The Song Fight Bulletin Board

DRC: Been spending alot of time on Guitar Hero: World Tour. Vocals are alot harder than on Rockband. The music creation is sweet though. I haven't come up with anything worthwhile yet but I've played some songs other ppl did and wow.

QotD: How good are you at Rockband/Guitar Hero games?

I have a friend who is a capable guitarist. He used to be in a punk band. He can not play those types of games to save his life. lol

I can shred the heck out of the guitar on RB/GH but can't play very well irl. It's weird.

qotd: I am awesome at the vocals and capable at the drums, and can sorta do bass but suck at the guitars. Bass and guitar also both hurt my wrists badly.

Rone Rivendale wrote:I can shred the heck out of the guitar on RB/GH but can't play very well irl. It's weird.

I don't find that weird at all. It's NOT the same thing except in the VERY broadest sense of rhythm and coordination. For god's sake, you have four fucking buttons to push on the controller, they're gigantic, and all in a straight line! Strumming is closer, but it still isn't strumming in RB, it's flipping a switch back and forth!

MAYBE RB/GH could make you able to play quickly in ONE POSITION on ONE STRING, but add in crossing strings, moving your hand up and down the neck, and playing actual chords, and the experiences do not compare.

I like the games, don't get me wrong, and I think the drumming might actually be worthwhile training for actual drumming. But it's dumb, imho, to think that being good at the other instruments would translate to real life, or that being able to play them in real life would translate to the game. (I will agree that it's weird when good players in real life can't play the game, although if your pal's a punk guy doesn't he just play power chords and not many riffs or fills or individual notes?)

I'd think that 'cello translates better to RB/GB than guitar.

JB

RB's drumming isn't really that much like actual drumming. It's more like drumming against a click track while a bunch of robots perform without listening to you, and you have to play exactly the hits that were proscribed by the musical score without any room for improvisation aside from the star-power fills (which are, for some reason, on an entirely different drum kit than the one you were playing otherwise).

It does help with keeping your tempo steady, though, which is something I've always had trouble with when drumming for reals.

Oh, as an update from yesterday, I now have a goddamn ridable bike.

You know what Guitar Hero needs? Open string guitar notes. They wouldn't even need to change the hardware or anything. Just an open strum at the right time, and BAM! All of a sudden you've got a 6-note fretboard. You couldn't include the 'open' note in chords and have it make sense, but still.

Alternately, music-wise that could map to just using the guitar as atonal rhythm (e.g. muted strings or whatever).

jimtyrrell wrote:You know what Guitar Hero needs? Open string guitar notes. They wouldn't even need to change the hardware or anything. Just an open strum at the right time, and BAM! All of a sudden you've got a 6-note fretboard. You couldn't include the 'open' note in chords and have it make sense, but still.

A thumb button on the back of the neck (or on the top edge for the thumb fretters out there) could help that become a reality... combined with one of the five 'fret' buttons, methinks.

Aside from timing issues that can be corrected from the drums in RB/GH, (although some drum teachers say that playing drums to a click is bad) I think vocals can benefit from the games, because you have to exercise range techniques to score high. Sure, the game doesn't care if your voice sucks, as long as you hit the range. But that is a vocal muscle training technique. There is absolutely no benefit in training with the guitar or bass on RB/GH. In fact, I think it will make it harder to learn to play real guitar if you're a RB/GH pro.
....but then again, there might be a whole new genre of songs with guitar players playing the hell out of the same 4 frets on one string. You never know, stranger things have happened.

Oh, and my addition to great future guitar controllers for RB/GH. Have a button for each string on each fret. So 132 buttons and if you hit the wrong one, it shocks the fuck out of you. Now that's a game!

If by open string you mean un-fretted notes, GH World Tour has that.

although if your pal's a punk guy doesn't he just play power chords and not many riffs or fills or individual notes?)

