Music games have long ceased to be just for children and teenagers who like to dance to popular songs, and today it is a very large and deep industry that offers adults not only entertainment, but also serious tools for developing a variety of skills.
You should forget about old ideas, because modern music games are complex, interesting and useful projects that can be an easy way to pass the time, or they can be full-fledged music games for adults that require the player to focus.
What Skills Do Music Games Help You With?
| Skill | Description |
| Rhythm and Timing | It is not just a quick reaction, but it is a careful tuning of your own inner clock, so that you learn to make your movements and the sound from the outside match each other. Over time, your brain starts to see difficult rhythm patterns and it gets used to changing speeds and difficult rhythms, so that this ability to quickly understand rhythm and react to it becomes a natural part of you. |
| Coordination and Movement | When a music game needs you to use a few buttons or even real things like a guitar or drums, it becomes a real training for small and big body movements because when you play, you learn to make your hands, fingers, and eyes work together. In virtual reality, you use your whole body to move with the music, which helps you with not only being correct but also with your general body movement, and it makes your movements smoother and more conscious. |
| Memory and Focus | Many music games, especially on hard levels, need you to remember long sets of actions, and you must know what will happen next based on the patterns you saw before, which is very good training for your short-term memory. The games also need you to be fully focused, because one wrong move can make you lose your combo or even fail the level, which makes you block out everything else and be fully in the game, and this is very good for training your focus and ability to stay on one thing. |
| Hearing and Understanding Sounds | In music games, you do not just listen to music, you also think about it, because you learn to pick out single instruments, to hear when the melody or harmony changes, and to notice sounds that are not very clear. Sometimes, you can even guess what you need to do just by listening to the music and not looking at the screen, and this changes the game from just reacting to a more natural connection with the song. |
| Dealing with Stress and Feeling Better | Music games can be a very good way to let go of stress, because music itself helps you feel better, and when you mix it with an active game, you can use your energy in a positive way. A fast and difficult game can be like a kind of meditation, because it lets you forget about everyday problems for a while and go into a world of rhythm and sound, and this helps you to understand your feelings and to control yourself better. |
How These Skills Help in Real Life
Better Focus
The ability to focus in a game is something you can use at work or when you study, so you can work longer and be more productive on difficult tasks without getting distracted by small things, which is very good for people who do a lot of thinking and need to be patient.
Better Movement and Coordination
These skills are important not only for musicians or athletes, but they also help in normal things, from driving a car to working with a computer, where every key press is important. When your movements are better, you feel more sure and are better at doing things.
Faster Reactions
Music games train your ability to make decisions and react quickly to things that are changing, and this can be useful in situations that need a very fast reaction, like when you are driving in heavy traffic or in a sudden situation.
A Better Ear for Music
Even if you do not want to be a musician, a better ear for music lets you see the world in a new way, and you can understand music better, enjoy more difficult songs, and hear the differences between styles and types. Maybe you will even start to notice small details in people’s voices or in the sounds of nature.
Social Connections
Many online games have a mode where you can play with your friends or with people you do not know, and this is a very good chance to meet new people and to make your social connections stronger, because having the same interests helps you find new friends and people who think like you.
Examples of Music Games for Adults
Online Games
- Twin Beat. This game is a real test for your ears, and players must listen to a group of sounds and find the pairs that are the same, so that they train their hearing and memory with every new level.
- Music Cycle. You can get into the rhythm with this very interesting game, where your job is to hit the drum only when the beat says to, and you must follow the looping song all the way. It is a very fun challenge that makes you stay focused and fully in the flow.
- Osu! is a classic rhythm game that you can play online, and players must press circles, catch sliders, and turn spinners at the same time as the music. The game has a very big library of player-made maps for many different kinds of music from J-pop to classic rock, and the levels go from very easy to very hard, so they need great speed and reaction.
In the Osu! community, there are tournaments and competitions which make the game even more fun, and it helps you with rhythm and also with fast reactions and your eyes and hands working together.
- Just Dance Now. This is an online version of the popular game that you can use on phones and other devices, where you use your phone like a controller and copy the movements of the dancers on the screen. This is a great way to not only train your sense of rhythm but also to get some exercise for parties and for playing with friends, because many people can play at the same time.
- Sound Symmetry. This is a puzzle for your eyes and ears that uses both sides of your brain, and you must make the first blocks a mirror image of the second blocks to make a perfect sound match.
- Rhythmic Drums. You can test your music memory and sense of rhythm, and you must make the same rhythm patterns with perfect timing, get extra points, and get through difficult sound patterns like a professional. It is all about music, is it not?
Offline Games
- Rock Band. These are very famous games that use special things that look like guitars, drums, and microphones. The player’s task is to press the right buttons to act like they are playing a musical instrument, and these games need very good finger skill, fast reaction, and perfect timing.
- Synthesia. This program is a piano simulator that shows notes as falling blocks, just like in “Guitar Hero” but for piano keys. It is a very good tool for people who want to learn how to play a real piano, and the program lets you add any MIDI files, which means its library is almost endless teaching you about music, helps with finger movement, and trains you to read music notes.
- Taiko no Tatsujin. This is a Japanese game about drums that you can play on many devices, and you use a special drum controller to hit the drum at the same time as the music. The game is very fun and fast, but it needs a lot of focus and to be very correct.
- Sayonara Wild Hearts. This is a special project that mixes parts of a rhythm game, a fast game, and a music video that you can play with. The player needs not only a sense of rhythm but also a quick reaction to the world that is changing around them, and it is more like a movie experience where the music and the game are connected forever.
To sum up, playing music will become a great habit that has a positive effect on the brain. Initially, you can set yourself notifications so that you don’t forget, but later you will like it so much that you will reach for the phone yourself.
