If you're one of the many who think Guitar Hero and Rock Band are weak for their plastic instruments then Guitar Rising is for you. We spent some time with it at GDC 08 and came away cautiously optimistic.
1) chords are very difficult to track due to the way the output waveform changes with the intervals used in the chord shape. Unless you are using a midi-equipped guitar that can read each string on a seperate pickup, the only way this game will work well is if you have a relatively clean technique to keep the notes down to one at a time
2) this will still be a very good tool for practicing licks on a guitar. fretting is still a combination of speed and precision and this just reinforces those good habits. Once a new guitar player can mix in good single note lines and change chords quickly, they will have a good foundation for trying other stuff.
I like the idea simply because i like guitar hero, and i enjoy playiing real guitar
i do see how chords can quickly become problematic somply because of the subtle tone differences between some chords.
I think a slightly better idae would be to use a 10-button guitar hero controller with two or more sets of fret buttons to simulate more "strings" but even that becomes problematic when it comes to how it appears on a screen. kudos for the idea though
