Guitar Hero?

There's something I've been wondering for a while and I'm hoping maybe someone out there has got some thoughts on it. By now most people are familiar with the video game Guitar Hero, in fact it's pretty inescapable. Kids, teenagers, and even adults have sunken an incredible amount of time perfecting the art of pushing buttons on the plastic fret board of a plastic guitar in rapid succession while reading cues off their television. To me it's an odd place to be. A friend was recently rambling about how cool it was to play some super difficult or iconic rock song flawlessly and like an original. I sat there wondering if this person was aware that they're really not playing it; it's an illusion. That got me wondering about all the kids, past and present, who are so impassioned about music and will not stop until they can make it their own, until it pours out of their very finger tips. It takes so much work and love. How are they effected? Personally, I was not raised on video games and I have not played Guitar Hero, but I do play the guitar... a real guitar...and I taught myself not only to play but to read music. It was anything but instant gratification and I'm still working because it hasn't been that long and I really and truly want to be good. So, what happens to the kid who doesn't have the grand prize of playing "Smoke on the Water" or rattling off a Chuck Berry bass run, dangling in front of their face to keep them going and practicing? Learning to press buttons accurately and quickly is not the same as learning notes and chords and getting to the point where transitioning between the two is second nature. Strumming isn't even always that simple! I pretty much obliterated my fingerprints and every time I look at my fingertips I smirk with pride. Our society is so heavy on instant gratification, it worries me to think maybe people will hone their virtual skills only because it's easier. If I had a video of the way my friend spoke about the game and the pride that he had in saying how good he was while he had an electric guitar sitting under his bed that he had never attempted to play, it would scare anybody. For the sake of the guitar, I almost asked for it.

The optimist in me would like to think though that Guitar Hero would maybe introduce kids to the glory of an instrument, but if this is this what it takes for a kid to figure out what "Freebird" is...I just don't know. I'd also like to think that folks out there can separate the two, buttons versus strings, plastic versus wood, sitting on the edge of your bed looking at the TV versus sitting on the edge of your bed with your eyes closed because your fingers remember every string and every fret. Hopefully the difference and the worth is obvious and the game will become a launch pad for budding musicians. I just don't know. In my mind, if someone said "guitar hero," I'd say," Les Paul, Chuck Berry, Willie Nelson, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townsend, Keith Richards, and my grandfather too," way before I'd ever say "video game."

Any thoughts? I'm riding a bit of a line here and all comments are more than welcome. They're encouraged. Always. It's no fun if all I do is preach from my keyboard.