Noob here - one song is just kicking my butt...

[lemmyk]

Hey everyone,

The wife just got me RB for Christmas, and man is it cool. Unfortunately my guitar is one of the bad ones, and I'm waiting for the replacement.

At least the drums seem solid and the mic works fine.

I started a solo career on drums on easy mode, got through a few songs, and it seemed way too easy, so I started another on medium.

I got through to Stockholm, and I am stuck on one song - Green Grass & High Tides. I get about 60% of the way through (about 5 minutes or so) and just loose it on a part that I can't seem to master. I think I am doing it right, but I am just not getting it...

Argh... I've played it at least 10 times, always losing between 58-63%. Does anyone else have problems with this song?

Any words of advice?

Thanks!

[Damien]

Go into practice mode and start at the part you keep failing. Slow it down to 70% or less and play untill you nail it. Then, go back into Solo Career and let it loose!

[Smoky_McAshtray]

You'll also want to make sure you get the beat of this part that's giving you trouble down SOLID, as it continues for the remaining 5 minutes of the song.

[lemmyk]

You'll also want to make sure you get the beat of this part that's giving you trouble down SOLID, as it continues for the remaining 5 minutes of the song.

Yikes.

Thanks for the advice guys. This is on medium... I can only imagine playing on hard or even expert...

I thought that you could only practice songs that has been unlocked...??? Is this a standard song? Maybe I missed it when scrolling through the list of songs to practice.

Sorry for the dumb questions, I've only played this a couple of days now.

Thanks again for the help!

[HMXDave]

Yeah, practice mode is a life saver. You can just loop the part you have trouble with and play it over and over.

Also, I might recommend playing some other songs while you're stuck.

Have you beat all the bonus tracks and downloaded songs on Medium? Try as many as you can. Sometimes the bonus songs teach you tricks that really help with more difficult songs.

[v0lum3]

Save your overdrive when you start getting close as well... it's cheap to just sit on it, but it can give you a rest during fatiguing parts... I had to do it when I first started playing ;) It'll help you get through the song at least.

[topperharley]

That song kicked my butt on drums, as well. What the above poster said is correct - get the basic rhythms down cold, since there are a few that make up about 75% of the song. What hosed me was when it would switch from one of the basic rhythms to some alternate beats for a few measures, then back to the basic rhythms.

Plus I'm not really a fan of the song, so failing out at 94% made me seriously want to spear the drumpads with my sticks... :mad:

[lemmyk]

That song kicked my butt on drums, as well. What the above poster said is correct - get the basic rhythms down cold, since there are a few that make up about 75% of the song. What hosed me was when it would switch from one of the basic rhythms to some alternate beats for a few measures, then back to the basic rhythms.

Plus I'm not really a fan of the song, so failing out at 94% made me seriously want to spear the drumpads with my sticks... :mad:

I am a fan of southern rock, but for some reason the Outlaws really never appealed to me...

Not to mention that the frickin song is about 10 minutes long.

[lemmyk]

Save your overdrive when you start getting close as well... it's cheap to just sit on it, but it can give you a rest during fatiguing parts... I had to do it when I first started playing ;) It'll help you get through the song at least.

OK, thanks for this bit of advice. Again, I am really new at this, I actually just got my XBOX on Christmas too (XBOX + RB = Cool Wifey!)

Anyways, I am not sure how to save my overdrive, I will have to go back and read the manual.

Thanks!

[v0lum3]

OK, thanks for this bit of advice. Again, I am really new at this, I actually just got my XBOX on Christmas too (XBOX + RB = Cool Wifey!)

Anyways, I am not sure how to save my overdrive, I will have to go back and read the manual.

Thanks!

On the fill parts when you've got your overdrive power, just don't hit the crash at the end... then the next possible fill will show up... ignore the crash at the end again... then the next possible fill will show up, If you do this you'll have time to rest during the song, I had to do it the first time I played GG&HT, my foot wasn't strong enough to get me through it and started giving out halfway through.

(over drive = glowing power stuff... not sure just how new you are ;))

[lemmyk]

(over drive = glowing power stuff... not sure just how new you are ;))

Yeah, I know what the overdrive is, I just didn't know how to save it. That's some great advice! I will try that when I get home from work today.

Thanks again!!!!

