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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 very first time you pick up the ol’ six string, the Axe, you’ll notice several differences from the Playstation plaything. Guitar Hero is really just a complicated game of Simon Says. It says “Hit the red button” you hit the red button and so on. No wiggle room. A real guitar is something else entirely: A tool, a weapon, an instrument, the key to the door of Rock and Roll.

It’s Actually Easier

If you play The Ramones on Guitar Hero, you’ll notice that the game has you moving your fingers up and down the fret to play the same note over and over again. Besides being kind of silly to have you move your hands just to play one note, this is actually much more difficult than playing a real Ramones song: Put your fingers on the top two strings and strum. Really, punk rock is easier than tying your shoes. Even more complex stuff, like say, All Along the Watchtower… You can start from scratch and learn how to play any song in a day’s time.

There’s More Freedom

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.

Of course, there’s one thing that both have in common…

It Costs 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, and we mean in real life, not in a video game, there’s really nothing stopping you. Next time a new edition of the game is put out, just take the money you saved up for it and get yourself the real deal and give it a try. If you’re worried that you won’t know what you’re doing, look up punk rock power chords and basic blues bars and you can start jamming as soon as you get the guitar home. From there you can learn slide guitar, you can pick up a fuzz pedal and so on, but for now, just grab a rig and start rocking.

Becoming a guitar hero is now so easy. Get the inside scoop on playing custom instantly in our jimi hendrix tone overview.