Rockband vs The Real Thing

The Beatles. The most recognizable and influential band in the history of music. Did the Beatles ever imagine that, essentially, anyone and everyone in the world would be able to physically play their entire song catalog without any musical knowledge or prowess whatsoever? Probably not.

With the release of the new Beatles Rockband video game, it is possible for people to do just that. Rockband is a video game that gives anyone the opportunity to “play” his or her favorite bands’ music using a fake guitar, a fake drum set and a microphone.

While playing the drums and singing on Rockband is somewhat similar to the real thing, the guitar playing is far from realistic. Without sounding pretentious, I am an aspiring musician who can attest to that statement. Guitar is my main instrument, and after playing the Rockband version I was so disappointed because of its complete lack of realism and how easy it was to just pickup and play. I really enjoy the process of trying to figure out how to play a song. The gratification and accomplishment felt when one finally figures a song out is like nothing else, and Rockband just bypasses that process.

The drums are nothing like a real drum set either, but the physical motions are similar when playing them. A microphone is a microphone. But with the guitar it has a four buttons on the neck and toggle switch where one would strum and pick.

The way Rockband works, for the guitar, is a series of colored blocks, which correspond with the colored buttons on the neck of the guitar, scroll down the screen on an image of a fret board. When the blocks get to a designated spot on the screen, the user must hit the button and toggle switch to create the note played.

Realizing Rockband was created to give people who are not musically inclined the opportunity to play their favorite songs, and to introduce music to kids in a more relateable way; however, it could also give false hope. Music is a language, and playing instruments is not something one learns in a few hours. Rockband’s immediate gratification is probably the only thing more unrealistic than the playing of the guitar.

Numerous people believe they can really play the guitar or drums after they have played Rockband, and when they go try to play the real thing, with all the confidence in the world on their side, they just get hit hard by the reality of it. They are then even more discouraged. This is a detractor of the video game many do not think about and overlook.

As previously said, music is a language, and playing an instrument is something that takes a lot of time, commitment and focus to really have any success at. Rockband may take a few hours maximum to get the hang of, and a couple days to really master. This provides more false hope for those who play the video game. When they try to learn how to play an instrument, and they do not figure it out in a few hours or days or weeks, they give up and go back to the instant gratification that Rockband provides.

John, Paul, George and Ringo. Four names of four musicians who each had a hand in changing the course of music forever. Now they are a part of a video game technology changing the course of video games. Did they ever imagine they would be a part of that? Probably not.