Since the invention of Guitar Hero and similar computer games, it is no longer necessary to imagine what it would be like to play along with the Beatles--you can come together with them in the virtual world. Bill Wyman, former bass player  in the Rolling Stones, has pointed out that music video games discourage kids from learning to play real instruments. My own opinion suggest quite opposite. Last year, I bought Guitar Hero III for our 14-year-old son, Jack. Jack quickly mastered the process and entered an intense period of playing the game. A few months later, while I was away on tour, a couple of his friends came around with a real electric guitar. Playing Guitar Hero had taught them how to play along the track. Now they wanted to see if they could apply that to the real thing. Jack's friends taught him how to play along to his favorite songs using just his index finger  on the bass string. He got it right away. Guitar Hero had helped him over the first difficulty for guitar players--how to strum  the strings with one hand while making chord  shapes with the other. He never plays Guitar Hero now, preferring to rock out in the garage with his mates. Despite my attempts at getting him to learn an instrument, it was Guitar Hero that taught him the basics of playing and built up his confidence to the extent that he was able to make a recognizable sound the first time he played it. So let's not complain about a game that encourages kids to become music fans and, in our son's case, gives them the basic skills needed to learn how to play guitar. Which statement is TRUE about Jack's first playing with a real electric guitar?
He did it successfully. He taught his friends how to play. He didn't know how to play along to a song. He didn't know how to strum the instruments.