I've been a Rock Band fan for a long time. The game was the reason I first bought a PS3 and our game shelf includes RB, RB2, Beatles RB and Lego RB. With 244 purchased DLC tracks and libraries that have been carried forward through various editions of the game, my RB song library is over 450 tracks. As an outlet for playing video games with my kids that's engaging and non-violent (without being saccharin), I find it difficult to top. As a life-long music geek who was just too damned uncoordinated to play an instrument and so turned down the dark path of writing music and concert reviews instead (those who can't play become critics…), Rock Band has been been a great way to virtually experience the stage without being in the wings, at least to a certain extent. Rock Band 3 finally brings the virtual music game experience full circle, fleshing out the instrument roster to include keyboards and introducing Pro modes for all instruments. Not only that, but even the days of the plastic, color button guitar may optionally be put behind you with the introduction of the Squier Stratocaster, a real six-string electric guitar that doubles as a RockBand 3 axe. With all of this new firepower available, I had to wonder: could my Rock Band skills transfer over to real life, allowing me to actually play an electric guitar? For realsies? What about my kids —will Rock Band 3 finally live up to the promise of a music video game becoming a true gateway to learning how to play a musical instrument?

Harmonix sent a kit with everything we needed to make the most of the Rock Band 3 experience, including that Squier Stratocaster. Read on to see how it went.

Mad Catz Wireless Keyboard for RB3 (image from MadCatz)

First Impressions:

Generally speaking, the new gear is impressive. I was a little leery of how this might turn out because this time around, Harmonix has gone the route of licensing peripherals to third parties instead of producing its own and I've often found third party peripherals to be lacking. MadCatz is doing the heavy lifting for RB3, producing the Pro-cymbal expansion kit, the wireless keyboard and the official Fender Mustang Pro guitar controller. I found the cymbals worked as advertised and matched the existing drum kit quite well (note, the original RB drum kit is not compatible, although subsequent versions are). They seemed a little chunky, the black, rubbery surface is a dust magnet and they make the drum kit feel just slightly rickety, but after a month of bashing on them there have been no issues and they are satisfyingly responsive. The keyboard (which comes in a compact keytar form factor) is wireless with full sized keys. It's solid, looks good, feels good and is a good compromise between functionality and space/cost practicalities. I didn't try out the Mad Catz guitar, but I have messed around with it in stores. It's an interesting take on adding realism, with six strings for strumming, 102 fret buttons and MIDI capability. That's a lot of buttons and I would personally move up to the Squier guitar as a Pro controller, but the Squier does cost nearly twice as much. Speaking of the Squier, this is a beauty of a video game controller. An actual musician would be better qualified to comment on its capabilities, but it is a full size, six string electric guitar with tracking technology in the neck and fingerboard for Rock Band 3 compatibility, as well as MIDI compatibility. Note that using this guitar with RB3 does require the purchase of a $40 MIDI Pro-adapter and, unlike the MadCatz version (or previous RB guitars), it is not wireless. It is compatible only with Rock Band 3, and only on pro guitar tracks.

Jon and Aidan rocking out (photo Brad Moon)

Gameplay:

New peripherals aside, how does Rock Band 3 compare to previous versions in terms of gameplay? Harmonix has followed an evolutionary path in terms of improving the game over the years. RB3 brings significant changes, but keeps enough of the basics to make it easy for anyone who's played a previous version to pick it up and run. Among the changes this round are social media integration (brag about your accomplishments on Facebook and Twitter) and a revamped career mode that now incorporates the previous quick play mode. I usually play guitar on medium difficulty (at hard, that klutz factor kicks in and I begin to seriously suck) and noticed that with RB3, songs on medium setting have become just slightly more challenging, by throwing in the odd orange note that forces me to move my hand around on the frets. It's not enough to scare me off, but adds just a little more challenge. As a dad who usually plays with a revolving crew of kids who have various levels of interest and/or stamina, there are several new elements in RB3 that are particularly welcome, including:

The ability for players to drop in and out of the game without disrupting gameplay. This one is huge. If one of the kids decides they've had enough, we can continue without having to drop back several menus and have the remaining players sign in again. Alternately, if a few of us are playing and someone wanders downstairs and wants to join in, it's as easy as picking up an instrument and popping in.

