The Old Man Band (Players Over 30)

[Kev2380]

"Dude... how freaking old are you?".
Yep.
That made me feel pretty special.

LOL. At least we still play.

[megatron]

And while I know there are some of 'our generation' playing, the majority are still kids that can just bang away at some of these songs for hours and hours on end until they get it.

It would be nice if there was a "number of attempts" tracker along with score. Also, what defines a "sightread". I rarely play the same song twice in a night if I can help it. Is that considered a sight read or is it only the 1st time you play a song?

[Bazoozoo]

I understood a "sight read" to mean the very first time you play a song. I would guess it could also mean playing a song you're unfamiliar with (you don't know the melody, etc.).

Yeah, agreed. At least we still play although not all people my age share my love for the game. My GF is starting to get on my case for playing it - "it's just a game..., etc."

Oh well - I'm addicted, what can I say?

[Pubknight]

yes, Bazoozoo is right... a "sight read" is a first run through of a song when you hadn't seen it before.

i.e. your first play of any new DLC is going to be a sight read... because its the first time you are seeing the note charts.
technically, you could also call the first time seeing a chart on a new difficulty a sight read, for example: "I've played E-Pro on Hard before, but that was a sight-read of it on Expert for me."

[Beach Kitty]

i did a lot of sight reading yesterday and now have gotten through every song on expert with no fail both alone and with a band. . . now i am going to have to get those path charts, maybe. i don[t know. i'm sure it helps, but is it fun to have to follow so many directions? i sort of like figuring it out myself. does everyone use them? when i play with a band and get 100% on a song and have a less than stellar time figuring out the energy does everyone roll their eyes at home or do they even notice?

i want a band that plays in the daytime. i can get by on easy and medium (some hard bass) on the instruments and can do xpert on vocals. is anyone on during the week during the day?

[zarlor]

During the week I can sometimes get on as early at 4pm CDT. BUt that's as early as I could possibly do it.

As for the vocal charts, I doubt anyone really notices all that much what vocals is doing. For one because vocals are harder to notice hitting OD when in band than other parts. But also because from what I've been trying to figure out on OD pathing in a band it looks like th vocalist is probably better off just worrying about optimizing their own score in most situations and letting the drummer lead the rest of the band on when to kick in Od (generally speaking.) Now if the drummer can sync to vox by only holding off for no more than maybe 3 fills, then great, but any more than that drums should probably kick when at a half bar. Bass and Guitar should always try to sync to drums or vox, but I think drums is better. They should only ever kick off OD not in sync with everyone else if they are already at a full bar and there's an energy phrase coming up that would force them to end up with unused energy.

As for the vocal paths, it depends on a few things. How good your memory is for one (how many times to you end with unused energy because you forgot you needed to kick off much sooner in the song or you have wasted opportunities because you didn't realize there would be no place for you to kick off OD in a particular section?) And how important getting a good score is. Missing an optimal path by just one OD phrase could easily cost you at least 4,000 points (assuming you are at the 4x muliiplier at the time.) So less optimal paths, especially on longer songs, really start falling behind on points very, very quickly. BUT, with that being said, when all is said and done it's really about the fun factor. If you have more fun running through songs without using a path, then by all means, forget the darned paths! You mentioned you like trying to find the paths, though. If that's the case, do you have a method for finding the paths you want to use? Presumably, if you are, you might have a "cheat sheet" of notes on what are some of the better times to activate on songs, right? In which case the notation they use at scorehero might be useful for you as a shorthand. I find it pretty easy to glance at and use, myself, but maybe you have a notation that works better for you. (And share if you do! Maybe others will like it beter as well.)

I think when all is said and done, though, it depends on what you want to get out of the game. I tend to set little challenges for myself, like doing the ESL2 on Expert Vox was one, then I wanted to make sure I could Gold Star every song in the game (but to do that your score is pretty important so having optimal paths was something I needed.) I'd like to FC every song on the game, now, but Tangled Up In Blue, American Woman, One Way or Another (the "talky" section "Getcha, Getcha, Getchas in the first energy phrase I just can't figure out how to get) all stand in my way. I haven't FCed Uncontrollable Urge or That's What You Get yet, either, but I know I can get those if I work on them a little bit. But I've actually just been trying to finish out all the gigs and venues in my World Tour with 5-stars everywhere. I'd also like to finish all of the Challenges. The last 3 are less important on the score front because I'm not worried about gold stars there, just 5 stars (and not even that, really, on the Challenges). I also like to do Battle Of The Bands, and depending on the type of battle, having an optimal path can also be very important to the ranking there. So for the things I've challeneged myself with, having really good paths can be important so I like to use them. It all depends on how you want to play and enjoy the game.

Besides, one of the founding tenets of being on a friends list from this thread was that it was OK for folks who didn't play on Expert or worry about scores or anything else. No problem for personal challenges or for working out something like that with specific folks beforehand, of course, but for anything we do on pickup bands with folks here, it's all just for fun. Scores and such are strictly secondary, or even lower, concerns.

[Beach Kitty]

thanks for your reply, z.

i enjoy the puzzle of energy. i also enjoy that i have a very low career score even with five different singers here, yet i make it on the leaderboards of any song i get to take a minute and try to figure out. so my ego gets involved is what i am saying i am a professor irl, and like solving problems and puzzles. so for now, i think i will avoid the cheat sheet, as tempting as it is. . . although the way you managed to get more points out of Polly does make me feel very tempted to just peek at a few songs. althoughi did make it out of the first section with 110,000 once, which makes me think i can still beat you again really the only time i always have to play is midweek during the day when i;m not teaching or otherwise in demand, anyway, so i guess it is me and the homeschooled kids who get to jam thanks again!

[HamsterRiot]

Besides, one of the founding tenets of being on a friends list from this thread was that it was OK for folks who didn't play on Expert or worry about scores or anything else. No problem for personal challenges or for working out something like that with specific folks beforehand, of course, but for anything we do on pickup bands with folks here, it's all just for fun. Scores and such are strictly secondary, or even lower, concerns.

And this is why I love this thread!!

[jammmer]

I agree with the Hamster

[Honey Bee]

Hello there.

Glad I found this thread of adults playing RB. I just started playing RB and love the drums, but I'm still playing at Easy/Medium right now. I would love to add you all to my friend's list and hope you would do the same. I'm in my 30's young

My friend code is in my signature. I hope to play with you all soon.