'Hero' worship

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Rock beats pulse through the music studio as Josh Deuyour, 12, takes center stage.

He's been practicing the guitar for less than two months, but his fingers dance from fret to fret like an expert. He bobs his head, his mop of hair swaying with his body. He looks like a real rock star, except for one important point:

He's not playing the guitar. He's playing "Guitar Hero." The video game has become so popular, it's attracting a new generation to guitar lessons and the classic rock music of their parents, music tutors say.

At this studio, MusicAmerica in Davie, Fla., the owner has set up the game in a common area. His students are playing between their real lessons, which seldom sound as polished.

Some guitar instructors resent the game as a distraction from actual practice. And while no one claims that playing "Guitar Hero" compares to the real thing, others are encouraged by the interest it's generating.

Josh says the game is the reason he decided to take guitar lessons. "It was fun and interesting. I thought: 'This is something I could do,' " he says.

Same goes for Dalton McLaughlin, 12, who waits for his turn to play.

"Some of the songs sounded really, really awesome, so I'm like, 'Why can't I learn this on a real guitar?' " Dalton says.

For the uninitiated, "Guitar Hero" and similar games such as "Rock Band" are equipped with guitar-shaped controllers that have five color-coded fret buttons. Players press the corresponding buttons as colored "notes" stream across the TV screen in time to the music. Skilled players earn bonus points and applause from onlookers. Poor ones are booed off the stage.

North American sales of "Guitar Hero" topped $1 billion in the previous 26 months, video game publisher Activision reported in January. The game first came out in 2005.

Jeff Quinney of Palm Beach Music Instruction runs a promotion that promises a free copy of "Guitar Hero III" to anyone who signs up for lessons with his Lake Worth, Fla.-based business. The company also offers at-home tutoring.

Quinney thinks the game helps build basic guitar skills and familiarizes players with guitar terminology.

"It builds your hand-eye coordination. It builds up your dexterity and finger speed."

Quinney's favorite benefit of the game isn't the new clients. It's the songs they want him to teach, classic rock songs that hit the charts long before most of his students were born.

"It used to be horrible. I had a 6-year-old last year who wanted Kelly Clarkson, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff," Quinney groaned.

Now, he has an 11-year-old requesting music from the Scorpions, the German band formed in 1969 and known for "Rock You Like a Hurricane," which is on "Guitar Hero III." He's teaching another teen "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses, a song released 20 years ago and featured on "Guitar Hero II."

Luis Machado, a music teacher at the middle school campus of University School in Davie, recently decided to introduce his guitar students to a DVD of Carlos Santana playing the 1970 hit "Black Magic Woman." But they already knew it.

" 'What do you mean you know this? You're 11!'" he recalls asking. "And they all said, 'Guitar Hero!' "

Immediately after "Guitar Hero III" was released last fall, songs and bands featured in the game saw a huge spike in digital downloads of their music, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. Music stores report one of their fastest-selling guitar books is a compilation of sheet music from songs featured in the game.

Not that playing the game equates to playing the guitar — not even close. One of the biggest downsides of the game, guitar teachers stress, is that it can give youngsters a false sense of accomplishment. "We have a lot of people who think they can play the guitar when they come in," chuckled Gary Kramer, owner of The Guitar Exchange in Coral Springs, Fla.

Kramer dismisses the video game as "Simon on a stick," referring to a low-tech memory game popular in the 1980s. "I tell them: If you continue to play 'Guitar Hero,' you'll be a Guitar Zero," he says.

Yet "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" do take a certain level of skill; it's just a different one than playing the actual guitar. A video clip circulating on the Internet captures real-life guitarist Scott Ian of Anthrax trying to play his own song, "Madhouse," on "Guitar Hero II." He fails. Repeatedly.

Brian Baldwin, owner of Boca Music, said guitar lessons at his store have increased about 20 percent since the latest release of the game, but he isn't sure how many of those students will stick with it.

"They can all play the game on 'Expert' mode," he said, "but when it comes to the guitar, it's a lot harder."