Keith Urban Supports Real Guitar Over 'Guitar Hero'

Last Friday, July 23, Keith Urban was in Los Angeles to headline the Grammy Foundation's Starry Night show, which benefits the Grammy in the Schools music education program for high school students. Because of his own life-changing relationship with music, Urban emphasizes the importance of music programs in schools.

 

"I feel really fortunate that I got to start at such a young age," Urban explained to AOL's The Boot. "I was six when I started playing guitar and devote the 10,000-hour[s it generally takes to learn how to play]. I was able to rack that up at a good age and get professional at what I did ... I was impacted by, first of all, having an opportunity to play an instrument, which a lot of kids can do, but they don't have any access to instruments. And then if they do, they don't have access to teachers, they don't have environments that really foster that focus."

 

As more and more schools face critical budget cuts and the loss of their music education programs, Urban feels strongly about raising money and awareness to assist children in pursuing their love of music.

 

"There's a lot of talented kids that are just looking for that place where they can apply their being to," he said. "They're sort of born to be a guitar player, born to be a piano player, fiddle, sax, whatever it is. And all they have to do is find an instrument, and then they're off to the races ... I'm passionate about continuing that at schools where the funding cuts off the arts and the dramas."

 

Although the popularity of such video games as Rock Band and Guitar Hero have brought more kids to music, Urban is passionate about getting kids to pick up and play a real instrument.

 

"It's really important for the kids to put in the time," he stated. "Right now, we're seeing a lot of kids with 'Guitar Hero,' and I'm not dissing 'Guitar Hero,' but it's not a great use of hours and hours and hours of time ... it's not about 'I've got to create. I want to create. I'm an artist, and I want to create.' Hopefully, getting involved in this [program] will allow kids to be able to create and have the right thrust for this."

 

Urban, currently on the road playing his own real-life version of Guitar Hero, will hit the stage at the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 28.

 

Source: TheBoot.com