I went over to my friend’s house to play some games as usual.  We then realised that in order to play the game together, I had to go home.

It’s strange I can’t find a review of this instrument, and obviously it’s hard to trust any feedback left on amazon.com or other online shops.

I had recently found my RB1 guitar strum to be a bit faulty (which happens to most) and so checked with EA as it was under warranty. Go back to the store, they ALL will organise an exchange. Er… right, I called up Curry’s to check. They said yeah sure! Just bring it in for exchange or refund. I dropped by the Curry’s I bought it from. I asked an attendant – I said

• I don’t want to waste my time bringing my guitar all the way here, only for you to tell me something completely different. Can you give me a new guitar?
• Yeah sure! We have three in stock!
• Alright, I’ll be in tomorrow.

I warned the guy I would remember his name. He grinned and noted he wouldn’t be in the next day. I gulped. I returned the next day, boxed guitar in hand.

• We don’t have any guitars to give you, sorry, would you like a refund?
• WHAT?

Well, I took the refund.  I had noted a RB2 guitar on ebay…  Then today I noticed play.com was doing a half price offer on the beatles instruments (£80-> £40), and as I noticed that the RB1 guitar still sells for £40, there was really no good reason not to buy one.

So here it is. It’s actually a little bit longer than the Fender, takes three batteries, the effects changer is now a dial and quite simply, the damn thing is gorgeous to look at. But enough with the looks, what about the actual instrument?

The fret buttons are quiet. REALLY quiet. It’s lovely. The guitar hero guitar may be more accurate in the long run but they’re damn noisy with all that clicking. Won’t matter so much if you’ve got the game cranked up but for some peaceful strumming you’re in for none of that. The Gretsch’s strum bar is certainly firmer than the RB1 guitar (I have not tried the RB2) but there is still a little dead space – it’s still not anywhere near a microswitch.

I gave the guitar a little warm up with System of a Down’s Toxicity on hard mode.  No problems, apart from my brain spazzing out a little as I had been playing with the GH guitar while waiting for this to be delivered, which meant I had switched back to four finger fretting, as opposed to four finger and thumb fretting (a feat which can only be achieved on the RB guitars).  To be honest, only time will tell if the Gretsch can handle the punishment due, and if you just want to play these games accurately and can handle four finger fretting, you’ll probably want a GH guitar.  On the other hand, if you’re like me, and want to swagger with awesomeness, be able to use your thumb on the green fret and play clicking-noise-free, you should get a Beatles RB guitar.  Or be super smart, get both, and invite a friend over to jam, just to watch them stare at your Gretsch…

Now I don’t realllllly want to open this but if the strum bar gives way… then there’s always this option:

Undertaking a course at University for teacher training, I realised I had been given student status.

When the ID card arrived in the post, a lightbulb switched on. STUDENT DISCOUNTS!

I ran to go get my NUS card as I knew that this was the most widely accepted form of student ID. Hohoho the days of photocopies and sellotape…

So I’m looking for the application on the NUS site… and er… £7 charge? NUS Extra for £10? The lightbulb popped. Oh you can still get a NUS ID card for free, but no discounts!

Hi, did you know we pay shed loads more than the students last year? Hey screw that fam, let's put ourselves into more debt! Yay!

What the hell happened?

I remember going on the student march, protesting against top up fees. I remember lazy students staying in bed and other people not really paying much attention. I remember a news helicopter flying overhead. We had quite a massive march – it was national, all the students who cared were there. Still, it wasn’t enough. And now, those people who didn’t pay attention are paying through the teeth to get through their education. It’s not like I want to gloat and say “oh well I told you so”. It actually makes me sad.

It’s just another example of general apathy – the attitude where people are just taking every swing that the man throws at them, and are doing nothing in return. The man smiles, he knows he’s won. Or has he? What will it take for the people to turn around and hit back?

In this bleak time, companies cut corners and the government pays the bankers, even though we all know it’s their fault for gambling with OUR money. Why are we footing the bill? Hang on, when did students have to PAY for discounts? They don’t HAVE any money! Or was this part of NUS’s long term plan to actually make profit? Hmmmm?

Yes it does; I’m going to explain why and provide a solution, which I expect to be ignored, but that’s okay, I don’t really care what people think, because I’m a goddam bonafide maverick writer!

I’ve been to quite a few new shows, with new actors, new writers and not so new attention seeking directors. That’s the first problem with fringe theatre – it’s full of rich kids mouthing off without any concern for their audience. The second problem is that it’s so expensive to put on a show, you’re left with the first problem.

Alright, apart from the “rich kids” comment, let’s say you agree it’s costly, but what do I mean by writers not having “any concern for their audience”?

How many times have I been to new shows to see baffled or bored faces in the audience?  These very same faces will lie to the actors and team, telling them Oh yes, it was very good, it reminded me of… (insert the name of a popular film that has no link to the work whatsoever).  The audience didn’t get it, but the team didn’t care.  Should they?

