Waaah, sniff sniff, waaaah!

What a douche.

agreed.
next : Speed Runs at Moe's

Dude. I can see it replacing open Mic night. But it's a pretty good idea for replacing Karaoke.

@Setzer IIDX: I can see it *being a problem* replacing open mic/jam night

As someone who has spent a fair bit of time in bars, I have to wonder, since when does Open Mic Night constitute "a gig"?

I completley agree. Guitar hero/ Rock Band are fun and hard to master. (I play on expert guitar) But if you think you actually have skills comperable to a real musician you my good sir are sadly mistaken. I love these games and they are some of my favorites but I would rather see some jerk try to play Through the fire and flames on real guitar than on expert on Guitar Hero.

I was thinking that I'd talk to my local bar to see if they'd let me bring in Rock Band for a monthly gig.

I agree that watching people play guitar hero is not nearly as fun as watching live music. And honestly, it should be kept to house parties or GH specified weeknights at certain bars.

But c'mon, what's with all the anger. I play real guitar and guitar hero, and both are fun in their own right. I don't mind if people enjoy themselves just as long as they don't get cocky and think they can actually play Raining Blood better than a real musician.

Hey, I have no problem with Guitar Hero nights in bars. It's a fun game, and it's a lot more fun with a lot of people. No problem with karaoke nights or whatever the hell the bar wants to run, either. But it really shouldn't be replacing open mics. That's really lame. Can't we just make time for everybody? Can't we all just get along?!

heck, a local bar near me has a Wii night.

but all these things are is free advertising for the game.

Here's my fuck you to this guy: I'd rather play guitar hero in a pub than watch him, or anyone else play real music in a pub. Who cares that it's not real? It's more fun. It's not about being cultured and it's not about the performance. It's about participating and competing, and those are more fun for me, and a lot of people, than watching pretentious assholes play shitty covers of Wonderwall.

If people at an alehouse choose watching other people play Guitar Hero over listening to you play real guitar then, hey, you're probably a pretty shitty musician in the first place. Grow a pair and deal with your own mediocrity.

But not everyone is so happy about the popularity of drunks pretending to be rockstars on stage...

LIke most bar patrons on a Monday night suffering through a set-list of crappy covers by a second-rate hack. Or, they can get drunk and play (I use that term liberally) music in a social and accessible manner that Guitar Hero/Rock Band provides.

If you're in a bar, what would you want to do?

@etho: You must go to some lousy pubs. Find one that has good music.

It is a shame with artists and drugs these days, someone help the guy!

Open mic night is hardly a gig...

@Smooty: Amen.

Jesus, and here I thought whiners like that were only on XBL. Honestly, if you can't handle the fact that there's something that let's EVERYONE get up on stage and have a little fun while drunk, you've got problems.

There's enough nights of the week for open mic and GH (Rock Band please) IMO.

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWww

He's got a few good points, but his argument turns into a wambulance towards the end.

@Roadkill: Yeeeaaaah, I didn't wanna mention that, but, thanks for doing so.

Open mic night sucks. Who wants to see a talentless loser cover other people's songs? At least with Guitar Hero everyone in the bar can go up and have a good time performing for a few minutes.

I've always thought it would be funny to try and book a venue asd a band.. then come out with all Rock Band stuff.. then ask them where their TV hookups are.

@etho: QFT

And man, if Guitar Hero and Rock Band replaced every open mic night in the world, I couldn't be happier. Having real bands play is fine and all, but open mic night is just a big invitation for talentless fools to embarass themselves and annoy all us barflys.

[xkcd.com]

He has such a crafty delivery. I'm sure he's a killer song writer. Where can I buy this man's CD? My guess is not at the same store that sells GH readily.

Why are real musicians so threatened by a game? I'm confused. Next thing you know, we'll have lawyers complaining about how Phoenix Wright does not reflect actual courtroom proceedings.

We know. Okay. We know.

Guitar Hero goes along with Karaoke night. It's along the same line.

But if I walk into a piano bar and can't rock the suburbs on the usual open night night and someone's playing Cowboys from Hell on easy and failing it and I find out open mic night is no more... well, that sucks.

It's a lot of fun playing in front of a crowd without having to deal with contracts, paperwork, and negotiating your fees.

It's spelled "yeah" motherfucker! "Yea" is a word that sounds like "yay"...

He does make a good point, though.

@njhardcoreguy:

It's not the quality of the music. It's the fact that I couldn't care less about watching music. It's not, in any way, a visual medium for me, and not one that I have any great need to experience live.

Look, not all bars have or want live music.

This isn't always a substitute for that. Sometimes it's actually filling a night where they have absolutely nothing planned.

Every bar's maintained existence depends on getting people to come in, drink, and stay awhile. If Open Mic night doesn't accomplish that, or doesn't accomplish that as well as an XBox 360 and a couple of fake guitars, more power to them.

