Those of us who are beginners on the drums...

[RavagerX]

...how well have you improved?

I started on easy, the same day I moved up to medium, and can play a few songs on hard.

Just now starting Hard under solo tour....not doing so great, lol...can't pass Reptilia....why?

Because my hands and foot go all ****** mode when I have to alternate between the pads and the pedal.

Sounds easy, looks easy, but my hands and feet just wont work together. I know I'll get it eventually....I HOPE I get it eventually.

Guitar, I can play expert on, no big deal....started guitar hero at the beginning of the year.

So...how long till you think you will be able to play on hard/expert? What are you having problems with?

[RavagerX]

I would also like to add that those who send me rock band invites, I try to join and either the invitation is expired, or I can not connect....so please don't think I am some kind of ass, I would LOVE to play with you guys, but for some reason I can't seem to.

I will try sending out invites to ppl online, hopefully I can get this working.

[Darkfire6247]

I started on Medium on launch day, now I can do pretty much all Hard songs. Yet i'm stuck on expert in solo tour. You can add me if you'd like, and be my guitarist or drummer.

The invites expire really quick I think, like you send them when you are at the choose online band members screen, once you move past that screen I think they expire.

[RavagerX]

The invites expire really quick I think, like you send them when you are at the choose online band members screen, once you move past that screen I think they expire.

Ahhh ok, I will give that a try tomorrow then, thanks.....if I play with ya, I will probably be a guitarist...i'll save the drums for practice.

[WiseOldUnicorn]

I just got my bundle yesterday, and played through drums on Easy that day. (I figured I could've done Medium just fine, and I probably could have, but I wanted the extra experience to help me figure out how to hold the drumsticks, work the bass pedal, etc.)

Today I started on Medium and got up to the Hand That Feeds before quitting for the night. I would have progressed a lot farther, I'm sure, but I've been splitting my playing time between guitar and vocals too. I'm doing reasonably well, though--upper 90's percentage on every Medium song so far.

Unfortunately, tomorrow I'm leaving for a trip and won't be home for about a week and a half. So unless I find a way to take my drum set with me, I'll probably be all out of practice and suck by the time I get back. :(

[Ventura]

Just now starting Hard under solo tour....not doing so great, lol...can't pass Reptilia....why?

Because my hands and foot go all ****** mode when I have to alternate between the pads and the pedal.

Sounds easy, looks easy, but my hands and feet just wont work together. I know I'll get it eventually....I HOPE I get it eventually.


I'm at the same point. Reptilia is actually derailing a lot of people when they get to it on hard. I end up trying to do the drums and foot pedal at the same time, and always fail out of the song at the exact same time.

That said, I'd made good progress in a short time. My first copy arrived in Australia last Friday afternoon, and by Monday night I'd beaten the game on medium.

I was loving the drums... until I hit Reptilia. Now I don't feel like playing em :(

[RavagerX]

I'm at the same point. Reptilia is actually derailing a lot of people when they get to it on hard. I end up trying to do the drums and foot pedal at the same time, and always fail out of the song at the exact same time.

That said, I'd made good progress in a short time. My first copy arrived in Australia last Friday afternoon, and by Monday night I'd beaten the game on medium.

I was loving the drums... until I hit Reptilia. Now I don't feel like playing em :(

Lol, I feel EXACTLY the same way, it is kinda disheartening.

After failing the song in the same place twice, I looked down at my drums and pedal(which has a brace taped to it so it wont break), and thought to myself, "Is this the end of the road for me with the drums? Have I reached the limit of my potential?"

Lol.....I will probably just go back and practice on medium with the songs that give me a little bit of trouble(run to the hills, one or two others)and practice on the songs I can beat on hard.

But....it might be a while till I can beat hard....I don't even want to THINK about expert right now.

[SplashFrog]

Started last week, had a bit of a problem as I tried to start on expert. Toned it down and went on medium. Found it pretty easy and got through it no problem, from the limited amount of time I've had to play I've been cruising through hard. Ended up failing Don't Fear The Reaper as the end part really threw me off guard. Probably won't get to try again until I get some of my exams out of my way.

[XquietusX]

I started on medium on day 1. Played through it all the next couple days then tried hard and failed miserably. Went back and 5 starred half the medium songs, went to hard got through like 10 songs, back to medium, 5 starred everything else, back to hard and I was good until I hit go with the flow...brutal...after bettering my old scores finally passed it then got stuck on another song forgot the name of it 1st song in 2nd to last tier, took a few more days to get past that, then onto the last tier in hard and omg these are very very hard songs, I passed em all kind of barely except for that iron maiden song, failed at 10%, I really don't think I'll be getting past that for a while but that is my last hard song. I'll just keep practicing by bettering my other scores and hopefully make it back into the top 100 soon for career drums.

