Anyone play the drums on Rockstar yet?

[Honky-Tonk]

My roommate bought rockstar the other day. I'm a guitar player, but the guitar in Rockstar and GuitarHero have never interested me. I played drums through highschool and college, and still own a set, but I rarely play anymore because I live in an apartment.

 

Rockstar takes a really cheap electric drumset and makes it fun to play with a video game that is almost like a music trainer. Seems like it would be a great way to teach a child how to play the drums. The guitar controller isn't very much like playing a guitar, but the drums, despite the layout, is a lot like playing a really small kit; snare, HH, ride, floor tom, kick.

 

What you guys in the drum forum think? I laughed at all the people that assumed that I would have guitar hero because I play guitar. So what you all think about the drum kit in Rockstar?

[Merlin Coryell]

I played around on it. Its not even setup rationally, the hats are to the right of the snare, and the programming is far from realistic. The pads are certainly not for bashing, as a demo model had a crushed pad. I think any drummer who gets this will do fine though, and could use their own sticks ok.

 

On the RockBand forums, someone managed to use a Roland bass trigger in place for the standard bass pedal, allowing for the use of your favorite pedal. No word yet on double bass abilities. The standard pads are responsive, and once you get used to the setup, shouldnt be hard for any real player to master the expert modes. I like the solo/fill feature, it allows some freedom.

 

The claim that anyone who can play the drums on expert can play in real life is only true to the point that you will have a decent rhythm foundation and know how to move your arms and legs. But you wont be the next Buddy Rich.

 

All that being said, I plan to get it for the PS3 pretty soon. Its goofy, and its a fun thing to do with other people who are into music.

[qwertyMan]

I played it... and HATED it. It is a completely different experience than actually playing the drums. The only musical aspect of the game is the singing, since you have to be "in tune". Other than that, the drums and guitar are pretty much just game controllers and it's like a test of reflexes. And (the drumming) will not help with your musical skills, because you never actually try to internalize the beats, feel them, and repeat them till you can play them. You just hit the pad that corresponds to the colored bar moving down the screen right when it crosses a certain point. It is VERY hard sometimes to realize whether the notes you are about to play are triplets or 8th or 16th notes, which can screw you over a lot. And other times, the beat is WAY to simple, and immensly boring. For every one note you hit, the drummer in the song plays about 3 times that. A lot of the time, it would actually be easier to play the real beat, than have to guess whether that group of three blinking lights are actually 16'th notes or triplets.

 

And that stupid claim that if you play drums/guitar and then play this game, you might be better than someone else, or if you play this game, it'll make you better at your instrument... BS. Especially for guitar, what you play can not be translated over to a real guitar, therefore it will not help you with anything guitar-related, or if you were a guitarist in the first place, you wouldn't be any better than any other person who picks up that plastic, guitar-shaped game controller, since the skills you learn in the game (except the vocals) are completely unrelated to the skills that you would learn playing the real instrument.

[Merlin Coryell]

I dont think I ever heard anyone make claims about the guitar, but the drums DO teach you basic rhythm.

 

If you play the songs multiple times, you do start to internalize the rhythms, and it teaches basic coordination and muscle memory. Does it really teach you to be a drummer? No, but it does teach you physically how to play simple patterns as much as a practice pad will, if not a bit more. I didnt have problems between the different beat breakdowns, you just have to get used to it, and Ive only played about 5 or so songs at a store demo.

 

Anyway, sorry you had such a sour experience, but remember in the end, its just a game.

[D Carroll]

i am refusing to play it. I am a guitar hero guy.

[Merlin Coryell]

But you can do so much more on Rock Band, I mean....the guitar has buttons up at the top of the fret board too! Thats like, twice as many guitar abilities...

 

What do you mean its not a real guitar?

 

I never understood why they didnt make a game out of something that could actually teach guitar, like this:

http://www.andysmusiconline.com/products/yamaha_ez-ag.html

[D Carroll]

those are pretty cool.

[regal1975]

tried it and couldnt do it... something about the timing.. I couldnt force myself to hit a colored pad, with no feedback at all, when the screen said to hit it and not when the note should be hit in the song......

[Honky-Tonk]

I agree that the guitar is kind of pointless for learning guitar skills, but the drums, while primitive, would be a good way to start a child learning percussion, and the fundamentals of reading music. Focus, of course, on reading music.

 

I think that if someone could get the basics of reading the prompts for the drums on this game, that they could then more easily advance to reading music for a drumset in a jazz band. Sure the pads are set up a little funny, but not everyone sets up their drums the same. "Feeling" the music is a little advanced to expect to learn from a video game. No one learns those elements of performance before he/she learns the basics of the instrument.

[Honky-Tonk]

 

tried it and couldnt do it... something about the timing.. I couldnt force myself to hit a colored pad, with no feedback at all, when the screen said to hit it and not when the note should be hit in the song......

 

 

The system has to be calibrated so that the music will correspond to the tempo on the screen

[msh1283]

 

And other times, the beat is WAY to simple, and immensly boring. For every one note you hit, the drummer in the song plays about 3 times that. A lot of the time, it would actually be easier to play the real beat, than have to guess whether that group of three blinking lights are actually 16'th notes or triplets.

