Like A/The Boss

Last week I found myself happily in possession of a Rock Band 3 pro-guitar-mode-compatible Fender Squire Stratocaster electric guitar / controller. Those of you well versed in the art of shredding and/or melting faces might perchance be inclined to scoff at this particular make and model, and I am no better positioned to dispute your thinking on the matter than I am prepared to have a slap fight with a roomful of angry badgers. However, for my pedestrian and uninformed tastes, I might as well have been gifted Orpheus’s lute.

I have some experience with playing guitar, though that experience extends only to the point of strumming some basic Indigo Girls songs that my wife can sing along with in the privacy of our own home, where we can do no actual harm. Open chords and basic progressions are my longtime friends, and should there ever be need for someone to kinda muddle through Tequila Sunrise, then I may be your man. That said, I haven’t played for about a half decade with anything like consistency, so when I talk about my early experiences with Rock Band 3’s pro guitar mode, understand that I do so as someone relatively inexperienced—though not entirely ignorant—in a lot of guitar-playing concepts.

And, from that perspective, let me summarize briefly: Playing a real guitar with what is already basically one of my favorite game series of all time is the most fun I’ve had with my Xbox. Period. Full stop.

If there is a casualty or sad story to be told in this whole ordeal, it is the tale of the nerve endings that once dozed quietly and unmolested in the largely safe neighborhood of my fingertips. Now, these neurons and dendrites are in open revolt, firing an endless barrage of dull pain signals to my besieged brain. This is pain most glorious and well earned, however, and there is something intensely satisfying—if slightly twisted—about the ache of fingers that have earned their pain through the art of rocking the house.

Going to bed last night, The Hardest Button to Button freshly 4-starred on Expert, I could not resist the wave of self-satisfaction that came from a deeply aching hand. I guess this is probably what people feel who do insane things like P90X, marathons, or walk up the stairs when there is a perfectly good elevator right there. Even as I type, each button stroke from the A-S-D-F home keys reminds me that I Love Rock and Roll’s relatively basic solo has been satisfyingly cracked and overcome.

In direct contrast to my experience with the Ion Drum Kit, which has been problematic from the start, the Fender guitar took only a few quick tweaks to the height of the pickup and the action on the strings to really dial in to a satisfying experience. I don’t imagine that I would ever want to make this my primary instrument, and the necessary modifications made to the guitar’s neck leave it plagued with tuning problems and an unshakable sense of fragility. It is probably passable enough, but the core way I look at it is that this is a training mechanism, not a performance instrument.

In much the same way as I’ve looked at the Pro Keys, where 3 days have recently been lost in an ongoing effort to try and master the complicated progression of Total Eclipse of the Heart, the pleasure here is not found in the same familiar places as in previous music games. One does not simply pick up the Pro Guitar or Pro Keys at a party and sight-read one's way through a song. Success simply requires dedicated practice, and often playing one small section over and over again until the chord changes are remembered within the muscles themselves.

That said, few things in any of my experiences with gaming have been quite as satisfying as translating from playing a song on Rock Band 3 to immediately picking up my acoustic guitar and actually making something sorta like music. It is the next evolution of the kind of experience I was already having with the keyboard, only recently having translated most of Imagine from the television to my piano.

Yes, there are subtleties of playing guitar, such as bends and some strumming techniques, that do not necessarily make a good transition to the model built by Harmonix, but there is simply no denying the reality of the situation, which is that I am developing basic musical skills that can be used immediately. Most importantly, I’m having a fantastic time doing it. The actual equipment works cleanly, and I have been pleasantly surprised and vaguely amazed how well the fretboard responds to my finger placement.

Know going in, however, that pro mode is not about playing a casual game. You will not simply rock into Mordor through an on-the-fly sight-reading. Also the barrier of entry, $279 plus another $40 or so for the midi adapter, is admittedly steep. But if you have a long-term interest in leveraging Rock Band 3 as a lesson tool, then it becomes a lot easier to justify the cost. Simply put, you get what you put into it. But if you’re willing to invest yourself into the experience, then you can expect something genuinely special.