The only problem I had goin through the game was that on medium you get so used to hitting foot pedals on the beats it made it hard for me to get the timing on hard to hit them in off beats, I'm catching up on different things each time I play though and still having fun well cept for the iron maiden song on hard, that is just frustrating. Oh yeah another probelm I have is that I can't do drum rolls, I've gotten used to doin fast beats with 1 hand only, lol.

[Ryder35]

Done all of Medium and Easy, Hard is giving me grief for the same reasons as the rest of you, it's the bass pedal being out of synch with the sticks that confuses me

[SplashFrog]

Oh yeah another probelm I have is that I can't do drum rolls, I've gotten used to doin fast beats with 1 hand only, lol.

Go practice some sections of Ballroom Blitz on Hard, they have some REALLY long drum roll sections where you can practice it. Just start off slow and pick up the pace as you get better at it.

[RavagerX]

Well, I am glad to hear that I am not the only one with these troubles. :)

[Ventura]

Done all of Medium and Easy, Hard is giving me grief for the same reasons as the rest of you, it's the bass pedal being out of synch with the sticks that confuses me

Yeah that's it, exactly. I'm great when it wants me to drum and use the pedal at the same time, but alternate them and I've got no chance.

I've read a few posts around here about all this, and one of them said something about some exercises you can do even when the game's not running. Stuff like just sitting down and practicing certain sequences, like hitting two drums, then the pedal, then two drums, then the pedal. Then speed it up a bit and try to keep that rhythm going.

This is obviously the sort of stuff that real musicians will do when trying to improve, and since Rock Band drumming is supposed to be so much like the real thing, there's no reason why it couldn't work for us too.

Eventually, someday, somehow... I'll pass that bloody song!

[Ryder35]

Yeah that's it, exactly. I'm great when it wants me to drum and use the pedal at the same time, but alternate them and I've got no chance.


This is obviously the sort of stuff that real musicians will do when trying to improve, and since Rock Band drumming is supposed to be so much like the real thing, there's no reason why it couldn't work for us too.

Eventually, someday, somehow... I'll pass that bloody song!

It is also the sort of thing that will get my co workers to call the men in white coats!

[MrE]

I'm great when it wants me to drum and use the pedal at the same time, but alternate them and I've got no chance.


same here.

I've gotten through Easy but want to go back and 5 Star all the songs before moving on to Medium. Right now I can't even fathom playing on Hard or Expert. Hopefully I'll master Expert by the time RB2 comes out :D

[Hanover]

If its the part where you alternate between the bass pedal and the drums, then do it this way:

The problem most people have is that they are trying to keep their hands still while pressing the bass pedal, and unfortunately there's too much momentum to bring them to a halt that quickly and you end up accidentally hitting the drums again. So you need to use the momentum to give your hands their own part while hitting the bass pedal that doesn't involve hitting the drums.

So, think of bringing your sticks up as part of the beat that the pedal falls on...pretend you're trying to hit your shoulders at the same time you'd press the bass drum. In this way, you're giving your hands something to do to the beat of the music while you press the bass pedal.

1. Hit the drum while not pressing the bass pedal...

2. Let the sticks bounce back towards your shoulders (pretend you're trying to tap them), pressing the bass drum pedal at the same time.

DD
------ <-bring drum sticks back to this beat
DD
------ <-bring drum sticks back to this beat

Practice this section on about 70&#37; (don't go too slow) until you get it, then slowly speed it up.

After awhile, I don't even think of it anymore...and in fact, I don't even have to bring my sticks back as far anymore.

Wave of Mutilation on hard is another one to practice this to.




I'm at the same point. Reptilia is actually derailing a lot of people when they get to it on hard. I end up trying to do the drums and foot pedal at the same time, and always fail out of the song at the exact same time.

That said, I'd made good progress in a short time. My first copy arrived in Australia last Friday afternoon, and by Monday night I'd beaten the game on medium.

I was loving the drums... until I hit Reptilia. Now I don't feel like playing em :(

[Ventura]

same here.

I've gotten through Easy but want to go back and 5 Star all the songs before moving on to Medium. Right now I can't even fathom playing on Hard or Expert. Hopefully I'll master Expert by the time RB2 comes out :D

You could probably go straight to medium right now and tear it up. I must've only played the first two sets on easy before hitting up medium, and while that was really only because myself and the fiance wanted to be able to get more fans for the band mode, it's perfectly doable.

