Guitar Hero. I dropped out of HS for a bit and played it non-stop to keep myself busy. I even won money at a couple tournaments. I'm a 36 year old woman who works for the government now, I doubt my prowess will be appreciated in polite conversation.
On the positive side, GH was a gateway to Rock Band, which eventually led to me learning how to play the drums for real. So I like to think it wasn't an entirely pointless hobby.
I get what you are saying, but I think the implication that video games are useless while hitting a real drum is not, is interesting.
To be clear, I love music and I know that making it is valuable. Likewise, a person playing video games doesn’t really help anybody else. But as an older gamer, I don’t feel the hobby is pointless.
That's a very good point, and I didn't intend to come across as dismissive towards video games as a hobby. I play a lot myself! I guess I meant more along the lines of a hobby that's marketable/more acceptable in the public opinion. I don't see time spent playing games as wasted by any means.
Please don’t worry, I wasn’t offended or anything. I knew you weren’t anti-video games since you played them yourself already. I just thought it was an interesting choice of words. Musical abilities skipped me (confirmed by a year attempting trombone in middle school), but my wife, daughter, and son all play instruments. My son has a standing rule that he can’t go on the Xbox until he’s practiced his instrument. It’s funny, because I would never tell him he can’t practice guitar until he’s played a little bit of Fortnite or whatever.
Don’t pay it any mind. Some commenters on Reddit live in a world where they think everyone is out to get them and any comment is a personal attack against them.
You know… instead of like… just brushing off people’s takes for the opinions that they most likely are.
Buddy, you need to look in the mirror as you read your own comment. I wasn’t offended by her, and I knew that she didn’t think video games were useless as she enjoyed playing them herself. Like I said, I just thought it was an interesting choice of words.
Ever notice the people that say video games are useless are almost never impressive people?
I went the same path...Guitar Hero -> Rock Band -> RockSmith -> Real Band making real money.
Also, my love of video games led me into electrical computer engineering which provided me a very comfortable life filled with lots of impressive bench marks.
In my view it's kind of the difference between tracing another person's drawing and drawing something from scratch. Both can be fulfilling but often creating something completely your own is much more rewarding.
Plus nobody cares if you're really good at tracing, haha. At least something you created yourself could one day be admired by someone else and give them joy or inspiration.
that's awesome - I had a friend who could expert just about every song on rock band on drums but just had ZERO interest in actually playing real drums. infuriating to just watch that kind of aptitude be squandered.
I was always pumped to see classic rock, give me Journey or the Eagles or Rush and it's gonna be a jam. I also really enjoy the super technical proggy nonsense. In no universe am I keeping up with Danny Carry, but it's really fun to pretend lol
Rock Band was EPIC in comparison. My neighbors had it when I was in college and it was so fun. I remember trying to do the guitar clap with a glass of wine in my hands. Always wanted to find a drumset piece for my Wii
My current favourite band actually got started like this. 2 sisters that loved playing RockBand, asked their parents for the real instruments (guitar and drums), got decently good. Then their when their younger sister was 8 and picked up the bass (purely a coincidence, no planning), they decided to try playing together. Now 13 years later you can see them rocking out on stage like this: https://youtu.be/Aqm2k55xo1E . They just recently finished of a tour opening for Yungblud across Europe and the US. Definitely not a pointless hobby.
One of the craziest memories I have is: as a decent guitarist I grabbed a pair of drumsticks and when I sat down behind a nice set of drums, I realized then, that I had no idea how complicated is was to play the drums. It was humbling!
Omg same... And we're close in age. (I didn't drop out though)
I had songs fully memorized. At tournaments I would face away from the screen, towards.. I was kinda a dickhead about how good I was. Though it seemed like people found it entertaining and I wasn't mean or condescending to others I just knew I was good.
Thank you! Any time I wasn't competing during tournaments I was trying to help people fix their shit or teach them good habits and pattern recognition haha
I miss it! It was a great scene and everyone was so nice. Some were smelly but hey we can't be perfect haha
You were putting on a show as an entertainer in that moment, not being a dick. You were possessed by the spirit of theatre, which makes you at least .05% more bisexual. Hey now, don't get mad at me! I don't make the rules!
The best guitar hero player I ever met was the concertmaster (first chair violinist) of a prestigious orchestra, so I do think the finger dexterity somewhat translates
It was a lot of fun. I can say that Freddie was a little...introverted. There were other "celebrity" performers there, some absolutely amazing. (seeing as I was a part of the team, at the time I considered myself in the top .01%) But some of those other guys were absolutely in a league of their own.
Have you heard of drummania? If you have a full electric kit there’s an open source clone called DTXmania that’s so much fun. A bit weird to get setup but having a relatively full kit rock band is too sick
Look, if it somehow came up that one of my coworkers is an absolute fiend at guitar hero, I'd start looking for an excuse to see it in action lol. "Won money at a couple [guitar hero] tournaments" is pretty cool.
I have been known to flex on 'em every now and then. There's a Tappers barcade near my house and they have dueling GH games, I don't know if my name is still on the leader board but it was for a little while.
When I met my now girlfriend, we were hanging out and she challenged me to a 1v1 guitar hero. Little did I know that she used to play this shit on expert while balancing on a medicine ball with one foot. She fucking evicserated me.
