Guitar Hero is immensely popular--but with its meager five fret buttons and single "string," it doesn't do much for the player's development as a musician. If you want a guitar game that may actually help when you're ready to pick up a stringed instrument, check out Mattel's I Can Play Guitar ($100 list, ages 6 and up).

The ICPG game controller mimics the look and feel of a guitar: It has six touch-sensitive "strings," tuned to the traditional EADGBE notes. At the top of the fretboard, five rows of color-coded buttons enable young players to learn finger placement for individual notes and chords. It also sports a pitch-bending whammy bar, a volume control knob, and buttons for navigating the included game screens and switching between a crunchy "electric" voice and a more twangy "acoustic" tone.

In guitar mode, the ICPG produces authentic notes and chords. The strings are more responsive to downward pressure than plucking or even strumming (which we tried, with limited success, using the included picks). It took us a while to achieve comfortable playing.

The skill-building starts when you plug the ICPG into a TV's audio and video jacks. With the introductory game cartridge inserted into the guitar's body, the main screen pops up immediately when you switch to the TV's AUX channel. Players are encouraged to play the "Road to Rock" game first, then try individual songs or freestyle jamming to canned accompaniment.

The familiar riff of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" sets the tone for "Road to Rock," a three-level game that helps the uninitiated get comfortable with ICPG. Level One tests a player's strumming ability; you have to hit the strings at given points in the song. (Note that left-handed guitar playing is not an option with ICPG.) Level Two requires you to fret the appropriate notes on the fretboard, and Level Three demands that you coordinate strumming and fretting. The game won't let you advance levels unless you've hit at least 75 percent of the notes successfully, and you can adjust the tempo for easier or more challenging play. "Iron Man" is the only song at this level, and it's still playing in our heads a day later.

If you're ready to graduate to other songs, ICPG offers a selection of popular tunes, from "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the easy end to "Smoke on the Water" and "La Bamba" on the more challenging side. With these songs, too, kids start with strumming, then graduate to fretting, then combine the two. Players are rewarded with virtual prizes such as cool shades, new hairdos, and rock-star clothes when they complete levels.

It's worth noting that this game doesn't actually teach the songs. The software doesn't require that you hit the correct string, just that you hit any string while holding the correct fret button. But it does help with rudimentary fingering techniques, and other cartridges (at $15 list each) add more songs and more note and chord progressions to the curriculum, so it may give budding shredders a leg up when they're ready for the real thing.

I Can Play Guitar is touted as a follow-up to last year's I Can Play Piano, with the same "Wizard Method" technology that helps kids learn music quickly and easily. But we think the transition from game to guitar is not quite as seamless here as it is with the piano version. On the other hand, the game is engaging and fun, and ICPG provides a more practical introduction to real playing than you'll get from Guitar Hero.

Post by Michael Steinhart