Comments

This is pain most glorious and well earned, however, and there is something intensely satisfying—if slightly twisted—about the ache of fingers that have earned their pain through the art of rocking the house.

It truly is the most wonderful of agonies.

If I owned a console and if the Squier was available in this country I would be all over it, finances notwithstanding.

Dammit Sands, you are not helping me avoid this purchase.

Testify, Sean! I can affirm the awesomeness that is pro guitar with a real guitar. I've noticed that the action (string height) out of the box on the Squier is quite high. My father-in-law used to own a music store and deals heavily with guitars and amps, so I had him perform the basic setup adjustments for me (truss rod, string and pickup height, intonation), but you can have this done at any guitar shop for a small fee. You should definitely have this done if you're planning on using the guitar outside of the game, which is really a requirement if you're trying to actually learn. You eventually do need to go outside the game and listen to yourself play through an amp.

String height is mostly personal preference, but a higher action is going to mean you have to press down harder on the strings to get them to register. My action is noticeably lower now, but there is one other thing he noticed. The nut (basically the 0th fret, where the strings run off to the tuning pegs) is also pretty high and is actually slanted a bit. The low E string end of the nut is higher than the high E string. He wasn't sure about outright replacing the nut, due to the special electronics in the neck, but I'm pretty sure this should be okay as the electronics should start at the first fret. He did say he might like to try filing down the nut to get it lower, as an alternative to completely replacing it.

I can tell you even without replacing the nut, the guitar plays noticeably better after these basic adjustments have been done. It's certainly not going to sound as nice as a more expensive guitar, but the tone is half decent and it's at least properly intoned now so you can actually play it. Now I just need to stop my fingers from bleeding. Pain not withstanding, pro guitar (and pro mode in general) is the best thing to ever happen to Rock Band since we added drums and vocals to the basic guitar formula back in 2007. It is incredibly impressive what they've managed to accomplish with it. I am actually learning honest-to-god musical skills from a freaking video game. That is insane.

Please Harmonix, release this divine device in Europe sometimes this century so I can emulate my Rock God Muse Elysium

It sounds very much to me like you should be paying close attention to Rocksmith. It appears to be Pro Guitar, but lets you use any real guitar. Which is cool.

You will not simply rock into Mordor through an on-the-fly sight-reading.

Funny.

Simply put, you get what you put into it.

Like high school!

I will never play Pro anything on Rock Band (Expert vocals is enough work as is), but that was a very entertaining read. Nice work Sean.

Good piece, glad to hear confirmation that the pro guitar isn't a total waste of time. Bloody fingertips here I come!

Floomi wrote:

It sounds very much to me like you should be paying close attention to Rocksmith. It appears to be Pro Guitar, but lets you use any real guitar. Which is cool.

I've seen that, and it is very cool. However, I am...extremely skeptical, shall we say, about their claims of being able to use any guitar for realtime gameplay. They are clearly doing some kind of realtime audio analysis to figure out if you're playing the right thing. If they can pull this off, that is awesome. However, that is an extremely tall order. Even high-end commercial software that costs way more than a simple video game can't pull this off without latency, and not 100% accurately either. If they skimp on the detail, it suffers the danger of becoming nothing but a glorified tab display.

Harmonix's approach with fret detection requires custom hardware, however the advantage is accuracy and blazing speed for realtime gameplay. It also has the advantage of being fully integrated into the core Rock Band game. You can play pro guitar along with your friends on other instruments. Rocksmith is intriguing, but I'd really like to see some actual gameplay and hands-on demos before passing judgement. And if it does turn out great, you can use the RB Squier with it anyway.

Mine won't be here for another two weeks (thank you Best Buy's preorder nightmare). Thanks for making the wait even longer and harder to bear.

I too have been looking at Rocksmith, but that's far enough out I'll consider this a trainer and then talk to some buddies of mine about getting something with some proper chops for when that comes out.

I NEED this guitar >_<

Damn. I had just convinced myself I didn't need this....

Elysium wrote:

In direct contrast to my experience with the Ion Drum Kit, which has been problematic from the start...

