iron maiden's drummer sucks!

[fiddolbrfrho]

well as you could have guessed i'm stuck on RttH on expert drums. i thought it was just a really fast song... but now that i've started practicing it i realize it's not the speed that makes it so hard, it's the BAD RHYTHM!

take the song into practice mode if you don't believe me. i realized that even though i can move my hands fast enough to hit all the hi-hat notes, i was still missing bass notes and losing the rhythm. so i took it into practice mode, slowed it down to 80% and tried playing ONLY the bass beats.

well, i discovered that the bass beats are not uniform. not at all. the pace of the song speeds up and slows down seemingly at random, and THAT is why i can't beat it.

i think it's sort of unfair that we are expected to play along with the song exactly how it is, even when the timing is off. if the note chart (i.e. iron maiden's drummer) actually stayed on tempo, i have no doubt i could beat it. but i have a very difficult time slowing down and speeding up randomly just to hit notes.

[BigMonkE]

I think it is you who sucks. :p

Just kidding. I'm stuck on Don't Fear the Reaper :X

[steevoh]

Bad rythym? are you ******ed? nikko is probably the best single bass drummer of all time,

[fiddolbrfrho]

i was just joking about him being a bad drummer, i don't know if anyone could play drums like that and keep a solid tempo without a metronome.

but my point stands- the tempo is inconsistent, and this makes it extremely difficult to play.

[AtariShok]

I tried RttH on Expert just for fun. After a week in the hospital I vowed never to play it again. Ever.

[darkangel]

i was just joking about him being a bad drummer, i don't know if anyone could play drums like that and keep a solid tempo without a metronome.

but my point stands- the tempo is inconsistent, and this makes it extremely difficult to play.

I was about to go on a rant about Nikko McBrian's skills but I guess I dont need to. If you want crazy drumming, Listen to Danny Carrie's skills. I have never heard a drummer who can be off beat (as far as the song is concerned), without a regular tempo and still sound melodic before. I (for one) cant wait for the challenge of playing some Tool songs on RB

[darkrei9n]

Hes probably keeping beat by thinking it out in his mind. Or he has a cheat sheet...

[Kaptankrunch92]

keep in mind it is a COVER song...

[revizx]

Nicko never played drums on the original track..

[J.w.d.]

arnt the drums slower than the cover? dunno

[fiddolbrfrho]

if it's a cover then i'm extra annoyed, because they should have used a metronome and made sure the timing was exact for the sake of playability in the game. if they were just using the original studio track, fine, but if you're going to make a drum track specifically for rock band, fix the tempo!

[WhiffleBallTony]

Bad rythym? are you ******ed? nikko is probably the best single bass drummer of all time,
It's actually not Nikko, it's Clive Burr. Nikko McBrain didn't join the band until Piece of Mind, which was released the year after The Number of the Beast, which featured both "Run to the Hills" and the title track.

[_Tronix_]

I've noticed this in some Metallica dlc. Not that i'm by any means at expert level on the drums but when what your hearing and what your seeing doesnt add up it's total frustration. After a half hour of practice I get tired of trying to reason with why the drums i'm hearing are out of sync with the timeline, and why there are notes added that don't even belong there except for the fact to raise the difficulty level that I just shut down the system.

[instantdeath999]

One thing: that is Cliff Burr, not Nicko Mcbrain. Cliff quit after The Number of the Beast, if I am not mistaken.

I still think Cliff is a good drummer though... anyone notice the similarities between his name and Cliff Burton?

[WhiffleBallTony]

One thing: that is Cliff Burr, not Nicko Mcbrain. Cliff quit after The Number of the Beast, if I am not mistaken.

I still think Cliff is a good drummer though... anyone notice the similarities between his name and Cliff Burton?
It's actually Clive, not Cliff. Also, it's Nikko McBrain.

Not to be a dick. It's nice to see that you actually know the general layout of Iron Maiden.

[instantdeath999]

It's actually Clive, not Cliff. Also, it's Nikko McBrain.

Not to be a dick. It's nice to see that you actually know the general layout of Iron Maiden.

Ah, sorry, dumb mistake. I guess the similarity to "Cliff Burton" always stuck in my mind. *makes note*.

As for Nikko... that was a typo :(

[WhiffleBallTony]

Ah, sorry, dumb mistake. I guess the similarity to "Cliff Burton" always stuck in my mind. *makes note*.

As for Nikko... that was a typo :(

It doesn't matter. As long as you know the basics, it's good. The names really don't matter if you know them exactly. That's one of the things I don't like about the school system, but I wont' drag that mud into here.

