New! REAL Guitar Game - Like RB/GH

[Gryffindor]

http://us.i1.yimg.com/videogames.yahoo.com/feature/become-a-real-guitar-hero/1191518


Become A Real Guitar Hero
Feb 29, 2008

Between Activision's powerhouse Guitar Hero franchise and MTV's upstart Rock Band, millions of couch potatoes have been turned on to the power of rock n' roll gaming. Unfortunately, the button-mashing skills that serve them so well at home don't translate to success with a real instrument at a club.

But as more and more gamers are playing to the beat, the demand for software that will actually teach them how to play for real is on the rise -- literally.

On display in a packed booth at the recent Game Developer's Conference, Guitar Rising takes the basic concept of Guitar Hero -- players strum along to popular songs for points -- and turns it into a legitimate teaching tool by exchanging plastic game peripherals for bona fide wood and steel guitars.

Best of all, there's no need to make room for yet another piece of bulky hardware: Using a small USB converter similar to the kind employed by everyday living room musicians, Guitar Rising can be played with any electric guitar. Simply plug a standard electric guitar cable into one end and plug the USB out into any USB port on your PC to be up and rocking.

Obviously, using a real instrument introduces some new problems. Real guitars have six strings and over 20 frets, making things much more complicated than just pressing 'Red' and flicking a strum bar. Since it's primarily a teaching tool, Guitar Rising uses a color-coded version of classic guitar tablature that should look instantly familiar to both guitarists and gamers alike. If you're playing through a song correctly, you're effectively sight-reading.

Exactly which songs will you be able to play? That's still up in the air, but according to Guitar Rising developer Gametank, licensing hasn't been particularly problematic. (Considering how well artists included in Rock Band and Guitar Hero have fared, that's hardly surprising.) And since the game converts your guitar signal into USB form, there's reason to believe it might actually make its way to USB-equipped home consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3, although currently it's due only on the PC later this year.

More information can be found at guitarrising.com

I was wondering why nobody had released such a thing.

[Unieek1]

It's somewhat ambitious (as it should be) and I think releasing it anytime before now would've been premature. Now that there is a huge fan base for guitar rhythm games it stands a pretty good chance. It definitely looks interesting, but the hang up is going to be that people who can't play guitar will hesitate before buying one, regardless of the game.

[ASPSAX]

I'll pass, I don't want to learn real guitar. GH/RB is just fun, not for learning real guitar. People can't seem to accept this.

[burnsy87]

I'll pass, I don't want to learn real guitar. GH/RB is just fun, not for learning real guitar. People can't seem to accept this.

People like you can't except how much more fun it is to be able to play real guitar. I just dabble with it but i can still jam a few songs with my friends and its much more enjoyable that playing a plastic guitar. I really do not see this game succeeding though it just seems too complicated. Theres too many things someone can do wrong on every note (wrong fret, wrong string, hitting too many strings) while in rock band you basically just either hit it too soon or too late. I just dont see how someone who isnt a good guitar player can look at this scrolling by, read the fret number, then recognize in fractions of second where that fret is, hold the right string, then hit just that string. Then it just gets complicated with chords. Also i didnt recognize one song on the games website. Its just songs made for the game i think


edit: On second thought. If this game is 50 bucks and gets rated even decently, i will probably pick it up. Its a motivation to play the guitar better because when you play guitar without a scoring system and you continually mess something up, you really get frustrated. If you have a computer tracking what your doing it may motivate me more to continue on and master it. Plus i wont have to buy a new guitar for it or anything.

[Gryffindor]

According to the video on their website it has several different levels (just like RB & GH). I too think that it would be way harder than playing RB or GH but that's the whole point - it should be because it's real.

Think of the first time you played GH or RB. It took some time to get used to where your fingers needed to be on the frets and the rhythm. Same theory applies to a real guitar except multiplied by the strings and number of frets.

And here's the best part......once you get good enough on guitar you can never complain about DLC again.:D

[fav321]

The big problem with a game like guitar rising will be that people will get frustrated and give up really fast. It's kinda funny but people actually believe that mastering guitar hero can translate into real guitar skills. The fact is mastering guitar hero can take a couple weeks but mastering a real guitar can take a lifetime, In fact it takes 6 months to a year just to strum a chord half decently. Guitar hero champs will buy this game and will soon realize that they have zero guitar skills and will quickly give up.
Now, what I thought might be a good idea would be a more elaborate guitar hero game with a plastic guitar and maybe a couple rows of fret buttons, that way you could play power chords and have at least a tiny bit of real life guitar benefits.

[LinkStrifeLeonhart]

Sorry, but it's not clicking for me. I'd much rather have human feedback while trying to learn guitar, thank you very much.