While I fear Reptilia on hard is going to own me for still some time to come yet, it's still a lot of fun playing the harder songs on medium and all the songs on hard that come before it, and I know sooner or later it's gonna go down.

Just a side note, but all of you guys who have posted in this thread already, do you play with your heel down on the pedal? That's how I play, but I've read a lot of posts from a lot of pro drummers and they play with their foot up. I've been thinking about trying to change how I work the pedal, cause it's better to get used to the good habits and all that, but even at this stage it's going to prove difficult to make this change.

Just curious how you guys do that, cause whenever you have to depress the pedal twice rather quickly I tend to bugger it up more often than not.

[macafied]

Practice mode works wonders! Slow the song down to 70% or more and you will learn a lot quicker how to seperate hands and feet.

[phulcrum1984]

I have the same problem but I seem to be getting better lately. I can 4+ star songs on hard up untill the set after Dani California and 5 star medium easy. All this after starting on medium and 3 staring (or less =p) the whole solo career.

[davidshek]

Oh c'mon people...the answer here is simple: Drums are hard to play.

Not just RB drums, real drums, which RB drums do a fairly decent job of simulating.

Nothing pisses me off more than when I'm out playing a gig with my band and some stupid Redneck comes up to me between sets and says something like, 'Hey drums look easy! I could do that!'

All I say to that is, 'Sure buddy, go right ahead. Here's my sticks. Hit me with your best shot'. Occasionally they do, and I laugh my ass off when they can't play the simplest 4/4 beat. Then I make them buy me a beer :D

Just remember, drumming is difficult. It involves coordination of all 4 limbs (ok, just 3 in RB :)) which your body is totally not used to yet. Not only that, but RB adds the extra element of having to watch the screen and coordinate seeing those little bars with what your body is doing. That last part is hard even for us experienced drummers!

The game's been out for what, barely over 2 weeks? I couldn't play jack either when I had only been playing drums for 2 weeks. Give it some time and practice, practice, practice!!

[Micker]

Also a tip for drumming.

Kepp your hands moving with the beat. If you hit yellow/kick, then its just a kick note, you should still move your stick like you are going to hit the yellow pad, but don't make contact, jus move it with the beat. Just like guitar, you keep your strumming hand moving, even if you are not strumming the strings for a pass or two. It helps keep to keep the beat.

[SpikeX]

Never played or touched drums before in my life, and I just beat Medium on drums and am starting on hard.

[Warlum]

heh i got it home and was playing expert release date. Never played drums before...but I'm a musician and understand complex rythms. My friends hate me because i destroy them at all the music sims... beatmania iidx, GH3, all that sort :D

I'm better at it than my poor drummer friend :(

[drgnmstr44]

Just a side note, but all of you guys who have posted in this thread already, do you play with your heel down on the pedal? That's how I play, but I've read a lot of posts from a lot of pro drummers and they play with their foot up. I've been thinking about trying to change how I work the pedal, cause it's better to get used to the good habits and all that, but even at this stage it's going to prove difficult to make this change.

Just curious how you guys do that, cause whenever you have to depress the pedal twice rather quickly I tend to bugger it up more often than not.


I had asked a few questions about kick pedal placement here before since I'm new to drums and things felt off. I got some good feed back there and one of the posters suggested looking up techniques for drumming on the web. I did that and here (http://www.drumsoloartist.com/wiki/drum_techniuqes/basic/beating_the_bass_drum) is what I found. it seemed to help me out.

oh and on topic, I've had the game since release and split my time between guitar and drums. I'm currently finishing up drums on medium. some of the rhythms with the kick pedal are getting me but I'm working past them.

[rotciv50]

started on medium, finished medium, on hard I am up to 3and7's and Detroit Rock City, those dam stutter sections kill me.. on the DL section I havent been able to beat AJFA and Ride the LIghtning, was able to 3 star blackend, I notcied that practice helped alot, practice for the guitr didnt help me as much as practicing for the drums, once you have the beat down its just a matter of speeding it up , especially in sections that constantly repeat themselves

also same here on not reposding to invites , wish there was a way if your in solo mode to be notified of an invite

[switchdoc]

I got through easy with little difficulty... 5 stared everything but the REM song which I'll come back to once I get through some more medium.