While sitting around twiddling my thumbs moaning about the addictive qualities of procrastination, the following quote was recited to me:

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

(Cyril Connolly, 1903 – 1974)

Here’s what I have to say in response:

Bollocks.

(Karl’s Imposter, living in the real world)

Let’s look at examples of many rich kids, poor kids, delusional artists and attention seeking writers who don’t care about what their audience expected.  Actually, I can’t be bothered.  I’m just going to speculate that most of them have disappeared without a trace.  Unless, that is of course, they have more money to keep putting on more of whatever they fancy.  Without success in the first production, there will be no faith in the second, there will be no support from the sponsors or funders, there will quite simply be, no more of that shit.  Even the arts council will tell you, they expect you to make a profit.  Artistic intentions – what?

This is the real problem with new writing.  New writers are so desperate to tell their story (and get a pat on the back), they forget about (or don’t even know) how to please their audience.  It’s bad enough they’re mostly lazy as hell, but once they get the chance to have their classic poetry read out on stage, in the middle of an urban comedy, by a character who can’t even spell, you can forget about talking any sense to them, and so they run on with their show, have the time of their lives, get a crap review, and with no chance of any further funding, sink without a trace.

How can we stop this?  Why am I even writing this?  I am tired of people thinking theatre is crap.  I am tired of people thinking theatre is for posh people.  I am tired of posh people pretending they like theatre they can’t understand in the slightest.

To make a good piece of theatre, to make a good film, to make a good anything, you’ve got make your audience think it’s good.  If you want to write for yourself and alienate your audience, that’s fine, I just hope you’ve got some money to keep going.  Don’t talk to me about art, have you not realised that next to each piece of work in a gallery, there’s a small card EXPLAINING WHAT THE FUCK THE PIECE IS ABOUT?  Theatre and film doesn’t really have that, there’s often far too much to explain for every word spoken (and the audience came to watch a film, not read a book). If the audience likes what they see, they’ll tell other people.  They’ll tell them that your work is good.  And that, my dismayed friend, is what they call… success.

Now that doesn’t mean you have to immediately burn that abstract script that you’re dying to put on.  In my humble opinion, the best thing to do is to first make work that the audience will understand or appreciate.  After you have made your success, nobody will argue with your bizarre idea, and will applaud you in advance.  You’ll put it on, everyone will scratch their head, and you’ll sink, albeit with some trace, and a sense of satisfaction that you expressed yourself to the widest audience possible. Don’t believe me?  Ok, easy example.  Think of Charlie Kaufman’s films, ahem, Synecdoche, New York.  How about Michel Gondry?  Think about the level of accessibility of each film they made…

That’s enough ranting for now.  I need to go and work on my cross dressing wrestling hospital drama, I’m 100% sure you’ll love it and understand the underlying message of distopian paralysis.

I was watching Terminator Salvation and I thought… why does Christian Bale still sound like Batman? Why does Christian Bale’s Batman sound… uh… odd? Is that supposed to be scary? Doesn’t it really hurt the throat? If you were a criminal, would you be scared because you’re afraid that he’s going to physically hurt you, or more that he’s going to sexually abuse you?

Anyway, back to Batman.

Trawling through the billions of new tracks in the public domain (cough), I came across a certain voice that was all too familiar. Before accusing the band, The Black Ghosts, of being yet another cheap copy off the manufacturing line, I looked them up.

Ah. It’s Damon.

No, not Matt, but Albarn.

You know, from Blur? Oh right, yeah. He gets around, that talented boy / mic hogger.

His guest vocals feature on The Repetition Kills You. It’s not bad, not bad at all.

Now Damon, will you stop mucking about with other projects and either do something with Blur or just kill them off for good!

I like wine. I like expensive wine even more. Thus, I really like sales. Here are four wines I’ve picked up recently, on offer, three from Tesco and one from Morrisons.

I love a good merlot. I like the dark, weighty taste. This is Turner Road's merlot from California, but it's light, even watery. It's ok, but nothing special at all. This is supposed to be a reserve? What a joke.

Recommeded by a friend. Hardy's Crest. Cabernet Shiraz from Australia. It's a strong, heavy red- the kind of wine that gives you a headache if you drink more than a few glasses. I think my friend is depressed - I can't recommend this, even if it's on offer for £5 (normally £9).

Chateau Clos Renon: Fabulous French Bordeaux Superior 2007. What does that mean? Well it's actually made of mostly Merlot, then Cabernet Savignon and Cabernet Blanc. I'm still no expert on wine crops but I know what I like. This is tasty, rounded with a pleasant aftertaste. Especially good with red meat, go get it now while it's still on sale - half price - now £6.50 at Tesco's for a limited time. If you like this, then you like what I like, so whenever I recommend a wine, you know you better get it!