Increased avatar customizations. While this one didn't matter to me so much, my kids are very proud of their avatars and seeing "themselves" performing onscreen. RB3 lets you fine tune the physical appearance to a high enough degree that avatars can be recognizable representations if you so choose and the wardrobe and accessory options alone are enough to keep the kids busy for a while.

Adding the keyboard as an instrument is a great option for kids who would like to play, but don't want to sing and find the guitars or drum kit too intimidating. The keyboard can be used to play the bass parts as well.

Filtering options and being able to quickly navigate your song library by skipping through letters instead of having to scroll through every song is a huge difference. You may not appreciate it if you've just bought the game and have 75 songs in your library, but we've moved multiple RB libraries forward through the versions and frequently buy DLC tracks. My library is currently over 450 songs (which is small considering there are something like 2,600 available all told), but when you have to scroll up and down those 450 searching for everyone's favorite tracks, it used to introduce some very lengthy pauses in the action. The new system is a big improvement.

We did encounter one change that caused some confusion. There is a critical mass of players where setting up gets a little more complicated. Having a drummer/singer/guitar player and bass player or keyboard player combo was straightforward. But trying to have keyboard, bass and guitar playing at the same time requires switching to an offline "all Instrument" karaoke mode (in which case microphones and singers become "singalong" and aren't scored); this also changes the animation so you aren't in a concert view, but instead a music video that repeats with each track. This is the mode in which up to seven players can be playing at the same time and until you figure that out, getting set up with a whack of people can be confusing, with one of the keyboard/bass/guitar combo refusing to log in to the system. Once we figured the limitation out, it was no problem and we only run into the situation when friends stop by and the band size grows.

The other thing to be aware of is that with new instruments and Pro modes comes some compatibility issues that require planning or adaptability; especially if you have an existing track library. For example, with keyboards being a new introduction, only RB3 tracks (and DLC released since RB3) have keyboard parts. The keyboard can be used to play the bass part in older tracks, which is a reasonable compromise, so the keyboard player does have options. Pro capabilities are also a subset of songs so not every song will have Pro capability, which is something to keep in mind if you're using the Squier Stratocaster guitar controller (which is only capable of playing Pro guitar tracks). When buying DLC tracks, Pro guitar capability (where available) costs an extra buck — Pro drum and keyboard (where applicable) is included in the base price of these downloads.

Evolution of the RB axe: original Rock Band guitar (clad in Gelaskin Union Jack), Peak guitar controller and Squier Stratocaster (photo Brad Moon)

To test the Squier Stratocaster guitar's capabilities, I put out the call to my youngest brother who is a multi-instrument playing musician, music blogger and much more qualified than myself for testing it. Plus Jay has an amp. He found that trying to interpret the barrage of notes cascading down the screen on an unfamiliar song in real time was a little overwhelming. Even on songs that he knew, he would get messed up trying to read and interpret the Rock Band notes. However, once we plugged him into the amp and he started just playing a song from memory, he would hit the occasional note on Rock Band. This mode was actually very entertaining. Having someone who knows what they're doing playing guitar through an amp, while also playing in Rock Band — complete with fills — may not score points, but it sounds great. At the end of the session, he seemed reasonably impressed with the guitar's capabilities, especially considering the price. If you actually play guitar, want a MIDI guitar or want to learn guitar, it is worth picking up, but for most players the standard plastic axe is the way to go. At $279.99, the Squier Stratocaster may not be as expensive as an electric guitar, but it is a costly video game controller and does limit you to Pro guitar enabled tracks.

Rock Band as a Music Teacher:

This is an area I was particularly interested in. I've already established that playing Rock Band helped to foster a heightened interest in musical instruments and appreciation of music in general among our kids. I was actually feeling cocky enough with my plastic guitar to consider trying out the real thing — as an intermediate step, I'd graduated to a Peak guitar controller that is full sized, with a wooden neck and more authentic feel, but it's still a fake guitar. The Squier Stratocaster is a real six string electric guitar. It can be plugged into an amp (in fact, you can have it playing RB3 and outputting to an amp at the same time) and can also be used as a MIDI controller.