The medium songs I've done so far have been pretty easy, except for a few of the harder ones that came up in random WBT play. Timmy and the Lords of the Underword just obliterated me, mostly because the beat changes so often that by the time I got one piece figured out it was on to something new. First song I've failed out of on drums. I am very good at yelling "Timmah!" now though.

I need two things to improve.

1) Practice
2) More leg/calf stamina.

-Switch

[RavagerX]

hahaHAha, I managed to squeak by Reptilia by the edge of my seat....however, I know I am about to be in for a world of pain and embarassment with the next set.....I should practice I guess, but you know how it is....you just want to jump in there and start rocking immediately!!!

[Hanover]

Im in the first tier on expert and now I try every new song on quick play first.

As soon as I realize it's kicking my butt, it's immediately off to practice and I don't even try it again in front of the crowd until I can get at least 85&#37; in practice. Saves a lot of frustration.

I also go one song at a time. I find trying to practice more than one song at a time isn't very productive.

Then you reward yourself by going to easier levels and playing the songs you're good at.


hahaHAha, I managed to squeak by Reptilia by the edge of my seat....however, I know I am about to be in for a world of pain and embarassment with the next set.....I should practice I guess, but you know how it is....you just want to jump in there and start rocking immediately!!!

[RavagerX]

Ok...this is weird.

I am five starring songs now....

What gives?

I know they are teasing me.....in a second I am going to fail big time I know it.......

Anyway, has anyone had any pain from the pedal? Meaning does your foot start to cramp up and stuff?

[Brew78]

Reptilia on Hard really didn't give me much trouble to be honest. About 2/3 of the way through The Part Which Gives Problems I did desynch a little bit, but the strategy is really the same thing as in Guitar Hero if you lost your position...

Just stop for a moment. Take a breath. Ignore the dropping Rock Meter. Get a sense of the beat again, and hop in once you're comfortable. I think that my problem is just that my ankle doesn't have the stamina to keep up a steady beat like that so it starts to lag a bit. And a couple seconds off helps to recharge just enough to get the beat back.

If you just keep trying to hit every beat, you're going to tank the rock meter way faster than just pausing to catch your rhythm again.

[Chris_Gonzalez]

Foreplay/Longtime (just Foreplay) is giving me problems on Hard drums. I can't get through Foreplay because I get off synch for some reason. I think my foot decides to move with my left hand instead of my right hand. I dunno, but I'm not stopping today until I pass it.

[G_tarRoCK3R]

Foreplay/Longtime (just Foreplay) is giving me problems on Hard drums. I can't get through Foreplay because I get off synch for some reason. I think my foot decides to move with my left hand instead of my right hand. I dunno, but I'm not stopping today until I pass it.

That might be a looong time haha (no pun intended) This song is definately kicking my ass and makes me not want to play on the drums any more which is sad. :( Also the part with the rolls in Don't Fear the Reaper.....I'm getting better at that part but foreplay is def a big bizznatch and a half! I'll get past them soon hopefully because it's hindering the passing of solo hard drum career.

I can attest that practicing definately helps you to get better because I couldn't beat GG&HT on medium for the life of me. When I finally beat it after a million failed attemtps, I posted the score of 178,000; and I threw my sticks in the air in excitment! I don't believe I had any more trouble with medium after that song. I went back last night just to see what score I can get and I doubled my score with 366,000!! :) The funny part is that when I got to that song on hard I was dreading it very much, but I pulled a 5 star first shot. Thanks HMX!

HMX did such a great job of tiering the songs so that you learn the different drum patterns progressively. I was mad at myself because there were several songs that got in my way to beating the drums on hard such as wave of mutilation, celebrity skin and maps was hard too. I soon conqured all those songs and I know that its because of practice and the way that HMX setup the tiers to learn slowly the more complex parts.


For those of you looking for advice, this is my advice:

when you are on medium (or any other difficultly for that matter) and get stuck on a song go into practice mode and put it on 50%. Once you can do that about 3 or 4 times work your way up 60%, 70%. Once you get to 70%, start going back and forth with the speeds 60 70 60 70 70 70 60.....ect then move up to 80. 80 80 70 70 60 70 80....then move up to 90 and finally to 100% If you go back and forth between the speeds you will eventually get it, thats how I did it with other songs and it greatly helps.