[jeccaneko]

Sorry, but it's not clicking for me. I'd much rather have human feedback while trying to learn guitar, thank you very much.

There's no reason you can't use this to supplement your guitar learning. I go to a guitar teacher, but I'm looking forward to this. They had the demo up at the Game Developers Conference and it was pretty fun.

[xianzai]

Looks great, if they do it for electronic drums I'm a customer.

[Coldplayer]

Looks cheap. And if I have to plug in my real guitar than I better play real guitar from the beginning and don't try to learn wrong guitar chords on my real guitar.

Besides, where should Gamers get their real guitars from?

This game is a stupid idea if you ask me.

BTW, I didn't notice one song I know.

[Gryffindor]

Looks cheap. And if I have to plug in my real guitar than I better play real guitar from the beginning and don't try to learn wrong guitar chords on my real guitar.

Besides, where should Gamers get their real guitars from?

This game is a stupid idea if you ask me.

BTW, I didn't notice one song I know.

I'm guessing they're using technology similar to that used for vocals to know whether or not you're hitting the notes (chords) correctly.

I picked up a beginners Strat at Guitar Center for $145. (Entire beginners setup package was about $350 total)

I didn't notice any songs I knew either but this is a learning tool more than it is a game. Think of it as scrolling guitar tabs.

[ASPSAX]

People like you can't except how much more fun it is to be able to play real guitar.

Uh, yeah, only that I play saxophone in real life (if you can't guess because of my username, then you're probably ******ed) and I'm majoring in music composition. It's not about reality, it's just an entertaining game that I don't have to sacrifice hours on end for (like with the aforementioned saxophone and composing).

[shadebug]

I've been waiting for something like this since I got to hard on GH, it'll be an easy way to learn guitar, let me go on and explain why.

If you picked up GH or RB and went straight into expert without ever having played either (and I'm sure many of you did) you'd hate it and it'd be too difficult. Sure, you could probably grind on the easy songs and figure it out after a bit, but it just wouldn't be all that much fun.

However, progress through the difficulties and it's fun all the way through. Which is where this comes in.

When you pick up a real guitar you start on expert. This means you either become disenchanted very quickly, play songs which are just wrong, only play tiny bits of songs or only play insanely easy songs, none of which are particularly fun. Doing it this way, however, helps you develop the skills needed for guitar playing whilst still giving you that same sensation of playing the song for real that you get with guitar hero.

As you go up through the difficulties you'll play the songs more realistically until, on expert you can not only play the guitar perfectly, but you can sight read it perfeectly, in a lot less time than it would take to learn to play it properly I'd wager (especially since no guitar tutor would ever want to sit up watching you grind smoke on the water until the wee hours of the morning)

that's the theory

[chrismo15]

Wooooohoooo! Looks sweet now I can really test my guitar skills and learn new songs at the same time awsome!!

[Rock_Band_Over]

I was wondering why nobody had released such a thing.

Me too! Thanks for posting this! Although I'm pretty sure it will be fairly big news closer to the release date. So I guess the main 'value' of this is that you'll at least know if what you're playing is what you think it is? For someone that lacks a musical ear (like me), that would be a huge help.

[JohnRKlein]

Although I haven't looked at this product yet, this is something I've been looking for..

I bought an electric guitar, but don't have time to take lessons on it.. Something like this will allow me to learn at my own pace..

[Rod_Stixx]

Sounds like it could be fun and a nice next step for those who want to try playing guitar for real. I play guitar in real life and it's great fun to play (even if I don't practice as much as I should).

No, it's not going to be some instant translation from the plastic guitar to the real thing, but I think most people realize that. If this helps some people get into learning the guitar, that's a good thing.

[moshun]

Here's a vid of the game in action, sorta...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3sdgg_guitarrising_music

[murfinator]

Here is a game that looks like it has more potential, but not so fun to play. Called Guitar Wizard (you can import your own songs and the program will tab it for you!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsqFzDSJfeE

[RavagerX]

This would be great for me, as I have never made it past learning a few chords(which are now forgotten). I am the sort that likes to learn quickly, and I like to see results quickly....so teaching myself electric guitar ended up with me swearing profusely at it and the tutorials.

Not at myself of course. :p

Plus, the guitar I have was a total PIECE......refused to stay in tune....my other guitar isn't my style....too big(was my dads) then...my amp blew(was also my dad's).

Then again, I didn't try to have fun with it...I was way too serious about it.

[-Nick-]

ok. when does this Guitar Rising game come out on 360 in the USA?
i want it!

[bandaddy]

To those that say this is stupid, it is....for you. It won't go mainstream for gamers like RB or GH have, but it will definitely be a plus for those wanting to play real guitar. Practicing is, well, um, boring - and this will make it fun. I bought a guitar for my son (age 8) because of the GH games, and the lessons and software available now are all pretty grueling and boring and require a lot of self motivation. I can see this being something he can relate to and take his experience from GH and use it to progress to playing this "game" and coming out of it with some real guitar skills.

