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  <body>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jan/06/popandrock&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Right&lt;/a&gt;?:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;padding-left: 60px;&quot;&gt;In other words &quot;real&quot; guitarists like Mayer want to keep rock
stardom like a sort of medieval guild, where entrance is only granted
to those willing to suffer the tedium, frustration and savagely
blistered fingers of an arduous apprenticeship &amp;ndash; years that could
surely be better spent miming songs, dressing up in your mum's clothes
and practising some really cool moves in the mirror.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;padding-left: 60px;&quot;&gt;Rather
than making Guitar Hero guitars harder or more &quot;realistic&quot;, surely the
success of Guitar Hero means that the onus is now on the manufacturers
of &quot;real&quot; guitars to make them easier (in other words, more like the
ones in Guitar Hero).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;padding-left: 60px;&quot;&gt;Why are they still making guitars with
&quot;real&quot; strings that are difficult and boring to learn how to play and
really make your fingers hurt? What is the point? Do we still slaughter
our own cows? Dig our own wells? Work in the turnip fields for 18 hours
a day, six days a week? No. Buttons have proven themselves to be much
easier and more efficient. Plus, with the button guitar you can still
use the instrument for its main purpose &amp;ndash; pretending that it's a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guitaristka.ru/DRUGOE/guitars/carverdoug/wangcaster.jpg&quot;&gt;penis&lt;/a&gt; or a &lt;a href=&quot;http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/07/ebay-of-day-machine-gun-shaped-bass.html&quot;&gt;machine gun&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please note the link embedded in the word &quot;penis&quot; at the end. Unbelievable. How does the saying go? Rock out with your...&lt;/p&gt;</body>
  <byline>Steven Wells | The Guardian</byline>
  <cached-tag-list>cock guitar musician, rock band hero cult culture pop</cached-tag-list>
  <caption></caption>
  <category>the-feed</category>
  <comments-count type="integer">3</comments-count>
  <created-at type="datetime">2009-01-08T16:52:59-05:00</created-at>
  <deck>&lt;p&gt;What, with Guitar Hero and Rock Band, et al, it's time the real thing met the colored-buttoned version in the middle.&lt;/p&gt;</deck>
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  <permalink>time-to-dumb-down-the-guitar</permalink>
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  <publish-date type="datetime">2009-01-08T16:53:03-05:00</publish-date>
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  <title>Time to dumb down the guitar</title>
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  <updated-at type="datetime">2009-01-08T16:53:04-05:00</updated-at>
  <url>http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jan/06/popandrock</url>
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