Question for vocalists?

[dxduece]

Ok, I'm able to get 99-100% on all but like 2 songs on hard, but can't seem to get over 90-95% on expert. I'm singing exactly like I am on hard and it seems like I'm hitting the majority of the notes. What's the secret?

[Bakkster]

Better pitch and rhythm. Expert requires you to be more precise.

[sporkBrigade]

In my experience, you lose a lot of points at the beginning and end of each word. I haven't made the transistion from Hard to Expert yet, but going from Medium to Hard was a similiar story. Fortunate Son, for example, I can 100% on Medium. But when I bumped up to Hard, I got a 89%. What I noticed the most was that leading into each word and pitch change, there was a short moment where I had to find the right pitch. I think you lose a lot of points there on Hard and especially Expert. You have to be pitch perfect from the very first instant.

Another factor is that the Arrow is actually more forgiving on lower difficulties, I've noticed. So it shows you a lot of green that actually wouldn't count as a green on a higher difficulty. You can nail it on Hard, and feel like you were perfect. But in reality you weren't, especially in the transitions.

[Grayshadow]

Expert is more strict than hard when it comes to tone accuracy. Make sure your notes are holding through the entire duration that the screen shows. Sometimes it helps to start notes early to get the tone indicator where it needs to be. Also, make sure you aren't dropping your tone at the end of a word or phrase, unless the line on the screen drops as well.

If you notice you're getting "okay" or "strong" on some phrases, go into practice for that section of song to more closely analyze what's going wrong. Perhaps get a friend to watch the tone indicator closely to spot where exactly it's giving you trouble.

[Edward Hyena]

If you have time to in a song, start singing each phrase early. It won't penalize you for singing early, and it gives you time to adjust your pitch. You may find it easier to finish a phrase that you start okay, rather than starting a phrase poorly and then scrambling to correct yourself.

[balth]

Expert is more strict than hard when it comes to tone accuracy. Make sure your notes are holding through the entire duration that the screen shows. Sometimes it helps to start notes early to get the tone indicator where it needs to be. Also, make sure you aren't dropping your tone at the end of a word or phrase, unless the line on the screen drops as well.

If you notice you're getting "okay" or "strong" on some phrases, go into practice for that section of song to more closely analyze what's going wrong. Perhaps get a friend to watch the tone indicator closely to spot where exactly it's giving you trouble.

Starting early will help you maximize your score, for sure.

Also, in my opinion, activating vocal overdrive is easily done by simply holding a note past the end of the register and into the overdrive doily. (What!? It *IS* a freakin' doily! Stupid emo-goth kids getting their hands on the devs LOL)

Also, to be quite honest, I hadn't heard a majority of the songs on the disc, so one of the first things I recommend you do is pick up the guitar and let the vocal track play so you can hear what goes where. Feel free to radio-in-your-car along until you think you've got it, then tackle the vocals.

I personally wish there was an 'exhibition' mode where I could just listen to the songs/watch the in-game generated band video for a song without actually having to play it. But I'm sidetracking.

Anyways, what I tend to think is that starting early gets you your meter max earlier, letting you freestyle within a section earlier. That keeps your vocals interesting, but also meets the criteria of the game ;)

Hope this helps.

[cttiniraq]

Another thing to consider is if you have a lot of vibrato (shakiness) in your singing voice. I personally have a very strong vibrato and I have to consciously make myself sing the note "flat" so that the pitch doesn't waiver too much. As said before, Expert is much less forgiving than the other levels, rightly so, and at times hitting the note that you need to be on isn't the best sounding thing, but if you want the most points just hold that note as flatly as you can for the whole time. And whoever said that starting early helps is exactly right!!!!!!

[dxduece]

Thanks for the advice guys! It's helped out a lot! :D