CMT Blog: Guitar Hero III

For the son of a country lover, my 11-year-old knows an awful lot about Foghat. And all things classic rock for that matter. Not because of anything I did, but because of the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock he got for his last birthday. Thanks to this much-heralded Wii game, he is now well-versed in Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Heart, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Weezer and Tenacious D. And that's nice for him. But I keep waiting for the day when the folks at Activision will wake up and see the impact of country music and develop a country Gitar* Hero (*spelled to reflect the proper Southern pronunciation of "guitar.")

Metal and hair band guitarists aren't the only ones who know how to grind an axe. I mean, watch Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert go at it. Those are my guitar heroes. Just watch their fingers coast effortlessly up and down the neck. They've got plenty of songs to fill up the Fret Burners and Relentless Riffs categories. The country version might have to change up that wireless guitar though. Maybe make it a Telecaster, and add some picking buttons to the strum board. (The fret buttons help you make the chords, but country guitarists do a fair amount of picking in addition to strumming, so that sound would need to be incorporated in order to beat Lambert at a song like "Gunpowder & Lead," unlocking her as a playable character.)

If I could convince those gaming geeks to make this Legends of Country edition, I'd be laying down the groundwork for future generations to respect these classic country sounds. I want my children's children to one day revere guys like Keith Urban, the way people now revere the sounds of Bill Monroe or Buck Owens. This would be a way of paying tribute to them now, in your own basement, without having to spend an entire day at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Then maybe when kids are doing their homework, you'll hear them humming "Once in a Lifetime" instead of "Slow Ride."