More than likely the game will not work like vocals in RB, but may use midi conversion to recognize the notes you're playing, or something else along those lines rather than pitch recognition.

I think it's a great idea, and judging by the number of online guitar lessons and software out there that seem to eek out a niche, it should be able to make a place for itself.

And ya, bring on the drum equivalent !!!

[vsTerminus]

This is pretty well exactly what I've been looking for.

The only reason I got good at Guitar Hero was because I started on medium, playing a fraction of the real notes, meanwhile I could hear the entire song. The when I was ready, I moved up to hard and played most of the notes, but still heard the entire song.
Finally got to expert where I play note for note with the real track and I can read the charts extremely easily now.

With a real guitar, I started learning and if you apply the same theory, it just sounds like ****.
Playing half the notes on the real guitar doesn't sound all that great. Plus there's nothing verifying that you actually are doing it right.
Playing rediculously easy songs isn't any fun either.

I think this will be a great motivator for me to learn a real guitar (finally)

[McDreads]

I'll pass, I don't want to learn real guitar. GH/RB is just fun, not for learning real guitar. People can't seem to accept this.

Your Chastity Belt just got tighter.

[AnonymousMonkey]

I tried this out at GDC and it was pretty cool. I'm definitely getting it when it comes out.

[shadebug]

Here is a game that looks like it has more potential, but not so fun to play. Called Guitar Wizard (you can import your own songs and the program will tab it for you!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsqFzDSJfeE

how the hell does that look like it has more potential? It looks like arse, not to mention as counterintuitive as you can get. following the GH/RB chart style for over 20 frets is just a bad idea. That and you have to buy the interface, screw that.

Oh, and word to the wise, never trust programmers in suits, they probably use VB

As for loading your own songs, wtf? Surely if that were possible in any sort of meaningful way, rock band or guitar hero would already have it, maybe not though

[xfMike]

Here's a vid of the game in action, sorta...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3sdgg_guitarrising_music

Really interesting video. However, that looks like a fancy way of playing along to a Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/index.php) file. :P

The idea of taking guitar tablature and allowing it to scroll along to the music isn't really anything new. With Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/index.php) you can just easily search for a Guitar Pro file, and when you open it up, it is essentially a MIDI file that can display both regular music notation, and guitar tablature. You can easily learn guitar parts, bass, piano, drums, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm not bashing the idea of Guitar Rising, in fact it looks like it would be a good opportunity to learn a couple songs on guitar. However, the same idea has been out for years now. For anyone that actually wants to learn to play on a real guitar, they could pick up a cheap guitar/practice amp for about $150 (or even less), and choose from a ton of free, online websites that will show them everything there is to know about playing guitar (or even bass, drums, piano, etc.). Then you can take a program like Guitar Pro an use it to compliment what you want to learn, or even use Guitar Pro to help compose and arrange songs.

[Dalamari]

Real guitar > RB/GH

Always.

[MrZeebub]

This looks pretty bad ass. It'll give me a reason to pick up my guitar again.

[jeccaneko]

Plus, the guitar I have was a total PIECE......refused to stay in tune....my other guitar isn't my style....too big(was my dads) then...my amp blew(was also my dad's).

Have you tried replacing the strings? You could have POS strings on there.

[emilogg]

Chances are I'll pick it up. But will fail at it, until the fact that I have about zero musical ability sets in.

Then, I'll go back to playing RB and make myself feel better.

[shadebug]

the difference between this and a straight guitar pro tab is the ability to do an easy mode and so on. That's where this becomes awesomely useful

[-Nick-]

yeah. this looks amazing. but when is it coming out?!

[Gryffindor]

Their website says late 2008.

[SaltyDawg]

Really interesting video. However, that looks like a fancy way of playing along to a Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/index.php) file. :P

The idea of taking guitar tablature and allowing it to scroll along to the music isn't really anything new. With Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/index.php) you can just easily search for a Guitar Pro file, and when you open it up, it is essentially a MIDI file that can display both regular music notation, and guitar tablature. You can easily learn guitar parts, bass, piano, drums, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm not bashing the idea of Guitar Rising, in fact it looks like it would be a good opportunity to learn a couple songs on guitar. However, the same idea has been out for years now. For anyone that actually wants to learn to play on a real guitar, they could pick up a cheap guitar/practice amp for about $150 (or even less), and choose from a ton of free, online websites that will show them everything there is to know about playing guitar (or even bass, drums, piano, etc.). Then you can take a program like Guitar Pro an use it to compliment what you want to learn, or even use Guitar Pro to help compose and arrange songs.

