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How many people have thought about becoming the next penniless musician thanks to playing band games? But is it possible to be trained as a musician this way?

Remember the electronic game Simon? With a similar theory, different colors and shapes moving across the screen that match buttons on your instrument. Or take the Vocal Mic where words move across the screen like the Karaoke machine. The point of the game is to copy what you see happening on the screen.

It has been proposed that such computer games do nothing to contribute to music. That games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero are simply that ” games ” and they are not really good for anything.

I do not agree with that.

It is true that these games aren’t so much about music as they are about acting out being in a band and to have fun. They are designed to promote family fun.

But they are so much more than that. Games like Rock Band and others serve to pique a young persons interest in music. They can help develop hand-eye coordination that a person needs when playing a real instrument. A student can also improve their timing, dexterity, as well as develop a sense of tone, harmony and rhythm. I recommend Rock Band specifically to my drumming students to facilitate limb independence (the ol rub your belly, pat your head at the same time problem all beginning drummers seem to have.)

Some would say these games actually turn people away from learning a real instrument. I think that the opposite is actually true. Let’s be honest; you can only go so far with an artificial guitar and fake drum pads. If you are remotely serious about music you can only go so far with these games before you have to turn to the real thing to get your ‘fix’.

Time after time there are people playing these games, being inspired to learn more, and graduating to a real guitar, drums, or bass. Numerous vocalists have learned to get over their stage fright and found they had a talent they were previously unaware of.

Such games are more than simply having fun. They create in people the desire to be more involved in music. Maybe even motivate a young person to learn a ‘real’ instrument for the first time. And isn’t that the whole point?

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