Learning Guitar Hero

JohnnyCrash

Hi guys, im a total newbie to the games console world.My girlfriend got me the wii for christmas with Guitar Hero Metallica.Cant put it down since.My query is this: Ive read various reviews on GH and lots of people say not to start on the EASY mode to become a better player,start on MEDIUM instead,whereas,others say,100% songs on EASY first before progressing.Whats the general consensus? All opinions greatly appreciated.

Stuxnet

i found easy too easy....but hard is too hard !!
i can only play medium, maybe i'm too old !!
GH Metallica is the shizz !!!

JohnnyCrash

BOBBY wrote: »

i found easy too easy....but hard is too hard !!
i can only play medium, maybe i'm too old !!
GH Metallica is the shizz !!!

Did you find easy too easy from the get go? do you play REAL guitar? I got GH World tour. I find easy on that easy,but GH Metallica i have to work at. Also add that i would be very familiar with Metallica,maybe this mightnt be a good thing like one would expect?P.S. im with you on the"too old" thing,ha ha ha,old dogs,new tricks!:D

calex71

Playing on a harder setting is not only more rewarding but more realistic, I found that the step from medium to hard more difficult than hard to expert.

I play Rock band more so I had an option to enable break neck speed, which was very useful playing on medium as it got me used to playing faster but without being overwhelmed by a screen full of notes.

The reason I say the step up to hard was more difficult was because of the extra button to deal with

I would suggest going up to hard and playing bass for a while as you will only have single notes mostly and get you used to using the orange button.

Also before getting into a difficult to break habit ( I know from experience ) stop only using down strums now!!!!!!!!!!! When you do eventually get to expert it will be much easier to play fast sections accurately by alt. strumming (up and down). This was a serious bad habit for me to break

D4RK ONION

I started on Hard I believe, everyone gets better at it at different levels. If easy is all you manage that's fine, but I find when I'm at someone's house who has GH or RB and they insist they can only play medium, often all they need is a push to go to hard. Practice is the most important thing anyway!

JohnnyCrash

D4RK ONION wrote: »

I started on Hard I believe, everyone gets better at it at different levels. If easy is all you manage that's fine, but I find when I'm at someone's house who has GH or RB and they insist they can only play medium, often all they need is a push to go to hard. Practice is the most important thing anyway!

Where im getting bogged down is that im trying to 100% everything on easy-keep missing silly,simple notes,does my head in,ha ha. Now i see that hammer ons and pull offs are crucial to advance. Tried those and find it hard to keep from strumming,ha ha. If i stay on easy,im only programming myself to use three fingers. Am i learning(or trying to learn) to run before i can walk? P.S. I dont play guitar or any musical instrument. Is this a disadvantage?

D4RK ONION

No it isn't a disadvantage

I rarely 100% songs. It is not the be all. Finishing songs is more than enough. Move up to medium now I'd say and tell us what stage you're at.

As for HOPOs, you don't have to "not strum" for all of them. I strum a lot of them, it's down to personal preference and habit for each person.

calex71

Don't worry about 100% that's for girls , gold stars are where it's at

Seriously though , If I went from expert down to easy I'd never get 100% either, my brain and ears would be telling me that there should be more notes than there are on screen and I'd be playing with what I'm hearing making it hard for me to play what I see if that makes sense?

I say go up to medium I will feel more natural and more like playing the song for real.

Edit: An after thought but could the root of your problem, you guitar may not be calibrated properly if you are missing notes on easy , go into the options on the main screen and then into game settings or calibration and re check it

cedomination

If you can beat everything on easy you might as well go ahead to medium. Don't bother trying to get 100%, it's not going to help your skill as much as playing harder songs will.

JohnnyCrash

Took all on board and went to medium last night .Found i could finish most tracks at about 85%. Only ones that got me were tracks with spaced chords,if thats the correct term for them? Also,i saw that someone said its all about the gold stars.How do you get these? Only ones i got were when i 100%ed on easy!

calex71

Ah gold star's are more for rock band really, it's basically like getting 6 stars when you play well on expert, reason I say they are better than 100% is because you can 100% a song but not get gold stars, they are score based not for hitting all the notes although you do need to be damn near it.

