The Official Rock Band Discussion Thread - Page 3

They are still waiting for Honeymoon Suite, BTO, Tragically Hip and Loverboy to sign on so they can hit Canadian Content regulations.
/sarcasm off.

Athough Platinum Blonde's "Doesn't Really Matter" or "Not In Love" would be cool.

using "overdrive" as the singer sucks, I just flick my live headset right on the mic

I think it's great- I have a PS3 and 360 and I opted for 360 (not only cause it has a larger online community that isnt as buggy right now, but it was all they had in stock at Sams)

My Disc was scratched to hell out of the box... anyone else ? I mean, I can play it but I dont know how long it'll make it before it flakes out.

I think this game is amazingly fun, and I cant wait to play it with some friends this weekend.

Rock on !

360 Gamertag = BillyVegasStyle

Has anyone downloaded any songs yet? I can't figure out how. Is the option in the "community" and I'm just not seeing it?

Downloaded:

Fortunate Son
Roxanne
My Sharona

All are really fun!!!

has anyone had an issue running ROCKBAND for xbox360 in 1080p? I have the Xbox 360 Arcade Edition (has HDMI port) and my settings are set to display in 1080p yet when i run ROCKBAND, the game does not fill the entire screen....it is cut off around the 4 sides. I went to settings and switched from 1080p to 720p and now the screen is full. But the game states on the back that it is compatible in 1080p so why wouldnt it display a full picture??? Has anyone noticed the same? and what could be a reason for this?? Thanks

Dashboard -> Marketplace

When you load up the game next, it will import your new songs.

I'm waiting till there are songs I want to download, probably gonna be Dec 17 before I get anything (Weezer Buddy Holly)

Thus far, I'm digging Rock Band. Yes the guitar is quite a bit easier (I've blown through the first 4 teirs, 5 starring every song on an inital sight-read), but the drums are fun as hell and the majority of the songs I've played have a better grove and feel to them compared to the early teirs of GHIII.

It was rather late before I got home to play it, so I didn't try singing, cause if I sing/karaoke, I go all out and belt at the top of my lungs. Didn't want to wake the neices or my bother-in-law and sister.

cueCrew:
Sorry about the SNAFU when attempting to band up earlier. I think the headset port on my guitar is messed up, as neither the headset nor headset + adapter worked. Of course, that might be due to me using a 3rd party headset (Plantronics X30 in-ear headset), instead of Microsoft's. Weird thing is, it works perfectly fine w/o using the Rock Band adapter if I just plug it into the drumit. If need be I could switch over to my Les Paul if you need a guitarist of bassist.

Rockband arrived at my doorstep this afternoon. A friend was over, so we set it up; I grabbed the drums while my friend picked up the guitar. Right off the bat, I was digging playing the drums. Spent most of my time on medium which is just the right amount of challenge for me to keep it interesting but allow me to play a good beat. Kicking it up to hard was a pretty big jump, and it will take some time to get my foot to work independently of my hands (looking forward to it though). Switched to the guitar to give it a try and decided that I preferred the RB guitar over my GH2 one although the frets will take some getting used to.

Spent some time creating a band for the World Tour mode. Myself, the wife, and 2 of our friends. I found the customization to be a blast. I probably spent an hour or more making tattoos: my wife's name down one arm with a vine wrapping around it and a superman logo down the other. Had our 2 friends come over around 8:30 to give it a try. Unfortunately, my wife was at work so it was only a 3-man band. Before we knew it, it was 12:00. This is where RB really shines. Playing with friends was a blast and time flew. My only complaint is that it is already starting to get repetitive as we still need to unlock a number of songs.

I just got home after playing with my friend and his wife for *6* hours. It's a blast! Definitely has the edge over GH for being a "complete" musical package. He tried to get me to leave the game there. I wonder if we would've traded his wife for it?

Played the game with two other people tonight (lead/bass/drums). One of my friends who played actually plays the drums in real life and was able to jump into hard with no problems. It was fun as hell.

The only issue I have with the guitar. I like that it's easier to shift my fingers around since they dont have to go over the buttons, but i find it impossible to strum a bunch of like notes in rapid succession like I can on the GH controllers. Also, I can't get my "star power" to deploy correctly. When I try it never works, and then sometimes it just goes off while i'm sitting there playing normally. I also have issues with it not registering strums at all - i'll suddenly start missing all the notes on a super easy part. Very frustrating.

