Rocksmith. New video game for guitar heroes and those wanting to start a rock band without necessarily possessing the talent for playing guitar, drums, keyboards and the like. Rocksmith is different, however. Toss out those little plastic guitars that may look like Paul McCartney’s violin-shaped Hofner bass and other famous axes. Rocksmith is a game that allows you to plug in just about any actual working guitar. In other words, Rocksmith lets you learn as you play.
Those who play games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band have done the world a great service. For one thing, they’ve brought back the idea that actually knowing how to play an instrument helps to get you into the music game. After a couple of decades of rappers, boy bands and solo girls from Britney to Celine, the idea of actually having to possess the talent to play an instrument to make it to the top of the Billboard charts certainly has a loving feeling about it that trespasses beyond the fenced lawns of nostalgia.
But, as had been pointed out, Rock Band and Guitar Hero do not require much in the way of actual talent to play the games. But Rocksmith, well, as the Amish say: no dream comes true until you wake up and go to work. Rocksmith looks likely to create some work on the part of players. Not a bad thing for the video game slackers who actually think that swinging a pretend tennis racquet through the air constitutes exercise.
Rocksmith takes any electric guitar with a plug or a standard pickup if your guitar doesn’t have a plug or is acoustic and turn that guitar into an educational tool. All those sad, pathetic guys who may be targeted for The Next Big Thing in world of boy bands may actually be able to learn how to play the guitar. From a video game. Actually learning to play the electric guitar. Chords and notes and strumming and plucking and, well, the list goes on, doesn’t it?
Not sure about you, but as a parent I would much rather have my child plugging in an actual electric guitar that he learns to play than some $150 cheap plastic Baudrillard simulacra that is going to wind up teaching them nothing more than the fact that most of the great music that has existed in the world of pop culture was created more than thirty years ago. Not that such a wealth of knowledge is a bad thing, mind you.
That is the only thing great thing these video games have done for the world.
Disclaimer: I do not work for the makers of Rocksmith and have not even seen the game in action. This article is based on the potential of promise only.