The Guitars Aren't Broken, Alternate Hypothesis

[Aisle5]

I've put in two sessions at the Rock Band demo-station at the local Wal-Mart.

The first session was one song long as I was frustrated that I failed a song on Hard difficulty while I am a competent Guitar Hero player on Expert. I walked away believing there was either a sync issue with the TV that was being used or that the guitar was broken.

The guitar would have had to shipped to the Wal-Mart broken if it was in fact broken because I am in a town on approx. 4,000 people and I doubt the demo has gotten much use. So I returned to the demo today to try it again.

I decided to try a song on medium. This time I was doing better but unable to hold a consistent streak. I decided to change my strum style, going from the thumb tap down to a finger pluck up strum. My accuracy increased dramatically, not missing a note the rest of the song. This ruled out the two possibilities I had previously thought of for my previous failure, the TV was not out of sync and the guitar was not broken.

My Guitar Hero/SG controller strum style is to hit the strum bar down every time really hard with my thumb and this was how I approached the Rock Band guitar, an approach that lead to me not being able to play. Changing my style increased my accuracy and so I started to experiment with some ideas on what was going on, and so here are my alternate hypothesizes for the perceived broken state of the demo/Rock Band guitars:

1) The strum bar is too sensitive, such that when hitting it down as hard as I could with my thumb, it would register multiple strums. A similar phenomenon was noticed even when I switched to a finger plucking upwards strum during hold-down notes where the release of the strum would result in the hold-down effect failing, a second strum registered. This is either caused by a "strum" being registered by the controller at more than one point along the strum bar's upward and downward motion paths, thus meaning that moving the strum bar to either of it's extremes may result in more than one strum being registered.

2) Whatever mechanic recenters the strum bar isn't strong enough, allowing the strum bar to swing backwards registering a strum in the opposite direction the user actually strummed.

I'm actually leaning towards believing the second idea because I noticed that flicking the strum bar very gently resulted in the highest success rate and the least double-strum occurrences. This means that someone like me, who would just hit the strum bar on the SG controllers downward every time as hard and as fast as possible/needed needs to change their strum style, and I'm not looking forward to that.

[Keebler]

Changing strum styles might be difficult for some and I'm not one to want to pursue that after having mastered Expert difficulty with my own style (which is very much like yours, except not as intense). I'm looking forward to some people modding the strum bar to make the "recentering mechanic" stronger so I can follow suit.

[MartyMcFly]

You basically summed it up. People who are having problems play wrong. The STRUM bar needs to be STRUMMED :)

Same thing happened to me first time. I was playing the "push down with thumb" style, then I switched my hand to a position as if I were holding a pick, then actually strum with my thumb! That's how you gotta play the Strat, and it definitely adds to realism as well. Which is probably how it's meant to be.

[The_Vampire_Lestat]

You basically summed it up. People who are having problems play wrong. The STRUM bar needs to be STRUMMED :)

Same thing happened to me first time. I was playing the "push down with thumb" style, then I switched my hand to a position as if I were holding a pick, then actually strum with my thumb! That's how you gotta play the Strat, and it definitely adds to realism as well. Which is probably how it's meant to be.

If you strum it you will lose your streak.... the best way to hold a streak with the Strat guitars is to hold the strum bar.

Flicking, tapping, slapping will hurt you.

[MartyMcFly]

Maybe depends on the person. I was strumming on the Rock Band Tour and 2 days ago at Best Buy.

*shrugs*

[Guitarplayer777]

From reading this, it seems i'll be able to do my style-using a pick/acting like using a pick. I like to do it this way, but i have trouble when i do it on guitar hero.

[HPLabonte]

You basically summed it up. People who are having problems play wrong. The STRUM bar needs to be STRUMMED :)

Same thing happened to me first time. I was playing the "push down with thumb" style, then I switched my hand to a position as if I were holding a pick, then actually strum with my thumb! That's how you gotta play the Strat, and it definitely adds to realism as well. Which is probably how it's meant to be.


my exact revelation, after I realized this, I beat a few songs on expert, failed one, but that was because I was trying out the higher fret buttons and well, I didnt quite know what I was doing and failed, haha, that'll take some getting used to

[sporkBrigade]

If you strum it you will lose your streak.... the best way to hold a streak with the Strat guitars is to hold the strum bar.

Flicking, tapping, slapping will hurt you.

My 2 experiences with the guitar are the exact opposite from you and the OP. I couldn't get the things to double strum if my life depended on it. The 'mushiness' seemed to prevent it from ever snapping back fast enough to register a second strum. My longest streaks involved 'flicking' it as if I was using a pick.

Also the complete opposite, the one problem I ever encountered was with my second trip to a different bestbuy. I had a lot less time with the guitar that time, but the two times I had to double strum, I found that holding the bar didn't work at all. It's the farther of the two best buys, so I don't really have an oppotunity to go back to really get to the bottom of that one.

