It’s not Guitar Hero that’s kind of ridiculous, it’s the whole culture surrounding it. The game itself is actually pretty fun with a few beers and a few buds, but sometimes, an avid GH player can get a little embarrassed watching the Ellen DeGeneres show and seeing some twelve year old kid who’s world famous for being able to play that Dragonforce song on the game only screwing up a few times.

If you’ve never felt slightly embarrassed seeing fellow gamers taking themselves too seriously, then stop reading right now. On the other hand, if you watched that kid on Ellen and thought “Why not have a REAL 12 year old guitarist on the show?” then maybe it’s time you tried your hand at a real electric guitar.

The first time you pick up a real six string, be warned: It’s really nothing like Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero is essentially a complicated game of Simon Says. They show you the color of button to hit on the screen, you hit it. With the real guitar, there are some major, major differences…

Real Guitar is Easier

Did you know you can play any song by the Ramones or the Misfits with just two fingers? Yep, you just put two fingers on the top two strings and slide your hand up and down the neck. Power chords. It lets you make some pretty aggressive punk rock sounds without actually having to be all that great a guitarist. But even the songs by virtuosos like Stevie Ray Vaughn are often easier to play on a real guitar than they are in the game.

You’re Free!

Guitar Hero really gives you no wiggle room. As such, you might consider it to be good training for a guitarist, but terrible training for a MUSICIAN. The fun in guitar isn’t learning songs you like and playing them note for note. The fun in guitar is learning songs you like and then putting your own twist on it. It tells you to play the C chord, maybe you play C flat to give it a different sound. Maybe you bend the note or do some hammer-ons and pull-offs of your own design. Guitar Hero is fun, but it will never be a form of self expression.

And there’s one key similarity between the two…

They Both Cost About the Same

The cost of the game, the controllers and the console vs. The cost of a guitar and an amp is pretty much an even equation. Heck if you shop around, you might spend less on the guitar and amp than you did on the game disc alone. So if the reason you don’t own a real guitar yet is because you don’t have the money: Stop making excuses.

If you really want to rock, then the next time a new Guitar Hero is released, take the money you were gonna spend on it and buy a guitar, instead. Start with the Axe and the amp, learn some blues and power chords and you’ll be jamming the minute you get the thing home. From there you can learn more complex stuff, you can pick up some fuzz pedals and what have you, but it all begins with the guitar.

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