So in rock band if the score for 5* is 10000 then you will get gold stars at 14000 you can get to that without getting 100% , but also miss them if you don't use overdrive / star power at the right times to sufficiently boost your score.

It's different in GH i think they are just for 100% on any difficulty.

Banjo

I played through Rockband 2 on Hard and dabbled in Expert, but when I fired up GH:Metallica the first time and tried For Whom The Bell Tolls on hard it crucified me. Hard and Medium are relative terms....

Knowing a song really well - and especially knowing how to play the song on guitar - is often a real hindrance as once you get into the tune you'll start hitting notes that aren't there on your difficulty level 'cause it feels like they should be.

I'd definitely play a few tracks on Easy to get your eye in, get used to the feel of the guitar and buttons and strum bar, nail the mechanics of playing the game, but once you've 4 or 5 starred a couple of songs make the jump to Medium and play songs you've heard before (so there're no surprise tempo changes etc). After a few goes you'll be flyin'.

Now, if you are aiming at getting on to hard as quickly as possible, I'd recommend you take a few songs you know (and I mean you GH-know, not real world know) pretty well and alternate between playing them with 4 fingers in medium and 3 fingers in medium. This gets your little finger in on the action and also gets you used to moving between having your index finger anchored on Green and anchored on Red. Getting your hand to move on the neck without you having to think about it is key to upping your game, as is moving away from associating a colour with a finger. The pace of medium is slow so it gets your eye in, and if you move from some low-tier songs to some of the later ones you can increase the difficulty a little without overwhelming yourself, but you'll need a few songs on hard to remove that cushion of time between notes so you stop thinking and just play.

Having said that, I still can't beat the solo of For Whom The Bell Tolls on hard, so my method clearly doesn't work

Have to say, some of the tracks on GH:M are magic. Shame they had to include tracks from Load onwards...

gingelion

I started on medium on GH1. Moved up pretty quick. like everyone says, its just about gettin used to it and doin it without really thinking. I got really good at it and GH2 but stopped playin it. Practice is the key. i had finished 1 & 2 on expert but had to go back to medium when i finally bought GH3. Still to this day i cant get past the slipknot track on expert and havent bought one since. I used to love that game. DAMN. I'M GONNA TRY AGAIN.

D4RK ONION

gingelion wrote: »

I started on medium on GH1. Moved up pretty quick. like everyone says, its just about gettin used to it and doin it without really thinking. I got really good at it and GH2 but stopped playin it. Practice is the key. i had finished 1 & 2 on expert but had to go back to medium when i finally bought GH3. Still to this day i cant get past the slipknot track on expert and havent bought one since. I used to love that game. DAMN. I'M GONNA TRY AGAIN.

I suggest you pick up Rock Band 1/2 or GH5, their note charting and hitboxes are much less... STUPID (for want of a better word) than GH3's...

gingelion

Think i may have broken the controller, played for a while there. couldnt do any song on expert, the buttons seem to be sticky or somethin. stayin pressed down for a bit even after i take my fingers off. i used to live in galway & there was a lot of buckfast involved at parties while playin this.

might need a new contoller. tried new batteries but still wrong.

Tiger955

My advice for someone wanting to get good at GH or RB is PRACTISE PRACTISE PRACTISE. Just like the real thing.

I got into GH and RB two years ago. A very good friend's 11 year old spends weekends and sometime weeks with me when his parents work. He started me on it and I started in Easy. Bad enough that sometimes I forgot to strum. Since then, I have been playing almost everyday with a partner or alone and now I play Expert effortlessly.

Now I am 44, he still spends weekends with me and we play on expert only, all games. We are also looking to join an online band.

At a recent outdoor festival a local video store had a stand set up. Play a GH song and get 95% or better and win a ballot for an X-Box 360. The kid had stage fright so I got up in his place. When I finished, I heard a small voice in the crowd say "He's the best old guy I have ever seen play that game"......lol

So ...... Wanna get good. My advice is Practise.

D4RK ONION

Welcome Tiger. Do you have Beatles Rock Band? If so, why not check out the challenge on the last page of the top thread here? Show us your stuff, you're playing with Ireland's finest now

calex71

Not to forget this thread also http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055778102&page=3