Bill Wyman Doesn’t Get It
Who? He was the drummer for the Rolling Stones back when they mattered. Now he’s just another musician who, like Prince, Jimmy Page and hopefully no other artists I like – just doesn’t get it.
I’m talking about Rock Band/Guitar Hero, of course. According to Entertainment Weekly, Bill Wyman says that he’s afraid that these music games will discourage kids from playing real instruments. From becoming real musicians.
Look, I love these games but I’m not a real musician. The reason I’m not has nothing to do with video games, of course, and everything to do with becoming a real musician being really, really hard. I know a lot of musicians and all of them – all the ones who still play into their adulthood, I mean – play because they love it. They learned to play because music flows through them and has to come out somewhere. It has too. It’s like me with writing. It’s not really a choice and no game can take that desire away.
Just as:
Playing Madden 10 will not lower the amount of talented men vying for the NFL draft.
Playing Tiger Woods 10 will not discourage people from picking up the clubs.
Playing Need for Speed or Gran Turismo does not remotely feel like driving a real sportscar.
Portraying a space marine will do nothing to limit the amount of people who become real space marines …
Anyway, you see my point. Playing video games simulates playing the real thing, but doesn’t really simulate DOING the real thing. Rock Band will not keep a budding guitarist from playing real guitar because the experiences are vastly and totally different. One is about hitting falling notes in a manic approximation of the old electronic game Simon. The other is about channeling and interpreting sound within a beat. One is imitation, the other is inspiration. And we do these things for very different reasons.
So, like Prince and Led Zeppelin, I fear it whenever some clueless musician misunderstands these games. I fear it mainly because I’d love to play Rock Band: Rolling Stones one day.
Now, I will acknowledge that it does work the other way, I think. I know that after playing a car sim, I’m a bit more interested in driving the real thing. That a lot of my interest and desire to one day fly a biplane has a lot to do with playing Red Baron 3D a long time ago, and sometimes Madden makes me wish I’d been born with a more “football appropriate” body. But I can’t imagine the game taking away from the real.
Or to put it another way – if your child prefers Guitar Hero to real guitar playing – maybe he’s just not that into being a musician. If he was, it’d be the other way around.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero has encouraged my little brothers to take up playing real drums, guitar, etc. –Cary
September 14th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I think Wyman is making a weak argument, but it is the same as most critics of video games. I enjoy hunting and have heard older hunters complain that video games are somehow responsible for the decline in hunting.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Though I have no facts or figures to back myself up I’d agree that games like Rock band and GH promote interest in music. I find myself listening to music differently since playing the games. I now have a better appreciation for the individual parts of a song rather than just the vocals and all that other stuff.
And FYI Wyman was Bassist for the stones Charlie Watts was (and still is) the drummer.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Ahhhh! I knew that Primevil, I swear! I’m going to leave the error there, in shame.
I always liked Watts because in those 80’s era videos, he always looks smirkingly embarrassed when they cut to him.
September 16th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I agree with you. In fact, I take it one step further. When I was still learning to play the bass, my teacher actually had me play Guitar Hero 2 as training rhythm and fingering as well as DDR as additional rhythm training.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I kind of fear a CSI effect.
September 17th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
At risk of sounding ignorant, what is a CSI effect?