Are some people naturally good at Rock Band?

[thatmarkguy]

Not bad. It was a while ago so I don't remember the specifics. I think there were a couple wires that behaved... unintuitively. But a few trials-and-error and I worked out the kinks.

Yeah, I don't especially care if people consider it cheating. I'm just playing for fun, not to dominate leaderboards (and I don't dominate leaderboards) - anything that makes playing more fun for me is fine by me and not my concern whether or not it is fine by others.

I'd like to use the minifrets like many others can but am physically unable, so I rigged an alternate that let me have the same fun the thin-fingered folk can have.


(FWIW, to date I have not yet logged one score on that guitar yet that is a new high score for me)

[tnevaker]

So notorious that people even specifically remember which war he was in.

Oh, wait.

(Note: the amount of time between when most of us started playing Rock Band and today, is greater than the amount of time between when Manfred von Richthofen started as a pilot and when he was shot down and killed. Not really a stirring case for a "keep on working at it and you'll get there" message.)

if failing out of a song meant permanent death, instead of just getting kicked out and having to restart the song, people would probably get a whole lot better a whole lot quicker.

[thatmarkguy]

von Richthofen forgot to put on no-fail mode.

[Obi_Wan_Kenoli]

I think the game is easier to pick up for people that actually have rhythm. I personally play by sound more than by the charts. Of course I need to see what notes to hit/press, but I tend to look way up the track to see the patterns, but use the actual song to know when to play the notes.

When I'm left to rely on my reflexes alone I usually do pretty poorly, and one time when the TV was muted when I was playing with friends it was like they may as well have unplugged my controller because I had no idea which way was up anymore. But some people actually play with the sound off as some of the more "hardcore" may get sick of the actual song or may not like the song at all, but are drawn to the challenge of perfecting playing through a particularly difficult chart.

In the end though it's all a matter of time whether you start off at a better spot than another person. In my own circle I started the whole GH/RB thing way late. I remember being amazed a friend of mine played Paint it Black on MEDIUM (OMG!) in GH3 and failing easy drums on RB 1 so I was by no stretch of the imagination a virtuoso.

But a big RB2 Bundle Purchase and hundreds of hours later I'm still mediocre by whatever yardstick gets thrown around among the elite, but I've overtaken everyone in my circle in terms of actual skill. Whatever THAT gets me in life... It's all just a matter of how much time you're willing to invest and how much you want to push yourself.

I struggled with easy, it later got boring so I went up to medium. Played bass before guitar. Bass got easy, I moved to guitar. Posted 99% to 100% consistently on harder songs so I moved up to hard.

That was by far the most difficult leap IMO gameplay wise, but also the most rewarding because I find that the benefit of moving to hard is not so much the potential to increase bragging rights/e-peen/etc., but the more notes you "pretend to play", the more immersed you get in the experience of really enjoying mimicking playing these songs; and for me that was the true reason I played as long as I did, that overall enjoyable band play experience.

I'm now trying to sporadically advance into expert, but my interest in the latest game gave out before I really got to far before I could get too deep into the expert tiers.

I'm sure if I kept at it though I'd keep improving. It really is all just a matter of how much time you want to invest, but even if you have limited time or desire to spend a whole lot of time to invest in a pretty frivolous skill.

I had a buddy in college that I could not for the life of me beat at Starcraft. So my options were to devote my life to Starcraft or actually finish college. Could I one day play at the level of some of the more devoted RB/GH players? Probably. In about 4 or 5 years of playing for hours upon hours every day. Not that I don't waste my time on stuff that's probably less productive than that, but me I like to diversify my non-productivity across several activities.

in the end, I think the RB games, RB1 and 2 moreso than 3, were more tailored toward being enjoyed at whatever level you were at, while simultaneously allowing you to play with people of any skill level and still feel you were contributing to the group. How good or bad you are doesn't really matter in the end, unless you want to hang with those guys that drop out when they miss a note or something. And who wants to play with those guys anyway?