And here is my secret pain. I would truly love a high-quality drumset for RB3. I bought one of the modded metal foot-pedals because the little plastic bass pedal kinda sucks, but it's been really flaky. Oh, for a high-quality electronic drumset that would work with RB3!

Coldstream wrote:
Elysium wrote:

In direct contrast to my experience with the Ion Drum Kit, which has been problematic from the start...

And here is my secret pain. I would truly love a high-quality drumset for RB3. I bought one of the modded metal foot-pedals because the little plastic bass pedal kinda sucks, but it's been really flaky. Oh, for a high-quality electronic drumset that would work with RB3!

I daydream about getting the MIDI brain for my electric set.

Second time today I'm reading an article that cuts my own thoughts off at the pass. Pro guitar, as bill Harris has said, is the best work Harmonix has ever done. That's a big compliment.

Yes, there are subtleties of playing guitar, such as bends and some strumming techniques, that do not necessarily make a good transition to the model built by Harmonix, but there is simply no denying the reality of the situation, which is that I am developing basic musical skills that can be used immediately.

Basic musical skills, or just dexterity? As I understand it you're still just triggering pre-recorded notes when you're playing and that, to me, seems detrimental to developing music skills because the game registering that you hit the right string and fret is a binary thing, but playing a note is the opposite. That's one of my main issues with this thing, because I think that learning to listen is more important than learning technique.

You can easily practice technique on your own. Does the game really offer more than simply making you play (and your technique improving simply because you play, not because of the game)? What if you spent 300$ on guitar lessons instead?

kyrieee wrote:
Yes, there are subtleties of playing guitar, such as bends and some strumming techniques, that do not necessarily make a good transition to the model built by Harmonix, but there is simply no denying the reality of the situation, which is that I am developing basic musical skills that can be used immediately.

Basic musical skills, or just dexterity? As I understand it you're still just triggering pre-recorded notes when you're playing and that, to me, seems detrimental to developing music skills because the game registering that you hit the right string and fret is a binary thing, but playing a note is the opposite. That's one of my main issues with this thing, because I think that learning to listen is more important than learning technique.

Are you one of those folks who learned to play an instrument but never learned how to read music? If so, I have a duffle bag full of jokes about you.

You disagree? Why don't you try to make a point instead of trying to attack me.
To answer your question though: no, I've been able to read sheet music for almost as long as I've been able to read text, but I don't see what that has to do with anything.

Aww, I don't mean to hurt.

There's an incredibly old difference of opinion between folks who think that music should be learned by listening and attempting to imitate the sounds and folks who think that transcribed notes and contextless technique drills should be the frame on which musicality is grown. I was trained in the latter camp, as one of the rare breed of drummers who can read sheet music.

It's perfectly valid to learn music either way, but no one way is superior for all people in all cases. This way of learning and practicing guitar could be a great way to build technical competency and physical ability—regardless of whether that's the first step in learning guitar or a later one.

Basic musical skills, or just dexterity? As I understand it you're still just triggering pre-recorded notes when you're playing and that, to me, seems detrimental to developing music skills because the game registering that you hit the right string and fret is a binary thing, but playing a note is the opposite. That's one of my main issues with this thing, because I think that learning to listen is more important than learning technique.

You can easily practice technique on your own. Does the game really offer more than simply making you play (and your technique improving simply because you play, not because of the game)? What if you spent 300$ on guitar lessons instead?

My answer is incredibly simple. I'm never going to be in a band, or a performer. This lets me have fun learning enough to make me happy.

kyrieee wrote:

You can easily practice technique on your own. Does the game really offer more than simply making you play (and your technique improving simply because you play, not because of the game)? What if you spent 300$ on guitar lessons instead?

I'm on the verge of completing a master's degree in education, so I can give you an academic perspective on what the game offers: it's fun.

OK, that's not the exact reason. The term we use is "engagement." Fun is a great way to get people engaged in the learning process. It's not the only way, but it's a darn good one.

