Sorry if that's offensive, but now that I have the attention of you better-at-math-than-me programmers (I'm not bitter, I'm just better at English), I have an idea that only you people can execute.

I've read about the Rock Band Network from Harmonix and it's an awesome idea. Play actual music, record it to your home computer's memory through music software programs and create the chart that gamers will use in the Rock Band game after you've published your work. It's an awesome idea that will do more for unknown musicians than Myspace ever has.

That's their idea, but I want to know how plausible mine is. I'd like the ability to somehow plug my guitar into the game console and have the game read my music and translate it into a chart to be used in conjunction with the guitar controller. Just that quickly. No extra work in between creating the music and publishing the track as downloadable content. Being able to do it this way would be more streamlined, allowing musicians more time to just record their work instead of creating game charts to correspond with the music. I'd also like to see this in reverse, have music or tablature show up on screen and be able to have an actual guitar plugged into the console to play along. This, I think, would create deeper involvement in the learning process for young and aspiring musicians. There's a disconnect when you play along to a CD wearing headphones or while listening to the radio. There has to be a way to program a game that will display notes or tab and have the notes sound when played correctly by an actual musician, experienced or amateur, playing an actual instrument that is directly connected to the console. This way, if the person playing doesn't pick the string properly, the note won't sound in the game. It would make young, aspiring guitarists in particular less prone to use the distortion effect as a crutch, for instance.

I've played my guitar in front of my computer both while listening and without listening to the song while playing along to the tab, but to know in an instant precisely where my rhythm was off or where my finger didn't quite press the string hard enough to the fret would be fantastic. Once I got it right, hearing a virtual crowd would be very rewarding as well.