Hitting the wall on guitar...newb

[Tekkor]

Ok...Im looking for any advice here..as basic as it may be. Here is my situation....

I never played any of the GH games. Was always interested but held off. (was sucked into the evil wow universe for way too long)

Anyway....Ive been picking up on the guitar fairly quick I think. One note....Im playing on the Xplorer GH2 guitar that I bought seperatly as my son uses the Gibson for bass. I find I can hit quick solos better on the Xplorer...anyway....

Currently I can pretty much play any song on medium at like 93%+.

I want to try to move on to hard but there is just like a brick wall there. Its faster and throws that evil orange button in there. Is there any other advice anyone can give on how to move along on this? I know practice is the best medicine but what seems to happen to me is I shift my fingers to hit the orange but then get misaligned on sliding back and then miss green or red notes etc.

Is it just a thing of eventualy with enough practice your hand gets it? Again...any friendly advice on perhaps how to best approach it appreciated.

[Brane Ded]

You keep doing it until you get it. That's pretty much it. If you want you can try to find a song that doesn't have too many orange notes and practice on that. It doesn't happen over night, though. But still, it doesn't take long to learn.

[Harsher]

My advice is to just practice as much as you can. I played GH2-GH3 and I started out on easy and it took me awhile to work up to medium but I did it, then later after practicing a hard song like jordan I moved up to hard/expert etc. The main thing about the orange fret button is to remember you only have four fingers to play all five frets so you need to slide your hand down to hit the orange fret. Only certain songs will I hold down the orange fret with my pinky, usually its my ring finger that does it.

Also if you go into practice mode try to pratice the song at full speed once you know most of the notes because practicing at a slower speed will only hold you back. If you just started playing and haven't played GH before you are doing pretty good already to be playing at medium so don't rush hard yet. Just remember to slide your fingers up and down to reach all frets, and learn to strum up and down on really fast parts.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now.

Practice practice practice. :)

[CollegeDropouts]

If you are using your pinkie you're already a step ahead of most, so continue that. If you aren't, I suggest getting in the habbit. I can pass most expert songs with 99%+ on GH3, have 5starred every song in all GH series games, and I KNOW it's because how I play. I play with 4 fingers, and I idle with my index on Red, pinkie on Orange. Because pinkie is obviously a players weakest link, and orange is the least used note (normally), you want to synch them together, I shift upward, instead of most players shifting down.

For example, when I string goes R, G, R, G, R, G.... I'm using index only. If it shreds down the list, I'll move my hand up to G, and then R with index, y, b, and o take my other three fingers. I hope you understand and if you can get that in montion, you'll be passing things without even realizing you could do it in no time.

[icantwaitforrockband]

I hated it when people said "practice, practice" when I asked for tips. But you know what? That's the best way. I remember saying, "man, I'll never finish psychobilly freakout out hard". Guess what... a month or two later (maybe more, who knows?) I finished it on EXPERT!!! Best damn feeling ever... Keep at it dude, you'll eventually get it!

[Frederf]

There are several walls you'll encounter on guitar. The 5th fret is a normal bugaboo for the medium-going-hard player.

Some of the best songs to train the "One-shifted position" are those that play for a long time in the "home position" then shift to the "One-shifted position", play for a long time and go back and forth. Another suggestion is to play some Medium songs while going between "home" and "one-shift" that don't have any orange notes at all!

That might help break one big wall into two small walls so you can tackle the hard note charts with an established confidence in the two hand positions.

I will often play notes strictly in the green, red, yellow, blue range but alternate between "home" and "one-shift" just because it's easier, more comfortable, and/or doesn't tire out my hand.

[gsu_paintballer]

I think someone mentioned this right above me, butttttttt

Put your index finger on the Red fret.

Use your index for red and green rather than pinky for blue and orange. In hard, most of the notes will be Red-Orange anyways, with less green, I promise, I wouldnt lie to you :P

But yea, youll find its much easier (was for me anyways) in this method.

[xSinisterjX]

Play some songs on medium for a while with your index finger on red and middle on yellow sliding down to hit greens this will get you used to your hand having to move to green, but at the same time not be throwing alot of notes at you and moving faster.

[Tekkor]

Great tips and thanks!

Yes I play with all 4 fingers and use pinky on blue and Im hitting pretty much all songs like 98% a few harder ones maybe 93% or something on medium. I think I will try the tip on moving down and then playing green/red with index and try on medium and see how that works. Have to reprogram myself though as my brain thinks red second finger etc etc.

[JoshuaNeff]

What I do with my girlfriend is play a coop game. I play on expert, then if its a song thats tough she does medium and we try to five star it. If its an easier song, she'll play on hard and if she dies I can bring her back.

Keeps a "we did it!" with either five star or beating the song for her, I can still play on expert... if she messes up, I can just bring her back in.

Seems to work better then saying "try hard" when shes on solo- the second I leave its back to medium, or she gets mad and quits-

coop does the trick.

[ManOwaR]

Base your hand so the pinky is on the "last" note. Give your pointy and flip-off finger double duties.


You'll be fine. Play the slow ones first.

[sonicbrew]

For me, the solo frets are a Rock-God-send. That is all I play on now and when solos break in, I find it easier to do HO/PO's. It is probably easier for me to roll ho/po's due to being a guitar player for so many years, however; I think it would help just about anyone. Just leave the lower fret buttons alone and get used to playing on the solo frets and you will make things that much easier for yourself. Hope this helps..

[iloveplywood]

Far from an expert, but practicing songs on the Bass can be good for getting used to the speed of a new level (or making a current level seem slow by playing the bass a level higher). The Bass parts still scroll down just as fast but the charting is way less complicated. You still get orange notes so you can practicing your technique at a fast pace, but you won't get the complicated chording for the most part.

[flatsinki]

I am by no means an expert in GH2 but the best advice I can give is what worked for me and that is learn to move you hand around based on what notes are coming up. I typically have index on Red and play from there and shift up to Green or down to Yellow depending on the notes coming up. I keep track of where I'm fingering based on which finger is on the Yellow button thanks to the raised bump. It took me a bit to get used to but I found it really worked well once I got the hang of it.

My biggest problem is that I can't consistently nail the HOPOs which is holding me back on the later tiers of hard and expert.