Guitar Wizard: Like Guitar Hero with a Real Instrument
Although the initial press email was slim on details, the "Guitar Wizard" game to be shown off next week at CES aims to be a Guitar Hero that actually teaches you how to play guitar. (Sort of like a Rock Band for drums!) The software will ship with a Washburn electric guitar with a MIDI pickup and will sell for around $180 on the back half of next year. It could be a hell of a tool if they execute properly.
Apparently the company's software is already on the market in the Mattel "I Can Play Guitar" product, which appears to be more toy than musical instrument to me. They also have a "Piano Wizard" line that does something similar.
the latest
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No link?
Nope. They sent this one to me directly.
I foresaw this when Rock Band was released, but thought it would take a bit longer :)
I can't wait. I have lots musical friends who are very cynical about this kind of thing only teaching mimicry, but I think they're going to be a brilliant way for people to get through the first few months of learning an instrument.
Synesthesia
http://www.synthesiagame.com/
used to be Piano Hero before a C&D. Unfortunately I only discovered it in the course of procrastinating a round of exams and right before I was sundered from my keyboard for winter break. Works with any part in any MIDI file, apparently a sheet music display coming with a paid version in February.
Not too polished, but works well enough and I think it will be a serious tool for my ill-conceived "casually teach self music" plan. It's already helped me /finally/ figure out the elusive chords in some awesomeness (woot Birdman, Pilotwings 64). I knew I'd been hoarding those MIDIs for years post-Napster to some eventual benefit. Maybe it'll revive the transcribing/sequencing/whatever community -- kind of reverse-engineering the source of popular music. /pretentious BoingBoingism
And kudos to this, and even the original Guitar Hero. I've always believe, even faced with haters, the whole phenomenon will be very good for music in general. Actually, the hardest person to convince of that has been elitist metal fans worried about all the n00bs (myself included) being induced to suddenly enjoy Megadeth and In Flames, and generally feeding the half-kidding Dragonforce circlejerk.
Synesthesia
http://www.synthesiagame.com/
used to be Piano Hero before a C&D. Unfortunately I only discovered it in the course of procrastinating a round of exams and right before I was sundered from my keyboard for winter break. Works with any part in any MIDI file, apparently a sheet music display coming with a paid version in February.
Not too polished, but works well enough and I think it will be a serious tool for my ill-conceived "casually teach self music" plan. It's already helped me /finally/ figure out the elusive chords in some awesomeness (woot Birdman, Pilotwings 64). I knew I'd been hoarding those MIDIs for years post-Napster to some eventual benefit. Maybe it'll revive the transcribing/sequencing/whatever community -- kind of reverse-engineering the source of popular music. /pretentious BoingBoingism
And kudos to this, and even the original Guitar Hero. I've always believe, even faced with haters, the whole phenomenon will be very good for music in general. Actually, the hardest person to convince of that has been elitist metal fans worried about all the n00bs (myself included) being induced to suddenly enjoy Megadeth and In Flames, and generally feeding the half-kidding Dragonforce circlejerk.
Although the Synesthesia program looks pretty cool, it has nothing to do with the original story. The link you want is http://www.pianowizard.com/
Regarding the heavy metalists worried about noobs, I was STUNNED when the Dead Kennedys turned up halfway through my son's Guitar Hero III. They have "blurred" or somehow censored some of the words, but the idea that I got my kid to listen and sing/play to it of his own volition is amazing.
Don't go telling people these are based on Japanese games, they might not think they're cool ;)
who would have thought that "Guitar Freaks" would have been so successful had they only put decent music into it, and given it extra buttons? Imagine what would happen if there had been good music in "Keyboard Mania" and "Drum Mania"?
Synthesia would be cooler if they notated it on a musical staff... something that could transfer over better to playing sheet music.