Hard mode assistance

[skynorman]

All I want is some help with Hard mode, I've already read a few posts but I still need a few things for help. What would be the best song to practice hard mode on for guitar on Rock Band 2? Let me give an example, when I learned medium mode I played the song Lazy Eye & that was the song that let me play other songs in medium mode. So what song would be good for hard mode? Also if you are going to tell me things please please don't use all the abbreviations for stuff, you could say I'm a noob to the online terminology for Rock Band. Other misc tips & tricks of the like would also be appreciated.

[TheSkittlerist]

My best tip would to be to stick with it, just pick a REALLY easy song (Rock band 2 is the only one I don't have,) and after getting a decent score on it, work your way up to the next one. I was really only on hard for a couple days before I started going to expert, so my advice may not be too good, but thats how I did it.

[abynormal]

"I Think I'm Paranoid" was one of the first songs I mastered on Hard mode. It's not too fast and gets you accustomed to using that pesky orange fret. I can't remember if it's on there, but "Today" is also in the same vein.

For general advice, I would get used to having your index finger on the red fret the default starting position, as going forward a lot of songs will open with notes or chords using the orange fret. I would also start learning how to alt-strum (going up and down) if you haven't already. Makes many songs much easier to play. For some reason I found Coheed & Cambria's songs very helpful for learning that.

[skynorman]

I have been getting used to Index finger on Red Fret when I practice on the song "Carry on Wayward Son", sometimes I get thrown off having to hit a green fret or having to have my index finger on green for a while then quickly going down the frets back to what I'm trying to make a normal position. But in short the songs I should practice on that you said are "I think I'm Paranoid", "Today" & "Coheed & Cambria"?

[skynorman]

Which I only started practicing on that song like within the last 10 or 20 minutes.

[Alternity]

My opinion will differ from the other people but, Expert + no-fail on anything will make you a better player in way much less time than growing from difficulties to difficulties. Why? Because you keep trying, even if you're not able to, until you are.

Also, for the fingering, I use three fingers, at the 3 possible positions (forefinger on green, middle on red, ring on yellow|forefinger on red, middle on yellow, ring on blue|forefinger on yellow, middle on blue, ring on orange) and some variations for some parts. But then again this might be irrelevant to you if you plan on using your pinky. I rarely use it on basic guitar, only when I really need to.

[StackOverflow0x]

What helped me is to start playing a wider variety of songs, generally 4-tier and below. You start to pick up on the patterns and what the best way to go about playing them are. I took much longer than others but I think I've reached a comfortable level of skill to play enjoyably and you'll get to that too.

[Alternity]

What helped me is to start playing a wider variety of songs, generally 4-tier and below. You start to pick up on the patterns and what the best way to go about playing them are. I took much longer than others but I think I've reached a comfortable level of skill to play enjoyably and you'll get to that too.

I agree with most of that. On the 5 button guitar, it's all patterns, once you've figured out the common patterns, it's all a question of speed. Then you're good in no time. From scratch, using my method, I began as a not confident at all easy player, to a decent expert player who can pass most of the songs in 6 months. 6 months after that, I got the platinum icon on RB2.

[Pitch-Black]

Start with the easiest songs, obviously. Really it's more about getting used to the change in scrolling speeds than anything else. I went from medium right to expert once I figured that out. I figured why go thru the scroll speed adjustment twice. It was a struggle at first, naturally, but I was glad I did as it saved a lot of time. That and I found expert easier to pick up on than hard because I found playing all the notes much more natural than forcing myself not to play notes I hear but aren't actually there. That may not be the case for everyone, though. But perhaps you might concider just making the leap to expert since you're going to have to learn to adjust either way to the scroll speed.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

"I Think I'm Paranoid" was one of the first songs I mastered on Hard mode. It's not too fast and gets you accustomed to using that pesky orange fret. I can't remember if it's on there, but "Today" is also in the same vein.

Agreed with both, and I'll toss in "That's What You Get" as well. Those were my 3 that I played repeatedly in tour mode when I was able to choose the song, since those were the first 3 I was able to play competently on Expert with any regularity (ITIP was actually the first song I ever FC'd ).