Bad link.
Oops. Thanks. Fixed.

DaverJ, excellent video on the drum mod! Thanks for posting it!

My only concern would be the felt wearing out over time, and having a hard time replacing it cleanly. What do you think?

Thanks... I wish I could play better as an example. :o

I'm not sure how permanent the sticky part of the foam rubber is, but I don't think it should be too hard to remove from the solid plastic pad.

Oops. Thanks. Fixed.

Thanks. Cool video. Heard about that one but hadn't actually seen it. Thanks for fixing it.

Do you guys think that they could have rubberized the pads? I swear I played with an electronic drum set back in the day that had rubber pads. I could be wrong, lol. Regardless, rubber pads woulda/shoulda been the answer for Harmonix.

I picked up some mouse pads yesterday and cut them to approx 7" circles. I had two cheapie soft pads (not the paper thin ones, but not super thick) and one with a hard top. Since they would hop off the drums after a few strikes, I duct-taped them down.

Verdict: it works great.

I left the blue pad open, and covered the others. When I would switch from a red-yellow rythm to one with blue, the CLOP-CLOP-CLOP-CLOP was ridiculously louder than the covered pads. I was very happy with the performance.

I think I am going to make a template with 6.5" circles so that the color rings show around the mouse pad, and leave "tabs" that go out to 7" where I am going to tape them down. I'm also going to look for some black duct tape to go with the black mouse pads for a cleaner look.

I was really happy with how much this quieted the drums down. If your kit needs the "duct tape fix" for the red drum, you could still do it, too.

I haven't decided if I like the soft mouse pad better or the hard topped one, but I'm leaning towards the soft.

Why is it not possible to change the name of a band? A friend and I created a band and named it something pretty horrible, but only because we wanted to get in and play and I figured I could change it later. But now I can only delete it? WTF?

you can, I think it's in the options menu

I had to change the spelling of my band "Wyld Stallyns" (I hope most know that reference) so that it would show up online, I changed the s at the end to a z.

Do you guys think that they could have rubberized the pads? I swear I played with an electronic drum set back in the day that had rubber pads. I could be wrong, lol. Regardless, rubber pads woulda/shoulda been the answer for Harmonix.

the actual pad is rubber. the rims are plastic.

I think my drums are broken, I just need some confirmation from you guys. Can you play a drum roll on the pads? Especially the red one? I am NOT a drummer, but I cannot do a drum roll at all. I found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAWd7nTAK0Y&feature=related and my drums seem to be the same way.

So are your guys drums like these or what?

you can, I think it's in the options menu

I had to change the spelling of my band "Wyld Stallyns" (I hope most know that reference) so that it would show up online, I changed the s at the end to a z.

San Dimas High School football rules!

Still, I can't find that option anywhere. I'll have to look again tonight. I remember seeing the option to rename characters, but not bands.

I think my drums are broken, I just need some confirmation from you guys. Can you play a drum roll on the pads? Especially the red one? I am NOT a drummer, but I cannot do a drum roll at all. I found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAWd7nTAK0Y&feature=related and my drums seem to be the same way.

So are your guys drums like these or what?

I think all of ours are like this. 8th notes are fine but 16th notes? Forget it >:(

I think all of ours are like this. 8th notes are fine but 16th notes? Forget it >:(

This video makes me think that I should return my set to EA. I've been having problems registering notes, but I thought it was just my skillz.

Last night was the first night where I thought there was an issue with the set because I KNOW I was hitting notes, but it wasn't registering. Now I'm pretty sure its the set. I think I'm definitely going to send mine back to EA now.

Has anyone that has initiated an RMA heard anything at all? I submitted my request for an RMA on the guitar last Tuesday. I've heard absolutely nothing since. No email, no tracking number, Nada. Going to the site an logging in all I see is under questions, the original trouble shooting question and under status it says "New RMA".

I still need to RMA the Mic and the drums as well. I'm seriously considering trying to re-box the thing up and return it to Fry's for a replacement instead.

My copy FINALLY shipped from Amazon. I preordered in October. It feels like it's crawling here from Fresno though. I think it might have made it to Ohio last I checked. I'm waiting on the east coast.

Has anyone that has initiated an RMA heard anything at all? I submitted my request for an RMA on the guitar last Tuesday. I've heard absolutely nothing since. No email, no tracking number, Nada. Going to the site an logging in all I see is under questions, the original trouble shooting question and under status it says "New RMA".

I still need to RMA the Mic and the drums as well. I'm seriously considering trying to re-box the thing up and return it to Fry's for a replacement instead.

All I've ever received was the initial RMA # and tracking # when I put in for my replacement guitar on Monday. I checked the tracking number today and 'supposedly' its scheduled for delivery tomorrow, but there still isn't any detailed tracking info., just that the billing info. has been received.

people have just started receiving their replacements. And no one has got DOA equipment yet.

Question for the already informed here;

Will the GH2/3 guitars for 360 work for Rockband?

Thanks in advance.

Question for the already informed here;

Will the GH2/3 guitars for 360 work for Rockband?

Thanks in advance.

For the 1 millionth and 1 time (the 1 millionth was on the previous page), YES.

so has anyone read anything of people getting drums replaced that respond to every hit (IE a drum roll)? Just wondering what I should do with mine. They work fine but IF i ever get to hard or better then I may need to play that fast on the snare (red)

I think I'll definitely be testing the drumroll problem to see which kit I wound up with. I took a few days off and just made the jump from easy to medium tonight...and actually find it a bit easier because it feels/sounds more like I'm actually playing song. Looking to do the foam/felt mod this weekend so I can do some serious jamming. : )

i love this game!

we bought the 2 yr warranty at wal-mart with the set - $17.88. they said if anything happens bring the chit back and they'll replace it. we'll see.

What is the current supply like on Rock Band at the local retailers? For instance can you still walk into Best Buy or CC and buy it? Have stores that sold out gotten a second wave? I wanted to pick this up at Sams but they were sold out a day after release day - any chance they've replenished?

so has anyone read anything of people getting drums replaced that respond to every hit (IE a drum roll)? Just wondering what I should do with mine. They work fine but IF i ever get to hard or better then I may need to play that fast on the snare (red)

So my wife and I applied the felt pads to our kit tonight. I noticed some problems with the red pad picking up rolls and I tested it prior to applying the pads. Doing a double-stroke roll on the red pad, a lot of hits would not register. After applying the felt pads it seems much better. My double-stroke rolls suck so I'm not sure if it's picking up all of them but it seems like it.

As for noise, the felt pads don't help much with keeping the sound from carrying through the house. However up close I think it makes a big difference because it takes the clicky-clacky edge of the hits and I think give a better playing feel. Plus I think it looks nice. Definitely glad I did it.

I picked up my arts and crafts supplies last night to do this mod...but what is the point of the felt, anyway? I was thinking about just doing the foam (since I could find that in colors; I had to go w/black felt).

I picked up my arts and crafts supplies last night to do this mod...but what is the point of the felt, anyway? I was thinking about just doing the foam (since I could find that in colors; I had to go w/black felt).

If I had to do it over again, I think I would go with black felt and maybe some sort of indicator for colors, like colored tape or something on the rim. The big bright round colors kinda look a little Fischer-Price. :p

I'm not sure what difference the felt makes. I guess it adds to the thickness and gives a different surface for hitting, plus cutting the foam is very messy and the felt adds a much better looking surface on top.

Did you go with the circle cutter they recommended? One warning about that... it's designed to cut paper, not foam rubber or felt. So the blade on that thing didn't cut all the way through on mine and I'm not sure how they got it to cut through. :confused: I used the circle cutter to cut as far as I could, then used the groove it created as a guild for an x-acto knife - worked like a charm. ;)

They were out of circle cutters at JoAnn Fabrics so I haven't really decided how to cut the materials yet. I figure I've gotta have something down in the shop I can use as a template and just cut with a utility knife.

Good point about the primary colors on the pads.

I made sure to get some extra supplies so maybe I'll give it a try with and without the felt tonight.

I'm gonna have $300 invested in Rock Band before I even get through the solo drum tour on medium, LOL...

I filled out the RMA request on their website Tuesday morning at 12:30am. My new guitar is on the UPS truck right now for delivery. I'll post impressions of the replacement tonight after I try it out. From what folks were saying, I was thinking it would be another week or two before I saw this thing.

I filled out the RMA request on their website Tuesday morning at 12:30am. My new guitar is on the UPS truck right now for delivery. I'll post impressions of the replacement tonight after I try it out. From what folks were saying, I was thinking it would be another week or two before I saw this thing.

that completely sucks because i had my RMA request filled out the FIRST DAY it was available and i stilll only shows "billing information received" when i track mine.

that completely sucks because i had my RMA request filled out the FIRST DAY it was available and i stilll only shows "billing information received" when i track mine.


That does suck. I saw a report yesterday that they had started sending replacements out. Hopefully yours goes soon.

One warning about that... it's designed to cut paper, not foam rubber or felt. So the blade on that thing didn't cut all the way through on mine and I'm not sure how they got it to cut through. :confused: I used the circle cutter to cut as far as I could, then used the groove it created as a guild for an x-acto knife - worked like a charm. ;)

Even with a dull blade my wife was able to get it to cut through both the felt and the foam. So if you have a scrapbooker in your life ask 'em for help ;-)

That does suck. I saw a report yesterday that they had started sending replacements out. Hopefully yours goes soon.


thanks.... me too. at least i have my GH3 guitars to get me through until it shows. the only issue is, i REALLY loved the 'effect switch' and solo buttons on the RB guitars and i miss those features.


here's hoping the new ones hold up to RAWKIN'!

I ended up using generic mouse pads from Office Depot. They had green and blue, then I bought two grey ones and when cutting them out, I cut an extra notch on the top to display the color.

The sound dampening is awesome and the bounce back is actually better than stock. I'm quite happy with that solution.

that completely sucks because i had my RMA request filled out the FIRST DAY it was available and i stilll only shows "billing information received" when i track mine.

I'm on that same boat...I'm getting very tempted to order a second replacement as I'm starting to wonder if I will ever see the first one...

I filled out the RMA request on their website Tuesday morning at 12:30am. My new guitar is on the UPS truck right now for delivery. I'll post impressions of the replacement tonight after I try it out. From what folks were saying, I was thinking it would be another week or two before I saw this thing.

Yeah, I ordered mine on Tuesday and its on the truck for delivery today.

I'm having a calibration issue with RB.

I have an LCD projector - 50ft component run through multi switch.
DD, optical out to receiver.
50ft speaker run to fronts.

Video calibration using the strum method puts me in a random range between -20 to -60ms. I can never get the same number each time I try it.

Audio calibration using the audio cue puts me around -5ms. This has to be perhaps the hardest and stupidest calibration method.

I have a feeling the long AV cable runs are causing the problem yet I can never get the two to optimally jive. Have tried all the automatic configurations but they're all off somewhat.

If anyone has a similar setup please let me know as this is driving me crazy!

that completely sucks because i had my RMA request filled out the FIRST DAY it was available and i stilll only shows "billing information received" when i track mine.

I hear ya, I filled out an RMA request on the 20th. I never received a tracking # etc. I submitted a question about the status on Tuesday and received this reply yesterday afternoon.



Hello Robert!

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts Technical Support. I do apologize for the inconvenience you're having with Rock Band.

I am very sorry you did not receive the email confirming your replacement information. From checking your RMA number, I was able to get the tracking number for the shipment to you. It is xx xxx xxx xx xxxx xxx x. There is also a tracking number available for you to use to track the package you send back to us. That tracking number is xx xxx xxx xx xxxx xxx x.

It does appear there has been a slight delay in shipping due in part to the holidays. We are making every effort to get replacement items shipped out quickly, and yours should be on its way soon. Please continue to check the UPS wed site (www.ups.com) for updates to the shipping status.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. Please let us know if we can be of service in the future.


Thank you!

Camille T.
Customer Support
Electronic Arts

Funny thing is, you go to the UPS website and put the number in, nothing comes up. Calling UPS I'm told that the billing information was submitted on the 20th but no actual package with that # has ever been picked up.

I'm wondering if the people that are receiving replacements already are the ones that were willing to offer up their CC#'s for a temporary charge on their replacements. If that is the case then I'm very disappointed.

My drums had a dead yellow pad on arrival. I submitted an RMA with my credit card on Saturday. My tracking number still just shows the "billing information received" with no details. I'm pissed, I spend $170 on this game and it came with broken equipment that they can't seem to replace in a reasonable manner.

My drums had a dead yellow pad on arrival. I submitted an RMA with my credit card on Saturday. My tracking number still just shows the "billing information received" with no details. I'm pissed, I spend $170 on this game and it came with broken equipment that they can't seem to replace in a reasonable manner.

That really does suck. They should be handling this stuff in a far more expedited manner.

is it worth getting a proper drum throne when playing the drums? Can anyone who plays the game sitting on a throne comment on if it improves posture and makes you a better player? I definitely want this game to be a transitition to a playing a real drum set one day.

