How To Keep Up With Your Teen at Guitar Hero
By Heather Jacobson of Desperately Seeking Sanity
The Guitar Hero rage has swept the nation and more and more teenagers are competing with friends on who is the true guitar hero. Many parents have found that playing Guitar Hero is a great way to bond with their teens and it is, if they can keep up. Don’t know how? Well keep reading and you’ll be sure to be the true “hero” in no time.
1. Create a Family Band so that they will want to make the score better.
The truth of the matter is, your teens are all about high scores, so if there is a “family band” each member can contribute to not only the high score but the money earned to purchase items in the store.
2. Don’t complain about what the characters are wearing or what they look like.
As a parent, it’s hard to watch your teen pick the rocker who has pink spiky hair and virtually nothing on as far as garments go. Let it slide. It’s a game and when you mention it, you are immediately uncool and you will no longer be allowed to play.
3. Put them to bed early so that you can practice.
Don’t think that you’ll get much time to practice when the kids are awake. If you’re truly passionate about becoming a hero, it’s going to take practice, and not when the young ones are around to make fun on your inability to hit the red blue combo. Do it when they are sleeping and pretend that you don’t ever practice.
4. Allow them to win every once in awhile.
As the only person who is able to make it through Free Bird on Guitar Hero 2 in the family, my children were quite discouraged and didn’t want to play with me any more. Based upon tip number 3, the late nights were affecting my performance at, you know, my job? Solution? Let your kids win. Then they can gloat in your face and they’ll keep letting you play.
5. When all else fails, ask your kids to play with the controller and not the guitar.
Did you know that you can play with a controller? You can. And it’s a big tougher. When I want to win, I tell the kids to play on the controller. Please note. This only works until you make them play on the controller long enough and they become quite good at it. At that point, go back to tip 3 and start over.
