Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason, and Rolling Stones bassman, Bill Wyman, have been muttering about the negative effect that music games have on young people learning real instruments. Oh dear, here we go again.

“It encourages kids not to learn, that’s the trouble,” Wyman tells the BBC.

“It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument. I think it’s a pity so I’m not really keen on that kind of stuff,” he concludes, haughtily.

Wyman’s sentiments are shared by Floyd stick-twiddler, Mason, who at least allows that music games are “interesting new developments” but is also quick to add:

“It irritates me having watched my kids do it – if they spent as much time practising the guitar as learning how to press the buttons they’d be damn good by now.”

Needless to say Alex Rigopulos, the co-founder of Harmonix Music Systems (the outfit behind the new Beatles Rock Band – out tomorrow and 100% awesome!) is having none of it:

“Most people try to learn an instrument at some point in their lives, and almost all of them quit after a few months or a year or two. This, I think, is because the earliest years of learning an instrument are the least gratifying”

“When people play Rock Band, however, they very quickly get a glimpse of the rewards that lie on the other side of the wall.”

“We’re constantly hearing from fans who were inspired by Rock Band to start studying a real instrument.”

Well, quite. Playing a real musical instrument takes years of practice and dedication and we don’t suppose there’s an aspiring musician on the planet who’s been put off his or her ambition because music games are easier. Furthermore if even one gamer has been inspired to pick up a proper instrument as a result of enjoying Rock Band et al, well, the job’s already better than a good ‘un. Sadly, these points appear to be lost on veterans like Mason and Wyman, who can’t seem to differentiate between videogame entertainment and reality. Sheesh...