Rock Band 3 provides a full suite of training modes (for all instruments), including Pro training. Pick in hand, I plugged in the Strat and started working my way through the Pro guitar training mode. I can't read sheet music, so I wasn't thrown by the non-standard Rock Band method, which displays the strings (with corresponding string gauge to help in the visualization) along with numbers that correspond to numbered frets on the guitar. The tutorials break songs into components, use repetition and have the advantage of being able to read the location of your fingers to show you onscreen if you're off in your finger placement. This means less looking at your fingers and placement and more focusing on the screen. You can also slow everything down while you pick up the notes. I quickly realized that playing an electric guitar is much more difficult than playing a plastic guitar, and it hurts. I stuck with it until my fingers were sore and then began to develop calluses, but after a week or so, I reluctantly concluded that I still suck. I won't be graduating to any of John's lessons any time soon. Oh well, it was worth a try.

That being said, I think that Rock Band 3 has morphed into being a full blown gateway to learning an instrument. Guitar, bass, drums and keyboards are all available in Pro modes that provide actual transferable skills. The Squier Stratocaster guitar may be a bit big for my kids, but that didn't stop them from picking it up and trying to strum along any chance they could. I've noticed that with the drums in particular, this budding skill is becoming real. With the ability to play the drums in freestyle mode (and with the addition of the Pro cymbals), the boys are actually playing sometimes just to practice playing the drums. And they've progressed far beyond just random crashing and noise making. I have no doubt that if placed in front of a real drum kit, they'd be able to do something with it without requiring a whole lot of introduction. Rock Band may not replace a music teacher, but it's now possible that a kid can be at home, playing a music video game and learn enough real life skills to be able to pick up a real instrument and play a song from their Rock Band library on it. I think that's pretty cool.

Conclusion:

If you're a Rock Band fan and you haven't already picked up Rock Band 3, just do it. You won't be sorry. If you have the cash for Pro instrument upgrades, the keyboard would be my first choice since it opens up a whole new instrument path and can double for playing bass parts on those library tracks that don't have a keyboard part. The cymbals make Pro drumming possible and are relatively inexpensive. Your previous RB guitars will still work, but if you feel like tackling Pro guitar, then there are plastic versions available for a reasonable price but I would save up the cash for the Squier instead; you get a real electric guitar with MIDI capabilities. Check here if you want to see Wired's Gamelife take on the instruments. The included track list is great and mixes classics like the Doors and Warren Zevon with new wave favs like Big Country and the Police and alt rock from Metric and others.

If you are new to the whole genre, wondering whether or not to take the plunge and a maybe a little uncertain about what instruments to buy and the investment they represent, here's a suggestion. You can pick up a Rock Band 2 Special Edition set new for under $200. This gets you RB2 (which is still a great game), a bunch of songs, a guitar, microphone and drum kit — in short, everything you need to try it out in one box, without having to search for individual components. If you like it, you can pick up a copy of RB3, transfer your song library for a small fee (giving you around 150 tracks, with those included in RB3) and add Pro instruments as you see fit: the kit you already have will be fully compatible with RB3, just not capable of Pro mode without some upgrades.

Rock Band 3 from Harmonix (for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii): $49.99

Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard controller from Mad Catz: $79.99

Squier Stratocaster Guitar for Rock Band 3: $279.99 (currently available at Best Buy)

Rock Band 3 PRO-Cymbals Expansion Kit from Mad Catz: $39.99

Wired: Improvements in gameplay (being able to drop in and out, individual menus for players, more avatar customization, easier song navigation), addition of keyboard, Pro modes for ultra realistic instrument play, the Squier RB3/MIDI/electric guitar, strong track list.

Tired: Those maxing out player numbers may benefit from a roadie to help coordinate set-up, expanding instrument roster means more storage space required, Pro instruments and the Squier guitar are awesome but Pro mode is not available for all songs so keep the plastic axe handy, Beatles Rock Band remains an isolated ecosphere.

Disclosure: Harmonix provided Rock Band 3 and gear for review purposes. Sadly, the Squier Stratocaster guitar was a loaner and was reluctantly returned.