What I Learned By Playing RockBand 3

Not sure where they came from, but somewhere along the way I came up with a bunch of misconceptions about music, and learning to play, and practice, and so on. Then I got RockBand 3, and learned a few things:

There's no disgrace in starting off with the Easy songs, and 3 stars are okay the first time you play a song. Heck, if you're having fun, 3 stars is always okay. And you probably won't stay at 3 stars for very long, if you're playing at the right level.

The particular song you're playing doesn't matter. What matters is that you're playing.

Let's say that again: you make progress by putting your hands onto the keyboard. I didn't play any one song more than a few times, except for the ones that I was playing over because they were fun. But I got better anyway!

There's nothing wrong with practice mode, either. The first time through, I wasn't able to nail anything but the simplest of songs.

Feedback is nice, especially if it's supportive, i.e. You Rock! when you get 3 stars on easy on, say, Rock Lobster doesn't mean you're ready for Carnegie Hall, but it does mean that you actually did something.

It's a game. Nobody's going to be impressed. Nobody needs to be impressed. You play the game because it's fun. You do it for you. If you get skills out of it, so much the better, but you do it because it's fun, not because of what anybody else might think.

Rock Band 3

Go ahead, you snobs, tell me that Rock Band 3 isn't actually making music. I've got a couple of posts coming up with more details, but I've had my hands on a keyboard more since I've gotten RB3 than probably in my last two attempts to become a "real" musician, and that's gotta count for something!