This is why the Rock Band guitar is superior

I had recently described the Guitar Hero guitar as superior, simply because of its switch mechanism for the strum bar, which is all important when you’re trying to hit that note on time.  However, a new development has caused me to change my mind again, and this time, really pissed me off.

Hard mode: this generally involves hitting 5 keys as opposed to medium mode’s 4 (easy being 3).  A good guitarist will move their fingers up and down the keys and not get confused as they have been playing for so long they instinctively use their index finger for the green key.  Ahem.  Confused?  My brain was swizzled.  Green note is coming, er, where’s my hand?  Then my gf pointed out that some guitarists use their thumb.  What?  Oh my freaking god.  After a bit of adjusting, I can now hit all 5 keys, without moving my hand.  Look at the picture above.

As for the GH guitar, well, you can’t do this at all.  Remember my complaint about the pop out buttons?

GH keys

You can’t use your thumb in the same way.  So the GH guitar isn’t that good in the end, at least for hard mode. But what about the RB strum bar?  Yes the strum bar is still crappy.  Note, if you’ve always hammered your strum bar downwards, you’ll find the upwards motion is still fresh and responsive.  Try it! My RB guitar is still under warranty, so I’ll get it replaced first and when that runs out, I’ll do the mod.  THAT modded RB guitar is the best, hands down.

How about the music library comparison? It’s a matter of taste -

I spent some money on DLC last night:  Maximo Park’s Girls who play Guitars, Dear and the Headlights’ Sweet Talk, Radiohead’s Iron Lung, System of a Down’s Toxicity, White Stripes’ Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and Smashing Pumpkin’s Zero.  Guitar Hero!  No, these are all only available on Rock Band (apart from Maximo Park).  The best thing is, I load up Rock Band 2, and I don’t have to change disks, all my tracks are there (all songs from RB1 have been imported).  With GH, even if I buy stuff from the store, I have to switch disks for certain songs.  That sucks.  I want to do Muse’s stuff, which is mostly on GH3 and GH5.  Grrr.  I’m only loading up GHWT to do Coldplay’s Shiver, REM’s The One I Love and Interpol’s PDA.

Edit: Good Lord, here’s another mod, this time tearing up an old crappy PS2 GH guitar to completely turn your RB guitar into god guitar. I personally wouldn’t bother with the extra keys, just the strum bar. I think the other mod is better, just add switches to the strum bar, that’s all you really need to do!

Heard these guys a few times. Reminded me of the kills. Funny thing is that listening to the guy I suspected he was French! It’s perhaps sad that I want to see what face the voice has, but whatever! Off I went to youtube and wikipedia.

Having a look at the video, I was… er… surprised! Youtubers were quick to comment that the leads look like Kelly Osbourne and Eminem. Well, turns out the whole lot is from West London! Well enough about the looks, the music is good, and yes, it should remind you of The Kills but a lot more downkey. They’re starting to get hype, with some TV play and some festivals. Could be one to keep tabs on – have a quick listen:

I now have both, and I don’t care about which is better, I just want to play the songs I like with the best instruments.

RB guitar

Edit: I have the RB1 guitar and the GHWT guitar. They both have faults and frankly a combination of both would be best – if I modded the RB guitar with a microswitch strum, it would be my favourite, because it’s bigger, longer and the keys are more comfortable. I’d like to try the RB2 guitar, but they are not available in Europe!!!

RB keys

GH keys

At this time, the GH World Tour guitar is awesome, although a little shorter than the RB, the keys aren’t great and I’m having trouble activating star power. Even with these problems, the guitar is better simply because it has a microswitch strum bar, whereas the RB guitar seems to have an analogue strum bar. The GH guitar makes a click when you pull on the sensitive bar, whereas the RB guitar is silent as you pull, but then I’ve recently had to apply more pressure because analogue connectors have that tendency to wear out much faster. So far, when I want to hit the note, the strum bar is most important and the GH guitar is more accurate (but noisy too!).

Now I’m hearing about GH guitars failing. Oh well.

Just a random point, the GHWT game looks a bit more gimmicky and the CG of RB is more to my taste, but who cares, I want those GH songs! Bloody hell, only two tracks from Interpol, one on GHWT and one on RB2! Oh, the price of good taste!

So, what would be the best set up to get the most out of both games?

With RB, I can buy RB and RB2 on PS2 for cheap but then I can’t download more songs and GH guitars on PS2 don’t work with RB.

To have the best guitar (available in the UK to date) and a full libary (and cheaply), this is what you have to do:

If you want the whole band, get either the RB or GHWT full band set, as the GHWT stuff works on RB (PS3). As for Band Hero, er… it’s er… fun for all the family (all mainstream pop songs).

For me, an indie rock fan, Rock Band has the best catalogue, although GHWT and GH5 have a few tracks I’m going to have to have.

Here’s some charts (courtesy of the GH forums) if you want to mess around with components to get the best band instruments…

Oh and finally, the last word on Beatles Rockband: