Thursday, August 28, 2008

Painted Axe Guitar Hero faceplates

Posted by Jon in • Guitar Hero

Keri Kelli guitar hero faceplates
If there is one thing certain to spark a debate among the guitar community it is the mention of Guitar Hero but love it or hate it the game is going strong with more and more artists jumping on board, some even releasing complete albums on it, Aerosmith somehow managed to get their own version of the game creating a new and painfully endless source of revenue for Activision, I’m sure this format will be flogged to death.

Anyway a couple of months ago I featured the aptly named company called Painted Axe who create some custom paint jobs on electric and acoustic guitars. I received an email from Mike at Painted Axe with news about their most recent venture, Keri Kelli faceplates for Guitar Hero. Keri Kelli is the guitarist for Alice Cooper, and has also worked with Slash, Skid Row, Warrant and Vince Neil. He had this to say about the game:

““The overwhelming worldwide popularity of a guitar-oriented video game is just amazing. Guitar Hero has opened the doors to the electric guitar for a legion of kids these days; it just seemed incredibly cool to be able to make my own brand of face plates available to the market,”

For more information check out the following links:

Painted Axe Site
Painted Axe MySpace
Keri Kelli Official Site

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Guitar Rising - a game for REAL guitar heroes!

Posted by Jon in • Guitar Hero

Guitar Rising
Guitar Rising is an interesting move by GameTank and was obviously influenced by the hugely successful Guitar Hero. What Guitar Rising offers that Guitar Hero doesn’t is the crossover between gaming and “real” guitar playing. The idea is that by using your own guitar and a USB interface you are able to play along to the tracks as the tab scrolls across the screen in a similar fashion to Guitar Hero, albeit a more logical horizontal scrolling - imagine the confusion of tab scrolling towards you!

What I like about this product is that it is not only a game, it is partly an instructional tool for guitarists. It is the next logical step from gamers who have played Guitar Hero and decided they want to take the plunge with a real guitar. You can choose from a somewhat limited 30 songs, but I’m sure that will be expandable, and alter the tempo to make it easier when you are learning a song. Aside from that there are 5 levels of difficulty presumably with more challenging song choices.

What I would really like to see with this game is an accompanying tab book so that players are encouraged to learn on their own and therefore take the time to learn the songs correctly rather than bumbling their way through as the notes fly past on the screen. If this game encourages more kids to pick up the guitar rather than a piece of plastic with coloured buttons on it then I think it is a very positive move by GameTank and one that could certainly make them a lot of money!

I think this one will be popular with teen shredders who have access to a web cam and YouTube!

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Saturday, September 01, 2007

The ultimate Rock 'n' Roll Getaway!

Posted by Jon in • Guitar Hero

Simpson's Rock and Roll fantasy camp
“Are you ready… to receive professional training in ROCK!“ - Homer Simpson (How I spent my summer vacation - The Simpsons).

I received an email from Brian at Wicked PR yesterday with news of Camp Jam’s Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Getaway not unlike the Simpson’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp this is a Rock camp for adults! (sorry Lenny Kravitz won’t be there and the only member of the Rolling Stones will be Chuck Leavel!).

“Camp Jam presents The Ultimate Rock & Roll Getaway, an Adult Rock Camp where everyone from novices to seasoned musicians come to be “Rock Stars” for 4 magical days. Not only do you learn to play in a band, receive VIP treatment and perform a full fledge rock concert, you are also guided by and share the stage with many of rock music’s most inspirational artists, including Jeff Carlisi (guitarist/founder of 38 Special), Rick Derringer (“Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo,“ “Hang on Sloopy”), Liberty DeVitto (drummer for Billy Joel), Carmine Appice (drummer for Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck and Vanilla Fudge), Derek St Holmes (vocalist/guitar for Ted Nugent) and many more.“

David St Holmes? Wasn’t he in Spinal Tap?? ah David St Hubbins… I see.

Now this experience doesn’t come cheap at $5000 but then I suppose you have to consider that it is quite a unique opportunity to spend 4 days with Professional musicians and this cost includes your accommodation, meals, transport to and from hotels, rehearsals and rock hall tours and a DVD of your performance. Check out the Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Getaway website for all the details and links for registration and if you are a bit younger why not check out the Camp Jam website and the Camp Jam blog where there is information on the original Camp Jam for 11-17 year olds, Camp Jam Kidz for 7-10 year olds (love the strapline, “No Canoes, lots of Rock”) and Camp Jam Inc which is the corporate team building version.

Brian from Wicked PR also sent me this link to somebody playing Guitar Hero 2 pulling off a 100% perfect “Hold on Loosely” - 38 Special which was written by Jeff Carlisi who is one of the Camp Jam instructors!

Update:
If you are a girl and you live in New York, or don’t mind travelling to NY there is a Rock camp called Willie Mae Rock Camp for girls (and Ladies)
“Every day, campers go to instrument classes (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals, or DJ/turntables) and workshops on different topics, from songwriting to poster-making. At lunchtime, there are performances by visiting bands and artists”. Sounds pretty cool!

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