Is there a drum pro, bass pro, piano pro, etc, or only a guitar pro?

That Guitar Wizard looks pretty cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsqFzDSJfeE

And there is a piano wizard too, but I don't think there is a bass or drum wizard.

As soon as someone gets it right and does all of them (guitar, bass, drum, piano) then I'll buy them all.

[LinkStrifeLeonhart]

After reading the arguments for this, I have to say that it could be a useful tool. Like many have posted, the feature that sets it apart from the others is the difficulty settings.

I still don't think I'll get this, but who knows? I may end up changing my mind.

[HeadHunter67]

It looks interesting - and might just entice me to pick up a real guitar and learn to play.

I'm sure that this "game" alone won't make anyone into an expert guitarist, but it's a fun way to get started and might be a good supplement to lessons.

I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing more about it.

[Purist]

If it's not a plastic toy I want no part of it.

[zack10house]

looks amazing. I guess it is basically just a guitar tab, but it has an easy mode and allows you to learn at your own pace. definitely a plus.

[ASPSAX]

Oh my god, Guitar Wizard looks confusing as hell. Guitar Rising looks MUCH clearer.

[hunterf12]

i would love to buy this game :D

[RavagerX]

Have you tried replacing the strings? You could have POS strings on there.

Yeah, I did that but something still doesn't sound right about it.

[gocryemokid]

I'd never buy a game to play songs I've never heard of.

[Gryffindor]

The thing to remember is that this really isn't a game so much as it's a learning tool.

As for playing songs you've never heard of.......I guess you already knew all of the bonus tour songs and DLC prior to buying RB or GH?

[kaiserkreb]

Really interesting video. However, that looks like a fancy way of playing along to a Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/index.php) file. :P

The idea of taking guitar tablature and allowing it to scroll along to the music isn't really anything new. With Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/index.php) you can just easily search for a Guitar Pro file, and when you open it up, it is essentially a MIDI file that can display both regular music notation, and guitar tablature. You can easily learn guitar parts, bass, piano, drums, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm not bashing the idea of Guitar Rising, in fact it looks like it would be a good opportunity to learn a couple songs on guitar. However, the same idea has been out for years now. For anyone that actually wants to learn to play on a real guitar, they could pick up a cheap guitar/practice amp for about $150 (or even less), and choose from a ton of free, online websites that will show them everything there is to know about playing guitar (or even bass, drums, piano, etc.). Then you can take a program like Guitar Pro an use it to compliment what you want to learn, or even use Guitar Pro to help compose and arrange songs.

QFT, Guitar pro has been out for years and it works great. Other than tab books I used it almost exclusively for learning how to play at the beginning.

[SaltyDawg]

QFT, Guitar pro has been out for years and it works great. Other than tab books I used it almost exclusively for learning how to play at the beginning.

Do you know if there is anything like it for bass, drums, and piano?

[PikkuKaiShinto]

I said this in another topic about this and Ill say it again:
Im going to get this the moment its released!
I cant wait it will be sooooo much fun, but I know the majority of GH/RB players wont even touch it.

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

i heard about this like 2 months ago, i just never thought i would need to post it here.

how come every time I see something i think is uninteresting for the forums, it ends up on here anyway and people give it praise? is it just me?

anyway, this is gonna be sweet, as long as its not to expensive. i hope it comes out before the nirvana album, because i'll be out of money!! wait...scratch that, i want my album.

[bombsquad 001]

if i wanted to learn how to play guitar i wouldnt buy a video game..i would go get lessons...and ill stick to gh/rb because i play it to have fun and i have no desire to play real guitar

[Dzhokhar]

if i wanted to learn how to play guitar i wouldnt buy a video game..i would go get lessons...and ill stick to gh/rb because i play it to have fun and i have no desire to play real guitar

+1

I think this thread is off topic for this forum too. This forum is about Rock Band, which both has nothing to do with playing real guitar and has nothing to do with this random other "game" which is really just a prettied up guitar teaching tool (that is really just a cash in and probably not nearly as effective as actual lessons).

[kaiserkreb]

Do you know if there is anything like it for bass, drums, and piano?

I believe guitar pro works fine for bass provided you download a tab that contains bass lines, as for piano and drums, I don't know. Piano I had to take lessons for 10 years when I was little so I guess that was the only way back then short of learning theory and picking it up on your own, and for drums, as far as I can tell, other than my mom being an amazing drummer so maybe there's some genetics involved, rock band is teaching me the basics better than I can imagine anyone else teaching me in person. IMHO of course.

[mrtauntaun]

Meh, if I wanted to play real guitar I would learn real guitar. My father as been playing for most of his life and would be happy to teach me I am sure. I just want to play a video game and have some fun for an hour or two.