In other ridiculously analytical news
(apologies to the tl;dr gang)
I’m really glad Rock Band et al is taking off to profitably these days. I heard Creep on the way in to work, and I was struck by how much more complex it sounded since I’ve played it a half-dozen or more times on Rock Band.
The bass, for instance: I always heard the “dum, dumdumdum, dum dum, dum dum dum”, but I never paid attention to the ascending return after that.
Also, though of course I could have picked it up by googling the lyrics, some of the words he sings go so high into the stratosphere that they’re difficult to discern – hearing someone else sing them, especially while you’re playing the song really pulls it into focus.
And the physical act of playing – I know it is a terribly rude and shallow version of actual guitars, but in some songs, when you’re reaching for one moment you know is coming and the hair stands on the back of your neck, the fulfillment of that moment is totally like something very similar that also involves no clothes. Well, if you’re playing Strip Rock Band, anyway.
I would love to see this grow – a great interface on purchasing songs, maybe even a common song environment for all of the games. I would love for artists to make their money this way, providing a new way for their audience to sink their teeth into their music.
After all, why do we listen to music? It’s an expression of emotion, and we’re trying to feel what someone else feels, to identify. PLAYING that music, feeling (more or less) what they feel when they play it, that is one step closer to empathy.
Rock Band and (to a lesser degree) Guitar Hero have absolutely changed how I experience music. I listen to the songs from them completely differently now, focused on individual instruments and hearing nuances I’d completely overlooked before.
Plus, yes, I have a chronic inability to hear lyrics correctly. So that has been a boon as well :)
when you’re reaching for one moment you know is coming and the hair stands on the back of your neck
Welcome to my world. :) It’s one of the myriad of great things about being a musician, or a performer of any kind.
Of course, there are also those moments you know are coming and you botch completely, but so it goes.
The fun thing is that this is a way of experiencing music that, while it does sacrifice being perfectly attuned to the original artist, is completely accessible to the average person.
You -are- playing the music – if you do not press a button at the right moment, the music does not happen. A simple analog to a real instrument, but if real emotion and connection occur anyway, does it matter?
Future editions of these musical games will allow people to create music using the increasingly more accurate instruments. Rock Band 2’s high-end drum set can be used as an actual drum set.
I think it is an amazing new direction for music and music appreciation, and will be a doorway toward people creating their own.
The music snob in me takes offense to a video game developing more accurate instruments; if one wants an accurate instrument, why doesn’t one learn to play the actual instrument?
But on the other hand I applaud just about anything that brings people into music and increases their awarness of its intricacies. My hope would be that some would take their love of RB and pursue the guitar, or percussion, or voice lessons, or, heck, trumpet or piano or violin or something.
That is, I believe, much of the point. Many of the staff who work at Rock Band are respected professional musicians.
There is a (fan-created) version of Rock Band for PC that uses actual guitars as controllers, and it is reported that the drum set for the latest rock band is a decent actual (electric, clearly) drum set.
I think it is a mistake to have the perspective that says, “once you get bored playing those silly games, why don’t you try something real” instead of thinking, “the first step from appreciating to performing music is intimidating for most people – this is a valid way for people to step beyond just listening, and is good even if they do not (or can not) go further”.
RB2 looks really amazing so far. I can’t wait for it.
Never underestimate just how many layers go into one song.