Take it upon yourself to convince a different bar not doing anything on a particular night to host a Open Mic night to fill that gap. Or hell, maybe even a coffee shop... Dream big.

Why can't we have it all?

He's right you know, guitar hero is nothing like playing a real guitar. But why he's so obsessed with comparing the two is beyond me.

Musicians like this never fail to amuse me with how much they think the world revolves around them

This guy is upset because he can barely master medium. Purchase your OWN bar a throw an open-mic for yourself or work on making your OWN successful band and quit bitching about open-mic night!

It's funny, this guy almost completely misses the mark. Most people aren't listening to music for "art", they listening for entertainment. Its not all that surprising that someone doing Karaoke, or even playing Guitar Hero, could be more entertaining than listening to some guy play what he thinks is "art".

@Plastique: HA!

So according to him, Guitar Hero is only a game...and not actually a real musical performance.

Huh. Haven't heard that before.

And most places I know of that have Guitar Hero night have never had open mic night before. So it's not replacing as much as it is..well...being introduced.

Any bar that replaces Open Mic Night with Guitar Hero/Rock Band night has its own problems to sort out.

@etho: Agree to disagree. Watching artists perform is one of the greatest ways to experience music (Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Beck)... but that's a different conversation altogether.

While I agree with some of his points, I disagree with the core of his argument. Guitar Hero is a game that anyone can play and allows people like myself who aren't so musically inclined to participate rather than spectate.

Plus, I let a few people go before me, they suck or aren't as good, then I go to expert and do my thing. Plus, if you're at a bar do you really listen to the music? I don't, I talk amongst friends.

I agree with him. It's hard enough for up and coming musicians to find places to play as it is. Open mics are an important part of any local music scene and while I don't think this will become a trend and have not personally seen anything like it where I live (Philly) I would be extremely upset if all of the local open mics were replace by guitar hero or rock band. That said, I see no problem with establishments having special nights for that sort of thing as long as they dont get rid of their open mics to do it.

if i go to a bar for drinks, i don't want to see some idiots playing video games, i could have stayed home to see that. i want to see some real talent on real instruments. what's next? cover charge for guitar hero night? this would be an acceptable replacement for karaoke.

@njhardcoreguy:

There's the key difference. I listen to music. You "experience" it, whatever that means.

I'd say the reason Guitar Hero has replaced open mic night is because it is more fun for a larger number of patrons. Stop being such self-absorbed ass-hat. If you want to stop going to the bar, be my guest. You'll probably make a lot of people happy that they don't have to listen to your fucking cry-baby whining while they clown on the drunken frat boy who can't get more than a single star on Easy.

What a fucking clown douche.

Woohoo, no talent guitar ****** is sad! Now, if we could only make it so women start loathing them as much as they loathe us, our revenge will be complete!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

@Gray665: thank you.

know what? Bar owners book entertainment based on what they thing will bring in the most patrons. They keep booking entertainment based on what DOES bring in the most patrons. If Guitar Hero night brings in a bigger crowd than open mic night, then they're gonna keep it around.

I used to love going to open mic night. I used to go to the Point in Bryn Mawr to share stage time with Amos Lee before he got famous. That was fun. What wasn't fun? Listening to crazy people make bad imitations of Ani Difranco songs, cover the entire Dave Matthews canon, or pretend to be ironic or hip by doing an acoustic cover of a hip hop or electronica song. Occasionally that's quirky and interesting, but every week it gets moldy really quick.

If a bar has replaced open mic night with Guitar Hero night I figure some really shitty bands played there, and nobody misses them.

Sure Guitar Hero isn't exactly something to watch on a stage, but if someone was actually watching what it has replaced there would be an outcry from someone besides the pissed off performer who has to go elsewhere.

I play open mics every now and then but I also play Rock Band at home. I love live music and have no interest in watching other people play the game at a bar.

This guy has a legitimate complaint, to some extent. On the other hand, at least where I live, Guitar Hero nights are generally limited to the douchy frat-boy bars that no self-respecting musician I know would want to play. If you want to play Guitar Hero, go to the shitty sports bars, If you want to see Rock music, go to the Rock clubs

In his blog he says that he uses open mic nights to 'work out the kinks' on new material. Uhhh, dude, ever heard of practicing? No one wants to come out and watch your pompous ass work through different chord progressions and lyric arrangements. Do that on your own time. Come out ready to play.

@etho: Unfortunate for you.

i'm afraid most of you aren't 21 therefore your opinion of what should be going on in bars doesn't matter.

There's ALOT of highly popular bars and clubs around the metro here that sport Guitar Hero/Rock Band nights almost 2-3 times a week, and those places get packed. I think it's stupid. If I want to watch someone play games, I will stay home a