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Guitar Hero is boosting real guitar sales

January 12, 2009 in News comments 20

It seems that Nickelback and John Mayer's claims that Guitar Hero is preventing people from buying and learning to play real guitars is false. According to US retailer Guitar Center, real guitar sales have been up by 27% since the Guitar Hero franchise became popular.

Speaking during his CES keynote last week, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith claimed that sales of electric guitars and amplifiers to first-time users surged 27 percent during 2007, according to US retailer Guitar Center.

The rise is accredited to music games like Guitar Hero, Guitar Center has said.
Miss Razz via computerandvideogames.com »
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  • 1
    Red 9* Jan 13, 09
    Damn straight you people start learning how to play real guitars.

    Unfortunately, at this rate, playing guitar will no longer be considered a special talent. Sooner or later everyone will be playing guitar, and crappy high school bands will roam the earth...
  • 0
    Dark Arcanine Jan 13, 09
    This is sickening to me as a guitar player. I love my guitar and I love my music. This will be another finding Nemo fiasco. They'll waste a heap of money and have a guitar laying around because they can't be bothered to spend the time to learn how to use it. Bravo.
  • 4
    Koloth Jan 13, 09
    Damn it, won't anything please you snobby guitarists? People play the game and you're pissed because they enjoy that. Then they go get a guitar like you have been telling them and you get pissed about that. Make up your minds already.
    • 0
      Dark Arcanine Jan 13, 09
      I only get annoyed when they say they're better for being so good at Guitar Hero in comparison. It's not the fact they're buying guitars, it's the fact they're doing it because of the game or us telling them to (lol peer pressure) and it's doubtful few if any will actually achieve anything from it.
      • 3
        Koloth Jan 13, 09
        Honestly I don't see why you care what people do. Plenty of people bought skateboards because of Tony Hawk. Lots of people get into football because they think tey will be a pro and make millions. The vast majority of people fail in these pursuits.

        Who cares if a few people buy guitars and never get anywhere? And why do you care if they "think" they are better than you? You know what you can do and how difficult it is to learn an instrument. Let them think what they want. And let them try what ever they want. It is their money and time to waste.
      • 4
        Slumpy monkey Jan 13, 09
        So I'm guessing you never listened to rock music or anything containing a guitar that persuaded you to get a guitar?(lol peer pressure)

        Don't be such a baby about it, man up and stop thinking your so god damn special.

        What, are you afraid that there going to be better than you? How do you know they wont actually try it and learn it? WTF do you know about them? Oh are you some overlord now that dictates who can play or learn what? There is a thing in this world called "free will" you should look into it one time.
      • 2
        Gamesta100 Jan 13, 09
        I don't understand how people can think that buying a real guitar because of a game makes it less worthwhile or annoying.

        That happens with anything.People don't just wake up one day and decide they want to learn/do a specific thing.We start things because of an experience of some sort.

        Take the Tomb Raider series for instance.I had no interest in that series till I watched a friend play TR3.I now own every PS1/2/3 TR there is.
        Should I have not started playing them because I only wanted to play them after I watched a friend play one?

        It doesn't matter why people do something, it's just a good thing when they do.
  • 0
    Storm* Jan 13, 09
    On tonight's X-Play, it was mentioned that Guitar Hero III's sales hit over $1 billion.

    Meh, of course real guitar is where to go, but this opens doors to the actual guitars. For one thing, guitars are quite expensive, so this could just be a 'pick-me-up', an alternative in a sense. I know it's not the same thing, I've held and tried both the GH guitar and an actual guitar, but as this article states, guitar sales have gone up. To me, it's a win-win situation.

    Honestly, I don't play Guitar Hero much, but I do get into it. I can't do anything with a guitar in front of me though...just don't have the dedication for it at this time. I really don't see why guitarists would be offended by these music-related games...it's just for fun, and it could lead to more guitarists. It's like casual and hardcore gamers.
  • 0
    Gotenks* Jan 13, 09
    I've always been interested in playing an actual guitar but never really went for it. My sister owns her own guitar and I play around with it sometimes. But if I really wanted to play it then I would.