I'm having a calibration issue with RB.

I have an LCD projector - 50ft component run through multi switch.
DD, optical out to receiver.
50ft speaker run to fronts.

Video calibration using the strum method puts me in a random range between -20 to -60ms. I can never get the same number each time I try it.

Audio calibration using the audio cue puts me around -5ms. This has to be perhaps the hardest and stupidest calibration method.

I have a feeling the long AV cable runs are causing the problem yet I can never get the two to optimally jive. Have tried all the automatic configurations but they're all off somewhat.

If anyone has a similar setup please let me know as this is driving me crazy!

I do not have a similar setup but I am having pretty much the same problems. Never the same calibration results...and the variance is quite large..ive had results ranging from -80ms to +75ms....even had 2 readings in a row..one was -25 the other +40.

Except for my rear speaker runs..I do not have any cable or interconnect that is over 10ft long in my system

Vizio 47" LCD
H/K 247 AVR

The 360 is hooked up to the Vizio using VGA @ 1920x1080 and optical to the receiver.

It really is starting to get annoying because things will seem ok then all the sudden everything is way off....I go back recalibrate...accept the results although they make no sense and things are ok....until it gets messed up again.

Their calibration stuff is crap. The calibration for Guitar Hero worked great..only had to do it once, the results made sense and it worked.

What is disturbing is that it seems "lose calibration" often...that really does not make sense. This should only have to be done once...and the results of doing 2-3 times in a row should give similar results not crazy variances.

is it worth getting a proper drum throne when playing the drums? Can anyone who plays the game sitting on a throne comment on if it improves posture and makes you a better player? I definitely want this game to be a transitition to a playing a real drum set one day.

The biggest advantage to the throne is being able to sit higher with your leg parallel or higher to the ground. This makes extended kick pedal work much easier. If you have a chair that lets you sit that high (I'm currently using a folding chair and two pillows) then you're not going to see that much difference IMO. OTOH, thrones can be had for fairly cheap (<$30) and if you're going to look into purchasing a kit in the future it can be used for that as well.

I'm wondering if the people that are receiving replacements already are the ones that were willing to offer up their CC#'s for a temporary charge on their replacements. If that is the case then I'm very disappointed.

Sorry but that's not it...I gave them a CC# and have been waiting since 11/21...

...but what is the point of the felt, anyway?

I think it is so you can tell which drum is which color after you cover up the whole drum head with the foam.

I ended up using generic mouse pads from Office Depot. They had green and blue, then I bought two grey ones and when cutting them out, I cut an extra notch on the top to display the color.

The sound dampening is awesome and the bounce back is actually better than stock. I'm quite happy with that solution.

How are you fastening them to the drums? I hacked up some generic black mouse pads from Fry's and I *REALLY* like the look of it with black, except for the ugly duct tape I used to hold them down.

I'm going to look for some thin double-sided foam that won't ruin the drums so I can fasten the mouse pads to the drums. Maybe some 3m 77 spray adhesive instead would work since it isn't super sticky like mounting tape is. I want to be able to pull the pads off in case I need to RMA the kit or if I need to replace the pads since I have no idea how well a mouse pad will hold up to beating with wooden sticks over time.

I really like the black drum head look, so I'm either going to cut the circles small enough for the drum head color ring to show, or else I might try cutting half or quarter inch thick circles from the self-stick felt to make my own colored rings aroudn the outside of the mouse pads.

If anybody has any ideas on sticking the mouse pads to the drums non-permanently, I'm all ears. :)

How much are you penalized for missing the notes that are to be played with the foot pedal? My kids are looking forward to playing this, but I know its going to be very difficult for them to get the hang of the pedal - both mentally as well as physically (fatiguing).

So I was wondering how they will do if they just focus on the 4 main drums and don't attempt the pedal. It would be cool if they added features or at least cheat codes to these games like "automatic pedal" to help the little ones. They could always nullify the score when used to keep people from using it as a cheat in the rankings...

I really wish they made the easy mode of drums not use the kick pedal. It'd be better for situations like that...

I think it is so you can tell which drum is which color after you cover up the whole drum head with the foam.

OK, I thought I was missing something about the mechanics of it...didn't seem like the felt would be doing much of anything.

My foam came from the kids' section with a wide assortment of colors, so I'm good there if I want to go w/ the Fisher Price look as DaverJ mentioned.

Part of the issue is that UPS is being real slow to update their tracking information and another part is that it's the holidays. I ordered a replacement a few days ago and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow. Guess we'll see.

Got replacement guitar. Unpacked it but haven't hooked it up yet. Strum bar still seems a bit off, but I'll hold off judgement till I try it with some music. Didn't have time over lunch to fire up the game.

You get the same box you got in your bundle inside a slightly bigger box (because of the head attachment). You're supposed to wrap your defective guitar in bubble wrap, place in box, and then position it in the bigger box with 4 foam squares anchoring it inside. Packing slip is simply flipped over to show their address. Drop off with UPS.

I'm still waiting for the game to be released in Canada :(

I'm a big GH3 addict, and a drummer in real life, and I can't wait to see how the drums stack up.

How much are you penalized for missing the notes that are to be played with the foot pedal? My kids are looking forward to playing this, but I know its going to be very difficult for them to get the hang of the pedal - both mentally as well as physically (fatiguing).

So I was wondering how they will do if they just focus on the 4 main drums and don't attempt the pedal. It would be cool if they added features or at least cheat codes to these games like "automatic pedal" to help the little ones. They could always nullify the score when used to keep people from using it as a cheat in the rankings...

My 4 year old is the drummer in our band hehe, So I know what you mean by tiring. She has to use BOTH feet! :D

Anyway, You get the most credit for being accurate with the Red pad + Pedal. If you miss several of the pedal notes without attempting to play them at all a little foot-pedal icon will even appear on the screen. I would have them concentrate on the pedal and the red pad to start, and work the others in as they become more comfortable. I kinda wish they would have left the pedal out of the "Easy" level entirely, and worked it in slowly starting with "Medium".

I kinda wish they would have left the pedal out of the "Easy" level entirely, and worked it in slowly starting with "Medium".


I agree.

Seems unfair that for Guitar, Easy only uses 3 buttons while for Drums easy has you using all 4 pads and the foot.

Easy for guitar should be called Super Easy...cause it is.. Maybe its just me but there is a rather hefty increase in dificulty between easy and medium. I can 5star 100% everything on easy with one eye closed...yet on medium im lucky to get 3 stars...lost count of the times ive been booed of the stage.

Can only imagin how things are for Drums at medium and beyond.

I agree.

Seems unfair that for Guitar, Easy only uses 3 buttons while for Drums easy has you using all 4 pads and the foot.

Easy for guitar should be called Super Easy...cause it is.. Maybe its just me but there is a rather hefty increase in dificulty between easy and medium. I can 5star 100% everything on easy with one eye closed...yet on medium im lucky to get 3 stars...lost count of the times ive been booed of the stage.

Can only imagin how things are for Drums at medium and beyond.

the main thing that gets turned up is proper drum placement(the green trigger gets used a whole lot more) and bass drum independence. Meaning as you go you'll have to be able to use the BD with completley different timings as your hands. Expert is basically a slightly skimmed down but accurate version of teh real drum patterns.

I'm still waiting for the game to be released in Canada :(

I'm a big GH3 addict, and a drummer in real life, and I can't wait to see how the drums stack up.

It's worth the wait. :cool:

I'm really enjoying learning the drums... but at the same time find my lack of rhythm so frustrating! And it's not like learning rhythm on Guitar Hero, which is just pushing buttings and hitting a strum bar -- drums on Rock Band are pretty much learning drums. So it takes a lot longer for us non-drummers to get to the really fun part.

As someone else mentioned, the "boom" "chick" "boom" "chick" for MINUTES during the ending solos in Green Grass and High Tides on Medium is driving me CRAZY! :eek: I

I really wish they made the easy mode of drums not use the kick pedal. It'd be better for situations like that...

I've been saying that since the first moments I got the game set up. The drums on easy should not require the use of the foot pedal. It raises the bar so high for entry, that most people will never get very far. Sure, most people could finish a song on easy, but doing well on easy, thats a whole other story.


I predict the next game will not require it for easy. They'll realize that was a mistake.

As someone else mentioned, the "boom" "chick" "boom" "chick" for MINUTES during the ending solos in Green Grass and High Tides on Medium is driving me CRAZY! :eek: I

Ohhhh...that song. I hate that song!!!!

My 4 year old is the drummer in our band hehe, So I know what you mean by tiring. She has to use BOTH feet! :D

Anyway, You get the most credit for being accurate with the Red pad + Pedal. If you miss several of the pedal notes without attempting to play them at all a little foot-pedal icon will even appear on the screen. I would have them concentrate on the pedal and the red pad to start, and work the others in as they become more comfortable. I kinda wish they would have left the pedal out of the "Easy" level entirely, and worked it in slowly starting with "Medium".

Thanks! Is it easy to set up the drums and chair (height-wise) so she can reach the pedal? I haven't open the game yet so I'm trying to figure out in advance what type of chair will work well for my little ones.

the drums are very easy to adjust..just two locking mechanisms on both legs that open so that you can slide them up or down.

Thanks! Is it easy to set up the drums and chair (height-wise) so she can reach the pedal? I haven't open the game yet so I'm trying to figure out in advance what type of chair will work well for my little ones.

I was thinking about picking up a real drum stool for her this weekend actually. For now she has no problems reaching it either by sitting on the coffee table or more often than not, just standing up in front of it.

I was also thinking about operating on the pedal this weekend and replacing the spring with one with less tension. It looks pretty easy to swap in and out.

Snapped a quick pic to show how easy it is to height adjust for the "smaller' crowd :D

nice, my 3 year old niece loves to watch me play and when she behaves she gets to try and help me play guitar, I finger the notes and she wails on the strum bar

I've been saying that since the first moments I got the game set up. The drums on easy should not require the use of the foot pedal. It raises the bar so high for entry, that most people will never get very far. Sure, most people could finish a song on easy, but doing well on easy, thats a whole other story.


I predict the next game will not require it for easy. They'll realize that was a mistake.
I completely disagree. I would have never been able to get comfortable enough to play on medium without first learning basic kick pedal use in easy. On the other hand in the store demos I was cruising through songs on hard without the kick pedal. There's no way to properly balance the difficulty levels if you leave out the kick pedal.

I forget if it was mentioned in here or the official RB forum, but for those doing the drum mod...Jo Ann fabric has the circle cutter for like 12 bucks (listed 19 but 40% off). Michaels was sold out near me.

oh and if you're anything like me...just ask for help as soon as you go in the store. I couldn't navigate those places to save my life.

Got replacement guitar. Unpacked it but haven't hooked it up yet. Strum bar still seems a bit off, but I'll hold off judgement till I try it with some music. Didn't have time over lunch to fire up the game.
When did you order yours? I requested mine on the 21st, have emailed support twice in the interim and the RMA status has just updated this afternoon to "Printed Label". 8 days to print a friggin label is absolutely ridiculous.

Ohhhh...that song. I hate that song!!!!

When my son and I are playing BWT and play one of the Mystery Sets, I chant "No green grass....no green grass..." while he chants "No sandman...no sandman..." :D

As someone else mentioned, the "boom" "chick" "boom" "chick" for MINUTES during the ending solos in Green Grass and High Tides on Medium is driving me CRAZY! :eek: I


Sounds like it true to life.. Simply having to listen to that song would drive anyone crazy.

When did you order yours? I requested mine on the 21st, have emailed support twice in the interim and the RMA status has just updated this afternoon to "Printed Label". 8 days to print a friggin label is absolutely ridiculous.

Sounds like you were one of the unlucky few like myself that were in the first group to submit an RMA. I just got off the phone with the manager for Rockband warranty support and he explained to me that for what ever reason they had a problem with their system, wherein the first batch of folks to request RMA's went into a queue and everyone that submitted a request after that jumped in front of that first batch. Supposedly as of today they are caught up and it is now a first come, first served type deal.

If it helps at all while I was on the phone with him my status changed to "Printed Label" and he said that meant the label was printed, on a box and basically in a pile awaiting the next UPS pickup.

after an hour with the modded drums, I really like them. definitely dampens the sound a bit so that you can hear the actual music better and the responsiveness has been transparent for me.

Played with the replacement guitar some tonight. I think it works better, but I'm still not impressed with it. I just don't like the strum bar at all. I realize the GH ones have loud clicking noises, but it also just feels better and I know for sure when I'm hitting it. The new strum bar along with the buttons just don't feel right to me. No biggie as I have plenty of guitars right now. If I was recommending a second guitar for someone, I'd say grab on the GH models (xplorer now or wait for the Les Pauls).

If it helps at all while I was on the phone with him my status changed to "Printed Label" and he said that meant the label was printed, on a box and basically in a pile awaiting the next UPS pickup.
I'm now at "shipped" but UPS still doesn't have tracking info. Either way I'm not going to get it for the weekend which is what irks me the most. At least my strat is semi playable.