[Xerosnake90]

Could this be the reason I lose rhythm with the bass hits? I think if you can confidently keep the bass going and you get to focus on the drum playing more, the song is alot easier to play. But when you're trying to recover the bass parts you flail alot more than you focus on hits so yea...

[instantdeath999]

Could this be the reason I lose rhythm with the bass hits? I think if you can confidently keep the bass going and you get to focus on the drum playing more, the song is alot easier to play. But when you're trying to recover the bass parts you flail alot more than you focus on hits so yea...

I simply cannot do drum rolls.

[fiddolbrfrho]

Could this be the reason I lose rhythm with the bass hits?

i swear to you it IS the reason. try doing bass only at a lower speed in practice like i did,... it is very noticeable. the fast part starts out slow, then gets faster, then slows down, speeds up, etc. it's maddening. they should have used some music editing software to fix the timing for the game, rather than expecting players to sync up to the drummer's inconsistent tempo.

[SmokaCola]

I've been trying to beat this song on hard for awhile now, I'm in red just about the whole time up until the rolls + bass part. I only get to like 64% then fail out, last night I threw my sticks at the closet door :( Glad I didn't break them. I'll keep trying, it's the only song I have left to finish until I can finish up expert (already beaten a few on expert)

[schmitty]

I have noticed that also and am glad to see it wasn't just me.

[fiddolbrfrho]

it's ridiculous, i can play the fast hi-hat/snare parts and even the rolls, but i can't get the bass beat down because it makes no sense the way it changes. even playing the bass beat by itself and nothing else i lose the rhythm and miss a bunch of notes. it is discouraging me from beating expert drum career. if the timing made sense i could probably beat it with 4 stars.

[darkangel]

if it makes you feel better, i have been playing real drums for a long time now, I have several of my rudiments down without issue... and I STILL cant seem to be able to hold that hi-hat ride beat for any amount of time. the bass pedal is supposed to be the hardest thing to really figure out because your left and right reflexes need to learn to work independently.

[add666iction]

well as you could have guessed i'm stuck on RttH on expert drums. i thought it was just a really fast song... but now that i've started practicing it i realize it's not the speed that makes it so hard, it's the BAD RHYTHM!

take the song into practice mode if you don't believe me. i realized that even though i can move my hands fast enough to hit all the hi-hat notes, i was still missing bass notes and losing the rhythm. so i took it into practice mode, slowed it down to 80% and tried playing ONLY the bass beats.

well, i discovered that the bass beats are not uniform. not at all. the pace of the song speeds up and slows down seemingly at random, and THAT is why i can't beat it.

i think it's sort of unfair that we are expected to play along with the song exactly how it is, even when the timing is off. if the note chart (i.e. iron maiden's drummer) actually stayed on tempo, i have no doubt i could beat it. but i have a very difficult time slowing down and speeding up randomly just to hit notes.

i didnt bother reading through the 3 pages of posts but the dude that wrote this and any who agreed with him are absolute morons. you must be joking right? did you actually say "its unfair that we are expected to play along with the song exactly how it is"? first of all, we arent "expected" to do anything. play it or dont bro, theres no gun to your head. second the "timing" isnt off, Nikko is playing on the off beat, which btw is vintage Maiden. Clive did that for 3 albums (before he couldnt play anymore due to MS), which was well before Nikko's time. its Maidens sound, always has been always will. and third, i love Maiden, collect their merch (all the interesting stuff anyway, eddie figures, lunchpails, dart boards, bar stools etc etc) have several maiden tattoos, seen every tour since 'Beast', had backstage passes for the Brave New World tour, met them got my pic with Bruce, they signed my vinyl and also got to meet Rob Halford ( his band was opening and he actually asked me for a cigarette) just got my tix in the mail for upcoming concert June 3rd and so on and so on. so dont bash Maiden!!!! they are probably the most influential band of our time!!!

UP THE IRONS!!!!

[Solid_Snake]

Since it is a cover, that damn drummer has to learn to keep count! Yea I agree the song would be easier to keep a streak if it stayed at a constant tempo. Needless to say, with practice you can deffinitely beat it.

[WingsOfSteel]

Run to the Hills was a poor song choice for Rock Band.

It's a great song, with good guitar and vocals, but the drums are just completely unfun. They should have chosen a Maiden song like Where Eagles Dare or Aces High.

The drums in those are legitimately difficult while Run to the Hills is just difficult because Rock Band drums have such awful rebound. I can five-star Blackened on Hard, but I can only three-star Run to the Hills. It's completely ******ed.

