Guitar Hero - too hard for 8 year old?

Question

My 8 yr old son has been asking for a guitar. I bought him one of those electric guitars at Target for $79.

Now I saw something called Guitar Hero II. It looked really cool & looks easier to play than a real guitar (only 6 top buttons) vs multiple chords & finger positions.

Now I was stuck wondering if I should buy this too, or return the other one?

I asked the teenager there if it was fun. He told me that it was hard to play... and HE's a teenager!

So I said, well, I guess it's a no go for an 8 yr old then!

Anyway, your thoughts?? A small 8 year old? Could he handle it?

If no, how about an almost 12 year old that didn't mention he wanted a guitar, but like's playing his recorder flute?

2) Which is better, Hero I or II? He told me about something better with #2 (improvement) I forget what it was.

BTW, I got the eye toy a few years ago, and although you can get it to work somewhat with patience, they played twice and in the closet it went.

ALSO, does learning Guitar Hero set you up for learning real guitar in the future or is it completely different?

Answer 1

You may already know this, but GH is made for use on the Playstation 2 or XBOX360 consoles.

GH does not teach you to play a real guitar. However, it does teach good hand/eye coordination.

GH2 has a coop mode that allows 2-players to play a song together. Each player has the option to play either lead, rhythm or bass guitar. It also has a practice mode which GH1 didn't.

I've seen an 8 year old play it just fine and I've also seen an 8 year old struggle to play it. My 4 year old daughter loves to play it, but I have to do the fret buttons for her while she strums. (She has good rhythm like her drummer daddy!!!)

Hope this helped you out!! Take care.

Answer 2

Guitar Hero would be way too hard for an 8 year old. I play video games all the time and struggle with the Medium difficulty in Guitar Hero. Don't let the number of buttons confuse you, the game is pretty fast paced. If he really wants to play a guitar get him a real one and help him learn.

Answer 3

Im 24 years old and I went up to my brothers and played part 1 and 2 of guitar hero, there both about the same. Part 2 has a better song selection. It's hard at first, but takes a lot of practice. But since you have two kids, i think it would be best to have two guitars and guitar hero 2 has were you can try and beat each other playing the guitar. Very Fun. If they like out doing each other you need this. It will keep them busy for hours. It will just take practice. Good Luck deciding!
Msranda

Answer 4

i have a guitar hero 1 myself and i think it's pretty hard and im 16. it's pretty simple on easy but it gets boring, and then medium and hard is just really scary. i would not recommend it to the 8 year old but maybe the 12 year old. it requires alot of patience and coordination to play. but after a while it should become easier and you can move on to different levels. and about the differences, theres barely any only that the 2nd one has more songs. good luck

Answer 5

guitar hero isn't too hard a game for an 8 yr old.
it starts out hard, but as you get used to it it gets easier and its a great game

Answer 6

No

theres easy (3 buttons)
Medium(4)
hard (5)
expert(5 but hard)

Answer 7

It shouldn't be too hard for him to play the video game, a little practice and he will be off and running, i wouldn't be running to the store to replace his real guitar with a game though. who knows? maybe you got the next hendrix, or vai, or satriani.