November 10, 2008

Guitar Hero World Tour vs. Real Drums

Not much to say about this one — a side by side video of a gentleman playing the Tool song “Parabola” on the GH:WT drums, and a real world drumset.

Note that the real drumkit illustrates some of the limitations of the 2 cymbal / 3 pad layout of the GH:WT drums, as I’ve previously discussed. I count 5 cymbals in his drumkit!

Here’s a photo I found of a “typical” drumset layout. Note that the cymbals are on the left and right — not in the middle — and there are four drums.

drumset-diagram

Still, the similarity in movements is pretty convincing, another piece of evidence that fake plastic drumming is fairly close to real world drumming, particularly when you throw some fake plastic cymbals in the mix!

(I had almost forgotten: I have a similar post showing Run To The Hills on real drums and Rock Band Drums as well.)

Hmm. I would say the difference is about the same as let’s say between somebody playing small fake plastic drums and somebody playing real drums… I honestly thought they are not even the same person, the guy on the left is so far from rocking!

Miika
November 11, 2008 at 6:02 am

I have to agree with Miika, the most striking difference to me is in his body language. He is really into the music on the RL drums, really grooving and bouncing – whereas on the FP drums he is stiff as a board, trying to make sure he doesn’t miss anything.

I think the next time I break out the drums I’m going to make a conscious effort to not worry about score and just try to groove a little like a RL drummer – head bob and all. Could be a whole new experience!

James
November 12, 2008 at 11:32 pm

If you play in “performance mode” — with no onscreen indicators — that would be the best way to accomplish free flow with the music while not staring at the screen like a zombie.

And yes, it does help to loosen up and groove to the song a bit. That is the point of these fake plastic rock games, after all — to enjoy experiencing the music in a new way!

Jeff Atwood
November 12, 2008 at 11:34 pm

The photo of the \typical\ set of drums, where he was sure to point out the cymbals to the side and not the middle, is not a very comfortable set up at all. I’ve been playing drumset for close to 20 years, and haven’t set my drums up like this in years. The GH drumset is much more comfortable than this \typical\ drumset.

Jeffrey
September 7, 2009 at 6:33 pm

Jeffrey, what are you on about?

Hi hat on the left is a standard for right handed drummers, of course the ride on the right is optional but I find it very comfortable to move the right hand across like that.

Obviously the GH drum kit will be more comfortable, but that’s because you’re not playing the drums! Jeez.

Oh and there are 5 drums in the real kit picture, not 4.

Will
November 30, 2009 at 4:36 am

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