Being The Beatles
Oct. 16th, 2009 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoyIf you want to have the most entertaining party ever, I highly recommend you get at least six slightly tipsy, non-digitally savvy baby boomers together with a copy of The Beatles Rock Band. It will make you laugh until you collapse.
My sister and I tried that kind of party last night with Dad, Mom, and Dad’s two sisters and their husbands who are visiting. It was CHAOS, my friends.
Now, Rock Band and Guitar Hero start out a little confounding for anyone until you really play it and get a feel for it. But THIS. This was beyond a little confusing. Explaining that it’s 1. based on the principles of playing a guitar (hold down chord andclick strum), and 2. nothing like actually PLAYING an actual GUITAR is difficult. How the colors on the screen correspond to what you’re supposed to play is a mystery which cannot be fathomed by mortal man. And the line that indicates you hit the drums’ bass pedal was all but invisible to at least a third of the over-fifty crowd there. (No, seriously, after three hours one of my aunts still couldn’t see it.)
My other aunt picked up the guitar pretty quick, and Mom actually did pretty darn well on guitar, too.
And I am apparently a drumming savant.
Well, okay, I’m not quite Hannelore-esque, but while everyone else feels the drums are terrifyingly hard, I find them a lot easier than the guitars. Maybe it comes from being the rhythm section kid in jazz band.* So I got to be Ringo for most of the evening.** My hands are still rattled.
My uncle was pleased with this game because it’ll Introduce A New Generation to the Beatles. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’ve had most of their songs memorized since I was about four. We were having too good a time singing along, anyway.
*You’d think this’d make me a great bassist, since that’s what I played, but as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bean_bunny will loudly attest to, Rock Band instruments ≠ actual instruments.
**And fuck all y’all Ringo haters. Dude is amazing. I don’t know how he does it, but he keeps rhythms so steady you’d think he was channeling them from some absolute source. (And, given the substances he used, that’s probably what it felt like.)
My sister and I tried that kind of party last night with Dad, Mom, and Dad’s two sisters and their husbands who are visiting. It was CHAOS, my friends.
Now, Rock Band and Guitar Hero start out a little confounding for anyone until you really play it and get a feel for it. But THIS. This was beyond a little confusing. Explaining that it’s 1. based on the principles of playing a guitar (hold down chord and
My other aunt picked up the guitar pretty quick, and Mom actually did pretty darn well on guitar, too.
And I am apparently a drumming savant.
Well, okay, I’m not quite Hannelore-esque, but while everyone else feels the drums are terrifyingly hard, I find them a lot easier than the guitars. Maybe it comes from being the rhythm section kid in jazz band.* So I got to be Ringo for most of the evening.** My hands are still rattled.
My uncle was pleased with this game because it’ll Introduce A New Generation to the Beatles. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’ve had most of their songs memorized since I was about four. We were having too good a time singing along, anyway.
*You’d think this’d make me a great bassist, since that’s what I played, but as
bean_bunny will loudly attest to, Rock Band instruments ≠ actual instruments.**And fuck all y’all Ringo haters. Dude is amazing. I don’t know how he does it, but he keeps rhythms so steady you’d think he was channeling them from some absolute source. (And, given the substances he used, that’s probably what it felt like.)
