Stay on topic people.
Trolling/Flaming others is never productive discussion.
Settle this lame argument via PM you two.
It is on topic. We're discussing the merits of the new Rock Band game using a real guitar.
I kind of overreacted by saying he was trolling, too. We're cool here. :thumb:
There's no way that what you're saying is any different from any random person - yourself included - trying to cover the song? :\ The only difference is you'll have the game scoring your accuracy rather than a likely tone-deaf audience.
I guess so. But I have a modeling amp, it's built to be able to hit a wide verity of tones. I might not be able to hit a signature tone
perfectly, but I can come close enough just about anything that it sounds like the song I'm covering.
What I pointed out, though, wasn't just that you can mute the game's audio - you can mute the guitar audio in the game, leaving the rest of the band backing, and play along to the chart with the Squier guitar hooked into your amp. It's even better than what most garage guitarists can do with a regular HiFi or even basic audio software on a PC.
I overlooked that to. That's a good point, until you get back to the fact that you aren't getting to hear yourself play. I guess that's not really important during the learning stage, and you can always just turn the sound back on after you can play the song decently.
Okay here's the thing though... just learning tablature is the start of it. I can look at a tab online and imagine in my mind how it should sound - and I know what the numbers technically mean - but actively applying it is a whole other ballgame.
I don't understand what you're trying to say here. My suggestion was to buy a decent guitar and amp. In what part of that was I implying that you wouldn't be applying what you're learning from the tablature onto the guitar you bought?
Sure you can set up guitar lessons - which would likely also cost a few hundred dollars, if you take multiple lessons from a professional instructor. If you're taking lessons, though, you're on your instructor's schedule, and you may have trouble with some aspect or another, but unless it's one-on-one instruction (which is even pricier), you probably won't get the special attention you need to help with, say, learning to hold a pick correctly for good tremolo technique.
They can get expensive over time. My instructor only charges $20 for one 30 minute, 1-on-1 lesson a week. He's also very flexible with his schedule. I know that's not the case with everyone, though. I'm just lucky I guess. :/
But that's kind of a weird point, if you ask me. "Oh, I want to learn this instrument, but I don't have time to learn it from a professional instructor so I'll just go buy Rock Band and practice whenever I have time." It seems like a good solution, but you need an instructor to help point out when you're doing something wrong. I'm sure I picked up a couple bad techniques from Guitar Hero before I started playing the real guitar.
Enter Rock Band 3. You want to learn guitar but don't want to be locked into some instructor's schedule. You might already be a fan of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero gameplay and want to take it to the next level, learning the real thing (i know MANY who have or who plan to). Now you can put down the $300+ for the Fender Squier - which will be a decent entry-level guitar at worst, since it is a real guitar with real strings, real pickups, and real midi out as well as a regular port to plug in an amp - and learn on your own terms, playing simplified tablature on Easy/Medium/Hard, without being locked into an instructor's time, and getting essentially the one-on-one practice you need. Hell, if you're really intrepid you can combine the two, have an instructor teach you proper technique and then use Rock Band 3 to help practice - since the game actually grades your performance you can even see how well you're progressing!
Good points. Not much I can say about that. Although, all this thing does is grade how many notes you hit. Hitting more notes while playing sloppy is not as important in the long run as developing good technique. However, if you take the time to develop good technique, you will be able to hit more notes almost effortlessly compared to if you're flailing around and playing sloppy and uncontrollably.
How much are you
really progressing if you're hitting more notes at the expense of developing a bad habit of playing sloppy?
And on top of all that, once you've spent the same amount on lessons as you would have on Rock Band 3 with a Squier, you're done - you have to pay more for further lessons if you need them. RB3? Well, there's always DLC...
Sure, that works well if you just want to cover songs. However, if you want to learn music theory, you're going to need more than Rock Band. A good instructor can help organize it so you learn better. You could always try learning off the internet, of course, but I chose the other option.
So, I don't get how you can say this exact line in the same breath that you disagree with me... There's some logical disconnect going on here, might be related to the below.
What's wrong with what I said? If it helps people get into music, I'm all for it. I just wasn't so hot about the way it's trying to do it. You're helping, though. lol
Who's trolling? Yeah my posts are a little more inflammatory than most, that's just how I usually end up arguing on forums. Adds a little spice. When it gets out of hand or looks like it will, I dial it back because I'm not trying to incite serious flame wars here...
Eh, it's just the last time I was talking bad about Guitar Hero you were getting on me for that, too. I don't really have a problem with it, though. I like spice.
I don't know, I'm kind of warming up to the idea after hearing what you've had to say. I'd really like to get my hands on it just to see what it's like. The only thing I'm concerned about is the price. It might be good for getting people into music, but what about people who are already in music? Since we're bumping this up to real instruments, it only makes sense that it's going to cost more. I already have hundreds of dollars of equipment, both real and in the video game, but I'd still have to go buy another new guitar just to be able to play Rock Band.
EDIT: One thing I would like to point out, though, is that this game lacks a lot of important things. For one, you can't play harmonic notes. While natural harmonics aren't difficult to execute, pinch harmonics are a little more tricky. Other things you can't do (to my knowledge) are palm muting and pick sliding, two very important techniques if you're in to rock/metal. Also, it may score your accuracy of the notes you hit, but it won't be able to keep track of other important things that help you develop good technique in the long run. It won't be able to sense if you're muting unwanted noise, using too much force, holding your pick wrong, it won't (to my knowledge) teach you music theory, how to keep time, etc. In fact, just about all it does is score your accuracy of which notes you hit.
Overall, I guess it's a neat idea that will end up getting more people into music, but I don't think it can be considered anything more than an introductory practice tool. It lacks a lot of important things and doesn't emphasize good technique enough to replace a professional instructor or further study and practice.
I didn't create this thread expecting to see a couple walls-of-text. This is pretty crazy, lol.
