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<< Previous   of   Next >> Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) 12-year-old Dylan Phifer concentrates on Metallica's “Mercyful Fate” while his parents, Sallie and Jim, record his Guitar Hero play. Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) 12-year-old Dylan Phifer attempts a world record on Guitar Hero. Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) 12-year-old Dylan Phifer (center) gives a thumbs up while his parents Sallie (left) and Jim record his record setting attempt on Guitar Hero. Dylan’s friend Joel Ross watches as well. Dylan scored 1,019,682 points playing Metallica’s “Mercyful Fate.”   ADVERTISEMENT   Watch Dylan Phifer rock   Related Stories • Her 7-foot-long dog could be a record 10/8/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, September 14, 2009 Everett boy gets attention of Guinness with Guitar Hero skills 1,019,682 points, 1 song stuck in his head By Debra Smith Herald Writer EVERETT — Lots of kids long for a special talent. Dylan Phifer found his sitting in a brown leather chair in his living room. The 12-year-old Everett boy's superpower is playing the popular video game Guitar Hero. He's not just better than his friends and better than most of the much older players at the local game store. He's one of the best in the world. Right now a videotape and witness statements of his as-yet-unverified world-record performance are zipping toward Guinness World Records in England. Dylan blasted out an astronomical 1,019,682 points by playing “Mercyful Fate” by Metallica at an Everett Game Crazy store over Labor Day weekend. The standing record for that song is 1,009,000. “This kid is absolutely insane to say the least,” said Drew McGillivray, the manager of Game Crazy in Everett. “I‘ve never seen anyone perform like that.” By insane, McGillivray means scary good. McGillivray has played Guitar Hero for several years and watched many others. No one he's seen is Dylan's equal. If you haven't heard of Guitar Hero, just ask anyone under the age of 30. The Guitar Hero's rapidly expanding franchise allows anyone to play rock hits on a controller shaped like a guitar or other instruments. Players rack up points by matching musical notes to colored fret buttons as they zoom across the screen. The game mimics some elements of playing a real guitar, including fast-fingering hammer-ons and pull-offs. The guitar includes a whammy bar to alter the pitch of notes. Dylan prefers to play sitting down. His fingers fly over the frets and he regularly hits every note in a song that might have 3,000 notes. “When I finally got to expert, I thought I might actually be good at this game,” Dylan said. Being a master at Guitar Hero doesn't necessarily make you the next Tim Reynolds. Dylan tried taking guitar lessons but didn't care for it. Before you knock Dylan's talent, realize that it takes incredible eye-hand coordination, rhythm and even some muscle strength to excel at Guitar Hero. “It takes a lot of muscle endurance to move fingers fast and accurately enough to hit notes at the right time,” McGillivray said. It also doesn't hurt to have focus and near-photographic recall. Dylan has a special knack for remembering numbers, dates and the like and that might give him an edge remembering the long strings of notes flying at him during game play. It's taken a lot of practice time and focus for Dylan to develop his talent. His dad, Jim, bought him his first Guitar Hero game two years ago. For months, he's spent hours working his way through every version of Guitar Hero at the game store: That's a total of about 500 songs. Even when he's not playing, his hand sometimes taps out rhythms. The game has given Dylan a musical education in rock greats. The band names Cheap Trick and Rush slip off his tongue like that of a 45-year-old. His favorite song to play is Tom Petty's “American Girl.” Dylan is an honor roll student and a good kid, said his mom, Sallie Phifer. For those reasons, she doesn't worry about him spending so much time playing a video game. Plus, this is one thing in his life he can do better than just about any other kid. When you're not the star athlete, that matters. His world-record breaking performance appeared almost routine for Dylan, his mom said. “Sometimes he would be like this,” said his mom, making her eyes wander around the room while strumming an imaginary guitar. “I swear it was not like the Olympics.” Dylan insists he isn't the best in the world. He's just the one of the few people who bothered to go through the bothersome Guinness process, which includes videotape, witness statements and oodles of paperwork. However, his game console tracks top scores online. Again and again, he's listed at the top or near the top of every song he tries. And he has no plans of stopping anytime soon. “When you're good, why stop there?” Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out (No heading) Why doesn't he learn to play real guitar. It would help him out more in life than play a fad game which will only last a few years. Larry Lisk | Sep 16, 2009 7:00 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal games ok excel in school and i will be proud rita stanwood | Sep 14, 2009 2:00 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Hmmm he looks like one of the South Park Kids Tell me which one he looks like http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155857/?tag=Cartman John Navin | Sep 14, 2009 10:59 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Please Tim Reynolds? Way to make an obscure reference that NO ONE will understand. R N | Sep 14, 2009 6:53 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal want to know what guitar hero is?? its this really fun way to waste some time, and its not just for anyone under 30. that game is so much fun with friends when having a party. adam brischke | Sep 14, 2009 3:16 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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