With the release of “Rock Band 2” and impending release of “Guitar Hero: World Tour,” I once again will have to deal with my non-musician friends beating me senseless at simulated-guitar.

I’m not alone though, the majority of experienced guitarists and bassists I know are all terrible at Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Call me crazy, but the games are only similar to actual guitar playing in the rhythm aspect. The thousands of hours guitarists and bassists spent mastering their instruments mean absolutely nothing in the world of Guitar Hero.

At a Guitar Hero 3 launch party in Sweden, In Flames played their song “Take this Life” against several fans. Interestingly enough, the guys in the band play a lot of Guitar Hero and still managed to lose against amateur gamers on a song they wrote.

In my many failed attempts to play Guitar Hero, I’ve noticed there are two things that keep trained guitarists from being able to adapt to the guitar-controller:

1. The guitar-controller forces the player to stretch their fingers in unnatural patterns for a guitarist—the guitarist would more than likely shift positions to hit notes that are represented by the top and bottom fretboard buttons.

2. Music-performance games often represent half-step notes as being played on the same key. A guitarist familiar with the song has to ignore their instinct to press a different button.

Just be warned though, stomping on your guitar-playing friends at Guitar Hero will likely lead them to breaking out their axe, thus subjecting you to a long—and likely boring—jam session.