VIDEO

John Byrne is a veteran of many musical projects, including the current Benders and Chevy Downs Band. He specializes in refined twang on both guitar and pedal steel. (Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Danny Thompson of Bigger Than Elvis and Mess Arounds fame. (Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Dino Codolata plays around on his guitar at the Guitar Boutique (where he works) in Greenwood. (Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Michael Kelsey, an acoustic unplugged acrobatics guitarist, has earned a national reputation. (Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Thom Daugherty of the Elms. (Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Talk to a guitar player about the "Guitar Hero" video game that has sold more than 14 million units since 2005, and the conversation may be less than pleasant.

Musicians who've mastered six strings on a fret board generally say their skills don't mesh with the challenge of pressing buttons on a small plastic guitar when cues for notes arrive at the bottom of a screen.

On a recent tour of standup dates, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait joked that a "Guitar Hero" player who claims to be a guitarist is the equivalent of an "Operation" player who claims to be a surgeon.

Acclaimed Lafayette-based guitarist Michael Kelsey, winner of a 2004 national talent search sponsored by Guitar Center, says he's never played "Guitar Hero."

"It doesn't really have anything to do with music, right? It has more to do with buttons," says Kelsey, a 40-year-old who learned to play guitar at age 10.

Thom Daugherty isn't as harsh when assessing the merits of "Guitar Hero."

A member of the Elms -- a Seymour-based rock band with three major-label albums on its resume -- Daugherty, 30, learned to play guitar at age 9.

"('Guitar Hero') is kind of a gateway in learning to play guitar," Daugherty says. "They're not the same, but (the game) develops motor skills and rhythmic sense."

Daugherty even predicts the game will spur a generation of skilled "gunslingers" during the next decade.

"The game is giving them a musical vocabulary they otherwise wouldn't have," he says.

Outside the realm of Xbox, PlayStation and Wii consoles, "guitar hero" isn't a one-size-fits-all title.

Daugherty specializes in heartland rock, and Kelsey is a master of acoustic improvisation. Meet them and three other Hoosier guitarists who focus on the varied tones and textures of rapid-fire metal, penetrating twang and rave-up rockabilly.

Thom Daugherty: Lord of the Riffs

Within rock 'n' roll's magical recipe, Thom Daugherty refers to guitar as the most important ingredient.

"The drums and bass get your body moving a certain way, but whenever a guitar comes on top of that -- that layer is just exciting and gives you an 'up' feeling," he says.

Daugherty discovered the power of guitar while watching the 1986 film "Crossroads" as a preteen. Ralph Macchio starred in the music-based story, which featured guitarist Steve Vai trading mind-bending solos with Macchio's character.

Initially under Vai's spell, Daugherty now counts Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame as his personal guitar heroes.

With the Elms, Daugherty writes and plays memorable guitar riffs in the tradition of Campbell and Page.

"I think repetition is your friend," Daugherty says. "The beauty of it is that it's this funky little part that gets stuck in your head, and you know it's going to be recurring throughout the whole tune."

The Elms are recording a follow-up to 2006 album "The Chess Hotel" issued on the Universal South label. Daugherty and bandmates Owen Thomas, Christopher Thomas and Nathan Bennett will play Carmelfest on July 4 as well as some European dates in August.

On the topic of the "Guitar Hero" video game, Daugherty says his nonguitarist friends are experts.

"If we're all sitting around, I'll bring in a little guitar amp and a guitar and I'll play the songs for real while they're playing the game," he says.

The Elms

When: 7 p.m. July 4.

Where: One Civic Square, Carmel.

Admission: Free. For more information, call (317) 571-2400.

Online: www.theelms.net

Michael Kelsey: Unplugged maestro

According to Michael Kelsey, the guitar's "cool" status is undiminished in an age of laptop musicians and celebrity DJs.

He puts it this way: "If you were to sneak in a 12-year-old's bedroom, I don't know if they'd be standing in front of a mirror pretending they were playing a keyboard."

Kelsey took his rock-'n'-roll dreams and followed an unlikely path, abandoning electric guitar and bands 15 years ago in favor of going solo with an acoustic guitar.

He says his well-worn Taylor 615 model encompasses everything he needs. He taps and slaps percussion on its wood surfaces, and he plays chords and melodies on its strings.

Kelsey's innovative style earned recognition on a national level when he won Guitar Center's "Guitarmageddon" competition for unsigned players in 2004. Unplugged players were rare in the contest, Kelsey says, but other hopefuls armed with effects pedals and amplifiers failed to intimidate.

"I think you can express yourself more," says Kelsey, who credits Michael Hedges for blazing a trail for acoustic guitarists interested in playing more than folk music.

Kelsey refers to his live performances as "creative experiences" in which audience members shape the show through suggestions, singing and their own instrumental abilities.

"Instead of thinking about how you're going to try to write that next hit song that everybody gets into, you realize you just love playing music and that in itself can become contagious," he says.

Michael Kelsey

When: 8:30 tonight.

Where: Birdy's, 2131 E. 71st St.