I'm half tempted to pick up GH3 just for the wireless LP as last night I got 4 people together and we played in my theater and the cords were a nightmare, but I feel a strong distaste for GH's current direction.

Huzzah! I beat Green Grass on Medium... :) I got booed for a lot of sections at the end, but concentrating on snare and kick got me back on rhythm, then I would add the highhat. Almost lost it more than a couple times!

Anyway, made it two more levels and now get to play the Boston song... :cool:

can anyone confirm whether or not split screen over live works. In other words can two people on one xbox (with either one or two accounts) play with me on my xbox over live? For example, can my brother play guitar and his wife sing on their one xbox and me play drums on my xbox over live? I know you can't do the career thing over live yet but will this work for quickplay songs?

can anyone confirm whether or not split screen over live works. In other words can two people on one xbox (with either one or two accounts) play with me on my xbox over live? For example, can my brother play guitar and his wife sing on their one xbox and me play drums on my xbox over live? I know you can't do the career thing over live yet but will this work for quickplay songs?

I've played with people that were 3 people on one tag on their xbox. They showed up as *persons gamertag*, *persons gamertag1*, *persons gamertag2*

I don't know how it's done but it can be done.

Great! Thanks!

For those of you modding your drums due to the excessive noise they make otherwise - what volume are you playing at; and/or is this mainly because you don't want to disturb others in the house? For those that will crank it to "11" I take it this would be a non-issue?

I've played with people that were 3 people on one tag on their xbox. They showed up as *persons gamertag*, *persons gamertag1*, *persons gamertag2*

I don't know how it's done but it can be done.

People were able to do this in Gears too, but I was never able to figure out how. :o

can anyone confirm whether or not split screen over live works. In other words can two people on one xbox (with either one or two accounts) play with me on my xbox over live? For example, can my brother play guitar and his wife sing on their one xbox and me play drums on my xbox over live? I know you can't do the career thing over live yet but will this work for quickplay songs?

Yes, my wife and I have played with my friend and his wife. Either you start a game or get invited and then you just join in on the screen the same as if you were playing local multiplayer.

Huzzah! I beat Green Grass on Medium... :) I got booed for a lot of sections at the end, but concentrating on snare and kick got me back on rhythm, then I would add the highhat. Almost lost it more than a couple times!

Anyway, made it two more levels and now get to play the Boston song... :cool:

Grats...I'm now on Tier 4 on medium and have been pretty consistently 5-starring everything (whereas on Easy I could only get 4, if I was lucky). I'm dreading that song though.

How far in is Sandman?

How far in is Sandman?

Two tiers past GG&HT. The tier directly after Green Grass is somewhat disappointing... only Detroit Rock City really got me going.

Sandman is a lot of fun, but very tricky. As you probably know the song, there's double bass that's replicated on the toms, and Lars loves his off-beat cymbal crashes.

I noticed something in Foreplay/Long Time that cracked me up:
During the long, quiet organ part that separates the two parts of the song where none of the instruments are playing, either the bass player or the guitarist checks his watch! :D

I am up to the tier w/ GG&HT on medium drums...I turned the box off last night and went to bed before attempting that song...never go to bed angry!

I didn't put the foam on the pads yet and am reconsidering doing it - just playing around last night, that 1/8" foam I bought was really taking a beating; I can't see it lasting more than a week or two.

My friend and I both are expecting our replacement guitars today. UPS' website tracking has them both listed as 'Out for Delivery', so I guess we'll see what happens.

I didn't put the foam on the pads yet and am reconsidering doing it - just playing around last night, that 1/8" foam I bought was really taking a beating; I can't see it lasting more than a week or two.

hmmmm...maybe that's what the felt is for? :confused:

I rocked out a lot last night because the wife was out. The felt/foam rubber "sandwich" looks like it is holding up. I will have to say that I noticed missing some snare hits I thought I nailed -- probably can be attributed to crappy playing or a tired drummer, but I still wonder if the mod might interfere slightly with playing?

To answer lovingdvd's question... I just didn't like the "clop clop" mixing with the music and want the option to turn the music down on occasions.

do not fear GG&HT. back when I was working medium drum career it held me upf or a day or two. Last night though I just beat it on hard on my first try with 4 stars. It's all in having the ability to keep a steady beat with all of your limbs. I probably looked like a fool because I naturally was doing a steady beat with my non bass drum foot and ended up bouncing to the beat because of it.

It's all in having the ability to keep a steady beat with all of your limbs.

This prompts the question from me...what kind of grip on the sticks do you guys recommend? I noticed my hand and arm getting increditly fatigued last night as I played through on medium, especially on Maps. I'd start the song fine but between the one-third and halfway mark I'd invariably start falling off the beat slightly because my hand/arm was killing me.

what kind of grip on the sticks do you guys recommend?

Check the tutorials for recommended grip on sticks. It says you should be holding mainly with thumb and first finger, and the rest of the hand just keeping the stick in place.

It takes some time to get used to, but I think drummers will tell you that learning proper grip early on will help in the long run.

Check the tutorials for recommended grip on sticks. It says you should be holding mainly with thumb and first finger, and the rest of the hand just keeping the stick in place.

It takes some time to get used to, but I think drummers will tell you that learning proper grip early on will help in the long run.

now see my hand cramps up on fast beats early in my sets holding the sticks that way(it subsides with stretching as I do more and more songs). Which again makes me think I should get some grippy thick handles for my sticks.

I love the game... however in addition to my aforementioned complaint on the character sign-in issue (too complicated), I also dislike the calibration system.

Comments and questions:

- It's been said that Dolby Digital introduces some significant lag. I'd suggest turning it off if you are having calibration issues, just to eliminate a variable.

- The calibration seems to be tied to specific Live logins. While I understand why, it can be confusing. When setting in "quickplay" I think it lost it's "default" calibration once or twice.

- I'm not sure I understand the two parts of the calibration. The "horizontal" part using the drums, and then the "vertical" one using the guitar or a controller button. Are they calibrating each instrument seperately?

I love the game... however in addition to my aforementioned complaint on the character sign-in issue (too complicated), I also dislike the calibration system.

Comments and questions:

- It's been said that Dolby Digital introduces some significant lag. I'd suggest turning it off if you are having calibration issues, just to eliminate a variable.

- The calibration seems to be tied to specific Live logins. While I understand why, it can be confusing. When setting in "quickplay" I think it lost it's "default" calibration once or twice.

- I'm not sure I understand the two parts of the calibration. The "horizontal" part using the drums, and then the "vertical" one using the guitar or a controller button. Are they calibrating each instrument seperately?

no, but they two test two different sorts of lag. One is an audio lag and the other is a visual/controller lag. Unfortunately the audio lag one can be hard to nail down. luckily it also actuals as manual slider so you can actually just set your lag setting and be done if you already know a good number.

Check the tutorials...

Check the tutorials? BRILLIANT!

I'll give that a go after work. I certainly want to avoid having my lack of technique be the reason I get stuck as the songs get harder and harder...I'd much rather it be due to my lack of rhythm. :p

now see my hand cramps up on fast beats early in my sets holding the sticks that way(it subsides with stretching as I do more and more songs). Which again makes me think I should get some grippy thick handles for my sticks.

Probably because you're not using enough of your wrist. Your hand should be loosely gripping the stick. Nothing should be tight. Make sure most of the motion of hitting the pad comes from the wrist, not from the fingers or the arm.

hmmmm...maybe that's what the felt is for? :confused:



You might be right Dave. From hitting on the foam, it was "denting", and I could see over the course of a few weeks the foam becoming so compressed that it doesn't regain its form, or eventually splitting. It would still probably deaden the sound though. Who knows, maybe after it compresses further it will play better, with a little more bounce like a naked pad but still not clack clack clacking. I bought the stuff, I might as well use it I suppose.

do not fear GG&HT. back when I was working medium drum career it held me upf or a day or two. Last night though I just beat it on hard on my first try with 4 stars. It's all in having the ability to keep a steady beat with all of your limbs. I probably looked like a fool because I naturally was doing a steady beat with my non bass drum foot and ended up bouncing to the beat because of it.

I got through it on medium doing the band tour w/friends, I just sorta hate the song. Too long and tedious. I like songs like Epic and Cherub Rock where I can WAIL...:D

now see my hand cramps up on fast beats early in my sets holding the sticks that way(it subsides with stretching as I do more and more songs). Which again makes me think I should get some grippy thick handles for my sticks.

As someone else mentioned, loosening your grip is a biggie. I find myself automatically holding the sticks in a deathgrip, and then have to will myself to relax them. If you don't, you're straining your hands and wrists unnecessarily, which will fatigue them right quick.

in case anyone wants to study you can find note charts here (http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/index.php?c=4)

Probably because you're not using enough of your wrist. Your hand should be loosely gripping the stick. Nothing should be tight. Make sure most of the motion of hitting the pad comes from the wrist, not from the fingers or the arm.

That's true, if you prefer American matched grip (which is probably the easiest for this game) over French. There's some videos on expertvillage that show the different grips and how to hold them properly.

Expert Village - Beginner American Matched Grip (http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/learn-how-to-play-drums-beginner-american-grip.htm)

That's true, if you prefer American matched grip (which is probably the easiest for this game) over French. There's some videos on expertvillage that show the different grips and how to hold them properly.

Expert Village - Beginner American Matched Grip (http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/learn-how-to-play-drums-beginner-american-grip.htm)

WOW. You are THE MAN. Those clips are full of WIN. My wife actually used to play the drums...and she was taught the traditional grip. Cool. That guy's a good instructor, if these videos are any judge.

my tracking number on my replacement guitar still reports 'billing information received' and the EA website reports 'item shipped' 11/29, yet no guitar has arrived.

it was 2-day air, right? seems like UPS would be at least reporting the package in their possession by now.

i RMA'd the first day... should i be concerned (yet)?

also, i was wondering if anyone else here was in this order limbo?

my tracking number on my replacement guitar still reports 'billing information received' and the EA website reports 'item shipped' 11/29, yet no guitar has arrived.

it was 2-day air, right? seems like UPS would be at least reporting the package in their possession by now.

i RMA'd the first day... should i be concerned (yet)?

also, i was wondering if anyone else here was in this order limbo?

Scroll up a bit. I managed to talk with the guy in charge of warranty replacements Thursday afternoon. He said there was an issue with their computers. Apparently the first batch to request RMA's went into a queue and for whatever reason everyone that requested an RMA after that first group was placed ahead of us in line for some reason. They are working on a "first come/first served" basis, so those of us that were really first kinda got hosed.

The good news is that supposedly as of Thursday evening the issue had been resolved and they were going to be completely caught up by Friday morning.

Just wanted to show everyone my drums that now have the "QUIET" mod to them LOL.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2094/2078720513_4a612338f0.jpg?v=0

I found everything at Hobby Lobby. I also noticed though that WalMart carries everything too. I used a small bowl as my template and an Xacto knife to cut. Turned out pretty nice I think, can still see the colors for those that need to.

wilson10, that looks awesome! I am going to shoot for that same look tomorrow when I buy the materials and set up my drums.

didnt read the whole thread, but anyone try using dynamat or similar to quiet the drum pads?

in the car audio world the best sound deadening at a CHEAP price was frost king, made for duct work for silencing/insulating.

didnt read the whole thread, but anyone try using dynamat or similar to quiet the drum pads?


I don't think it would work well -- it's very important to retain the bounce of the sticks. I think dynamat might absorb too much of the hit. Also, dynamat is more for vibrations, and the noise on the drums is simply percussive wooden sticks hitting hard plastic or whatever the stock pad is made of.

I just got an email from EA support apologizing to me for the delay in sending my replacement guitar and offering me a free game. Very cool, and I should have my new guitar on Monday.

Today we had a nice little BWT mini marathon in the afternoon as my wife invited a bunch of friends over in expectation of a snow day that never happened. I got stuck on the drums since I was the only one capable of playing on medium difficulty but its such an absolute blast playing on the home theater set up instead of my "little" 37" tv and the tv speakers.

While playing on the drums my drum pedal just snapped in half. Has this happend to anyone else? I did not do anything out of the ordinary. The pedal itself always seemed very weak to me and at the main pressure point it seem to always give way. EA should really consider and acknowledge all the hardware issues they are having with Rock Band. Anyone else had their pedal snap?

While playing on the drums my drum pedal just snapped in half. Has this happend to anyone else? I did not do anything out of the ordinary. The pedal itself always seemed very weak to me and at the main pressure point it seem to always give way. EA should really consider and acknowledge all the hardware issues they are having with Rock Band. Anyone else had their pedal snap?

I haven't had it happen but there are a lot of people on the RB forums who've had this problem.

While playing on the drums my drum pedal just snapped in half. Has this happend to anyone else? I did not do anything out of the ordinary. The pedal itself always seemed very weak to me and at the main pressure point it seem to always give way. EA should really consider and acknowledge all the hardware issues they are having with Rock Band. Anyone else had their pedal snap?

