The "Guitar Hero Effect"

Your kid in 10 years?

I was about 13 or so when my Mom decided to keep me out of mischief with an electric guitar, an amp, and music lessons. Back then, I had my own made-up version of Guitar Hero. I would put on my Kiss cassettes (don't laugh, I even have 'em in my iPod), or maybe Triumph, or perhaps Rush, and I would attempt to play the guitar parts. If I screwed up, according to my mental game, I had to start from the beginning even if I was mere seconds from the end. Sorta like "guitar solitaire".

So, where am I going with this?

Well, I'm the Dad now, I'm the proud owner of two boys. A few months ago, I brought "Rock Band 2" into the house, later "Guitar Hero III", then most recently "World Tour". But one big question plagued me. I couldn't sleep at nights: tossing and turning, cold sweats. Would exposing my boys to video game "instruments" impede their ability to discover learning real musical instruments?

I'm happy to report that the answer is: "I don't think so".

After the unnerving experience of watching my 10 year-old man-handle my guitars, I went out and got him one of his own. Surprisingly, he has spent many an hour holed up in his room, plunking away, trying to get the basics down. AC DC seems to be his favourite.

In addition to this, my 5 year old has taken to using the Guitar Hero drum set to play along with various rock concerts that I've PVR'ed. He's very impressive playing along with Megadeth. He has graduated to the "Hard" setting on drums on World Tour. He's almost due for a real drum set, digital drum set versus acoustic is a topic for another time.

To sum up, I think that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are like the first dose of crack cocaine (er... so I hear): you go through the mechanics of playing an instrument, this implants the seeds of curiosity. Your second dose of a guitar fix will have you heading to Axe Music, or Long & McQuade, and these guys ain't exactly a charity.

Let's see in 10 years where these "Guitar Hero Kids" are. We could end up being faced with a never ending sea of "Jonas Brothers" bands.