Also, RttH is the only song I can't beat on Expert, besides Blackened.

[fiddolbrfrho]

i didnt bother reading through the 3 pages of posts but the dude that wrote this and any who agreed with him are absolute morons. you must be joking right? did you actually say "its unfair that we are expected to play along with the song exactly how it is"? first of all, we arent "expected" to do anything. play it or dont bro, theres no gun to your head.

what's wrong with criticism? i bought rock band, i play it and i'm entitled to my criticisms. if i want to discuss them the rock band forum is probably an appropriate place to do so.


second the "timing" isnt off, Nikko is playing on the off beat, which btw is vintage Maiden. Clive did that for 3 albums (before he couldnt play anymore due to MS), which was well before Nikko's time. its Maidens sound, always has been always will.

in this thread i believe we've already established that nikko didn't record RttH, and that the song in the game is performed by a COVER band.

what i'm referring to is NOT "the off beat". i know what the off beat is, this is tempo change. entire sections of the song slightly faster or slower than others. there is no pattern to the tempo change, it just happens because the drummer (NOT NIKKO) isn't keeping perfect time. tempo change and playing on the off beat are not even remotely similar to each other.


and third, i love Maiden, collect their merch (all the interesting stuff anyway, eddie figures, lunchpails, dart boards, bar stools etc etc) have several maiden tattoos, seen every tour since 'Beast', had backstage passes for the Brave New World tour, met them got my pic with Bruce, they signed my vinyl and also got to meet Rob Halford ( his band was opening and he actually asked me for a cigarette) just got my tix in the mail for upcoming concert June 3rd and so on and so on. so dont bash Maiden!!!! they are probably the most influential band of our time!!!

UP THE IRONS!!!!

wow... just wow.

[Soja]

Run to the Hills was a poor song choice for Rock Band.

It's a great song, with good guitar and vocals, but the drums are just completely unfun. They should have chosen a Maiden song like Where Eagles Dare or Aces High.If there weren't such strict regulations against biological materials in the postal service, I'd give my left leg to Harmonix for Aces High.

RttH is ridiculous. My brother is the drummer in our band (I guitar, sister basses) and he's pretty damn good (for a Hard level player). He's getting ready to finish Hard Solo Tour, right?

RttH.

He gets raped.

The difficulty made me wtf. Being a Medium drummer, I stand no chance against RttH on Hard.

[ZortheConqueror]

The trouble here might be actually that you slowed it down to 80%, which is weird degree of slow down which might cause different tempo anyway.

Slow it down to 50% and see if the problem exists.


My problem with beating the song has always cornered around not being able to keep up the furious pace with my hands. The bass hasn't given me consistent trouble.

[Pryito]

I would love a Nicko McBrain song in rockband, but there are none yet to date. :-( Disappointing..

Can you say Somewhere in Time, full album. I'd love to play Déjà Vu! :-)

RttH is the only song I can't beat on expert. Although I can beat it horribly in band world tour with tons of help from guitarist and bassist.

I overplay it, too fast. I cant find my rythm for this song at all.

[Pryito]

It's actually Clive, not Cliff. Also, it's Nikko McBrain.

Not to be a dick. It's nice to see that you actually know the general layout of Iron Maiden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicko_McBrain

It is indeed Nicko, always has been...

Not to be a dick.. :)

[IBitePrettyHard]

I agree with you 100%. The fluctuating tempos drive me crazy! I just posted a video of Run To The Hills, and I wrote about the whole tempo problem in the description.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw3L4EUJ344

[Sully]

Wow, I never noticed that extreme tempo change from :58 to 1:01 because for guitar it's a long hold through that part.

[SteelersFreak1]

I was gonna say, Nicko didn't even play the drums on Run to the Hills, Clive Burr did.

Also, I'm stuck on this song on hard, I can play the beginning part with all the high hat notes, but when it comes to the red notes I can't pause for the split second it has between the notes. I'd almost rather it be continuous like it is on expert.

[IBitePrettyHard]

I was gonna say, Nicko didn't even play the drums on Run to the Hills, Clive Burr did.

Also, I'm stuck on this song on hard, I can play the beginning part with all the high hat notes, but when it comes to the red notes I can't pause for the split second it has between the notes. I'd almost rather it be continuous like it is on expert.I've heard several people say it's easier on Expert.

[WhiffleBallTony]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicko_McBrain

It is indeed Nicko, always has been...