That's not good, although I do remember reading that happening to IGN in their review as well.

I finally had enough people to get a few hours of 4 member BWT going last night, only to find out that the guitar is defective (it hadn't been touched since unpacking...I've been on drums and my wife on vocals). Looks like I'll be submitting for an RMA tomorrow, but still, that was an absolute blast.

Last night I beat drum tour solo on medium and am now a couple tiers into Hard solo tour. This is really satisfying... I can feel myself get better every day I play! :cool:

I have to give props to Harmonix for increasing the drum difficulty perfectly. Except for that troublesome "wall" of GG&HT in medium, every tier within a difficultly level introduces a subtitle new technique that doesn't have to be mastered right away, but with practice and progression it all starts to sink in.

Now, on hard, the fancy kick drum stuff is happening... double beats and off-beat kicks with the foot. :eek: Myself, I'm having a real hard time with the fast O-RY-O-RY-O-RY of songs like "Here it Goes Again" and "Wave of Mutilation", but I 5-starred Gimme Shelter first time playing on hard!

I think the drums alone are worth every penny I paid for Rock Band.

Last night I beat drum tour solo on medium and am now a couple tiers into Hard solo tour. This is really satisfying... I can feel myself get better every day I play! :cool:

I have to give props to Harmonix for increasing the drum difficulty perfectly. Except for that troublesome "wall" of GG&HT in medium, every tier within a difficultly level introduces a subtitle new technique that doesn't have to be mastered right away, but with practice and progression it all starts to sink in.

Now, on hard, the fancy kick drum stuff is happening... double beats and off-beat kicks with the foot. :eek: Myself, I'm having a real hard time with the fast O-RY-O-RY-O-RY of songs like "Here it Goes Again" and "Wave of Mutilation", but I 5-starred Gimme Shelter first time playing on hard!

I think the drums alone are worth every penny I paid for Rock Band.

Completely agree. Even though I haven't beaten medium yet I found myself able to get through a few of the songs on hard while doing BWT last night, but the double beats gave me fits on a couple songs and quickly humbled me. That's going to take some practice.

Is anyone concerned about burn in from this game? I timed myself playing for an hour and I could see the stars and score stuck in the screen. I noticed it was still there a day later so I ran the screen cleaner and it fixed it, but I thought that was really strange. I haven't experienced any issues with any of the other games.

Is anyone concerned about burn in from this game? I timed myself playing for an hour and I could see the stars and score stuck in the screen. I noticed it was still there a day later so I ran the screen cleaner and it fixed it, but I thought that was really strange. I haven't experienced any issues with any of the other games.

ask any plasma owner and they'll tell you burn-in and image retention doesnt exist, maybe the stars and scores are burned into your retina's :D

the solo on gght on medium drums is killing me. failing at 62% almost every time.

Is anyone concerned about burn in from this game? I timed myself playing for an hour and I could see the stars and score stuck in the screen. I noticed it was still there a day later so I ran the screen cleaner and it fixed it, but I thought that was really strange. I haven't experienced any issues with any of the other games.

I experienced this very badly when GH2 came out, the score meter was there and I could not get rid of it. So I bought an LCD.

Sure the PQ is not quite as good but its close enough for me to not have to worry about burn in.

the solo on gght on medium drums is killing me. failing at 62% almost every time.

Yea, the continuous guitar solo ending! :eek: RockBand fans everywhere curse the dude who wrote this "poor-man's Freebird". :D

I have found if you are just wanting to pass any song and aren't that worried about hitting everything, concentrate on kick (orange) and snare (red). That should at least keep your meter level. Then, if that's boring, add in the high-hat (usually yellow) or ride (blue or green)... but if you feel the rhythm failing, go back to the kick and snare 'till you get back in the groove.

This, of course, blows any 5 star hopes or even a high percentage at the end. Plus it's not recommended if you are trying to get good. But it should get you to the end of most songs.

serioulsy what is the best way to position your foot on the bass pedal? My calf and foot gets tired so easily. What far should i be seated from the pedal? how long should my leg be extended? Can anyone who has figured out the correct posture for drumming please provide some instructions? Thank you.

serioulsy what is the best way to position your foot on the bass pedal? My calf and foot gets tired so easily. What far should i be seated from the pedal? how long should my leg be extended? Can anyone who has figured out the correct posture for drumming please provide some instructions? Thank you.

Did you watch the tutorials?

serioulsy what is the best way to position your foot on the bass pedal? My calf and foot gets tired so easily. What far should i be seated from the pedal? how long should my leg be extended? Can anyone who has figured out the correct posture for drumming please provide some instructions? Thank you.

Try moving your foot forward and back on the pedal til you find a good spot. The further the ball of your foot towards the end of the pedal, the less resistance there is. You don't want no resistance there, but moving your foot towards the end of the pedal may help with fatigue issues. Also as the tutorial and hints say, keep it depressed at all times and just lift and drop the foot for each note.

I had a friend come over and play and I had to laugh cause he just kept his foot hovering an inch above the pedal the whole time. He was playin on easy so it would go for a while with no bass, but his foot was still there. then he was doing something like B-O-B-O and then it changed to G-O-G-O and he shifted his whole body (including his foot) to hit the green and then completely missed the bass pedal, lol.

This might be a dumb question, but would any drummers comment on bare-footed vs. shoed please?

This might be a dumb question, but would any drummers comment on bare-footed vs. shoed please?

Not a drummer, but I've been going bare foot on this game. Every drummer I've worked with has worn shoes, though. But they also have much sturdier kick pedals. ;)

Dave, we're not getting any younger, I think we should stick to shoes or risk a mean bout of plantar fasciitis...

Is anyone concerned about burn in from this game? I timed myself playing for an hour and I could see the stars and score stuck in the screen. I noticed it was still there a day later so I ran the screen cleaner and it fixed it, but I thought that was really strange. I haven't experienced any issues with any of the other games.

Some details about your TV would be helpful. I have a Pioneer Elite Plasma that's going on 3 years-old now, and I've played a LOT of Guitar Hero II and now Rock Band on it, with no image retention or burn-in. Is your TV very new or fairly old? How long do you normally find yourself playing it? We played Rock Band the last three nights, on Friday for over a five hour stretch, with no image retention.

Last week I tried to demo this game at Best Buy but the controller was messed up. Finally got to try it yesterday on drums... man oh man do I want this game now...

*drool*

I was highly skeptical before, but it feels great (even though I have never played drums in my life). I can't wait to get it and try singing (I suck at that too, but hey)

This might be a dumb question, but would any drummers comment on bare-footed vs. shoed please?

Have been playing for over 30 years, most of that time barefoot.
As of late, on the "real" drums I switched back to sneakers due to type of pedal and desire to play a little "harder". Always a constant topic for debate amongst drummers.

For the game I DID try barefoot and at first enjoyed the more tactile response of the pedal against the foot, much like a real pedal. But even in a cool finished basement after a few songs, the foot started to sweat a bit against the plastic. That may cause an issue for someone without a built up callus on the foot -wetness and the grooves of the plastic. Could start to hurt the foot. So I tend to stick with sneakers even for the game.

But as the debate usually goes - just try barefoot and see if you like. Totally personal and neither one is correct and the other wrong. Much like traditional grip versus matched grip debate.

barefoot and socks for me. I've haven't used shoes yet.

I just got an email from EA support apologizing to me for the delay in sending my replacement guitar and offering me a free game.

:confused:
you guys are lucky..... i've had an RMA out since the first day and the tracking number they gave me STILL ONLY shows "billing information received".

no replacement guitar.
no free game offer.
no sorry.
no nothing but a hard time.

EA is totally sucking in their handling of this. customer service has been less than helpful too.... they told me that i now have to pursue this matter now with UPS, who reports that THEY HAVE NEVER RECEIVED THE GUITAR FROM EA to even ship to me.

i dont know what else to do.

Last week I tried to demo this game at Best Buy but the controller was messed up. Finally got to try it yesterday on drums... man oh man do I want this game now...

*drool*

I was highly skeptical before, but it feels great (even though I have never played drums in my life). I can't wait to get it and try singing (I suck at that too, but hey)

The demo at Bestbuy IS what sold Rockband for me. If it had not been for trying out the demo at BB, I don't think I would have gotten RB. I'd try it out every Thursday on pay day for the last 4 weeks before its release so I had built up some anticipation for it :D Awesome Game!!!

I'm glad barefoot question wasn't as dumb as it felt... thanks for the replies.

I tried both ways and found each one to be a different experience... I think I like with shoes better, but at home I'm often not wearing them. I just wanted to hear if someone with drumming experience might say "NEVER play drums with barefeet!". Since that isn't the case, I'll still play both ways.

I feel like I play much better and have a more stable and secure strike on the pedal with sneakers/shoes. Just my personal preference though.

Forgot to mention: my one friend and I both received our replacement guitars on Friday. The down-strum on my new guitar seems to react less in the menus, but in the actual game it seems to work fine. I think. Now I just have to send the old one back.

Managed to Beat the Solo Drum career on Hard last night. What a blast. This has to be Game of the Year.

The Iron Maiden song proved to be the toughest. I beat it, but what I was playing most of the time sure wasn't musical. :) The rest of them were total awesomesauce.

Managed to Beat the Solo Drum career on Hard last night.

Congrats skydogg... you going to try for Expert now?

Congrats skydogg... you going to try for Expert now?

Yeah. I played through the first set on Expert. Passed them all, but it's a nice step up in difficulty. I imagine the kick drum stuff is gonna get pretty crazy.

I'm having such a hard time playing various/multiple strikes with the bass pedal ANNDD FORGET about double tapping on beat and off beat....*sigh*.....I should pick up my Saxophone again and take up some classes. lol

For those who have not passed Green Grass, High Tides my suggestion would be when the **** hits the fan, make sure you are set with "Overdrive", but DON'T USE IT! I failed that damn song on Medium several times (only song I failed in the Medium tour) and quickly figured out during the endless pounding towards the end it was better to hold the Overdrive power and not hit the green at the end of a fill. The fills keep coming during that and lessen the beating of the notes. Sure, you won't get as many points, but you will pass the song.

Since day one I have been having fun with this game. I've really only done the solo work on guitar and drums (tried singing, but uh yeah I suck!) and did Tug of War, online quick band play and Score Duels, but yesterday I hit the crown jewel of this game. I had some friends over and we fired up a new band in the World Tour. Oh my how awesome is that mode! I know I'm late to the game with this, but man that alone is worth the price of admission. I just wish I could do this mode online with my friends, but either way I'm good. I love how you just never know what their setlist will bring until you play it, and love how they integrate the downloaded content into the lists. No longer is the same set list here (like Guitar Hero) and no longer is just finding your songs buried in the download list like GHIII. This is some truely great stuff here.

My point of no return was yesterday in the World Tour. I was so trained from GH that the early songs are easy in "Career Mode". My 3rd time in on World Tour offered me a setlist where it pulled in Ride the Lightning and made the mistake of going Hard (couldn't see what we were playing prior) on it (thinking it was going to be another Paranoid, In Bloom, etc.). Ouch!!!! We made 4 stars on it, but lost the cash since we figured we could 5 star it. Man this game is fantastic!

Yeah. I played through the first set on Expert. Passed them all, but it's a nice step up in difficulty. I imagine the kick drum stuff is gonna get pretty crazy.

Metallica's Blackened on Expert looks like they threw a big bag of Skittles at the screen and said, "Play".

Nicely done on Hard! I'm making my way through it now.

It's been pretty fun so far, but I took it over to play with some family members yesterday (1st time more than 2 players), only to find out that my USB hub is DOA. Anybody else dealing with this? How has EA been about fixing/replacing them?

Also, my strum bar on the RB guitar is VERY stiff. I've been mainly using my GH2 guitar, but I might trade the RB one in and invest in another GH2 one if the RB one keeps this up.

I really want to advance my solo career in this game, but someone always seems to be home so we play BWT mode all the time. :)

A nice problem to have.


I did the "mousepad mod" to my drum kit. I'll post some pictures later. I really like the way it turned out with black drum centers instead of the stock light grey. I looked at the peel-n-stick foam at Michael's, and I don't think there's anyway in heck that stuff can be very quiet. The neoprene mousepad gives good bounce and is pretty dang quiet, although I can still hear the drums starting to get cloppity on some of the songs.

I found a cheap "Compass Cutter" for $6.99 that has a little X-acto looking blade as oppsed to a "rotary cutter", and it worked pretty well. I had to cut a little notch in the end to make the circle big enough, but it was pretty easy to do and worked well. I cut the mousepads (cheapest neoprene-ey ones from WalMart) to the size of the grey part of the kit so that the original color rings still show around them.

So I blow through everything in the GG&HT tier with 5 stars, then try GG&HT for the first time. And then the second. And then the third. And by this point I was ready to throw my sticks through the wall. I got up to 85% on the third try just by concentrating on the yellow and kick, but when I tried adding the snare in to stop my meter from (ever so slowly) falling the whole thing would collapse. Instead of repeatedly beating my head against the wall for the rest of the night I just quit and will try again tomorrow...and for a very long time to come, I fear.

