Soundcheck

I can hear Bowie rolling over in his grave...

i don't understand how garage band and guitar hero compete... mtv makes garage band and bought the RI company that makes guitar hero... so now it's all Viacom.

Oh lord. Next time I play a gig, I'm going to think about you all. But in NYC, as long as you can draw bodies, it doesn't matter how bad you sound.

A good friend of mine plays with her brother-in-law and his bandmates, and they have a song that's in the video game. She told me that the vocalist from the band got only an 80% on his own song.

I love guitar hero and rock band! I'm a musician and I play guitar, though it doesn't really translate into the game. It's great fun, though. The game is more like Simon than really playing an instrument... unless you count tablature. :)

My roommate is addicted to Guitar Hero, and so while I've NEVER been a gamester, I've now well exposed to the charms of rocking out in my home.

At first, I had a few moments of extreme anxiety - I'm a classically trained opera singer and felt like "No! I'm not allowed to suck so hard at this!" - but I gradually got over that and learned to just have fun, LOTS of fun. We have regular guitar hero dinner parties, our friends come over, eat good food and rock out together - it's amazing!

i am a video game luddite but when i was out visiting my sister and her husband (who works for xbox) in seattle at thanksgiving we played rock band and i have to say, now i am completely hooked. we had the whole family playing including an 8 year old (who kicks on "guitar" but is able at drums and vocals) and his 70-odd year old grand parents. too fun!

may have to invest in a game console.

It’s hard to imagine something actually trumping the thrill of beating the crap out of things, but hopefully playing Rock Band might approximate at least playing on a drum pad. (This commentator is a drummer.) Yes, Joan, it does sound an awful lot like Simon to me.

To respond to Carrie - of course the drummer won’t let Carrie behind the kit in a band situation. As a guitarist, she might be in front, or even fronting a band. The tradeoff is, of course, that despite the location of most drummers on a stage, there’s a reason that the place where a drummer sits is called a throne. It’s because when there’s a drummer behind the kit, she (or he) is Queen (or king) of the music-making, “the driver of that bus” and whatever is going on.

As a former mediocre pianist/bass player/singer in a college band, I was intrigued by the description of Rock Band. At first I thought it would be more rewarding to just take lessons and/or painfully work on my terrible chops- at least it would be with real instruments. But the fact is that you do need some kind of skill to do well at this game (drummers are punished for not driving the beat) has had its own musical rewards. It's also very thoughtfully designed, and like Karaoke Revolution, picking out your character, getting fans to cheer or boo, etc.. make it fun. Plus- I was inspired to finally tune our long-neglected piano- just in case.