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Jack White and Jimmy Page diss 'Guitar Hero' video game

The renowned guitarists say it's not an ideal way to be exposed to music

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and The White Stripes' Jack White have hit out at the popular 'Guitar Hero' video game.

Speaking at a press conference in Los Angeles on Friday (June 19) for 'It Might Get Loud', the forthcoming documentary film that chronicles their musical careers, the two renowned guitarists said they don't believe video games are an ideal way for people to be exposed to music or learn to play instruments.

"It's depressing to have a label come and tell you that ['Guitar Hero'] is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music," White said. He added that although he doesn't try to dictate "which format people should get their music in…if you have to be in a video game to get in front of them, that's a little sad."

Page added that he can't imagine that people are really learning anything significant about playing instruments by playing video games.

"You think of the drum part that John Bonahm did on Led Zeppelin's first track on the first album, 'Good Times Bad Times'," he said. "How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?"

Meanwhile, White's latest band, The Dead Weather, are gearing up to play a series of London gigs this week, as previously reported.
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--By our Los Angeles staff.
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Comments (17)

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evokoder

Jun 23, 2009

Too right! I was at a guitar lesson recently and one of the guys in the class said that he hadn't had time to practice coz he'd been playing Guitar Hero all week. Go figure - what a fuckwit!

rockgeek

Jun 23, 2009

Shut up... just shut up... it's a bit of fun you cockends

labeef57

Jun 23, 2009

I couldn't agree more. Buy a real guitar/drum kit/bagpipes and learn to play instead of 'getting your mates round for a jam'. F**k off with yer jam, shove yer jam up your arse and do it properly. Invest your money, time and effort on reality and on none of this hyperrealist shite.

mr_mattie

Jun 23, 2009

I completely agee. I've been playing guitar since I was 13 and it was hard work. It took me six months to be able to play anything that resembled music. But I stuck with it because I was passionate and at the time, wanted to be able to play along with Nirvana and Oasis albums. This was in 1995 I should point out when there were no such simulation games to cut out the hard work. More to the point, I can't play Guitar Hero / Rock Band for toffee. I'm utterly useless. It's nothing like playing a real guitar at all. However, I know people that can't play guitar but are "masters" at playing Slayer on the hardest setting of Guitar Hero.Don't get me wrong, technology is a great thing but you do start to worry that with everything getting easier because of it, it's going to make people more and more lazy. Why bother spending months trying to learn Green Sleeves or months in a rehearsal room trying to write songs when you can just plug in your PS3 and rock out online with your friends, eat junk food and get fat?It won't kill music completely because people will always want to be musicians but speaking for myself, as someone who can be very lethargic, would I stick with guitar lessons if there was a more fun way to play guitar (albeit simulated)? Probably not. Musicians are lazy enough as it is.

Erica vanderLinde Feidner

Jun 23, 2009

Jimmy Page and Jack White are absolutely spot on. (As is Prince, btw.) I have the solution to their valid complaints: currently shopping my own music video game whereby I have players reading music and playing piano in 3 minutes. Honest. Have met with 3 top game companies with more on the way. Press release here:â€œGame Developers and Publishers: Who Wants To Be A Billionaire?â€Wilton, CT- (Piano Matchmakerâ„¢ LLC) Groundbreaking Music Video Game destined to deliver unprecedented blockbuster sales to the music video game market.Erica vanderLinde Feidnerâ€™s fresh new groundbreaking music video game (patent-pending) is compelling, engaging and fun. A generation beyond existing rhythm-based music video games, Ericaâ€™s game will revolutionize the way the world reads music.Players age 5 to 105 will â€“ in minutes - be rockinâ€™ and rollinâ€™ while reading music and playing piano. During play, the potent music educational component takes a back seat to the drive of the appealing and entertaining nature of the game.â€œIt will change the way the world reads music because it is brilliantly simple, engaging and fun. This elegant simplicity is the true genius behind the game.â€ ~George Stonbely, Founder, â€œSpectacolorâ€ IMAGINE a time when children canâ€™t wait to play the piano because itâ€™s a game and itâ€™s fun. IMAGINE a time when adults can have fun while fulfilling their dream of learning to read music and play piano. IMAGINE a time when families once again gather together and enjoy music. IMAGINE a time when non-gamers dare to enter the world of video games. IMAGINE THE TIME IS NOW.Ms. vanderLinde Feidnerâ€™s first patent (a method of teaching efficient music score reading, 100% success rate) was published in 2006. The patent concepts are fully embedded in the design of the new music video game.â€œI can say from personal experience that Ericaâ€™s patented method is ground breaking. I quite literally learned to read sheet music in one sitting and was playing the piano in the same session. The following day, I taught my wife how to read and play. ~George Stonbely, Founder, â€œSpectacolorâ€Players can transfer the game experience to a real instrument - immediately. No more pretending to play an instrument, no more color-coded reading, no more tedious practicing. The game is inherently intuitive with enduring results because the design is based on reason â€“ not memorization. Itâ€™s easy and it works.The game can be played on virtually any platform: PC, console, handheld.Contact: Erica vanderLinde Feidner, PresidentPiano Matchmaker, LLC203.644.9197