So I blow through everything in the GG&HT tier with 5 stars, then try GG&HT for the first time. And then the second. And then the third. And by this point I was ready to throw my sticks through the wall. I got up to 85% on the third try just by concentrating on the yellow and kick, but when I tried adding the snare in to stop my meter from (ever so slowly) falling the whole thing would collapse. Instead of repeatedly beating my head against the wall for the rest of the night I just quit and will try again tomorrow...and for a very long time to come, I fear.

What difficulty are you at?

Here's some encouragement from the GG&HT support group:
You can do it! Don't let those one-hit country rock Outlaws beat you! I'll bet you can ace that song right now if you give it a try. ;)

You might want to try only the kick and snare for the ending instead of kick and high-hat. Also, don't forget Chris Rein's suggestion of not using your Overdrive (i.e. don't hit the green crash at the end of the freeform sections) to give you "safe sections" during the never-ending solos.

GOOD LUCK!!!

What difficulty are you at?

Here's some encouragement from the GG&HT support group:
You can do it! Don't let those one-hit country rock Outlaws beat you! I'll bet you can ace that song right now if you give it a try. ;)

You might want to try only the kick and snare for the ending instead of kick and high-hat. Also, don't forget Chris Rein's suggestion of not using your Overdrive (i.e. don't hit the green crash at the end of the freeform sections) to give you "safe sections" during the never-ending solos.

GOOD LUCK!!!

lol...thanks man. I'm on medium, which makes it especially frustrating--I can play more than a few songs on hard now. I went through and downloaded the Metallica pack after my last go 'round and got 96% on my first shot on Justice, but there's just something about that solo on GG&HT that kills me. I had saved my overdrive but wound up having to use it each time because my meter was slowly but steadily falling...and even still it only delayed the inevitable.

But you've talked me into it! Off I go...

EDIT: Nope, just not happening tonight. I found that doing the RY-O-RY-O pattern actually helps keep my meter full but invariably there's one long section where the beat falls apart. My timing fails and I wind up going RYO at the same time and can't recover.

I did the 2 day shipping thing for a replacement guitar last thursday nite and I still havent recieved it yet. WTF. Whats everyone elses turn around for the replacements?

If you ordered it Thursday night the earliest you would receive it would be tomorrow. 2 days is business days and it probably wouldn't ship until Friday. If you get it tomorrow that's pretty speedy.

It took me 12 days, although it took 8 to ship because they screwed up their queue over the holiday and unfortunately when it did ship it shipped on a Thursday so I had to wait over the weekend to get it today.

But you've talked me into it! Off I go...

EDIT: Nope, just not happening tonight. I found that doing the RY-O-RY-O pattern actually helps keep my meter full but invariably there's one long section where the beat falls apart. My timing fails and I wind up going RYO at the same time and can't recover.


I really have to commend you guys for "sticking" with it. I am sure I will bow down to the game once I start playing with the guitar. But as a drummer I felt I had a fair shot of doing well in this game based on how they implemented it. As a drummer the part in GG&HT that everyone keeps referring to is basically no problem for me. I am NOT trying to be smug here...or "ha, ha, I can do it"-ish, just because I am a drummer.

Rather I truly commend non-drummers for plodding along and trying to get through. It is a simple rhythm for a drummer to keep up....it is NOT simple for someone just starting out. Take pride in the fact that when you do get through it, no matter how sloppily, you HAVE actually "played" the drums to this song. The developers were not joking. You certainly will develop drumming skills. You are being asked to do things with your three/four limbs that MOST people cannot do.

Sure it would be a big adjustment to sit down at an actual kit and try work out the ergonomics of playing. But you most certainly are developing a strong starting point.

But you've talked me into it! Off I go...

EDIT: Nope, just not happening tonight. I found that doing the RY-O-RY-O pattern actually helps keep my meter full but invariably there's one long section where the beat falls apart. My timing fails and I wind up going RYO at the same time and can't recover.


I really have to commend you guys for "sticking" with it. I am sure I will bow down to the game once I start playing with the guitar. But as a drummer I felt I had a fair shot of doing well in this game based on how they implemented it. As a drummer the part in GG&HT that everyone keeps referring to is basically no problem for me. I am NOT trying to be smug here...or "ha, ha, I can do it"-ish, just because I am a drummer.

Rather I truly commend non-drummers for plodding along and trying to get through. It is a simple rhythm for a drummer to keep up....it is NOT simple for someone just starting out. Take pride in the fact that when you do get through it, no matter how sloppily, you HAVE actually "played" the drums to this song. The developers were not joking. You certainly will develop drumming skills. You are being asked to do things with your three/four limbs that MOST people cannot do.

Sure it would be a big adjustment to sit down at an actual kit and try work out the ergonomics of playing. But you most certainly are developing a strong starting point.

well no your right. Once you get it you get it. It took me 3 tries(spread out through a few days) but end the end I can now nail that section as well as any other on medium. And when I went that song on hard the long solo section is what kept me alive and actually got me 4 stars on my first try. It's teh same as GH or the guitar section of rock band. If your not getting it take a break8-24 hours long. when you come back you'll easily do better.

Well, I got my new guitar on Friday and I haven't tried it yet, but the strummer does feel a little stiffer so I'm hoping its ok. I also got my new drum kit last night and I have to say that they are MUCH improved. Prior to using this set, I had 5 starred one song on easy (Black Hole Sun). Last night, I 5 starred 4 songs in about 1 hour of playing and got my highest score ever on Black Hole Sun. I'm very pleased with the new drums and they are beginning to make me think I can make the next leap to medium.

Does anyone have any issues with the drum pads when trying to do rolls? Not just only when playing actual notes but also during drum fills, when i roll on the red pad it dont register clean and crisp. It scatters. Wanted to know if anyone else had issues with rolling and if i should RMA my kit?

Black sabbath pack is up.
NIB, Sweet leaf and War pigs(exact cover used in GH2). NIB doesn't have the intro bass solo. Other than that everyone has said its a great buy.

Awesome! \m/

Sweet leaf is a fav - but kinda repetitive...?

I was wrong war pigs is an all new cover as well. and supposedly NIB never actually had a bass intro it was just another song merged wit it on the first release.

I really wish they had included a FREESTYLE option in which you can just wail on the drum kit for how ever long as you like and record it. Also i wish they had the option in which the drummer can make his own beat to any of the tracks in the game. That would really test your skills. How awsome would it be to play through a song with drumming to your own beat? I really hope in the next edition, they include something like that.

I really wish they had included a FREESTYLE option in which you can just wail on the drum kit for how ever long as you like and record it. Also i wish they had the option in which the drummer can make his own beat to any of the tracks in the game. That would really test your skills. How awsome would it be to play through a song with drumming to your own beat? I really hope in the next edition, they include something like that.

+1, big-time!

I really wish they had included a FREESTYLE option in which you can just wail on the drum kit for how ever long as you like and record it. Also i wish they had the option in which the drummer can make his own beat to any of the tracks in the game. That would really test your skills. How awsome would it be to play through a song with drumming to your own beat? I really hope in the next edition, they include something like that.

That'd be cool but lag would be a problem...at least on my setup.

In the 'fill' sections where you play whatever you want I have noticeable lag. That is there is a significant delay between when I hit the pad and when the drum sound comes out of the game. It's very distracting.

However, when I'm playing actual notes, the timing seems right on. I've beat the Hard drum career, so I've played quite a lot.

Do other people have no delay in the fills sections?

Do other people have no delay in the fills sections?


nope.

my fills play without ANY lag.

i hit it, i hear it. immediately.

I have a question to those who have/had defective guitars. I'm wondering if I should or shouldn't take the time to RMA mine. On the downside I have the doublestrum issue, if I strum too hard it either doesn't register or registers at two strums. It makes it really hard to navigate the menus with the strat.

HOWEVER, i play with a very light touch and I'm actually better with my "broken" strat than with the properly working Xplorer. The only problem is, whenever friends try and use the strat they fail miserably.

When I shake the strat I can hear something move around inside as well.

Do these sound like the symptoms of a guitar in need of RMA?

I hear something rattle inside mine as well..........I have just taken to using my wireless GH3 guitar instead. I would be interested to find out what that rattle is. I took off the white cover of the guitar expecting to have a screw or spring pop out, but found out it is just a cover piece and the guitar is solid underneath.

I have a question to those who have/had defective guitars. I'm wondering if I should or shouldn't take the time to RMA mine. On the downside I have the doublestrum issue, if I strum too hard it either doesn't register or registers at two strums. It makes it really hard to navigate the menus with the strat.

HOWEVER, i play with a very light touch and I'm actually better with my "broken" strat than with the properly working Xplorer. The only problem is, whenever friends try and use the strat they fail miserably.

When I shake the strat I can hear something move around inside as well.

Do these sound like the symptoms of a guitar in need of RMA?

I'd RMA it. The newer guitars require a more solid touch, but nowhere near GH guitars. Worst case, you can try out the new one first and if you don't like it you can just send the new one back instead of your old one. Oh, and one of the first things I noticed was that the new guitars don't have any rattle. Makes you wonder.

The rattle is the tilt sensor. Don't worry about it.

I'd RMA the Strat for double strums just because they have redesigned it since then and there's always the chance that it might fail worse later. But if you like it and have an Xplorer your friends can use there's no harm keeping it for at least another month or so (warranty is 60 days and I'm sure they won't begin enforcing dates until after Christmas).

I like the Strat compared to the Xplorer but there's still an off chance I'll buy one of the LPs once they become available by themselves. I am a bit better at nailing tricky chord progressions on the GH controllers where as for solos and long runs up and down the fret board I prefer the Strat.

the tilt sensor is a double set of tubes that have a ball bearing in each. The idea is that both ball bearings have to touch the bottom of teh tube to activate overdrive(the design is to keep accuracy) unfortunately they may have been installed or calibrated inappropriately for some peoples guitars.

So there is not a mode where I can just play the drums however I want ?

I had heard this was in there but it sounds like maybe it's not :( .

That was one of the reasons that I was going to purchase RB , I figured why buy a digital drum set for $200+ if I can just goof around in RB .

Thanks ,
- Jason

the tilt sensor is a double set of tubes that have a ball bearing in each. The idea is that both ball bearings have to touch the bottom of teh tube to activate overdrive(the design is to keep accuracy) unfortunately they may have been installed or calibrated inappropriately for some peoples guitars.

Really? That's absolutely insane on their part. A couple of solid state accelerometers would've gotten them the same info. Maybe that setup is cheaper.

Do you know of any pictures of the inside of the Strat? I'd be interested to see what it looks like generally.

Hi...my name's Hiko, and I finally beat GG&HT. It was ugly, but I did it.

Unfortunately, and I don't know if this was just because I was having an off-night (which I was) or what, but I seem to be having some trouble getting some of my hits to register now. I did the felt & foam mod and I thought it was working fine both before and after, but tonight in some spots (the really long roll in Train Kept Rollin' or the fast double hits on Ballroom Blitz) some of the hits don't seem to be registering.

I'll give it a couple days and come back to it--I think I'm burned out right now after playing it relatively non-stop since Saturday--but has anyone else RMA'd their drums for this, or could it be decreased sensitivity after the mod?

*ahem*

Not to brag or anything, but....

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb68/DaverJ/ggaht.jpg

:D First time through on hard -- quite an improvement since post #303.

...and to be honest... not really as hard this time through as I was fearing!

Sweet Dave. Nice job.

*ahem*

Not to brag or anything, but....

Oh no, of course not...I'll just go crawling back to my woefully inadequate medium solo tour now, thank you very much. :p

Very nicely done, in all seriousness.

That'd be cool but lag would be a problem...at least on my setup.

In the 'fill' sections where you play whatever you want I have noticeable lag. That is there is a significant delay between when I hit the pad and when the drum sound comes out of the game. It's very distracting.

However, when I'm playing actual notes, the timing seems right on. I've beat the Hard drum career, so I've played quite a lot.

Do other people have no delay in the fills sections?

Well here I go again offering drumming advice....that from being one.

Hope I am not grating on anyone, but here goes.


From what you say above I assume you are taking the tutorial directions for the"fills" to just let loose and fly, so to speak. That was bad instructions for the game. You really "can't" do anything you want. Well I guess you can, but it is going to sound WAY out of place. I get the feeling that since you have a delay you are trying to play as much as possible during the break. Hence, falling into the situation real "inexperienced" (not a bad thing of course) drummers do.

You cannot "over-fill" and "rush" your fills. They need to stay in time. Since you say when you play the "actual notes" it responds correctly. Thus again I assume you are speeding up during the fill section. The "actual notes" of course force you to stay in time. Also, the game makes the fills louder it seems. Which I find distracting. Since you ARE being asked to pretty much play the real parts, especially on hard and up, playing rushed or "letting loose" fills will most likely not register and sound way out of place. The pads are pretty good at catching most things, but they do have trouble with faster 16th notes (where all the notes are in a run and bunched together. Reds for instance).

