As a kid, I was always neck deep in some kind of role-playing game, either tossing dice in Dungeons & Dragons or grinding XP in Final Fantasy. Lately I’ve been revisiting all that childhood nerdiness, and it made me look at my current hobby of playing guitar and wonder what it would look like if that were an RPG instead.
If guitar playing were an epic role-playing game, what would a player’s stat block look like? Picking? Strumming? Rhythm? Scales? Fretboard Mastery? Ear Training? What do you think the abilities should reflect? And, just as important, what ones are you working on leveling up now?
Ghostbunny - Level 2 Guitar Novice
Picking: 3
Strumming: 2
Rhythm: 2
Scales: 1
Fretboard Mastery: 2
Ear Training: 0 Aspirations: Multi-class into the prestige tier of Prog Wizard & Metal Shredder
I love this. Played more than my share of Final Fantasy games over the years, as well as Palladium and DnD. I tried to rate myself but I feel I’m just poor at everything. LOL.
Haha that’s exactly how I felt too! But I figure if I made it to Beginner Grade 2 then I’ve “earned” 10 xp to assign, even if I’m not quite that confident in my ability.
Oh, I like this! I love rpgs, I’m in 3 different groups atm^^
Let’s see…
If we go roughly with DnD mechanics, I’d say I’m lvl 3 overall, so right at the point where things get fun^^
Ear Training: 10 (I can identify most rhythms after a while, and I’m working on isolating guitar tracks atm, and recognizing strumming patterns) Knowledge: 17 (I cheated with having learned classical piano when I was a kid, so I know a lot about music theory. Kinda like an extra feat my background allows me^^) Technique: 13 (I can figure out most strumming patterns, I know the basics of fingerstyle, very basic country stuff, a few ways to mute strings, alternate picking, etc.) Repertoire: 14 (I know quite a few songs by heart, in different styles and difficulties) Improvisation: 9 (not something I practice a lot, I kinda freeze up whenever I try) Time: 10 (I am OK, need to practice more with a metronome.)
For the different skills, let’s go with this:
Counting (Time): +6 I can get anything into a count if I know the rhythm, I can reproduce any count Justin teaches in Grade 1-4, I can count out simple melodies and rhythms for myself
Fingerpicking - patterns (Technique): +2 I have memorized three, and can speed them up quite a lot.
Fretboard Mastery (Knowledge): +3 I know where the root notes are and can find them consistently. I can identify any note on the fret board with a bit of counting.
Identify rhythm (Ear Training): +3 I get there with most common rhythms eventually, but uncommon ones confuse me
Memorization (Repertoire): +7 no problems with memorization for the most part
Music Theory (Knowledge): +7 learned classical piano as a kid
Riffs (Technique): +3 Still a beginner, but my fingers are quite nimble.
Scales (Technique): +1 I don’t like them. I know e minor pentatonic and c major, but I don’t like learning new ones
Singing (Repertoire): +3 I’m not good at catching the right notes, but I can sing to most of my 8th note strumming songs
Strumming (Technique): +5 I can get most strumming patterns in 8th and 16th note strumming, and know how to change it up to keep it interesting. I have problems with getting them sped up a lot
I would definitely have my magical items on standby. Something super heavy to throw down some Destructive Magic when needed, I dont mean anything mundane like lightning bolt or Fireball. I am talking about something like Storm Of Vengeance seeded with Acid Rain enveloped in Maddening Darkness and Reverse Gravity with a crushing Tsunami wall of Toen.
For this I would always have my Fuzz cranked being pushed hard with killer Overdrive. Push it
