About this project
Guitar Games will allow you to plug in your standard 1/4" plug electric guitar, a Rock Band 3 guitar, or a MIDI guitar and play on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
If you own Rock Band, you owe it to yourself to take your guitar gaming to the next level and transfer all the experience you've amassed playing Rock Band into learning to play a real guitar.
Guitar Games will teach you how to play songs and how to hear better. Beyond that, it will also help you develop your own personal guitar playing style.
It will include:
- Lead Performance mode
- Chord Performance mode
- Training mode to teach you to play any song by ear
- The ability to customize the song list with new songs
- An online song database and free song creation tools
Guitar Games is designed to be played with all kinds of electric guitars, including standard 1/4" output electric guitars, the Rock Band 3 Fender Squier Guitar, Rock Band 3 Mustang guitar, the You Rock Guitar, and any MIDI enabled guitar.
Lead performance mode will work with standard guitar 1/4" plug input. Other modes may require a Rock Band 3 compatible guitar or MIDI enabled guitar.
Benefits over Rock Band and Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is dead so let's concentrate on the benefits over the latest Rock Band, Rock Band 3:
- In Rock Band 3, you don't hear your own guitar, just the master track.
- In Rock Band 3, you have to play the chord shapes exactly as transcribed.
- In Rock Band 3, you have to play in the style of the recording.
- In Rock Band 3, you don't learn to bend notes.
- In Rock Band 3, you have to watch the screen intensely to see what's coming up next.
Conversely, in Guitar Games you have a lot more flexibility:
- In Guitar Games, you hear your own guitar and your own amp, in addition to the master track (or optionally only with your guitar with no other track).
- In Guitar Games, you can play chords in whatever shape you're most comfortable... open shapes, capo'ed chords, barre chords, all work, so long as it fits with the music.
- In Guitar Games, you're free to play the chords in your own style. Strummed chords, muted chunky chords, arpeggiated chords, etc. Rock, acoustic, ska, punk, whatever you like. Just play in time and in key!
- In Guitar Games, bending notes is perfectly valid.
- In Guitar Games, if you know how to play the song, you can basically stop watching the screen and just play.
Guitar Games' Training Mode
Training mode is completely new and not found in any other music game.
In training mode, you will hear a musical performance in which the chords that are playing are not shown on the fretboard right away. You have to listen to the song and figure out the chords for yourself. It starts out easy, showing you simple chords, and slowly over time, gets much harder.
Training mode is one of the reasons we are asking for Kickstarter support. We will be hiring professional musicians to write songs with interesting and unpredictabe chord changes that will exercise the ears of even the most advanced guitar players.
Screen Shots & Gameplay video
Because Guitar Games will be going through intense development over the next few weeks, status updates will have screen shots and game videos as everything evolves.
We really appreciate your support!
To be clear, everyone who pledges at a level that includes the Mac OSX application will be given a lifetime license for all future versions of Guitar Games on the Mac!
During the Kickstarter campaign, all of the money raised will go into making Guitar Games a killer music gaming platform. Your pledge will go towards:
- Song licensing
- Online support including a song transcription database
- Awesome graphics
- Pro session musicians (recording tracks for the training mode)
Depending on the interest level generated, there are many more things we have planned for Guitar Games. If we reach our first funding goal quickly, we'll announce the next phase. So, in addition to your pledge, please encourage your friends, family, and bandmates to join up as well. Peace!
More Info on the Rewards
The thank you gifts for the higher pledge levels are the Guitar Games iPad case:
and the Guitar Games T-shirt:
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
68
Backers
$5,606
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Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on June 20, 2011.
Pledge $30 or more Pledge $30 or more
iOS PREORDER: When you pledge $30 or more you are pre-ordering Guitar Games for iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch
Pledge $30 or more Pledge $30 or more
MAC PREORDER: When you pledge $30 or more you are pre-ordering Guitar Games for Mac OSX.
Pledge $40 or more Pledge $40 or more
MAC+iOS PREORDER: When you pledge $40 or more you are pre-ordering Guitar Games for Mac OSX and the iPad/iPhone app.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
SUPERFAN: In addition to the games, you will get a mention on the Guitar Games web site and credits section on the apps. As a thank you you will also receive a free iPad case or T-shirt (your choice) with the Guitar Games graphics (see description section for pictures).
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
SONGMEISTER: Got a popular song you want to learn? We'll transcribe any chord-centric song (within reason) in the iTunes store for you. Want your band's song to be offered on Guitar Games? Can do. Just send us the song in advance and rights to distribute.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
I WANT IT ALL (Mac version): Get everything you need to play the games (except the Mac): a Fender Squier guitar tuned up and intonated to sound great, a USB to MIDI converter, and a T-shirt as well as a credits mention.
Pledge $550 or more Pledge $550 or more
I WANT IT ALL (iPad Version): Get everything you need to play the games (except the iPad): a Fender Squire guitar tuned up and intonated to sound great, a MIDI Connector, an iRig, and an iPad case as well as a credits mention.
Pledge $10,000 or more Pledge $10,000 or more
CORPORATE SPONSOR Yes that's right, your company can sponsor this project. I will brand the guitars and/or amplifiers represented in the game with your logo, and your company's name/logo will appear in the opening screen. Your company will have the opportunity to review and approve all graphics. You can help get your brand out there and support this grass roots project, all with one pledge!
Project By
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I have a Ph.D. from Caltech and I'm a musician, scientist, and software engineer. I've written music education software for over ten years, played guitar in the band Sci-Fi Lullaby, helped design the Roland VG-99 V-Guitar System, built my own guitars, and created the official Lollapalooza '96 web site.