So once again, it's a game, but you ARE kind of forced into thinking like a drummer and playing fills that make sense and are in time.

Oh no, of course not...I'll just go crawling back to my woefully inadequate medium solo tour now, thank you very much. :p

Very nicely done, in all seriousness.

Sorry Hiko... :o

The point I was trying to make was this: a few posts back I was complaining about the "wall" of GG&HT in Medium. Yet, after playing an hour or so each night for a week or two and coming back to that song while progressing on Hard... it's almost cake now. :cool:

Of course Hard has lots of other walls that need to be climbed, like the constant double bass in Paranoid, syncopated beat-offbeat-beat of Dani California, and whatever-the-heck-he-is-doing in Vasoline! :eek:

This game is very satisfying because you can actually see and feel skills progressing.

Nice work on GGHT, Dave. I'm still stuck there on the medium tour. So I just started the solo tour over on hard instead. Screw that song. Put it back on that "Goin South" CD they advertise at 3am where it belongs.

I swear I played through GGHT with my "bandmates" on medium over the weekend a few times without getting saved...I think I let you guys psyche me out.

Another thing I have thought of of late - and don't worry, I'll go away once I finish the drum tours and move onto guitar...and fail miserably :D.


For people that still experience pain in their leg while playing. If you look at "most" real drummers, their kick drum is either NOT facing straight ahead, or if it is, the drummer is angled slightly off to the side.

The game pretty much forces you to sit straight ahead, with your legs doing the same. This is VERY unnatural. As a test, stand up now, walk a bit from your chair and come and sit back down in a normal fashion with your feet in front of you. Look at your feet. See how they are angled out...well at least "most" people ;).

So, having that kick pedal on the bottom of the drums, straight ahead the way they do, could be uncomfortable for a lot of people. You can do one of two things. Keep it there, but now when you sit either take the whole kit and turn it say pointing toward 2 o'clock. It will look weird and may cause other sticking issues, being able to hit the pads correctly. Also might require a "chair" that swivels. Better yet, you can also leave the kit straight and YOU face yourself towards 10 o'clock. May feel weird at first, but it will position your leg correctly.

Or you can do what I do. I take the pedal off the bars on the bottom. I keep the kit and myself straight forward. I then take the pedal and place it basically with its middle section placed outside of the leg support. Again, for reference, just about facing 2 o'clock. The edge of the pedal is touching the leg support that juts out. So if the leg supports look like this:

/ ------ \ my pedal is leaning up against the bottom point of the right hand back-slash.

Just an ergonomic suggestion for passing along.

You cannot "over-fill" and "rush" your fills. They need to stay in time.

So once again, it's a game, but you ARE kind of forced into thinking like a drummer and playing fills that make sense and are in time.

Absolutely. Good advice. I had some "first timers" over this weekend and they just kept wailing out of time during the fills, screwing the rest of us up. I always try to match the actual song during the fills, the Black Hole Sun fills before the chorus comes to mind.

And don't feel bad about giving us advice...I for one appreciate the hell out of it.

Sorry Hiko... :o

The point I was trying to make was this: a few posts back I was complaining about the "wall" of GG&HT in Medium. Yet, after playing an hour or so each night for a week or two and coming back to that song while progressing on Hard... it's almost cake now. :cool:

Of course Hard has lots of other walls that need to be climbed, like the constant double bass in Paranoid, syncopated beat-offbeat-beat of Dani California, and whatever-the-heck-he-is-doing in Vasoline! :eek:

This game is very satisfying because you can actually see and feel skills progressing.


Hey there DaverJ. Congrats on the progress. You are not kidding about Vasoline. I would much rather play this on a real kit then actually "see" and try to play what is going on. This one on hard I could only three star. At that was fine with me as I moved on.

And that "double bass" on Paranoid. Look up a YouTube video of the original performance. I play this song with my band. The original drum part is played on a single kick pedal. It's straight eight notes through most of the song.
No double pedals (on a single kick, which he has) back then.

Maybe it was the drugs from the 70's that helped him through :eek:

Absolutely. Good advice. I had some "first timers" over this weekend and they just kept wailing out of time during the fills, screwing the rest of us up. I always try to match the actual song during the fills, the Black Hole Sun fills before the chorus comes to mind.

And don't feel bad about giving us advice...I for one appreciate the hell out of it.

Indeed, Black Hole Sun....Good advice from you. This is just what I do for many of the fills. If I KNOW the real fill, I play it. For the songs (fills) I don't know, I draw on my "original band" experience to create my own parts. But always adhere to "keep it simple" and that seems to keep me in time and sounds okay.

Perhaps for some people that have no idea at all what to do. Listen to the the actual song outside of the game to hear what the drummer does for the fill.

Now the outsiders reading these post are going to say "You guys are making a lot of effort for just a game". But as I said before, in the case of the drums for the game, you ARE building some strong foundations here.

Hi...my name's Hiko, and I finally beat GG&HT. It was ugly, but I did it.

Unfortunately, and I don't know if this was just because I was having an off-night (which I was) or what, but I seem to be having some trouble getting some of my hits to register now. I did the felt & foam mod and I thought it was working fine both before and after, but tonight in some spots (the really long roll in Train Kept Rollin' or the fast double hits on Ballroom Blitz) some of the hits don't seem to be registering.

I'll give it a couple days and come back to it--I think I'm burned out right now after playing it relatively non-stop since Saturday--but has anyone else RMA'd their drums for this, or could it be decreased sensitivity after the mod?

I RMA'd my drum kit and I must say that they are 1,000 times better. They register MANY more hits than my previous set. Previously on songs where I would struggle to make it through the song, I'm now getting 5 stars. The new kits are worlds better IMO.

Got my replacement guitar on Monday. The strum bar works much better but the fret buttons are very 'clicky' and loud compared to my original. Did they change anything with the fret internals?

And that "double bass" on Paranoid. Look up a YouTube video of the original performance. I play this song with my band. The original drum part is played on a single kick pedal. It's straight eight notes through most of the song.
No double pedals (on a single kick, which he has) back then.

Maybe it was the drugs from the 70's that helped him through :eek:

Good point, I think Paranoid has the developers messing with us.

To get into the double kick groove, I slowed down this song in practice mode. While listening to just the drums, the cover drummer is indeed doing straight eight notes on the kick too!

I think Harmonix needed a song to concentrate on a constant double kick throughout as a challenge... even if Paranoid doesn't really support it.

Again the game impresses me. I'm finally starting to get drum rolls down. Not perfect yet but about 1/5 rolls I get 100% on. I'm stuck on hard for now(QotSA and Detroit rock city). SO I decided to jump to expert and see if I can nail some of the harder techniques on easier songs. Haven't failed a song on it yeet(though I'm at the end of teir 1). Once again the game does havea great difficulty scale.

Also I did get to play around with te black sabbath pack. I failed sweet leaf one xpert guitar but I'm pretty sure I can beat it with some overdrive management. I got 98% on the otehr two and about that much on medium and hard drums for all three.
Also guys don't forget War Pigs probably has the best bassline in the game give it a go.

Found this at the Rock Band forums. Not sure if it has been posted...or if it works:


Default Quick Simple Drum Fix!
I, like many others have the trouble of my red pad not registering many fast hits. I started experimenting with it, and learned if I kept pressure on the pad, it worked 100% better!
So all you have to do is take some electrical tape and tape down the top of the pad to the hard plastic sides as to suppress the spring inside. No need to remove any parts, and it's a good fix while you wait for your replacement!
Post here if this works for you also!

Daver--it's all good, and I completely agree with the difficulty progression. I found myself able to 5 star songs on medium that I could barely 4-star on easy, and the same can be said of going from medium to hard. It's just going to take time and patience to get my coordination down, as I do still have trouble with some off-beat kick sections (Y-OY-Y usually winds up being played by me as OY-OY-OY), but this feels like an enjoyable challenge to be overcome, not an insurmountable obstacle.

Plus, my guitar should be here tomorrow, in time for my weekend BWT jam session...still debating on the drums though.

For those of you stuck on GGHT Medium Drums....

My 7 yr old son was stuck on that for days, and he would cry after each failure (especially the 95% one). But he did finally beat it and then breezed through the rest of medium:

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=leff1

Anyone got a warrantied replacement of any item yet? It's been 2 weeks and I'm still waiting for drums. Every time I contact them I get the same ****** canned response regurgitating my trakcing number. Although this last time they deviated from the standard response and blamed UPS shipping schedule.

I played some guitar with a guitar pick last night, after reading about people doing that on the Rock Band forums.

I gotta say it was pretty sweet, and I really enjoyed it. I used to pretend to play guitar a million years ago back in high school, so I've held a pick before. It was really nice and the "picking" the strum bar worked really really well. The thing I noticed right off the bat, other than how all my hours on drums really seemed to help me keep the timing on the long repetitive "same color streaks" that were my biggest weakness on GH2, was how using the guitar pick made the up/down strum technique so much easier. I think I'll stick with using a pick from now on.

The bad thing about using the pick is the small size of the guitar body. I don't know if it's the "right way" to do things, but I rest my pinky and ring finger tips on the pick guard to position my hand while strumming, and this put the middle of the meaty part of my forearm on the edge of the guitar and pushed in to the meat where the muscles are trying to move around to power the hand. On a real guitar the body is bigger I seem to remember that the flat of my elbow would rest on the guitar body, or something.

I tried extending the strap for the "low rise sling" look so that none of my arm would be on the body, but I couldn't manipulate the fret buttons worth a crap at that angle. I ended up shortening up the strap a lot so that the guitar was really high like an early Beatles look. I like using the pick enough to keep working on this. :)

i think i'm bailing on the powered usb hub. already enough wires and clutter.

drums: hd-dvd drive
lead guitar: wireless gh3
bass: hd-dvd drive or front of 360
mic: front of 360

A lot of people have been asking about how to deal with the foot pain the kick pedal causes, so I thought I'd chime in with my solution.

The first week or two of playing this my foot/leg would ache like crazy after a few songs, this caused me to be horrible at the drums. Then I thought to position it like I was pushing the gas pedal in a car since I do that all the time for hours on end with no pain.

I found that sliding the pedal all the way to the right of the bar and sitting a little bit to the left helps. I also sit lower so my ass as slightly lower than my knees. The combination of this pretty much replicates sitting in my car. I can play for hours and hours now with no pain what-so-ever.

I found that sliding the pedal all the way to the right of the bar and sitting a little bit to the left helps. I also sit lower so my ass as slightly lower than my knees. The combination of this pretty much replicates sitting in my car. I can play for hours and hours now with no pain what-so-ever.

Very early on I moved the pedal out from the middle of the drum kit and put it off to the right and kind of set it pointing outward and alongside the back of the stand "foot". I have carpet on the floor and I haven't had any problems with the pedal sliding away as I feared when I first tried. I've been sitting is a chair and I lean back and extend my leg like you said, very remiscent of "cruising in the car" posture. :) I also find I can calm down better with this relaxed posture versus sitting up higher ready to pounce.

It's been working well for me so far. We'll see what happens when my drum throne arrives and I have to sit straight up again due to there being no back on the throne.

Great job, Dave!

I tortured myself with this song for hours a couple of hours last night. I'm not smart enough to just practise the solo :o but in the end I guess it helps to get the rest of the song down.

My experience went from "blowing a tire out" at 80% then 92 and 95 ... and managed to survive it last night.

The thought of looking you up for a jam on this song crossed my mind but I'm not really sure that I ever want to hear it again. :D

BTW, I did the drum pad mod with some sticky foam and felt from a craft store. The circle cutter is worth the money - now i just have to curb my enthusiasm for cutting more circles just for the heck of it. The jury is still out on wether or not the foam was too thick, but I did manage to find felt with SPARKLES. :cool:

I have completed all tours. No one here will let me revisit the vocal tour :D. I've hit the wall on drums, but expert guitar is now behind me. There isn't an insatiable desire to go back and 5* everything so I'll just play new DLC and the ones that are fun for the most part.

See you on stage.

I also sit lower so my ass as slightly lower than my knees. The combination of this pretty much replicates sitting in my car. I can play for hours and hours now with no pain what-so-ever.

As they say for really playing the drums..."whatever works for ya". But I would advise against the above for most people. You should not be below your knee. If anything slightly above. (See my other posts).

To that point, in the tutorials they recommend basically a straight "L" being formed with your leg. I would recommend having the thigh slightly upwards. Thus sitting above your knee as it were.

Some people may also benefit from moving back AWAY from the drums a tiny bit. Further taking away that straight path to the ground. Goes along with the "driving" scenario from the poster above.

So there is not a mode where I can just play the drums however I want ?

I had heard this was in there but it sounds like maybe it's not :( .

That was one of the reasons that I was going to purchase RB , I figured why buy a digital drum set for $200+ if I can just goof around in RB .