 

 

Sorry, but you're pretty much wrong. On expert difficulty, the drum tracks are almost, if not completely identical to the original song, minus a high hat pedal.

 

It's obviously not the same thing as playing a real kit, but it will definitely help you get your limbs moving independently and give you a decent start at learning how to play, if you're not a drummer.

[Merlin Coryell]

Hahaha....thats funny msh.

 

I played some songs on expert, songs I know. Let me tell you, that the Tom Sawyer is nothing even close to the real song on any setting. Cant really play Rush on one tom and one cymbal. And the fills were nothing compared to real ones, I didnt see any odd meter function in the toms or cymbals, only 16ths or 32nds for fills.

[Thingfish]

From penny arcade...

 

Invariably, when reasonable people are discussing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, that forum smart guy oozes in somewhere near the middle of the thread and tells people that they should be playing real instruments - presumably, like he does. Put aside that Mozart has missed the point completely (i.e., why don't you play for the real NFL, etc). The fact of the matter is that he is quite simply wrong. And not just wrong: it's that thick, unctuous kind of wrong that masquerades as erudition. He is, in fact, a yokel - and he's operating under some pretty romantic notions of what constitutes an "instrument."

 

 

 

Hahaha....thats funny msh. I played some songs on expert, songs I know. Let me tell you, that the Tom Sawyer is nothing even close to the real song on any setting. Cant really play Rush on one tom and one cymbal. And the fills were nothing compared to real ones, I didnt see any odd meter function in the toms or cymbals, only 16ths or 32nds for fills.

 

Why don't you try to use the drums on rock band as a controller for the game rather than an instrument? I guarantee you that if you start playing what is on screen instead of what you 'think' you should be playing, you will start doing better at these games than most people.

 

Just keep in mind that you are playing a game, and not playing an instrument. When you get those two confused, you start messing up.

 

I know, because I used to do it.

 

Now I have fun on those games, and do very well.

[drumtechdad]

Wot's Rockstar?

[BroadST]

Wot's Rockstar?

 

Yeah, I think its actually called Rockband.

[aenemated]

i played it a few weeks ago at a friends party.

 

it was actually pretty fun, till i started improvising and got a big FAILED flashed in my face.

[Merlin Coryell]

Thingfish, you pointed that last comment at the wrong person, it was the other guy who thought that he was playing accurate Rush instead of a goofball game. I love Rockband, plan to start up a band with the girlfriend as soon as Ive got a copy.

[Thingfish]

My bad

[jenksdrummer]

Entertaining wonder:

 

Do the drums that come with the game, say Rockstar anywhere on them?

 

 

If so, Tama might be interested to know!

 

 

I can just see the ebay scams a comin'!

[qwertyMan]

Entertaining wonder: Do the drums that come with the game, say Rockstar anywhere on them? If so, Tama might be interested to know! I can just see the ebay scams a comin'!

 

Nope, if anything, they say "rockband."

 

And I didn't mean to come of as an ass, I actually enjoyed the game, it's just that some people I know take it too seriously, and talk about them and their "bands," and seem to forget the fact that it's just a game. I'm sure if I had tried hard and expert difficulty, I might have enjoyed it a little bit more (warning for the drummers: beginner mode will put you to sleep!)

[Honky-Tonk]

Yeah, I think its actually called Rockband.

 

Now I feel stupid!

 

All I can think of when i play the game is that south park episode; "Congratulations, you are...... F*GS."

[Darkslide002]

We've already had a similar discussion on the bass forum, and there's quite a few of us that think Guitar Hero and Rock Band both help with playing guitar/bass, simply due to the finger dexterity involved in playing.

[D Carroll]

 

Sorry, but you're pretty much wrong. On expert difficulty, the drum tracks are almost, if not completely identical to the original song, minus a high hat pedal. It's obviously not the same thing as playing a real kit, but it will definitely help you get your limbs moving independently and give you a decent start at learning how to play, if you're not a drummer.

 

 

a high hat... i think that is illegal... or a personal problem, haven't decided which

[Honky-Tonk]

Maybe Rockband will come out with a more accurate, more expensive, representation of the drum kit. Maybe it will be a twelve piece kit with a double pedal, two hi hats, about twenty cymbals, some roto toms, a gong, a couple tympani, some bongos, a cowbell, and a tambourine; for all you anal retentive drummer snobs out there.

 

This is a game first and foremost. I didn't post a thread titled, "wow the drums on rockband are like totally like playing a real drumset!" I only implied that the primitive setup, combined with a rudimentary form of sight reading, would be a good way for a beginner to learn the drums.

[RumStik]

I'll say the same thing I said about Guitar Hero after playing it for the first time:

 

Playing the game well requires, develops, and exercises the very same mental/physical coordination that playing an instrument does...independent movements of hands/feet in time that's visually/aurally kept.

 

Of course it's not the same as playing a real instrument! If it was, it would be a lot more difficult to play, and a horrific marketing blunder. It's not meant to entertain musicians. It's meant to give non-musicians the fundamental taste of music making...you know...that thing we're all addicted to here...?