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Rock beats pulse through the music studio as Josh Deuyour, 12, takes center stage.
He’s been practicing the guitar for less than two months, but his fingers dance from fret to fret like an expert. He bobs his head, his mop of hair swaying with his body. He looks like a real rock star — except for one important point: He’s not playing the guitar. He’s playing “Guitar Hero.”
The video game has become so popular it’s attracting a new generation to guitar lessons and the classic rock music of their parents, music tutors say.
At this studio, the owner has set up the game in a common area. His students are playing between their real lessons, which seldom sound as polished. Although some guitar instructors resent the game as a distraction from actual practice — and no one claims that playing “Guitar Hero” compares to the real thing — others are encouraged by the interest it’s generating.
Josh says the game is the reason he decided to take guitar lessons.
“It was fun and interesting. I thought: ‘This is something I could do,’ ” he says.
Same goes for Dalton McLaughlin, 12, who waits for his turn to play.
“Some of the songs sounded really, really awesome, so I’m like, ‘Why can’t I learn this on a real guitar?’ ” Dalton says.
For the uninitiated, “Guitar Hero” and similar games such as “Rock Band” are equipped with guitar-shaped controllers that have five color-coded fret buttons. Players press the corresponding buttons as colored “notes” stream across the TV screen in time to the music.
Skilled players earn bonus points and applause from onlookers. Poor ones are booed off the stage.
North American sales of “Guitar Hero” topped $1 billion in the previous 26 months, video game publisher Activision reported in January. The game first came out in 2005.

modbee.com