3CardMonte

Jun 23, 2009

I agree, the games are not good if you want to learn the guitar, but nobody plays the game expecting to learn an instrument. If I'm going to play guitar hero it's because I want to hear the song. And playing a game with a controller in your hand gives a lot more immersion and enjoyment than staring at visualizations on the computer.Musical videogames are no replacement for learning how to play music, but not everybody wants to learn how to play music. I'm a video editor with no interest in dedicating time to learn how to play an instrument, but I still like to fantasize. Next thing you know musicians will start backlashing against air guitar, saying "it's no replacement for the real guitar"

Mr Mojo Risin

Jun 24, 2009

I had an air guitar once. Put it down, now I can't find it.

idlewildest

Jun 24, 2009

simmer down guys! if u want to play guitar, play guitar. nobody is retarded enough to think that the game is a substitute for practice. i play the guitar but enjoy guitar hero, its jst a laugh

gazhat

Jun 24, 2009

.....one good thing to come out of stuff like this is at least some good music is being used, as soon as "Pop Idol - Vocal Hero" comes out then we are well and truly fucked, i play guitar, bass, drums and all my mates are wanting me to come and "jam" with them on Guitar Hero / Rock Band or whatever but whats the point when i've got the real thing in my hands ????....although i am fancying a look at The Beatles game which i think will be good for a laugh......lol

Wadatah

Jun 24, 2009

I am shocked and appalled that playing a video game doesn't translate to having actual musical skill! My god, Jimmy and Jack have opened my eyes. My life was a lie before this. I swear, this is just like the time I was told that having a perfect season in NFL Quarterback Club '98 doesn't qualify me to play QB for the Packers, or the time I was told that beating the first three levels of Ninja Gaiden II doesn't necessarily make me a ninja. On a side note, they should make a White Stripes edition of Guitar Hero. The controller will have two buttons, and the drum kit will include one snare, a kick pedal, and half of a drum stick.

ratcatcher

Jun 24, 2009

Get a life and stop caring so much. It's a bit of fuckin fun for people with no girlfriends!!

Jacobo

Jun 24, 2009

Being as talented as they are musically these guys are pretty god damn foolish. Im learning to play the guitar (i've been learning) ; however, I do enjoy playing rock band (guitar hero) with my brothers here and there. If its sad to expose people through video games then it's safe to say that it's sad to have to expose music to people through television, movies, music videos or the internet as well. Gigs are the only true way people should be expose to music and we all know we have the time and money for that. Video games are just another form of entertainment. And if your argument is that you really don't LEARN HOW TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT through video games; well you really don't learn how to play sports through video games, or race cars either, yet you don't hear anyone in those professions complain about it like these morons have. It's just retarded to make such an egotistical comment."You think of the drum part that John Bonahm did on Led Zeppelin's first track on the first album, 'Good Times Bad Times'. How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?"NO SHIT ...But Barry Sanders can have 150 yards rushing on Thanksgiving Day and he wont say peep about it when you run more yards on a GOD DAMN VIDEO GAME. God these rock heads are a bunch of tools and anyone who agrees with them is just as unreasonable. You need to appreciate video games before knocking them. A load of work goes into those things as well and not anyone can put one together....Anyway- Id rather play a Beatles track before a White Stripes or Zeppelin track any day. if your last understandable argument is that video games are degenerating our youth- well... it's easy to argue that television, movie and MUSIC is as well.