    But I prefer playing Guitar Hero games anyways since it's a lot easier for me and probably others.
  • 0
    Aether Jan 13, 09
    I'm not surprised this has happened. Most people think that because they are incredible at Guitar Hero, they are great at guitaring.
  • 0
    DranzerBlade Jan 13, 09
    Not surprising, really. I know at my school, since Guitar Hero came out at least 6 people in my Music class have got a guitar purely because they're good at the game. -_-
  • 0
    Taker4ever Jan 13, 09
    As a guitarist myself, I honestly think the Guitar Hero franchise has been a great asset. Young kids will play the game, and hopefully, they'll want to own a guitar of their own - to become a real guitar hero. Obviously some will give up; that has always been the case. But some will keep playing, and those are the ones who will be the real-life guitar heroes in the future.

    In the past, kids had bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to aspire to when wanting to play guitar. We simply don't have that quality in mainstream music anymore, so Guitar Hero is the next best thing for introducing kids to the instrument.

    And contrary to popular belief, I've NEVER met ANYONE who plays Guitar Hero who has even hinted at it being similar to the actual guitar.
  • 1
    BANDITO ATTACK Jan 13, 09
    where have you people been? playing the guitar has been the 'cool' thing to do since forever. everybody who plays the damn thing and then gets angry at a guitar-based rhythm game needs to quit bitching because you're not special, any jackass can play the guitar.. except john mayer. he's damn good, but he's kindof a dick anyway so i'm not surprised he was bitching abut it.
    • 0
      Red 9* Jan 14, 09
      Any jackass can play a guitar, but only if they're only planning on strumming three chords all day. Ask any average Joe to improvise a lead guitar solo over an A major chord progression and he'll probably just walk away.

      That's the difference. That's the ONLY thing that annoys me about GH; people think they can whip off some riff just because they pressed 5 buttons on a guitar shaped controller. That's it. If they can dedicate to a real guitar, go for it.
      • 3
        Koloth Jan 14, 09
        Quit your bitchin. There are only a few idiots out there that think they can play anything after playing GH or RB. Nearly everyone that plays the game knows it is a game.

        You're just being snobbish about your guitar playing. Get over it. No one cares except you. Let them try the real thing and they will probably fail and that will be that. But maybe just maybe the next Neil Peart, Jimi Hendrix, or James Hetfield will come from this. And you... Well you can be snobby about how good you are all day long. While the rest of us have fun.
        • 0
          Red 9* Jan 15, 09
          quote Koloth
          Quit your bitchin. There are only a few idiots out there that think they can play anything after playing GH or RB. Nearly everyone that plays the game knows it is a game.

          You're just being snobbish about your guitar playing. Get over it. No one cares except you. Let them try the real thing and they will probably fail and that will be that. But maybe just maybe the next Neil Peart, Jimi Hendrix, or James Hetfield will come from this. And you... Well you can be snobby about how good you are all day long. While the rest of us have fun.
          I never said anything about me being super-duper better than anyone, for christ sake. Honestly that was uncalled for. I never told anyone to stop having fun, nor did I tell anyone to just not try. I encourage anyone willing enough to pick up a guitar and give it a shot; it's a great instrument, fun to play, and something that I think people should at least try.

          I have honestly never seen you like this before Koloth; you're never usually demeaning to others.
        • 0
          Slumpy monkey Jan 15, 09
          "have honestly never seen you like this before Koloth; you're never usually demeaning to others."

          This is the new Koloth, One Bad ass mother *bleep*er who wont give up on a chance to TAKE YOU BITCHES DOWN!
        • 0
          Koloth Jan 15, 09
          To be honest I'm just tired of these sort of comments from people. And no you weren't encouraging people Red. You said in your first post that "playing guitar will no longer be considered a special talent". Then in your second post here you say "Any jackass can play a guitar". Those comments are rather demeaning and snobbish. You might not have meant to say you're super-duper great. But that's how it is coming off.

          On top of that your comments come off as "I don't want you filthy GH players participating in my hobby". Although maybe I was picking that up more from Dark Arcanine and just attributed it to you as well. Either way you're not coming off as supportive of new guitarists.
        • 1
          Red 9* Jan 15, 09
          I give; I apologize. New guitarists, be open-minded. If Guitar Hero has given you a motivation to play a real guitar, then by all means go for it; it's a great hobby. The only thing I will say is that it requires lots of dedication and time if you want to really be good at it.

          (and actually it was Bandito who said "jackass"; I was just quoting that bit in my reply; probably shouldn't have)

          And yes, you're right; Guitar Hero may help spawn some new guitar legends. I don't want to sound snobbish, but I'm hoping to become a guitar pro like my uncle; it's just about goals, really.

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