This is a screen from the new Wii version of Rock Band; meanwhile, on July 15, 12 Rock Band songs from The Who — ranging from “My Generation” to “Who Are You” — will be released for fans to buy.

AP

Myrna Sislen, the owner of Middle C Music in Washington, figures Guitar Hero is here to stay.

So recently, the music store hosted a tournament centered around the phenomenally popular video game. The grand prize: a real guitar.

“We can’t fight this technology,” she said. “We want to join this technology.”

Sislen, a classical guitar teacher and recording artist, thought up the contest after fielding phone calls from kids who had played the game and suddenly discovered a burning urge to learn how to play the real thing.

Though real musicians often regard rhythm video games like Guitar Hero with a dose of suspicion, if not contempt, it’s tough to ignore a phenomenon that has created $1 billion in sales while getting young people excited about hammering out rock ’n’ roll chords — even if it’s only on a guitar-shaped game controller.

The folks at Middle C aren’t the only ones trying to lure video-game fans over the gap between the game and real musical instruments. Earlier this year, the trade group International Music Products Association partnered with Guitar Hero publisher Activision in a marketing campaign to promote music lessons. Music instruction company Hal Leonard Publishing even offers a Guitar Hero book featuring transcriptions of the same David Bowie, Aerosmith and Nirvana songs featured in the games.

And some entrepreneurs are trying to come up with ways to lighten the tedium of learning to play an instrument, plugging real guitars into computer games.

If you reach the upper levels of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the screen sometimes flashes jokey messages to the effect that the player should “get a real guitar.” At least some fans have already followed that suggestion.

Will Rossi, a 12-year-old who lives in Washington, recently started taking guitar lessons after playing the game for a couple of years with his friend Matt. Now, both boys are taking lessons.

“Your fingers hurt a lot more, pressing your fingers into strings,” said Will, “(but) I would say that playing a real guitar has a little more satisfaction.”

Instruments with built-in instructional tools for students existed long before rock ’n’ roll-oriented video games came along. One line of guitars that has existed for years, for example, is designed to help would-be musicians learn with the help of tiny lights on the instrument’s neck that show players where to put their fingers while playing a song.

Rusty Shaffer, president of the company that makes those “Fretlight” guitars, says the game has been good for his business.

“We have absolutely seen an increase in sales due to the Guitar Hero phenomenon,” he said.

Even so, he’s a little leery.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. A lot of the video game’s fans pick up the real instrument hoping to be able to crank out blistering solos in short order, he said.

But since basically none of the skills developed by rapidly mashing a game controller’s buttons transfer to playing a real six-string instrument, many young guitar heroes grow rapidly discouraged.

So other music instruction companies are jumping on the bandwagon by offering new ways to learn how to play. IVideosongs is selling video clips online thatfeature the artists themselves talking about a song and demonstrating how to play it. Students can learn how to play “Tom Sawyer” from one of the members of Rush, for example.

IVideosongs founder Tim Huffman said the plummet in CD sales is motivating artists to participate in such projects in order to connect with fans. Funniest experience yet: “There’s been a number of times when we’re shooting and the artist will ask me, ‘What is the name of this chord?’ ”

The upcoming system Guitar Wizard turns instruction into a game. With a device that connects to a player’s guitar, the system’s software hearswhether a student is hitting the right notes or not.

As students play accurately, they rack up points — like a video game.