Is there any value to playing Guitar Hero while learning guitar?

My husband just got his copy of Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock yesterday. He also picked up the wireless guitar peripheral, in the hopes that we’d rock out together. After all, Guitar Hero was first a purchase for me last year for my birthday. But, after he pwned me on “Carry on My Wayward Son,” in battle mode, I kinda lost my taste for it for a while. Besides, I was learning real guitar now, and had less time for the game.

I have been wondering lately, though: does Guitar Hero help you learn guitar at all?

I found this salon.com article that says, yes—to a limited extent.

I’ve already got pretty good rhythm, so the game didn’t really develop that skill. But it is rather useful to stretch my fingers out. I am cursed with fat sausage fingers and the inability to do the “Live Long and Prosper” sign. I need all the help I can get when it comes to flexibility. I’ll never be the next Gene Simmons, but I’ll be a passable guitar player, eventually.

Guitar Hero has also gotten a lot of people interested in learning real, actual guitar. Not me, for I’ve been wanting to learn to play for several years now, but a good friend of mine definitely got into guitar after Guitar Hero.

The article leaves out one beneficial aspect for people who play both Guitar Hero and guitar. When you’re struggling with scales or learning a song, you can go straight to Guitar Hero, and pwn a song. Perhaps the same song you are trying to learn on guitar. It’s cathartic, and good for the ego…