Thanks ,
- Jason

You could play that way in practise mode, but you will need to play at full speed to hear the rest of the band/song and it's a solo performance.

A nice solution would be to have a "no fail" mode that wouldn't need to keep an accurate score, but would let you "remix" the beats as you wished.

(Did I just type "remix the beats" in a "RockBand" forum?)

You could play that way in practise mode, but you will need to play at full speed to hear the rest of the band/song and it's a solo performance.

A nice solution would be to have a "no fail" mode that wouldn't need to keep an accurate score, but would let you "remix" the beats as you wished.

(Did I just type "remix the beats" in a "RockBand" forum?)

You can't play that way in practice mode. Just like the game it registers "missed" hits as clicks.

You can't play that way in practice mode. Just like the game it registers "missed" hits as clicks.

:eek: Yep, that makes sense. So the " no fail' wouldn't work either... but then you can trigger drum sounds before the song starts and during "freestyle" so it would just need to be freestyle for the whole song, I guess.

Hi all - just got RB. Great game! However I think something is wrong physically with the last drum on the right (forgot what color that is - orange?).

Each of the 4 drums "float" a bit and physically tilt down while you press say on the bottom of the pad and tilt up if you press on the top. This looks to be by design.

However the forth drum is much more wobbly in this regard, whereas the other 3 are more firm. Is there something wrong with the drum? It seems to register all of the hits fine, but I am concerned it could be a problem waiting to happen later.

What is the RMA process like? Do they ship you are replacement first so you can still play while waiting for the shipment, then you send yours back in their packaging that the replacement comes in? Are there any shipping or other fees involved?

Thanks!

Are there any shipping or other fees involved?



I believe if you chose to have them send you a replacement first they put a hold on your credit card until you ship yours back. I think the amount might be $100.

I'm unsure of if they provide a shipping container/postage for returning it. If not i'm slapping some stamps on my guitar and calling it good. :)

I believe if you chose to have them send you a replacement first they put a hold on your credit card until you ship yours back. I think the amount might be $100.

I'm unsure of if they provide a shipping container/postage for returning it. If not i'm slapping some stamps on my guitar and calling it good. :)

You can RMA it and either have it sent express, where they send you the new guitar/drums/mic, etc. via 2nd day air (it actually takes about 1 week) and you use the same boxes and tracking slip (new tracking number on the back side, you just flip it over to ship it back) to return the items. With this method they take your CC info. as 'protection' in case you don't return the original guitar, which they'll then charge you $125 for if not returned. Or you can choose the normal method and they'll send you the box, you return your item, and then they'll send you a new one. All shipping is handled by EA and as long as you return your old items you aren't charged a thing.

Holy crap, I still havent recieved my RMAed guitar. The RMA website says "2 DAY" not 7 day. WTF?!

Holy crap, I still havent recieved my RMAed guitar. The RMA website says "2 DAY" not 7 day. WTF?!

Join the club! I spoke with someone last Thursday who said my Empty box went out that day. I'm still waiting! More than 2 weeks later, and what really pisses me off is. Once it gets here I'll be forced to go most likely another 2 weeks+ while I wait for them to get my broken item(s) and finally ship the actual replacements.

I just received a customer satisfaction survey from EA in fact. Anyone care to guess how I'll be responding? ;)

I came across these after looking at mods on another site and seriously thinking about trying them out. Does anyone know someone who has these? They seem to be along the same lines as the other mods minus the craft project. I am not thrilled with the design but its not too bad.

They had some on ebay earlier this week but dont see them there anyone. I just want to make sure this is a legitimate site before I order. Any thoughts?

http://www.beatdownpads.com/

I came across these after looking at mods on another site and seriously thinking about trying them out. Does anyone know someone who has these? They seem to be along the same lines as the other mods minus the craft project. I am not thrilled with the design but its not too bad.

They had some on ebay earlier this week but dont see them there anyone. I just want to make sure this is a legitimate site before I order. Any thoughts?

http://www.beatdownpads.com/

It looks legit to me. I was thinking it was only a matter of time before someone with the right arts and crafts tools carved out a bunch of these and sold them. Easier for someone like me to just purchase it. By the time I was done getting the tools and parts its probably only $5-10 more just to by them...

Hi all - just got RB. Great game! However I think something is wrong physically with the last drum on the right (forgot what color that is - orange?).

Each of the 4 drums "float" a bit and physically tilt down while you press say on the bottom of the pad and tilt up if you press on the top. This looks to be by design.

However the forth drum is much more wobbly in this regard, whereas the other 3 are more firm. Is there something wrong with the drum? It seems to register all of the hits fine, but I am concerned it could be a problem waiting to happen later.

What is the RMA process like? Do they ship you are replacement first so you can still play while waiting for the shipment, then you send yours back in their packaging that the replacement comes in? Are there any shipping or other fees involved?

Thanks!

Does anyone else have a drum that is like the one I describe ("loose")? Doesn't match the other 3 so I'm thinking it is not right. That being said, it seems to register hits just fine.

Anyone else have 2 red circles, one on each side?

My set does not have a green but two reds...

Any thoughts?

Anyone else have 2 red circles, one on each side?

My set does not have a green but two reds...

Any thoughts?

That is bizarre. Sounds like some sort of manufacturing error.

I figured it was a manufaturing/assembly issue, but my drums are working fine and I would rather not RMA them.

I plan on doing the Arts/Crafts mod with the felt, so it should not make a difference, but i was wondering if I was the only one that had this problem...

Holy crap, I still havent recieved my RMAed guitar. The RMA website says "2 DAY" not 7 day. WTF?!

Better open another Tech Support ticket with EA. I got mine in and someone helped me push the RMA through.

If you didnt do this, I believe your RMA will sit in "billing received status" for a long long time. The 2nd air becomes UPS ground..

See the dates on my RMA for the Guitar and strum bar dying..

Type: Package
Status: In Transit
Rescheduled Delivery: 12/06/2007
Shipped To: MILPITAS, CA, US
Service: 2ND DAY AIR
Weight: 6.50 Lbs




Package Progress
Location Date Local Time Description
SUNNYVALE,
CA, US 12/06/2007 6:05 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
12/06/2007 3:15 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
OAKLAND,
CA, US 12/06/2007 2:27 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
OAKLAND,
CA, US 12/05/2007 5:42 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 12/05/2007 4:04 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
US 12/02/2007 8:44 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED


Tracking results provided by UPS: 12/06/2007 10:51 A.M. ET

There was a few days with no updates between the 2nd and 5th although there was a Monday in between them. So I sent in a TS ticket to follow up.

Either EA is screwing up their RMAs or that theres so many bad hardware that EA can't keep up.

Although I do have the Gibson Les Paul from GH3, I found that the one from Rock Band is easier to move between frets. Both are spread a bit too wide for me and I have big hands. Why did they do this on a small miniature guitar?

If I had to do the Arts/Crafts project over again, I wouldn't have gone with the solid colored felt. The bright Fischer-Price colors on the pads kinda bug me now.

I'm thinking of doing it over again with smaller black felt to look more like Wilson10's pads, as pictured in post #347.

I came across these after looking at mods on another site and seriously thinking about trying them out. Does anyone know someone who has these? They seem to be along the same lines as the other mods minus the craft project. I am not thrilled with the design but its not too bad.

They had some on ebay earlier this week but dont see them there anyone. I just want to make sure this is a legitimate site before I order. Any thoughts?

http://www.beatdownpads.com/


Just bought a set after seeing your post. Thanks. Ill post my experience once i get a chance to play with them. I think having mute drums will greatly enchance the Rock Band experience.

Has anyone purchased and used the beatdown pads as of yet? Would really like to know if my purchase was worthwhile

If I had to do the Arts/Crafts project over again, I wouldn't have gone with the solid colored felt. The bright Fischer-Price colors on the pads kinda bug me now.

I'm thinking of doing it over again with smaller black felt to look more like Wilson10's pads, as pictured in post #347.

This is the way I'm doing mine. I agree that the colored felt pads are a little much.

If I had to do the Arts/Crafts project over again, I wouldn't have gone with the solid colored felt. The bright Fischer-Price colors on the pads kinda bug me now.

I'm thinking of doing it over again with smaller black felt to look more like Wilson10's pads, as pictured in post #347.

Agreed--I'm actually RMA'ing my current set after deciding that my red pad isn't picking up all my hits with or without the foam, and will be redoing it with solid black at that point. Although the Beatdown pads look sweet, I've already got the materials to re-do the mod myself.

I love my mod, looks good and most importantly is that is really seems to mute things some. And for some reason it seems like I can concentrate better without the LOUD clackity clack clack clack!

I am still not sure my drums are right though, I can't do a fast roll without doing it somewhat soft on any of the pads. Doesn't affect me too much right now though on medium. We will see I guess, just waiting to hear if others are getting better sets

Ugh, so I finally got to the dreaded Green Grass & High Tides song everyone has been talking about on drums. I've been cruising through medium with no problem, 5-starring most of the songs, then comes this.

What's worse is that its a horrible song in general, you have to play through 5 minutes of the damn thing just to reach the hard part only to fail. One of the big reasons I like Rock Band (over Guitar Hero) is that there is actually newer music and not a bunch of junk my parents rocked out back in the day. :) Had it been a good song I may actually be motivated to play it multiple times in an attempt to beat it.

I don't understand why this isn't the last song in the solo tour (for drums at least). I went back and quick played the songs appearing after this and nothing comes close to being as difficult.

I'm thinking of doing it over again with smaller black felt to look more like Wilson10's pads, as pictured in post #347.

If you re-do it, could you cut up one mouse pad and tape it on one head for a good A/B comparison of whether the foam or the mouse pad is the best sound dampener?

Guitar Pick Update: I received a replacement guitar yesterday. My original guitar has a really squishy strum bar and stops picking up down-strums after a couple of hours of use. I tried using a guitar pick on this guitar and really liked it as it was quiet and felt right and worked really well.

I hooked up the replacement guitar and the strum bar is more solid feeling. It recenters quickly and seems to work "right". BUT.....with the guitar pick it goes "clackity clack" while strumming. :( Dang it, and I was liking using the guitar pick.

The shape of the strum bars on both the Strat and the GH2 controllers is such that you can hold the thin edge like you would hold a guitar pick, so I'm back to that style.

Ugh, so I finally got to the dreaded Green Grass & High Tides song everyone has been talking about on drums. I've been cruising through medium with no problem, 5-starring most of the songs, then comes this.

What's worse is that its a horrible song in general, you have to play through 5 minutes of the damn thing just to reach the hard part only to fail. One of the big reasons I like Rock Band (over Guitar Hero) is that there is actually newer music and not a bunch of junk my parents rocked out back in the day. :) Had it been a good song I may actually be motivated to play it multiple times in an attempt to beat it.

I don't understand why this isn't the last song in the solo tour (for drums at least). I went back and quick played the songs appearing after this and nothing comes close to being as difficult.

Newer music != good music. Some of the best songs on all of the games so far (both Guitar Hero and Rock Band) are the "classic" songs.

Ugh, so I finally got to the dreaded Green Grass & High Tides song everyone has been talking about on drums. I've been cruising through medium with no problem, 5-starring most of the songs, then comes this.

What's worse is that its a horrible song in general, you have to play through 5 minutes of the damn thing just to reach the hard part only to fail. One of the big reasons I like Rock Band (over Guitar Hero) is that there is actually newer music and not a bunch of junk my parents rocked out back in the day. :) Had it been a good song I may actually be motivated to play it multiple times in an attempt to beat it.

I don't understand why this isn't the last song in the solo tour (for drums at least). I went back and quick played the songs appearing after this and nothing comes close to being as difficult.
GGaHT is only the hardest song on the setlist on medium. For hard and expert the song doesn't get a whole lot harder, run to the hills and won't get fooled again do indeed get a lot harder. Once again anything you learn to do in one song will help in another. The 5 minute R-Y, Y-OR is a stock beat for country rock and you'll need to master it for later on harder difficulties. Once you get it it's a breeze and on hard that beat is only slightly different on this song.
I tend to tap my left foot in oppostite of the correct bass drum hit. It tends to help.

GGaHT is only the hardest song on the setlist on medium. For hard and expert the song doesn't get a whole lot harder, run to the hills and won't get fooled again do indeed get a lot harder. Once again anything you learn to do in one song will help in another. The 5 minute R-Y, Y-OR is a stock beat for country rock and you'll need to master it for later on harder difficulties. Once you get it it's a breeze and on hard that beat is only slightly different on this song.
I tend to tap my left foot in oppostite of the correct bass drum hit. It tends to help.

I can hit the foot drum (whatever it's called) and the yellow just fine. It's getting the red one in that screws me. I've read people say that you can get by without doing the orange, or only doing orange + yellow, but that's not working for me. Once my timing of the red notes gets off it's game over, even if i try skipping it all together.