In addition to practicing, when you start to make your way up the difficulties and begin to get stuck, go back to previous difficulties and get 5 stars on them. After I beat the medium campaign I worked up to hard. I then went through the first tier alright until I got to wave of mutilation, celebrity skin, and I think maps... Instead of getting frustrated, I went back to the medium and got some more 5 stars....then went back to those songs and passed them. Eventually when I got to DFTR and FP/LT I decided to go up to expert to gain more skills. Currently I am stuck on DFTR and FP/LP on hard and stuck on should I stay or should I go, and the hand that feeds on expert. What I'm going to do is go back to the beginning of hard drums and go through all of the songs again in order. Hopefully by the time I reach DFTR and FP/LT I will be able to pass them and advance on to expert.

I hope this will help those of you that are stuck. It definately helped me to get better and move on to expert without any prior drumming at all. It's been almost 3 weeks and I think its pretty good to be on expert songs already! So get in there and practice! :D

[RavagerX]

The MAIN thing that kept getting me about that GG&HT song on medium and hard is that its so blasted long, my foot gets tired, lol.

I love it though, its one of my favorite songs on guitar AND drums.

I seem to have gotten a little better on the drums, but I need to leave them alone and finish testing my replacement guitar out.....

[xlr8shun]

The MAIN thing that kept getting me about that GG&HT song on medium and hard is that its so blasted long, my foot gets tired, lol.

I love it though, its one of my favorite songs on guitar AND drums.

I seem to have gotten a little better on the drums, but I need to leave them alone and finish testing my replacement guitar out.....

yeah im stuck on gg&ht on medium also, that song is stopping my solo tour, its the RY/YK pattern that lasts for 10 minutes.. towards the middle/end of the song

i can get it, but i cant maintain it, for that long anyway. and once i get off tempo, its really hard to just get right back in it and pick it back up, by the time you do that a couple times, the crowd is throwing stuff at you :(

[RavagerX]

yeah im stuck on gg&ht on medium also, that song is stopping my solo tour, its the RY/YK pattern that lasts for 10 minutes.. towards the middle/end of the song

i can get it, but i cant maintain it, for that long anyway. and once i get off tempo, its really hard to just get right back in it and pick it back up, by the time you do that a couple times, the crowd is throwing stuff at you :(


Try saving some Overdrive, and not using it....it will give you short breaks during that long stretch of notes.....its a little cheap, but it works till you get used to the length of the song.

[xCHRISx]

Just remember, drumming is difficult. It involves coordination of all 4 limbs (ok, just 3 in RB :)) which your body is totally not used to yet. Not only that, but RB adds the extra element of having to watch the screen and coordinate seeing those little bars with what your body is doing. That last part is hard even for us experienced drummers!

Oh man, is that ever true. I can play most of these songs on a real kit but I still mess up a lot in RB just due to not being able to decipher what drums the game expects me to hit for a certain roll or section. It's tough! Hopefully someday it will become second nature like sightreading the guitar note charts.

[Loxguard]

I've improved alot over the past few weeks. I've beat about half of the songs on expert, and I've got a feeling if I keep it up I'll be able to beat everything within a month or two.

I'm planning on buying a real drum kit now ^_^

[CowboyGP]

I don't know if this strategy will work on the later songs on Hard, but I got stuck on Green Grass High Tides on medium for a while. 5 stars all the way until that last part that is different than the rest of the song, and then Bwah Bwah Bwah.

First I tried bettering my previous scores on medium, but that didn't seem to give me the chops I needed, so I moved up to hard and played through as many songs as I could finish on one try. Which was more than I'd expected.

After that, I went back and SAILED through GGHT. I actually sat there for a minute asking myself what the problem had been earlier. The biggest key for me is staying relaxed and loose. So many times I'll see a difficult passage coming up and start to panic. As it passes, I can see the notes and my brain seems to be sending the signals to my limbs but right arm/right leg get tied together and left arm just hovers in the air for a second. Which is all it takes to totally throw off my rythmn.

One thing about this game that IS similar to real music. Nothing can substitute for practice. Put the time in, and the skills will come.

[Rokkstar]

Guitar Hero is for Guitar, Rock Band... Everything else, I'm going to mainly drum with it I suppose, I tried to play the Demo at Wal*Mart on guitar and it was broken both it and drums. Does the strum bar suck or was the guitar just broken?

[Conner Malvecino]

I've improved alot over the past few weeks. I've beat about half of the songs on expert, and I've got a feeling if I keep it up I'll be able to beat everything within a month or two.

I'm planning on buying a real drum kit now ^_^

Good for you man! That's awesome! Remember to stay away from REMO and CB700 and for the hills and then the shower to wash off that radioactive waste. Oh my goodness can't believe these drums are still out there! If you've beat everything on expert and you're learning curve on the drums will be significantly shortened and I expect that a lot of bands will be calling you after a short while.