He's actually more of a metal head. He was in the punk band cuz they were his friends. He's really good. Never learned the conventional way. He just listens to a song once and boom, can play it.

I am a capable guitarist. I used to be in a punk band. I can not play those types of games to save my life.

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Oh, and my addition to great future guitar controllers for RB/GH. Have a button for each string on each fret. So 132 buttons and if you hit the wrong one, it shocks the fuck out of you. Now that's a game!

Oh, and a great learning tool.

How pretentious of me to quote myself?

Billy's Little Trip wrote:How pretentious of me to quote myself?

Nah, that's cool. I'm quoting you too.

QotD: the only thing I ever tried was Singstar and shitty clones for the PC. My record is somewhere around 9600, I forgot which song. Knowing me it was probably a Karaoke killer song (that's the kind that kills you when you listen to the average Karaoke singer performing it).

Rone Rivendale wrote: I have a friend who is a capable guitarist. He used to be in a punk band. He can not play those types of games to save his life. lol

Good to know I'm not the only one. I sssuuuuuuck. People laugh.

Never learned the conventional way. He just listens to a song once and boom, can play it.

Yeah, see, I think that's the key here. I taught myself to play by listening to albums I liked and trying to play along with them. So my brain is wired that way. When I hear the song playing and I'm supposed to play along with it on an "instrument", my brain is trying to figure out how to really play it. It's not the one button for a chord thing, because I started out playing one finger power chords in drop D. But the stum patterns you have to use are not even close to I'd play it on a real instrument, and the 5 buttons don't map to specific chords or notes (how could they be with only 5 buttons?). And it isn't just something I can switch off. My brain is GONNA try to make sense of the music and controller and play what it hears, and it doesn't match what the game wants.

At their core, Rock Band and Guitar Hero are timing/pattern matching games, not music games, not really. I could probably play them if I put them on mute and just watched the dots. But where's the fun in that?

Billy's Little Trip wrote: ....but then again, there might be a whole new genre of songs with guitar players playing the hell out of the same 4 frets on one string. You never know, stranger things have happened.

Haha... that gives me an idea. I'm going to make a mint by inventing an electric ukulele with a button over ever of the first 5 frets. The strings will be tuned D A D A so when you press down on a button it barres a power chord. I will put a skull decal on each one. There will be an explosion in screechy, high pitched, heavy rock... meanwhile I will line my mattress with hundred dollar bills.

Congratulations, you just invented the autoharp.

fluffy wrote:Congratulations, you just invented the autoharp.

I think his would be an autouke, or a 2 chord zither, lol.

Hahaha, autouke, I like that

QOTD : Having only played once (but, for several hours) with a friend's rig, I'd say I'm middling to fair on guitar and bass. It's mostly rhythm and I'm not a very proficient lead guitarist. I suck at drums, but I knew that before I sat down. I don't have the right/left brain coordination. Didn't try vox.

Now, I have to say that for songs that I learned how to play for real on the guitar, I'm actually poorer on GH. My brain hears the rest of the music and tells my fingers how to play - which really has nothing to do with the game.

Still, a very fun party game by way of cooperative karaoke.

I have played neither Guitar Hero nor Rock Band. Cartman once said "real guitars are for old people." I'm old people.

I have, however, played Karaoke Revolution. I once got a 100% "diamond" performance for doing "Who Can It Be Now?" With pretty lax judging, obviously.

I have played neither, and have little interest. Any extra time that I have for playing music without the band goes into furthering my skills at the real bass and real guitar. I am older than Albatross. I am afraid I just don't get it. It's like porn vs. real sex, if you ask me.

That's such a bad analogy. lol

Well for anyone who has GH World Tour, I uploaded a song today. Search for Controlled F. The song title is Controlled Frenzy but the search doesn't give you that many letters. You'll know it's mine cuz it's the only song called that and the artist name will be my gamertag Fluffy xTMCx. It's pretty short, just over a minute, but it's the best song I've managed to put together so far.