[MRCODMAN]

Wow people on here are far to wise, I bow to your knowledge lol. I did not think I would ever play expert but last week I 5 stared my first song pat on my back. Now I am sure i will never be able to play all on expert or even half the songs on expert but god damm it I will try. They say practice makes perfect but i believe you have to have natural talent to play these songs on expert, some have that talent and some need to work at it.

[rkbdgurl]

I don't even think it's just practice or being more or less "gifted" than others. I think you have to factor in physical reflexes. I kind of like the idea of modifying an instrument to better suit my reflexes and even out the playing field so to speak. If Jimi Hendrix could modify his gtrs....by golly...why not the rockbanders. Just sayin

[TheBonobo4]

I know I'd get a capo or a clamp etc on the green fret. It'd make playing Bass where there are fewer chords easier, and I could always take it off if there were chords not using green frets.

[Alternity]

Well since I play rythm games (began with DDR/ITG) I've seen alot of people playing, and I've also seen alot of people getting better, some gets better in no time and they own you even tho you play for years, some will suck, and get a little better, but they will still not be able to compete with the top100. I personally was already trained in rythm games because of DDR/ITG, I oly needed to get used to use my hands instead of the feets. Another thing that people seems to not understand is the way the rythm is written on the game. Gotta( read those lines on the back, they tell you where exactly in the rythm the note is. Pro is another story (Not on drums tho.) on pro guitar/bass you gotta either learn the songs, or take ALOT of time to be able to read this on-the-fly. I for one can read songs on-the-fly on pro keyboard, mainly because I am a real keyboardist and I took time to find a way to translate while reading the RB chart to music notes in my head. For pro guitar/bass it's a matter of reading a tab that is not sideways... This is hard. But yeah, some people are beast and don't play that much (Valkyrin on PS3 drums, anyone?) and some people tend to be able to play on expert at a decent level, but nowhere near top100. I think it's more of the ''willing'' to learn than the ''natural rythm gaming skills''.

[grimripper82]

Natural ability is certainly a factor. There's no denying that. However, practice seems to be very underrated in this thread. Limitations be damned. I don't mean to insult anyone here, but limitations are only an excuse in your head. With enough practice, every one of us could potentially FC some of the hardest songs at least on the non-pro instruments. These aren't great human feats of skill or athletics we're talking about here. This stuff is doable. I've been playing these types of games since GH1, and even Karaoke Revolution, and while I'm not a master by any means, I STILL feel like I get better just about every time I play, and I play quite a bit. Vocals is my main, and I can sightread gold star almost everything, with very few exceptions. Now this isn't even me bragging.

I was in a relationship with a...ummm...rather mean-spirited girl, when the first KR game came out. I played it a bit, and was honestly pretty terrible at it. I was somewhat tone-deaf, and had no real control over my vocal-cords. She made fun of me...like... a lot. She left for the weekend out of town for a concert one day. Now me being fairly competitive, and totally motivated if I'm told I can't do something, I played it while she was gone. I practiced until my voice was gone....then again the next day. I got good enough where I could get above 90% on easy on some songs. May not sound like much, but I'd come a long way. She still made fun of me, but I knew that I was getting better. My confidence renewed, I continued to play regularly, and as the sequels came out, made it a point to FC every song at least on easy. I now LOVED to sing, and was becoming pretty darn good at it. Needless to say, after playing GH for a while, out comes Rock Band. I probably started at medium or hard, but very quickly bumped 'er up to expert. I never looked back.

Bottom line: Don't ever set limitations for yourself. The minute you decide you'll never get better, then that's exactly what happens. We are all capable of being amazing at whatever it is that we feel passionate about, if we really want to, and can afford the time to do it. Some of us don't have that kind of time, so that's completely understandable. Some of us are just looking to have some fun, and don't have that drive to do it. That's alright too. Just know that you are physically capable of it. We are all capable of some truly amazing feats, whether we know it or not.

[vexx0820]

I've always played lower range instruments so bass came pretty easy. Lead guitar has been a more torturous path but practice has let me play most tunes on Hard now.

Drums are my next Big Challenge... if only because the foot pedal has my ankle screaming within minutes.