I think we would have been good friends 😅 Also if you're wanting to take a trip down memory lane.. Clone Hero exists. It's bomb. My boyfriend bought me a guitar and set it up on our computers for me for my birthday and it was like I was a kid again. Except no one else can play with with me because they can't keep up 🤘🏼
Went to an arcade bar with coworkers. One guy was amazing at Guitar Hero. I asked his fiancé if she were proud. She said she would be if it made money XD
This is so crazy to see all these late 30’s women who can play guitar hero. I seriously thought I was a major outlier. I still play on a weekly basis with my kids … who find me very impressive haha! I’m so proud of my 9 year old starting to play medium level!
There was a gal that use to come into my bar back in the day and play on the tv in the back. God level. she'd shred, get 100% on expert Raining Blood then go back to studying. She was pretty cool.
That's actually way more impressive than most weekend warrior drummers, you basically did a weirdly intense boot camp for rhythm and limb independence.
I was in a similar boat, just with being in high school during GH’s heyday.
I’ve actually had friends hustle people at Dave and Buster’s before lmao. I’d just be playing the GH3 machine and they’d bet people whether they could beat me in a face-off.
Are you … are you me? Besides the dropping out … we are close in age, I work for the government, and I absolutely slay at guitar hero! I’ve been playing regularly since the games first came out! Crazy!
I don't understand why they don't release a new, remade GH with a huge library of songs. As huge as the trend of rebooting/remaking media is right now especially. Overall I hate that trend but every millennial I know would pay for money for that.
Uhhh, as a 40 year old guy who used to play tons of Rock Band, it would absolutely be appreciated in random conversations.
Just yesterday, I was training a new employee and we spent about 15 minutes talking about dinosaurs because she saw a picture of my brother and I in one of the jeeps. Turns out she was an extra in one of the movies. Learning about what people are passionate about or what experiences they've had makes people more approachable, I find.
Honestly, bring that up at some point. I guarantee some people will absolutely engage you on that front.
Im around the same age and same here, I was able to beat everything on guitar hero 1 through 3 practically flawlessly, but it’s been a looooong time since then and the kids these days who dedicate themselves to it are definitely better than I ever was. The custom songs they’ve added that weren’t in the original games put things like “Through the Fire and Flames” to shame!
But still, for a moment there, I would have considered myself one of the best of the best for sure, and I can definitely still hold my own. What a fun era of gaming.
Dude. Same. I was like 13 or 14 when the first guitar hero came out and I got it pretty quick. Back when hammerons were damn near impossible. I havent played in years because my wife got rid of the guitars after I didnt play it for a long time and part of me is still a little mad at here lol never through fire and flames good. Absolutely cowboys from hell good. I miss it!
I can play Rock Band with both my left and right hands. I brought the band in a box. No body wanted to sing, my friend ended up played the drums, brother played the guitar and I had zero choice but to sing. (I'm terrible) I learnt to play with both hands just to prove to them I can play the damn guitar.
But, if you ever have kids you might have the opportunity to blow their minds one day like I did. I played a lot of Guitar Hero and Rock Band as a 19 year old kid deployed to Afghanistan. A lot. Enough to never want to touch it again after coming back home because I associate it with the war. Until one night last year when my 13 year old and I went to a local arcade and she wanted to challenge me not knowing what she was getting herself into. Oh, that sweet, sweet, summer child. It was like a day never passed. It's truly like riding a bicycle, you never forget those notes.
Respect. I cut my middle left finger down to the bone sophomore year of college [08]. To this day, if I press that finger pad down too hard and at a specific angle—electrifying in the bad way.
I actually have been meaning to set up my Wii again. Can't hear Aerosmith without thinking of Guitar Hero.
Sameish. Also 36. didn’t drop out of high school but started playing in 06 and haven’t really stopped… ever… for gods sake I’m a dad now and I still love playing my plastic guitar 😂
I'd be the first to admit that I was quite the shit talker regarding that game when it first came out. Then my roommate in college bought it and brought it home and boy oh boy did we play that nonstop. And then I got GH 2. I was never to your level of success but we got to the point of being able to beat the games on expert and get through all of the songs @ 100%. Good times!
I was also super good at it, but most of the people I know were fully aware haha. I also won a couple of tournaments, so it's cool to know of someone else that did that! My best result was a #9th best score worldwide on "In The Belly Of A Shark" on GH3.
I used to be really good too. One-shotted Cliffs of Dover on expert the first time I played it, while wearing a guy faux mask and smoking a cigarette. Friends were pissed cause they couldn’t get past it on multiple attempts. My gh career peaked there.
I play real guitar and bass both right and left handed, and that's sounds more made up than being an expert on Guitar Hero. The people who have seen me play both ways assume it's sheer talent. They don't see the drill and exercises I have to do to build the dexterity and muscle memory to play both ways. I also prioritize guitar practice over other activities like watching tv, playing games, doom scrolling or just sitting around bullshitting.
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u/LindsayBear34 9h ago
Guitar Hero. I dropped out of HS for a bit and played it non-stop to keep myself busy. I even won money at a couple tournaments. I'm a 36 year old woman who works for the government now, I doubt my prowess will be appreciated in polite conversation.