I played it once and got to about 65%, played it a second time and go 90%. But just from that I already hate playing it and have no interest in trying again. Like I said, I probably wouldn't mind as much if it wasn't such an annoying song.

I can hit the foot drum (whatever it's called) and the yellow just fine. It's getting the red one in that screws me. I've read people say that you can get by without doing the orange, or only doing orange + yellow, but that's not working for me. Once my timing of the red notes gets off it's game over, even if i try skipping it all together.

I played it once and got to about 65%, played it a second time and go 90%. But just from that I already hate playing it and have no interest in trying again. Like I said, I probably wouldn't mind as much if it wasn't such an annoying song.

Meh I think it's a cool song but yeah it's length and repetitiveness on drums does make me avoid it at times. Again it's all nessary for getting better at the game. If you can keep this constant beat then otehr stock beats will be less of a problem. It's like when fighters train in the mountains so they can run better at low oxygen enviroments. and then when they come back down to sealevel and have more oxygen they can perform even better. Take a break and do some bonus songs or DLC. as with nearly every harmonix game taking a break usually helps.

IMHO, GGaHT is a great song, but that's me. :)

The game itself tells you that the bass pedal and the *RED* drum are the most important, and that if you are getting in trouble and want to leave out some notes to focus on only hitting the bass pedal and the red drum to get your rhythm back and then start adding the adding the other drums as you can. I would imagine that skipping the red drum would be a quick spiral of death.

I followed the advice of an earlier post and largely focused on only the hand beat--RY-Y-RY-Y. I'd throw in enough of the kick to keep my meter from falling and but not so many that I wound up losing the beat and looking like an octopus with all my limbs flailing. I know I need to go back and practice that beat and get it down, but aside from testing rolls on my red pad I needed a break for a couple days. I'm looking forward to getting back into the game tonight.

I play 3 songs in this game and I get image retention from the stars and the score, I guess I am just not ment to be playing this game.:mad: 3 songs would be maybe 20 minutes at the most. Its like clockwork, happening every time and then I have to whitewash the screen for an hour. Its not like this is Mass Effect where you can just play at 20 minute sessions here and there.

I play 3 songs in this game and I get image retention from the stars and the score, I guess I am just not ment to be playing this game.:mad: 3 songs would be maybe 20 minutes at the most. Its like clockwork, happening every time and then I have to whitewash the screen for an hour. Its not like this is Mass Effect where you can just play at 20 minute sessions here and there.

Youre working too hard to play the game. Are you playing easy?

Last night was by far my favorite night so far of rock band. Got TOTALLY into it and went through 90% of Enter Sandman on expert drums (not actually as hard as i thought it would be) BUT the MOST FUN YOU CAN HAVE WITH ROCKBAND....

Playing guitar and singing at the same time. It was freaking AWESOME!!!

So... has any non-drummer (meaning someone who didn't play drums before RockBand) passed Vaseline on Hard? :eek:

That song has the strangest rhythm. I went into practice mode and I can do ok on the verses, but that chorus is just strange and doesn't connect with me at all! After trying multiple times, the last attempt I failed at 83% and gave up for the night.

I hope Vaseline is to Hard what GG&HT is to Medium. :o

So... has any non-drummer (meaning someone who didn't play drums before RockBand) passed Vaseline on Hard? :eek:

That song has the strangest rhythm. I went into practice mode and I can do ok on the verses, but that chorus is just strange and doesn't connect with me at all! After trying multiple times, the last attempt I failed at 83% and gave up for the night.

I hope Vaseline is to Hard what GG&HT is to Medium. :o

Yes, i've never played drums and got through Vasoline on hard...it is an odd rhythm for sure, but far from the most difficult of songs. I personally think the Metallica Downloads (blackened and ride the lightening especially) are the hardest because of the kick drum work.

If you know the song vasoline, the rhythm sort of gets in your head

so I;m now working my way through expert drums and I can't believe I nailed Mississippi queen. anyways minor note. BUt just was psyched ahat I'm still somehopw making prgress in the game.

Just bought a set after seeing your post. Thanks. Ill post my experience once i get a chance to play with them. I think having mute drums will greatly enchance the Rock Band experience.

Has anyone purchased and used the beatdown pads as of yet? Would really like to know if my purchase was worthwhile

Same here. Wow, those look really nice. And I spent way more than $25 on the felt/foam mod. Heck the circle cutter at Michael's was $20 by itself. And having to deal with the clutter of that store was something I don't want to experience for a while...lol.

I finally beat GGHT last night on medium. So in the end it took me three attempts. I played it one more time last night and came close to 5-starring it.

It seems to me that unlike playing the guitar, consuming a lot of alcohol actually helps me play the drums better. It seems like I can "feel" the beat better.

Woot! I 5-starred GGaHT on the first try on Medium! :) I guess all the BWTing with my son is paying off, even though we haven't played that song on BWT yet.

I was kicking butt through the whole thing and got the Fifth Star Chime long before the end, but then took a short dip into the red at the very end. :eek: That would've sucked to 5-star point it and then fail.

Woot! I 5-starred GGaHT on the first try on Medium! :) I guess all the BWTing with my son is paying off, even though we haven't played that song on BWT yet.

I was kicking butt through the whole thing and got the Fifth Star Chime long before the end, but then took a short dip into the red at the very end. :eek: That would've sucked to 5-star point it and then fail.

Yeah I 4 starred it on my first play through on Medium. I don't really understand the difficulty of the song - it has a single time change but other than that it's a very simple song to play...

I don't really understand the difficulty of the song - it has a single time change but other than that it's a very simple song to play...

I understand the difficulty: the ending is 1) fast and 2) seemingly never-ending.

Up to that point the songs have been nice short jogs. Then *BOOM!* GG&HT brings on a fast marathon! :eek:

No one is saying it's complicated... it's just some of us hadn't developed the endurance and/or speed at the point it appears in the medium tour.

I understand the difficulty: the ending is 1) fast and 2) seemingly never-ending.

Up to that point the songs have been nice short jogs. Then *BOOM!* GG&HT brings on a fast marathon! :eek:

No one is saying it's complicated... it's just some of us hadn't developed the endurance and/or speed at the point it appears in the medium tour.

That's a pretty good point. You would get to this beast pretty quickly if you only play solo.

My $19.99 cheap-bastard drum throne from Guitar Center online arrived yesterday. Ugh, I wish I would've just ponied up the $45 for the one with the cushy seat when I went into the local Guitar Center brick-n-mortar store that didn't have the el cheapo seat. This thing is hard and it puts my cheeks to sleep.

GOOD NEWS!

put a claim in through EA's website to replace guitar on 12/2. Called them on 12/6 to get status and an error is causing a delay.

To compensate me for my hardship (wont have new guitar til next week) they are letting me keep my busted one. The guy said I can try and fix it (strum bar) or smash it like a real rock star. Sweet!

If I can fix it then free bass!

My $19.99 cheap-bastard drum throne from Guitar Center online arrived yesterday. Ugh, I wish I would've just ponied up the $45 for the one with the cushy seat when I went into the local Guitar Center brick-n-mortar store that didn't have the el cheapo seat. This thing is hard and it puts my cheeks to sleep.

meh I don't mind mine. Yeah it's practically a wood stool but I can go 3 hours and not be that uncomfortable.

GOOD NEWS!

put a claim in through EA's website to replace guitar on 12/2. Called them on 12/6 to get status and an error is causing a delay.

To compensate me for my hardship (wont have new guitar til next week) they are letting me keep my busted one. The guy said I can try and fix it (strum bar) or smash it like a real rock star. Sweet!

If I can fix it then free bass!

Thats sweet. Upstrum only on bass is fine!

GOOD NEWS!

put a claim in through EA's website to replace guitar on 12/2. Called them on 12/6 to get status and an error is causing a delay.

To compensate me for my hardship (wont have new guitar til next week) they are letting me keep my busted one. The guy said I can try and fix it (strum bar) or smash it like a real rock star. Sweet!

If I can fix it then free bass!
You lucky son of a.......I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling a tad envious right now, lol!

I don't really understand the difficulty of the song - it has a single time change but other than that it's a very simple song to play...

The difficulty is you get f-ing tired doing the same thing over and over and over very quickly. After I played that song twice in a row my living room smelled like a men's locker room. I also find during long repetitive streaks like that my mind starts wandering and soon after lose the rhythm.

The difficulty is you get f-ing tired doing the same thing over and over and over very quickly. After I played that song twice in a row my living room smelled like a men's locker room. I also find during long repetitive streaks like that my mind starts wandering and soon after lose the rhythm.

Don't try to take up the actual drums then. :D

Don't try to take up the actual drums then. :D

lol exactly everytime I screwed up I thought about how I was screwing over teh guitarist who's been tapping out the same meledy for the past 2 minutes.

Speaking of drum kits:

I bought the stand-alone Rock Band game for the 360, to use with my two GH controllers and a Logitech mic. A friend of mine bought the full kit for the PS3. Apparently the PS3 drum kit uses a standard USB connection -- what I want to know is, will the PS3 drum kit work on the 360? Or are there differences that will keep it from functioning?

will the PS3 drum kit work on the 360? Or are there differences that will keep it from functioning?

As with the USB guitars, the PS3 and 360 controllers are console exclusive.

As with the USB guitars, the PS3 and 360 controllers are console exclusive.I feared that would be the case. Thank you for your response!

I just completed Guitar Solo Tour Hard. Yes!!!!!!!!!1

I was stuck on Flirtin' with Disaster for about 2 days because I'm not that great on solos. But with some practice mode I was finally able to pass it and GGHT today. :D

I'm still stuck on those two songs. Going through drums on medium as a break and I'll go back to them tonight or tomorrow. ;)

Congrats ileff!

I finally made it past Vaseline on Drums/Hard, and have completed all the songs on the next tier except Go With the Flow (Queens of the Stone Age). As with the STP song, it just has a weird rhythm that I can't quite find. ...but I did make it to the end, only to fail on the last beat ("98%"). :rolleyes: So I know I can pass this tricky one at some point.

As with being in a real band, I find some days I'm on it and others I struggle.

Holy crap! I just beat GGAHT on Guitar solo Hard! Have no idea how that happened. Now I just have to beat Flirtin' With Disaster and I'll have completed Hard. :D

So, I was a little stupid and decided to jump into expert drums after finishing the medium tour.

I did just fine on 4 of the 5 first teir songs (5 starred I think I'm Paranoid and Wanted: Dead or Alive and 4 starred Say it Ain't So and Creep) but I can't for the life of me make it past the first chorus of In Bloom.

Dave Grohl can kiss my ass.

As with being in a real band, I find some days I'm on it and others I struggle.

Yup. Took a few days off and had our weekly BWT meet last night. It was awesome. We wound up getting "Run to the Hills" on one of the mystery setlists and I had a blast playing it...then again, that was just medium, so I haven't experienced just how bad it supposedly gets.

Does 5-starring every song on a difficulty level give you an achievement or does it only matter that you get through every song?

Does 5-starring every song on a difficulty level give you an achievement or does it only matter that you get through every song?

There are no achievements based on 5 starring anything.

Does 5-starring every song on a difficulty level give you an achievement or does it only matter that you get through every song?

there's achievements for getting 100% on a song. WIth bass you have to do up strums only to get the achievement.

Ugh...I'm stuck on GG&HT on Expert Guitar...passed every other song. The last set has been tough, but GG&HT is kicking my butt. I can make it to 80% no problem, but there's this last little super fast bit that just kills me and I haven't been able to store up enough StarPower to make it through yet.

I like the song fine, it's just frustrating that the tough part is right at the end.

Ok, I'm feeling a little silly here, but I just can't figure this out.

My friend wants to play with me online, him playing drums, his wife singing, and me playing guitar. Neither of us can figure out how I get on voice. Any help would be great!

Thanks,

-JR

Ok, I'm feeling a little silly here, but I just can't figure this out.

My friend wants to play with me online, him playing drums, his wife singing, and me playing guitar. Neither of us can figure out how I get on voice. Any help would be great!

Thanks,

-JR

But don't you want his wife to be on vocals???

But don't you want his wife to be on vocals???

Sorry, yes, his wife on vocals singing, but me being able to speak to them via Live.

That's what we can't figure out - how do we all three get on voice so we can chat between songs? Also, can myself and my friend (guitar and drums) talk while we play a song?

-JR

I've been able to talk during the song when on drums. just need to use the included adapter to hook up the headset (plug is underneath the d-pad and buttons. I usually keep it muted during the song though since the drum hits would be distracting.

Sorry, yes, his wife on vocals singing, but me being able to speak to them via Live.

That's what we can't figure out - how do we all three get on voice so we can chat between songs? Also, can myself and my friend (guitar and drums) talk while we play a song?

-JR

Yeah just plug in the headset to the guitar (use the included adapter).

For your friend's wife to talk without screwing up her vocals she needs to hold a trigger on the controller.

Uh oh, I can't find all the adapters...I only found one. Are they all the same (the adapters)? Where does it plug into the Fender?

-JR