Rockin’ out old school is given a more modern twist with the new computer games that simulate musical instruments.

And it’s even easy enough for a dad to play.

That was my experience last week when son Charles got his new Rock Band video game. He saved up enough money from cutting grass and doing chores to buy it when a store recently dropped $30 off the price. Now it’s his favorite game.

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For those who don’t know much about the game, it has a guitar on which you press different color buttons on the fingerboard and flat toggle-like switch where you would strum the strings. You must coordinate the buttons and switch in time with the color-coded scheme scrolls down the screen.

There is also a drum set with foot pedal and four pads, each labeled with a different color. You must strike the appropriate color, using real drum sticks, as its own color-scheme scrolls down the screen. And there is a microphone. In Karaoke style, the lyrics scroll across the top of the screen and the pitch is noted by color bars. The more colors strummed, struck or sung in correct time with the music, the more points you garner.

There are many songs on the disk that are not to my taste, but there are some old rock songs, too, from bands like The Who and Blue Oyster Cult, among others. The Blue Oyster Cult song is “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” but unfortunately, there is no cowbell part in the game.

As for the characters, they are weird, but they are much more modestly dressed than the strange, cleavage-bearing animated beings on Guitar Hero.

I have to admit, ever since dropping quarters into an Asteroids game in the Time Saver three decades ago, I’ve been interested in some video games.

So when Charles gets a new game, I have to investigate it (of course before he can buy a new game, it must pass parental muster). Super Mario Smash Bros. Brawl was a cool addition, but it was just another ruse to beat the old man.

On the rare occasion I beat him, sometimes I’m too shocked to celebrate.

When Rock Band came, I wondered how it would really work. To listen from down the hall to Charles and his sister or friends play, only loud taps from the drumscan be heard. It’s strange. But when you play the game’s drums, it’s quite a challenge to tap the correct pad in time with the music. Unlike other games when Charles and I talk while our characters are fighting, talking during Rock Band throws you off track and you lose points.

From the old man’s perspective, it’s cool that for Charles to “win” the game, he has to go through several rock songs that I grew up listening to, so at least he gets to appreciate some good music, rather than the noise that emanates from the radio when he gets control of it.

JEFF ZERINGUE is managing editor of The Daily Iberian. He can be reached at iberianedit@bellsouth.net.