Music Is The Weapon

Okay okay, yeah I lose points for even daring to quote that, but I needed something at least a little bit catchy and dramatic.

I’m a musical person, always have been. There’s nothing like a sweeping symphony or a crackling electric guitar solo to inspire a man. I did GCSE music back in high school, played the violin to grade 6 standard, tried my hand at a variety of different instruments too, from flute, to saxophone, to guitar to piano. I was never brilliant at any of them. I was never gonna be the next Vanessa Mae or anything. But I enjoyed performing, and still regret that I hadn’t put more effort into learning the more difficult instruments – namely guitar and piano – though I know there is still time.

I don’t look back on my GCSE with fondness, unfortunately, because of what it did to me. Basically, I realised quite near the start of my final year of school – second year of GCSE music – that I was outgrowing my violin. I’d already got the full size one – largest you can get – but it just wasn’t big enough. My arms were too long, and I was finding that I had to twist my wrist in an odd way to hit the notes properly. It began to hurt when I play for too long, and my violin tutor noted that I should probably change instruments to the slightly larger viola, or to something even bigger like the cello.

In retrospect, I was an idiot. I didn’t want to do viola or cello because I’d have had to learn new clefs, and it had taken me long enough to get treble clef sorted. Also, if I had to give up violin now, it would completely screw up my final year of GCSE. I wasn’t really any good at the flute – grade 2 standard at most – and thus couldn’t switch to that and hope to get a serious GCSE result. I didn’t actually want to DO anything with music back then by the way. I just liked the class and wanted to do well in it.

I got a C, in the end. By the time the final practical exam came round, the muscle at the base of my left thumb, and my wrist itself, was so screwed up by repetitive strain injury, that I was never going to get the B or higher that I wanted. I’ll probably not be able to play a stringed instrument again, sadly, though I still do want to at least give guitar a try.

Until I can earn enough money to get myself a cheapo guitar and some lessons, I’ve been sating my music-playing desires and building up the muscles in my left wrist again, by playing Guitar Hero on the 360. And yes, I know I know it’s not a REAL guitar and it doesn’t require the same skills and motions etc, but for someone with a knackered wrist not even used to holding an instrument at that angle before, it at least helps me get some mobility back into my sore tendons.

Now, I’m a big fan of rhythm games. Ever since Spence first introduced me to the Dance Dance Revoltion series of arcade machines down in Torquay, I’ve always picked up the odd game for whatever console I have handy. Now, I’m a big man, so I don’t use the dance mats. There’s NO WAY I’m jumping around in my study trying to hit notes – I have size 12/13 feet and the chances of me being precise enough to hit the pitifully small squares on the mats are low. So I’ve always used the normal controller for these types of games. And because I AM musically-minded, and have a good sense of rhythm (apparently!) I tend to do very well at this type of game. I can kick ass on most DDR games on the PS2, usually on the Hard difficulty while my friends compete on Easy or Medium. Which is fine. It’s all about having fun after all! I just like a challenge.

I first tried the Guitar Hero games round at Dave’s house, and I will admit to being sold on it. It was a lot of fun, and while it seemed to be pretty darned difficult on Medium mode (where you have to hit FOUR frets rather than the first three on Easy mode) the mini plastic guitar controller and a great selection of tunes including Guns n Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine” and Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” inspired me to get it. Was just a pity about the rather expensive price.

Fast forwards twelve months and a fair bit of supply teaching work later, and I found a second-hand copy of Guitar Hero III with controller for £50 in Gamestation. I snapped it up on a whim, and have been making steady progress. I can now kick ass on medium mode, and play the odd song on Hard, which forces you to use all 5 of the fret buttons. I have to be careful though, it seems. Yeah I’m musically minded, good sense of rhythm, know how the songs go... But I can’t overcome the RSI in my wrist just yet. Try and play more than a couple of songs on Hard and it REALLY begins to hurt. Not as much as my back hurts on bad days mind you, but enough. Sometimes I push through the pain, hoping that it’s just the muscles protesting at the exercise. Other times I’m sensible and take a break. But either way it’s good stimulation for my poor knackered hand, and it feels good to get it moving again. So much so that I splashed out on Guitar Hero II as well, which is the version I played back at Dave’s last year. I may never be able to complete either game on Hard or Expert, but I enjoy at least giving it a go, and as Rick tells me – with these games, practise is just as important as it is on a real instrument.

Can’t believe I quoted that as the title though.... >.>