[Kinnetik]

I had to save my overdrive the first pass through as well

I agree with the advice that once you play enough *other* songs as well as practicing GG&HT you will get good enough it won't matter.

That's how you get like 350k while 5 starring medium like I did O.O

[v0lum3]

Yeah, I know what the overdrive is, I just didn't know how to save it. That's some great advice! I will try that when I get home from work today.

Thanks again!!!!

No problem... this saved my ass on quite a bit of the harder songs I used to have trouble with (and the overdrive clarification wasn't an insult, just makin' sure ;))

Make sure to let me know if it helps.

[DasKonstruct]

that song is honestly a really bad choice for this game. Its more annoyingly tedious and stressful than actually difficult. The duration is the worst enemy to the player, it just starts to wear you down and isn't even close to being fun.

Run to the hills, was very fun with the high energy if you want a good example.

[v0lum3]

that song is honestly a really bad choice for this game. Its more annoyingly tedious and stressful than actually difficult. The duration is the worst enemy to the player, it just starts to wear you down and isn't even close to being fun.

Run to the hills, was very fun with the high energy if you want a good example.

I don't really mind GG&HT anymore... and it feels a lot shorter than it used to... I actually like the song as well, but it was definitely a lot easier when I came back around on expert than when I was first getting started... RTTH however is another story... my arms die on that song :(

[lemmyk]

No problem... this saved my ass on quite a bit of the harder songs I used to have trouble with (and the overdrive clarification wasn't an insult, just makin' sure ;))

Make sure to let me know if it helps.

Oh, no man, I didn't take it as an insult. I appreciate your feedback and will DEFINATELY plan on using this!!!!!!

I will let you know tomorrow how it turns out.

[raregamer]

I just beat this song last night on Medium. Though I did feel like my foot would fall off. The bass pedal with rock band doesn't seem like it is meant for such abuse.

[v0lum3]

I just beat this song last night on Medium. Though I did feel like my foot would fall off. The bass pedal with rock band doesn't seem like it is meant for such abuse.

You shouldn't have to abuse it... keep your foot pressed down and lightly tap it when you need to, trust me, it works. And if my Bass can get through expert career yours shouldn't be crapping out on medium ;)

[AdamWill2]

right. if you feel like you're abusing the pedal, you're playing wrong. GGHT's bass doubles really aren't very fast, and they're only doubles. if they were triples, THAT would be a nightmare.

you just need to develop a good technique for playing them comfortably. the less you move your foot, the easier it is. Creep is a good song to practice on on expert, I don't know about lower difficulties.

[lemmyk]

I notice that when my wife plays (who is really not musicall inclined - I have played bass guitar for years, so I have some sense of timing...), that when the kick pedal is called for, she beats the heck out of it.

It seems that if you over think the damn thing, you put too much effort into it.

When I get into a groove, I barely hit the thing, just enough to trigger it - actually, if you play like this, there should be no pedal issues.

Anways, like on this song, my problem is going from one groove to the next and back really quickly, and holding the same 1 or 2 grooves for 3-4 minutes and then adding in fills..... I just get too confused. :)

[chris12313]

that song is a pain. i have yet to beat it on medium by myself. i always get to like 90% and fail, but i usually play with a couple other people so im not too stressed that i cant beat it.

[AdamWill2]

lemmy: fills are the last thing you should worry about.

the first thing to worry about for any given song is to get the basic bass beat down. most songs have one 'stock' pattern they keep coming back to. learn that. when the pattern changes or a fill comes along, do what you can, but *not* at the expense of losing your grasp on the basic pattern.

then learn the variation patterns of the song. again, when a fill comes along do your best but keep the basic pattern going in your head and try to get back to it after the fill without missing a beat.

*then*, once you have all the stock patterns for the song down, you can start worrying about the fills.

fills are, like, 1-2% of the notes in an average song, so worrying about them too much is just unnecessary. there's no song I've found yet in RB where you will die if you can't get the fills; you're only going to die if you screw up the stock patterns.

[lemmyk]

lemmy: fills are the last thing you should worry about.

the first thing to worry about for any given song is to get the basic bass beat down. most songs have one 'stock' pattern they keep coming back to. learn that. when the pattern changes or a fill comes along, do what you can, but *not* at the expense of losing your grasp on the basic pattern.

then learn the variation patterns of the song. again, when a fill comes along do your best but keep the basic pattern going in your head and try to get back to it after the fill without missing a beat.

