Alt-strumming Tutorials?

[Lockedown]

I've searched the forums, youtube, and the great internet high and low for any tutorials or videos of people alt-strumming in Rock Band. I've spent about 30 minutes practicing on my own (using Highway Star, for one), and at any speed above 70% on medium I just can't get a consistent alt-strum going. I've tried slowing, speeding up, different hand-placement, etc, but no go.

And yes, I'm pretty sure my guitar is working. It's my 3rd replacement after all :). I'm on the PS3, so I don't have any other guitars to test with and I've never played GH so I don't know what's expected.

Can anyone provide any tips or videos of them alt-strumming? Given the many songs in RB that would benefit from it, I think it'd be a great service to the community!

Thanks!

[HeXcoda]

I can't alt-strum worth a damn, either. Which is a royal pain given that most songs in Rock Band rely on streaming identical notes... punk, highway star, etc. Just the same note, over and over, really fast. The only way to do those lines is alt strumming and I can't do it without blowing notes and never keeping a combo going.

I don't know if there's really any "trick" to it, though... some people can strum up and down in rhytm and some can't...

[JuiceJive]

I learned on my Xplorer with GH2. It helped me to push harder than I had to on the strum bar, going all the way down and up for each note. You have to get your mind away from "I'll strum really fast by only going as far as I need to" by thinking "I have to strum as hard as I can each note." You start to match up the rhythm of the notes with slamming the strum bar up and down.

I'd suggest learning it on an SG or Xplorer first, whatever you got.

[Chokobo]

All you really need is a good sense of beat and the ability to subdivide each beat, subdivision being the act of dividing each beat into eighth/sixteenth notes. This helps because normally you don't have to alt strum if the song's notes are just quarters the whole time, or if there are a lot of hammer-ons/pull-offs. Tapping your foot to the song helps quite a bit as well. There's no real "trick" to it besides having a good sense of rhythm and the motor skills to keep your strumming at the same tempo throughout. :)

[Darkfalz]

I have not had any problem with any expert song in RB just using down strum, I can just manage to keep a constant down strum going.

I too have tried mastering alt-strumming, but thankfully RB doesn't seem to require it as a MUST have skill (st least so far).

The last 2 tiers of expert in GH3 require it ( or at least strum speed I can't achieve), and as such, I've never been able to beat GH3 on expert :|

[sporkBrigade]

It's a tricky topic, and hard to describe. People just aren't good at judging their own timing, especially when learning something new like this. The most important part is that you've moved beyond blaming the hardware. That's really hard for some people to learn.

I have a few general tips, though. First, time your strum on the center of your full motion, not the extreme ends. The strum triggers much earlier then you'd think. The more you try to time it on the extreme end of your down/up stroke, the worse off you'll be. Second, reduce the amount of movement. Again, the new strumbars don't require much to set them off. Third, focus on being mechanical. I don't know how else to describe it, but the more of a metronome you are, the better off you'll be. You may be convinced you're not rushing, but chances are good that you are. Music is hard like that.

Last, try different ways of holding the strum bar. I actually have two ways of double strumming. One way works sometimes, the other way works better other times. First is actually holding the bar. Most people do this, I think, who've played guitar hero. The second way, and this especially has some good effects on the strat, is to seperate your index finger and thumb on either side of the bar, then tap back and forth. This can do wonders for your timing, as "tapping" is easier to keep on tempo then wiggling the bar back and forth.

Developing an internal rhythm is a great musical skill. Fact is, it's easier to do these things with the GH clicky guitars because of all the feedback. But learning how to keep steady beats with no feedback will do wonders for your skills as a mucisian, if you ever choose to make the leap.

[SlivedCupWinner]

Be the music!

Beeeee the muuuuusssssiiiiiiiicccc!

I didn't get alt strumming until I started playing the song and not chasing the blips on the screen. Unlike another response, alt strumming feels better to me on the Strat.

In any event, I think you'll start hitting it much more as you start feeling the songs and not chasing the blips.

Just my 2 pennies.

[Lockedown]

These are all great replies, thank you so much!

I realize my personal sense of rhythm is far from perfect, thus my success on slower tempos. Hopefully practice with the tips in mind will make for a better experience.

[Credge]

Shake your hand back in forth to a rhythm. Think of the rhythm to highway star and shake in rhythm.

One of the biggest problems people have with alternate picking is that you shouldn't always alternate. Some parts should be pure down strokes. Think of the parts in between the parts of highway star... the 4 notes scaling down (lower). Those should all be down strokes.

[Rook_x51]

These are all great replies, thank you so much!

I realize my personal sense of rhythm is far from perfect, thus my success on slower tempos. Hopefully practice with the tips in mind will make for a better experience.

What helped me is starting to think in "3s" instead of "2s". When you stop thinking of it as "down-up" and start thinking of it as "down-up-down" it seems to help.

I realize that sounds counter-productive, but give it a shot.

