Did I mention that the guitar was carved out of wood... and had no strings... and that this “rock god” status only played out in my imagination?

That was the extent of what you had to do as a young kid if you didn’t know how to play the guitar: you grabbed something that resembled the instrument or wrapped your fingers around some air and rocked out.

But now, we all know about “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” and the gaming phenomenon they’ve each become. As we speak, there is probably someone between the ages of 9 and 90 strumming and hitting “Guitar Hero’s” color-coded “notes” and “chords” in sync with Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow” or trying to do crazy drum fills on “Rock Band’s” drum pads to Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.”

I’m not here to talk about which game is better, even though each franchise’s steps to out-do the other are making headlines in the gaming and music world. What I am going to talk about is how great these games are for young music fans — and how terrible they might be for potential musicians.

I was lucky enough to have my parents raise me on steady diet of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Police, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Deep Purple. I understand that there are plenty whose parents don’t feel the need to tell them the greatness of “Stairway to Heaven,” but if parents don’t introduce a variety of both old and new rock music to their kids, “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” will.

“Guitar Hero” allows people to play along with songs by The Rolling Stones, The Ramones, David Bowie, Queen and Metallica, while “Rock Band” has tracks by Radiohead, Black Sabbath, The Clash and The Who. The new game “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” features plenty of the band’s catalog, and rumors of a Metallica or even a Beatles version of “Guitar Hero” have been floating around.

It’s not all about old bands, though. Each music game franchise gives players plenty of tracks by newer bands like Queens of the Stone Age, My Chemical Romance and Foo Fighters, but what other games do you know have the potential to make a teenager run up to his daddy for some extra cash to pick up a Cream album?

But then there’s the drawbacks. Even if you are at tier 9 level on “Rock Band,” you will not be able to pick up a regular guitar and play Iron Maiden’s “Run To The Hills.” I remember thinking I would pick up the acoustic guitar my parents bought for me and be able to play Van Halen’s “Jump” without a single lesson. Guess what? I was no “Guitar Hero.” Guitar zero, maybe.

I imagine the transition from game to guitar can be disheartening and discouraging, maybe causing the once wanna-be musician to hole up in his basement living out his rock ‘n’ roll fantasy.

The thing that makes “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” great is that everybody can do it. But the thing that makes playing an actual instrument cool is that everybody CAN’T do it. So gamers, keep on rocking out with these games. They’ll be one of the few mainstream outlets where you can hear a song by the Dead Kennedys or the Sex Pistols. Just know that even though it’s harder to play an instrument than a video game, Hendrix didn’t become “Hendrix” by playing electronic Simon Says staring at his television.