Stones Legend Bashes Guitar Hero

Real instruments gathering moss, Wyman complains
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2009 4:54 AM CDT
Stones Legend Bashes Guitar Hero
Bill Wyman plays guitar at the Cafe de Paris, London, in 2002. He played bass for the Rolling Stones until 1992.   (Getty Images)

The growth of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band means fewer real guitar heros in the future, complains former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Playing the games "encourages kids not to learn, that's the trouble. It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument," he tells the Guardian. "I think it's a pity."

The Stone's gripes were echoed by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. "It irritates me having watched my kids do it," he said of the game. "If they spent as much time practicing the guitar as learning how to press the buttons, they'd be damn good by now." The rockers were speaking ahead of the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band game, which lets players play along to the Fab Four's career.
(More rock music stories.)

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