Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
guitar heroes, rock band, toy controllers, guitar songs
College
Fine Arts and Communications
Department
Music
Abstract
Guitar Hero and Rock Band are two of the most successful video game franchises of all time – Guitar Hero alone has topped $2 billion in the first quarter of last year. In these games, a player mashes plastic buttons on a guitar shaped controller in time to notes scrolling across the screen. Rock Band added virtual drums to the game, letting would-be Ringos play with a handful of drum pads and a kick drum. Although you couldn’t learn to play the drums from playing the video game alone, people discovered that you could learn enough of the fundamentals to play basic beats and fills. Sadly, the would-be guitar players don’t receive this same kind of edge from the plastic toy controllers. For my project, we sought to use a real guitar to play these games.
Recommended Citation
Aiken, Justin and Green, Lawrence
(2013)
"Becoming True Guitar Heroes,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013:
Iss.
1, Article 2316.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/2316