Rock Band also does a couple more things really well: it gives you detailed, moment-to-moment feedback on your performance, and it does so without interrupting you. Another important part of the equation is the traditional, non-pro game modes. It's easy to dismiss that because hitting 5 buttons isn't much like strumming and working the frets, but it does help in two important ways. First it gives you a taste, and only a taste, of how much fun it is to play music. That's a powerful motivator. Second, the star ratings and difficulty settings make it easy to see how you're improving, which helps you think "gee, I really am capable of doing this!" We call that part self-efficacy. With Pro Mode, Rock Band puts the actual music lesson into the same setting as the game, which helps you keep that positive attitude.

Oh, and one more note: $300 will only get you so much time with a music teacher. Rock Band has finite content, but once you've bought it you can spend as much time with it as you want.

Destrin wrote:

Please EA, release this divine device in Europe sometimes this century so I can emulate my Rock God Muse Elysium

+1, and FTFY.

IMAGE(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/rock_band.png)

As relevant now as ever

^ Indeed. I can attest that being in a real band is far less fun than the hour-long experience of playing Rock Band with a full group. Being in a band is a lot of work. And drama. It's like having four girlfriends at once with all of the positive and negative connotations that go along with it. It can simultaneously be one of the most uplifting and soul-crushing experiences a person can have, and the Rock Band series filters out all of the grind for 0.75 of the fun.

As a complete and utter, never-played-a-chord-in-my-life newcomer to the guitar, I'm finding that occasionally sitting down and struggling through some of the trainers is surprisingly fun, in a punishing and painful kind of way.

Can't help feel that the fret detection is a little off on my guitar, although I suspect it's the fault of my fingers rather than the device itself.

Jonman -- try adjusting the pickup. Particularly if you are seeing the higher strings be the one to miss. I definitely needed to fine tune.

Elysium wrote:

Jonman -- try adjusting the pickup. Particularly if you are seeing the higher strings be the one to miss. I definitely needed to fine tune.

To Youtube I go!

I have been resisting the purchase of yet more Rock Band stuff. The games, the controllers, endless DLC tracks. But then I read something like this and yet again get tempted by the lure of Harmonix's brilliant shimmering net. How much longer can I hold out!??!

wordsmythe wrote:

It's perfectly valid to learn music either way, but no one way is superior for all people in all cases. This way of learning and practicing guitar could be a great way to build technical competency and physical ability—regardless of whether that's the first step in learning guitar or a later one.

I learned alto horn the rigid (imo) ABRSM way, and bass guitar the fast and loose, teach yourself way. The end result is that I'm technically better at alto horn but have absolutely no improvisation skills on it, unlike bass were I can pick up a tune pretty quickly, and for me is overall a lot more fun.

Also, no-one ever got laid playing alto horn (that said, I never went to band camp).

I was in the drum line. We did OK.

momgamer wrote:

Mine won't be here for another two weeks (thank you Best Buy's preorder nightmare). Thanks for making the wait even longer and harder to bear.

I too have been looking at Rocksmith, but that's far enough out I'll consider this a trainer and then talk to some buddies of mine about getting something with some proper chops for when that comes out.

Better two weeks than two thirds of the year, Momgamer. Not that I'm jealous or anything

So, between you, Elysium, and Bill Harris from Dubious Quality, and folks on Twitter, I'm seriously jonesing to get my Year in Hell done so I can go home with a chest(bank account) full of War Loot(bonus pay) and buy me one. Here's hoping they'll still be available come Christmas time.

Oh, and thanks to all the other advice giving enablers in the thread for all the good advice. I'm a total noob to this, so I'll certainly be referring back here come end of the year.

wordsmythe wrote:
Coldstream wrote:
Elysium wrote:

In direct contrast to my experience with the Ion Drum Kit, which has been problematic from the start...

And here is my secret pain. I would truly love a high-quality drumset for RB3. I bought one of the modded metal foot-pedals because the little plastic bass pedal kinda sucks, but it's been really flaky. Oh, for a high-quality electronic drumset that would work with RB3!

I daydream about getting the MIDI brain for my electric set.

Depending on the kit, as long as it has a MIDI output, you can just buy the $40 MIDI adapter and go straight into that. Coldstream, most folks buying real ekits are singing the praises of the Roland TD4. That and the adapter and you'd be in business. Just saying.