*then*, once you have all the stock patterns for the song down, you can start worrying about the fills.

fills are, like, 1-2% of the notes in an average song, so worrying about them too much is just unnecessary. there's no song I've found yet in RB where you will die if you can't get the fills; you're only going to die if you screw up the stock patterns.

YES!

I learned this the hard way with this song. Saving the overdrive certainly did help me a bit (thanks for that piece of advice, I use that alot now), but getting the base pattern down and basically forgetting about the series of fills is what got me past GGHT (on about the 20th try).

I was a pro until the last 50% of the song, but couldn't get that pattern down. Here is what I did (and I figured out this about my 18th time into the song, only took 2-3 more tries).

In that "fast part - guitar solo a-m" (or whatever), I would get the bass going perfect, add in the yellow and forget about the red most of the time (once in a while I would throw the red in for good measure). This resulted in hitting 2/3rd's of the notes presented. Good enough to keep me just out of being boo'ed. When the fills came in, I would continue the bass pedal, and *try* to get the fills, but now worry to much. During most of the fills, I would get the crowd starting to boo, but they were done quickly enough to pull myself just out of that range.

There are a few spots where there is a significant change to the bass/yellow pattern for a long enought period to screw me up, and that's why it took a few tries after I learned this trick.

Whew.... I am on medium, got through this song (finally) and the next 10 songs I blew threw on medium on the first try. I think this song was placed to early in the city list - I just hit Moscow which has Tom Sawyer, Won't Get Fooled Again, etc. I played Tom Sawyer and made it through first try--I am a huge Rush fan and I think that knowing the song inside and out helped out.

Anyways, thanks for the help everyone! Hopefully my learning experience will help someone else trolling the boards!

LemmyK

[lemmyk]

So yes, I guess that there is no "easy" way around it... practice, practice, practice!

I've just gotten around to completing the hard-drums solo tour, and guess what...

I beat GGaHT on Hard the very first time, and scored a 95%!

I was sweating when I saw this come up as my next song, but as I moved through it, I wondered why I couldn't do it on medium! Still a tough song, but it was a great sense of accomplishment knowing that, yes, I AM GETTING BETTER!

Thanks again for all your suggestions/feedback/help!

[bisq]

Yeah this song seems like it comes too early on medium...but it isn't that much harder on hard/expert so that is part of the reason it shows up where it does. The difficulties are kind of an average for all skill levels. I still remember the first time I beat this song on medium...I didn't have much (any?) foot pedal technique at the time and by the end my ankle was so tired I had to take a break for the evening. Now I keep my foot down and only move it a little to hit the notes so it's a lot easier.

[Totalimmortal]

i haven't had trouble on any of the songs yet (i've cleared every song i've played on every difficulty on drums with a 90+%) but I have noticed I definitely have lower scores on the lower difficulty levels. what i believe I've been doing (and what some of you who also have this problem) is I play along with the actual music. I am self-taught, and learned how to play TO music. so i find myself not really watching the screen, especially to songs I played with my band in high school (like paranoid)... so i find myself managing to add in extra stuff that's not in the "music" of the song. it's more natural for someone (yes, even if they've never played drums before) to try and emulate what they hear the drummer in the song doing. that means, if you hear a lot of notes on the hi hat, you're going to go nuts if you are sitting there tapping like "tap..............tap..............tap.............", when in your mind it's "taptaptaptaptaptaptap". get what i'm saying? but good to hear of the improvement, keep it up! (As for ankle pain, try playing heel up instead of resting your heel in the floor and angling your foot up. it's much less strain on your calf and it improves playing speed)

[flyingzeke]

(once in a while I would throw the red in for good measure).

Assuming you're right-handed, this might not be the best plan. Bass kick and the snare misses contribute the most to failing out - usually, if you can get them, you'll be okay.

Since I apparently have some kind of mental disability that prevents my foot from doing something my arms aren't doing, this trick is the only way I can get through some songs.

Learn to Fly (on hard and expert), for example, is a easy song for anyone with, uh, what's the word? Oh yeah, "talent", but for me, I struggle mightily through it and can only pass by focusing on the snare and the kicks (and ignoring much of the rest). (I can do just fine on many of the harder songs, but they usually have a note that matches up to the kick beats).

I know I started rambling, but just wanted to say that's something that's worked for me on tough songs.