master9

Jun 26, 2009

Everyone should stop playing 'Grand Theft Auto' and learn how to steal a real car and shoot real cops. Come on! Do these moron's really think we are that stupid? I know of many kids that have started playing guitar and drums because of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. And they are also discovering the great music that never gets played on the radio anymore. It is just another medium for music. CD's, MP3's, I-Tunes and now Video Games. It's the 21 century. Join us.

gabo001

Jun 29, 2009

I agree completely with JP and JW!! video games are video games, not even close to what music,film, photography or any art is!. If any of these idiots who've commented think that video games are more than just that, then you should get of you're stupid couches and actually do something with your lives other than stare at some stupid sreen and hold a cheap plastic control!! What Jimmy Page and Jack White are saying is that simply exposing and bringing "new" music to people through video games is just incredibly pathetic!! I mean i get the idea that video games are a way to pass the time come on,,but music like any other art form is supposed to be more than stupid pixels on a screen! Good music comes and is made not to be some level on a stupid game (that by the way features "artists" who just need money to pay there bills) its made to be appreciated for what it is! Obviosly playing a game doesnt mean you're going to do whatever you do in the game in real life. But this is not about that at all!! Its about how srewed up people are now and how pathetic they are that in order to "enjoy" music they need to sit in front of a screen to get of on it. For people's sake!! These stupid video games are just dumbing people down(look at the comments!) and destroying what music is about. Music is an experience that should take you somewhere (or at least actual good music). And about someone here who says that some stupid quarterback moron doesnt get pissed with video games..well its because sports are sports and music is music! i mean of course they wont care about the games its more money for them! and there just meat heads who bash one on to another! the point is that music is'nt about kids with plastic crap in there hands strumming mindlessly away in front of some stupid screen wasting hours away, not a care in the world and having no social skills whatsoever! Jack White and Jimmy Page know what music is really about ...its more than a game. ..anyway i think i've wasted enough time hear trying to convince people without brains or will..hope these and other idiots actually start living there lives and do something for there's and there country's sake. I still have hope that there actual people who think and know about art and appreciate what its about.

LeDoyle

Jun 29, 2009

Never heard about a soldier complaining that a shooter game was not like the army. Or a doctor that playing Trauma Center was not like real surgery.I guess it takes a musician's ego to feel emasculated by a videogame.

trm989

Jul 6, 2009

I'm sorry, but anyone who agrees with these two self-centered fools are complete morons who miss the point of "VIDEO GAMES"!And to that idiot above blabbing on and on about music being an "experience"... GIVE ME A BREAK! Stupid pixels on a screen? You just sound like a bitter old man who doesn't live in the now.Music is music! There is no "written law" on how music should be presented to people! As a fellow musician, it sickens me to see the arrogance and elitism against fans of these games. Listening to a song on a television screen is no different from listening to it on the radio.

Jamie8675309

Jul 17, 2009

I suppose i can see why they are dissin guitar hero. Guitar Hero is a simulator like no other in my opinion. ur holding a guitar shaped controler that requires u the "fret" and strum in time with the music ur playing. Call of Duty ur plaing with a keyboard and mouse. Like a lot of musicians, they not too keen on the idea of a load of 10 year olds or whatever thinking they're better than everyone else cause they can play Slayer or Dragon Force. because of this, some ppl can play GH more than the real guitar, as mentioned. I admit that it is a very distracting and fun game, but there are things such as setting limits, like a lot of things i suppose. I personally think that Guitar Hero is a great way to spread music, as it encourages the player to listen to music new to them carefully, like not hearing some new heavy metal band for 10 secs on the radio and goin "ah, metals all screamin". GH sure introduced me to a whole lot of good music, although i did like guitar music before that. I suppose u cud say that white and page are grumpy old men or whatever, but the idea of being exposed to new music by goin out to a record store or music bar seems a bit better than sittin inside starin at a tv screen, althought that is a minor point. So in short, they're right, to an extent lol