Music Gaming Goodness: Rock Band 2 Rocks The House

The Drum Trainer

Many, including ourselves, have talked about the potential for Rock Band not only to get people into drumming, but to help them learn as well. The drum controller is close enough to a real drum kit that people playing the game might accidentally learn a few things about playing drums. Unfortunately, teaching things like posture, fundamentals and technique isn't something Rock Band focused on.

With Rock Band 2, Harmonix made up for their lack a tiny bit by offering a Drum Trainer mode. The Drum Trainer consists of a few dozen different selectable beats that constantly loop until you hit stop. Tempo and the sound of the kit can be altered as well. This mode, as opposed to playing through a song, has the potential to teach people how beats feel to play rather than how to just play what they see. Playing the drums is more about timing and muscle memory than reflexes, and helping people move away from a play-what-you-see style will help people actually become drummers. If they want to.

In spite of the fact that you have the ability to move at your own pace and practice common beats, Rock Band 2 won't tell you if you are using a poor grip, moving your arms too much or if you are not using the bounce of the drum to your advantage. All of these things are important for people who are serious about playing, and learning poor technique can really get in the way down the road.

So the drum trainer is definitely a step in the right direction. It teaches you some rudiments without telling you what you are really learning, and it helps make the repetitive process of really learning how to play something a little more fun. But it still doesn't make Rock Band 2 the be all end all of learning tools for drums. In future versions, we would love to see some thing like some video tutorials of how to sit, hold your sticks, hit the drums, and all that good stuff. Just making the information available in the game would go a long way to helping save people from the need to un-learn things down the road.

Honestly, the best tool that Harmonix provided with Rock Band 2 isn't something that is geared specifically toward learning drums. Curious? Read on.