I can't remember the last time I had so much fun playing guitar.
No, I'm not talking about my Yamaha Strat knock-off or my Ibanez steel string.
I'm talking about a plastic guitar with no strings and five frets.
Huh?
Guitar Hero is a device that plugs into a Sony Playstation 2 video game system. Basically, it is a undersized black plastic guitar with five colored buttons on the neck, a plastic strummer where the pickups would be and a whammy bar.
Insert the CD game that comes with the Guitar Hero Deluxe Bundle, stretch out your fingers, crank up the volume and get ready to ROCK!
Unless you've been living in a cave, you have seen the kids hopping about on the Dance Dance Revolution game pads, where the onscreen symbols instruct them where to put their feet as the thumping bass plays a pop song.
Guitar Hero doesn't require that you move your feet at all. Instead, the onscreen fret shows you which of the colored buttons to press as you are strumming along to a rock tune. And I gotta say... it is unbelievalbly FUN!
Like any video game, you choose a level of difficulty. You then select from eight guitarists (each with a personality of their own) and choose your guitar (Les Paul and Flying V are included in the starting selections).
Like any rock n' roll band, your first gig is in a local garage.
You are then presented with a list of five songs to choose from. Songs include More Than a Feeling by Boston, Killer Queen by Queen, I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett, Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth and about 30 others.
Play the right notes and you HEAR the guitar licks being played. The crowd also reacts to the quality of your playing. Miss notes and you hear that as well.. and it sounds awful. Miss too many notes and the crowd starts booing you... and you may fail the song.
But if you follow along reasonably so, you will find yourself exhilerated by the challenge of playing along with these classic rock songs, even beginning to feel like you are really playing some pretty cool licks. As you successfully play notes, your score accumulates and begins to multiply. Hit enough notes to fill your "star power" bar and you can execute bonus star power moves by raising the neck of the guitar to the sky. Like I said... it's too much fun.
My kids have had a hard time peeling me away from this gizmo. I don't think I've ever had this much fun playing guitar. So how are your chops?
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
