Monday, January 11, 2010

A Quick Aside

I'm in the middle of two books and don't expect to finish either this week since my reading time is being cut into by a couple of projects. But, I just wanted to take a second to say, completely off topic, that the Beatles Rock Band for the Wii is awesome!

I've never understood the allure of Guitar Hero since you're not actually playing a guitar when you play the game. But, playing the drums is different, it is much closer to actually playing the real instrument. When I read the manufacturer's claim that if you can play a song on the drums on expert level you can pretty much play that song for real, I was in.

My secret plan was to use Rock Band to get my son (8) and maybe even my daughter (14) to play the drums. We have a real set in the basement but I can't get them interested in it, I'm the only one who plays (perhaps if I found some Star Wars drum heads, my son would...nah, never mind).

The surprise has been how much my wife enjoys playing the guitar and how much my son loves to sing! So much so in fact that everyone else in the house now refuses to be in the room during yet another rendition of Yellow Submarine. My daughter is the most versatile as she can play (the game version of) the drums, guitar, or sing, with relative ease, but she is the least interested in playing. I play the drums almost exclusively. I've only tried the guitar once and barely finished a song, and so far I am the only one in the house to FAIL while singing on the Easy level.

So, while my plan of turning my son into Ringo Starr seems to be floundering, I have been amazed at how much my kids are enjoying the music. I'm taking this as a great victory since I have had very little luck turning them onto good music so far.

Now if I can just finish, I Want You (She's So Heavy), on the hard level (current best is 87%), I'll be happy.

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