but I’ll never forget the feeling that drove me to pick it up in the first place.
Nick Cummings
University student