[malklavious]

I've found that the more I do it the better I get. When I first started practicing alt-strumming in GH I was terrible at it but I would force myself to try despite how bad I would do in the song. The advice of "playing the song, not the blips" is great advice. When I'm in a good groove with the song my internal tempo is much more reliable than my eyes trying to react to the note-chart.

[derrikirred]

Shake your hand back in forth to a rhythm. Think of the rhythm to highway star and shake in rhythm.

One of the biggest problems people have with alternate picking is that you shouldn't always alternate. Some parts should be pure down strokes. Think of the parts in between the parts of highway star... the 4 notes scaling down (lower). Those should all be down strokes.

That's poor guitar technique. Granted, this is only a game. When playing an actual guitar you should ALWAYS alternate.

[LordFlatus]

Try using a guitar pick. I sucked at alt-strumming, but then I started using a pick just for the goofy heck of it. I soon started amazing myself that I was carrying the long fast repetitive note streaks! Something about the up-down makes it a lot easier for me to keep the beat. I went back to pick-less guitaring and lo-and-behold, I sucked at alt-strumming still.

I'm getting towards the end of the medium solo tour, and I'm finding that I don't need to alt-strum, but it makes the it feel much more like I'm really playing the songs by using the pick and alt-strumming. And it's pretty dang cool to do the up and down scale quick progressions with a picked alt-strum. :)

[Parodygm]

The Vagiant song "Seven" makes a good practise song for alt strumming.

[Zanaflex]

You could try a thin to medium thickness guitar pick. That is what I use for really fast fake trem style picking:) Or if I dont have a pick I will also finger pick it. Using my thumb for down, and a mixture of index and middle finger for up. I should probably take a video of that lol. I know that just comes from playing guitar forever.

[Superkebabi]

Man, i know exactly how you feel. Im still trying to beat Guitar Hero 2 on expert! Im quite bad at alt-strumming, in that songs like Sweet Child O' Mine that have different notes in succession are hard.

Tip 1. When playing a long note, dont hold the strum bar down/up. It just exausts ur finger.

Tip 2. When playing sumthing with different notes in quick succession, just down strum.

What was wrong with me was that when i played only down strumming, I could hit a lot more notes accurately, but when alt strumming, i could play fast but not accurately. Eventually you will find either a nice balance between the two, or just stick to alt strumming.

Hope I helped!

[Mekias]

I have the exact same problem. I'm pretty accurate just down-strumming but on fast passages, my shoulder starts to get really tired and I start missing notes. If I could ever get accurate at alt-strumming, these fast passages wouldn't be a problem. Alt-strumming is especially hard when there are pauses or single notes in the middle of the fast sections. It completely throws off my timing.

It does help to listen to the song and practice. I'm only medium sucky at it when I used to be horribly sucky. Yay Me!

[markblasco]

Here are my suggestions for alt strumming. It might take a while, but it is worth it.:

First, your hand: use only your thumb and pointer finger on the strummer. Pinch it like you would pinch a pick between your fingers.

OK, now start pushing it up and down, back and forth. You want to just get a feel for how far it goes, and make sure your wrist is comfortable. I find that I plant the heel of my hand firmly against the guitar, and that only my hand moves, not the rest of my arm. This helps you to not tire over time.

Now that you are positioned, start with a slow song. Play the song with only downstrokes, but hold the strummer the entire time. What you are doing here is getting used to the feel of playing the guitar without just bouncing your fingers off of the strummer. You want to have control of it at all times.

Once that feels comfortable, play another slow song, but this time use only upstrokes. Don't use any downstrokes at all. You want to get used to hitting notes in time while playing upstrokes, without having to worry about going back and forth.

Once you can do this, play a slow song using alternate up and down through the whole song. The easiest way to do this is to hold the strummer either up or down from note to note, and don't ever just let it return to the center point. This will help you get used not just strumming up and down on the faster parts, but also will make later sections with strange timing easier, because you will not be relying on the downstrokes always being on the beat - you will learn how to use the upstrokes on the beat as well.

Some people just use alternate picking when they get to the fast parts, but I have found that if you are comfortable using it all of the time, even for the slower parts, your hand will be a lot less tired, and accuracy will be greatly improved in the long term, since it requires a LOT less effort to use alternate picking once you have the hang of it.

Think of it this way, if you are alternate picking you get to hit two notes for every up and down motion of your hand. If you aren't alternate picking, you only hit one note. Therefor, alternate picking is only half the work!

[NoD]

I can't get it myself if it makes you feel any better. Have not opened my RockBand but I'm practicing on GHII & GHIII. I'm one that loves to play GH but can only beat a couple of songs on hard. every time I start I have to go back to medium and start to build my timing up again.

I learned hammer ons/off late so I want back to beginning of medium to retrain my reflexes, helped a lot and got much higher scores. I may do the same thing with alternate picking.