Not to be a dick.. :)

My mistake. Thanks for pointing that out.

[R33DH4M]

I've heard several people say it's easier on Expert.

I can vouch for the song being easier on Expert because I can beat it on expert but can't on hard. It's those breaks/cuts between the real drum rolls that make it really hard. It's like it's a different rhythm all together when it's played on hard.

[davidshek]

Wow, I never noticed that extreme tempo change from :58 to 1:01 because for guitar it's a long hold through that part.

That tempo change at :58 is intentional, though. The fluctuating tempo throughout the song is not. :)

It irritates me as much as Main Offender, which also slows down when it gets to the chorus, unintentionally. :mad:

[hockeyman94]

Yeah its hard all right but just practice, it takes time but youll beat it eventually like I did today (FINNALLY BEAT THE EXPERT CARREAR) i dont kno if this tip will help anyone but it helped when i monved a lil further back than usual on the drums (just enough so my foot could reach the top of the pedal. And also really focus on getting the 2 overdrive opportunities in the beginning it really helps! :)

[Roflcopterrr]

i've noticed this too. After the first "RUN TO THE HILLLSSSSSS" part, the drums speed up slightly.

[JesusSilencio]

That tempo change at :58 is intentional, though. The fluctuating tempo throughout the song is not. :)

Yeah, I think the problem is they wanted certain part to have tempo changes (like at :58 and when it speeds up at the tom parts), but then they couldn't use a metronome, so it would speed up and slow down at random parts.

[Armhunter]

Iron Maiden is one of the all time best bands! I dont understand why they have not released more of them.

I am also having a hard time understanding why they have not released one Megadeth song... Freakn driving me crazy...

[Ardius]

It's actually Clive, not Cliff. Also, it's Nikko McBrain.

Not to be a dick. It's nice to see that you actually know the general layout of Iron Maiden.

Erm, no, you are right about Clive, but its NICKO, and if you don't believe me, go look at the official Iron Maiden website, or the back of any Piece of Mind onwards Iron Maiden CD, or the back of any Iron Maiden DVD.........
Gawd :p
EDIT: lol, I just noticed you've already been corrected once, sorry.

[Just1_Joe]

keep in mind it is a COVER song...

Exactly, I don't think this was a bad song to put in Rock Band, but more a song they should have gotten a master to, in fact HMX if there's anything I want from this game it's the original Maiden tracks, because if you ask me the way they cover these songs just don't sound right. For the love of Bruce no more covers.

[add666iction]

what's wrong with criticism? i bought rock band, i play it and i'm entitled to my criticisms. if i want to discuss them the rock band forum is probably an appropriate place to do so.

you are absolutely right my friend. i was merely pointing out the way you worded your criticisms. again, you arent 'expected' to do anything.



in this thread i believe we've already established that nikko didn't record RttH, and that the song in the game is performed by a COVER band.

what i'm referring to is NOT "the off beat". i know what the off beat is, this is tempo change. entire sections of the song slightly faster or slower than others. there is no pattern to the tempo change, it just happens because the drummer (NOT NIKKO) isn't keeping perfect time. tempo change and playing on the off beat are not even remotely similar to each other.

and yes you are right again. in fact in my post i even said Clive played on the first 3 albums which includes NotB which RttH is on and then i go on about Nicko. lol i am an idiot who had one too many beers lol




wow... just wow.

lol is that a good wow or a sarcastic wow? :)

[add666iction]

Exactly, I don't think this was a bad song to put in Rock Band, but more a song they should have gotten a master to, in fact HMX if there's anything I want from this game it's the original Maiden tracks, because if you ask me the way they cover these songs just don't sound right. For the love of Bruce no more covers.


totally agree. hell i'd rather hear Blaze sing it then the cover band. ummm scratch that, i never did like the way Blaze sounded with Maiden. I would like to see something off their first 2 albums with Di'anno singing. Or better yet how about one of my most favourite Maiden songs which isnt on any studio release, 'Women In Uniform'. I think that would be a blast to play.

on another note, this has been mentioned tons now but yes, i just checked the sweatbands he gave me after the concert and it is Nicko.

UP THE IRONS!!!

GO ED FORCE ONE GO

[Progged]

There's a reason it's a cover. Most likely they couldn't separate the rhythm and lead parts on the master, or any other reason that wouldn't allow HMX to separate the four tracks needed for the game.

[davidshek]

Here's a chart of the actual tempo changes throughout this song:

http://rockband.scorehero.com/images/notecharts/rb/runtothehills_drums_expert.png