[scourge]

at the store near me it doesn't work at all. So in this case your theory doesn't hold

[Seroth]

It's gonna suck if you're gonna have to change your strumming style for the game. I surely will be able to adjust to it...but not my friends. They might not want to play it with me if that's the case. =[ Maybe I'll force them to buy Guitar Hero 3 controllers...

[Aisle5]

It's gonna suck if you're gonna have to change your strumming style for the game. I surely will be able to adjust to it...but not my friends. They might not want to play it with me if that's the case. =[ Maybe I'll force them to buy Guitar Hero 3 controllers...

Exactly. I think the guitars are only broken in the sense that they function differently, and whether or not that was the intention is unknown. Like someone else said, you have to actually strum now, unlike the PS2 guitars where the strum bar was just a button meant to be pushed rapidly as if you were playing Diablo, but the strum bar in the current configuration seems to lend itself more to an actual strumming of a guitar.

If that is good or bad, working or broken, is up to each person. If all my guessing is correct, such that the guitar has been constructed in a way that would require me to use it differently than I am accustomed and prefer, then I would have to believe it bad and broken. This is the one thing that makes me hesitate to pick up the game when it first comes out. I want the game mostly for the drumming aspect, which seems sold, and how can you doubt a microphone, but I don't want to pay for a guitar controller that makes me play the game in a way that is not fun for me. So I'll probably want for the game to be available unbundled.

[Edgehopper]

Disagree, and here's why:

At least on the guitar I played with at my Best Buy, it was having that downward strumming problem. So, I used the guitar to navigate the menus. Downstrumming to go down the menu, I had to push down really, really hard to get the cursor to move. Upstrumming to go up the menu, no problem at all. If the problem were my strumming style rather than the guitar being broken, I shouldn't have that problem navigating menus.

Now, maybe at your Best Buy that isn't the case. But try navigating the menus with the guitar strum bar, and see what happens. It's a good way to tell whether the problem is a defective sensor or your strumming style.

[MrNazraq]

Went and played the demo today (for the first time). I also had problems with the guitar, but got the feeling that it was my playing style more than the guitar controller.

I think it's great that they changed the guitar for this game. I was so comfortable with the GH controller that I thought playing the guitar part on RB would be too boring. Now I'm excited to learn how to play on the Strat, just as much as the drums!

I might go by my local Guitar Center and pick up some picks just to see if that helps me.

[sa_nick]

I found a similar thing with my GH3 controller.

When i'd hit it down with my thumb it wouldnt register. I first thought it was a problem with the ps3 wireless dongle set up, but then my brother played it and it worked perfectly.

He strums with his thumb a lot softer than I do. When i tried this it worked. It's so annoying that the hardware constrains my ability to rock out. I dont wanna just stand there gently tapping a button with my thumb, I wanna put my whole arm into it and smash the crap outta that little thing.

[Magnet]

This isn't great news. I don't how I'm going to be able to change my playing style entirely.

[toefer]

my exact revelation, after I realized this, I beat a few songs on expert, failed one, but that was because I was trying out the higher fret buttons and well, I didnt quite know what I was doing and failed, haha, that'll take some getting used to

I concur. I found swinging my hand, to allow my thumb to hit the strum bar downward worked perfectly fine. I don't think its made to just pinch between your fingers and jiggle it up and down.

[vtjustinb]

Two of the three Best Buys in my area, as well as one Wal-Mart now have guitars that do not register downstrums.

Looking bad.

[DShiz1029]

I kinda have to debunk this hypothesis. The Best Buy demo I played, worked perfectly when it was first set up. I played my natural style, thumb down, it worked smoothly, perfectly. It has just gotten so used and abused that someone broke the strum down, and the strum up was fading away quickly.

Dont play so damn hard...plain and simple. Thats all it is, people thinking its cool to play as hard as they can to get some kind of "full effect". Yeah people are going to continue to play hard, but when their guitar stops working... These guitars arent made of steel, they are plastic, and plastic breaks when roughed up. The strum bar is a lot narrower this time around and just needs to be played with care or you'll be spending hundreds of dollars on new controllers when you start playing rough.

[darkhorse09]

At one of the BB's near me the guitar was completely fine. The second time I chose a different BB and the result was fine but the whammy bar was busted. I went back to the original BB I visited and the strum bar and whammy bar were broken. Even the strap wouldn't stay on and pop off during 2 songs. I personally use one of my guitar straps off of my real Strat and it holds a lot better than the straps that come with the GH and RB games. So it's all about not going balls to the wall on the Strat. Plain and simple.

[KeithSkins]

Makes me wonder if the abuse that those demos take at a place like Walmart or Best Buy is taking a toll on the strum bar.

Like, if it's not registering the downward motion quite as well as the upwards motion, could it be due to a lot of wear and too many 14 year old kids taking out their pre-pubescent rage on it? :p

Hopefully as long as you don't play it like you stole it, it'll function well out of the box and stay that way for a while.

[Murderous_Urges]

I noticed it strange that most people play with their thumbs going downwards, while I play with one finger up strum. I find it's easier and quicker but I guess i'm just the odd one out.