Admission: $5. For more information, call (317) 254-8971.

Online: www.michaelkelsey.com

John Byrne: The multi-threat

When John Byrne takes the stage with the Benders, the Chevy Downs Band or any other of his musical projects, you may see him standing with an electric guitar in hand, or you may see him seated at a pedal steel guitar.

The pedal steel, Byrne says, triggers curiosity at every show: "People want to know, 'What is it?'."

For the record, Byrne plays a vintage Multi-Kord model (built in Indianapolis by the Harlin Brothers).

"Most of what I do tends to be toward the country-rock/alt-country end of the spectrum," the Indianapolis resident says. "Steel guitars actually are more powerful, louder and more distorted than six-string guitars. So I was very attracted to them."

Byrne's playing isn't necessarily flashy, but he's made invaluable contributions to recordings by singer-songwriters such as Otis Gibbs, Tim Brickley and Danny Flanigan.

"I see my role as an instrumentalist as being the icing on the musical cake of the song," says Byrne, 42. "My job is to accentuate, to fill some holes and try to create a little additional excitement."

There are few holes in Byrne's schedule, as he balances music with his day job of second vice president for retail services at real estate company Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.

Still, the busy guitarist maintains a "less is more" philosophy.

"I think there's a reason that Steve Vai has compelled way fewer people than Angus Young or Keith Richards or Kurt Cobain," Byrne says. "You don't have to have a degree in music to know how to make really great guitar music."

The Benders

When: 9 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Cheeseburger In Paradise, 4670 Southport Crossings Drive.

Admission: Free. For more information, call (317) 883-4386.

Online: www.myspace.com/thebenderspage

Dino Codalata: Metal technician

The prominent "shredders" of the 1980s helped guitar stay on top as the instrument to play, says Dino Codalata.

Noted for playing funk and metal as a member of Indiana's Birdmen of Alcatraz in the 1990s, Codalata offers high praise for fleet-fingered soloists Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

"They opened a lot of eyes as to what could actually be done with the instrument," Codalata says. "They put it in a setting where it was hitting hard and more accessible."

He hears the influence of Malmsteen, Vai and Satriani in the bands Avenged Sevenfold and Dragonforce -- two acts featured in editions of the "Guitar Hero" video game.

Codalata, meanwhile, has reunited with Birdmen vocalist Rusty Redenbacher in a new band known as Lazarus.

"With Birdmen, you had to take your music to everybody," Codalata says. "We looped the country and came back home before looping the country and coming back home. You don't have to do that anymore. You just set up a MySpace page, which is cool."

The 42-year-old guitarist also plays cover versions of hit songs as a member of the Stepchildren, and he's working on a blues project with Chris Coates -- owner of the Guitar Boutique in Greenwood, where Codalata teaches lessons.

"It depends what I'm hired to do," Codalata says of his versatility. "If it's blues, I'm going to feel blues. If it's funk, I'm going to be spunky and energetic. If it's heavy, I'm going to be heavy."

Lazarus

When: 9 p.m. June 13.

Where: Melody Inn, 3826 N. Illinois St.

Admission: $5. For more information, call (317) 923-4707.

Online: www.myspace.com/lazarusindy

Danny Thompson: Roots radical

Guitar stardom wasn't a goal for Danny Thompson as a youngster, and he's not convinced he's a six-string hero as an adult.

"I wanted to be a singer," says Thompson, who picked his profession after attending Elvis Presley's 1977 concert at Market Square Arena. "To sing, I kind of needed something to accompany me. My mom bought a $5 guitar at a yard sale."

Thompson found success as both a guitarist and a vocalist. He played guitar as a founding member of punk band Sloppy Seconds (he exited the lineup in the early 1990s), and he's led high-profile rockabilly trio Bigger Than Elvis for more than a decade.

Once the owner of 17 guitars -- persuasive evidence for guitar-hero status -- Thompson takes a single Fender Telecaster to appearances with Bigger Than Elvis, retro-R&B band the Mess Arounds and punk project Dan Glenzig.

Currently heard in the "Blue" television ad for Marsh grocery stores, Thompson co-wrote, sang and played guitar on the "Sweet Sapphire" tune. And while he's modest regarding his licks that run from chicken-pickin' to surf, Thompson concedes to not shying away from the spotlight.

"I do think if you play lead guitar, whether you admit it or not, there's a part of you that wants people to see what you're doing," the 44-year-old Indianapolis resident says.

At the same time, Thompson may not be the best guitarist in his family. His wife, Mandy Luke, leads the honky-tonk act Mandy Marie and the Cool Hand Lukes. Thompson says there's a wealth of guitar heroines that deserve attention.

"It's a blessing and a curse," he says. "(Audiences) expect so little from you that whatever you do, they're impressed by it. I see Mandy struggle with it sometimes."

Bigger Than Elvis

When: 8 p.m. June 7.

Where: Radio Radio, 1119 E. Prospect St.

Admission: $5. For more information, call (317) 955-0995.

Online: www.biggerthanelvis.com