I think I'm going to stick to using my X-plorer controller and send this one back to EA.

Another dislike is how often you have to play the same song over while doing the world band tour. I'd rather it be like GH where you just play through all of the songs to unlock them. I mean, thats all we really want - is to have all songs unlocked and playable.

Other than that this game is pure awesome.

Went from 50,000 fans to 15,000 fans cuz one of my "bandmembers" decided to be bold and try a higher difficulty. Ugh! haha

Anyways, game's awesome. I played with 3 other ppl, and surprisingly the microphone wasn't as unattractive as I thought it would be in terms of wanting actually be the singer. People took turns singing and it's definitely a lot more fun than karaoke (singing wise).

The drums are where it's at. After about 8 hours of play, I'm pretty solid at medium on the drums. I did a few songs on hard and did fairly well also. It's just so damn fun.

This game is pure fun.

PS - I just realized that I ended my post with "pure ____" like the previous post. It certainly is pure _______

Played yesterday for a few hours with a 4 person band. It was a blast. My wife was the singer and after hitting 100% twice on hard she moved up to expert and was still hitting the 90%+. I would fail on medium, lol. So I gave that up and she stayed where she was and the rest of us rotated. One of my buddies never played GH so he was very bad, good thing my wife was solid because she always had to save him.

I thought I was going to be playing this by myself most of the time but the wife loved it and decided she would do a tour with me, so we will be starting our band today. Should be great.

I do agree with your ankle becoming tired with the drums but I found a solution that worked for me. Place the drums a little farther than normal, not to far that you have to stretch. Then rest your foot on the pad, the pad should go down about 60-70% of the way. From there its just a little tap of the foot to get the beat going. At first I was hitting the notes to early but once I had it down my foot never bothered me again. No more breaks between songs.

To say the game is HAWESOME is probably an understatement. Unboxed it last night and played with family and friends. I like the new guitar. Playing drums for the first time was not unlike playing the guitar for the first time when I got GH II....HUMBLING. Singing was much more fun than I expected.

Overall, VERY PLEASED. Rock Band is living up to its promise. Need to try online with some of my friends, not just in person.

For all those with sore ankles it's probably because your chair is too low. You're thigh should be parallel to the ground when you have the kick pedal depressed. You can pick up a cheap adjustable drum throne at Guitar Center for under $30. I think that's what I'm going to end up doing.

All the hardware worked fine (so far). Very fun!!1

How loud are the drums when playing? Do you all play with headphones, if not would wearing headphones make for a better experience? And more importantly, how the hell did you convince your wives to play?!

Fender Stat is much better than previous GH axes: larger (doesn't quite look like a toy), better fret buttons and I prefer the quieter strum bar. Drum kit is mixture of plastic, rubber and metal for the legs. Hitting the pads with the wooden sticks can get loud so turn up the volume on your sound system so you won't hear the tap-tap-tap so much. Mic is pretty plain with no switches at all, but it does the job. Very good quality for the price paid, only thing I will be getting next year is the wireless guitar, all the pieces in the setup are all wired to USB to the 360.

you hear them, but their way quieter than actual drums. headphones will work just fine as long as you have a way of supporting 4 headphones on your home theater. lol I'm single w itha roomate but he said he didn't mind the game noise and actually fell assleep for a few hours while me and my friend were going through BWT.

SO my final impressions. I've been covering this game like crazy ever since it was annouced. and I'm so pleased with my purchase after last night. Only did 2 player BWT but even then were just jamming like crazy. Drums on medium is a great place to start if you already have some semblence of rhythm. Guitar is overall pretty easy for me and my friend coming for expert on GH3 HOWEVER HMX can and did move teh difficulty up at will. The 3 metallica DLC songs are up there with one and raining blood on GH3 in diffiuclty. We actually were failing the mystery set lists because those 3 songs would get on there every time and we can't pass them yet.

I like the stratocaster but some people just perfer the les paul. I can play on both and want to master the strat so I can do solo buttons like crazy. We only played 5 hours but it was just full tilt fun. We're getting more people together tonightf or some jamming.

some other random notes:
A drum throne is very useful I picked one up for 20 bucks at guitar center(had to price match with their website).
I also use nylon tipped drum sticks(vic firth). They are just a good thing to have. They bounce on the rubber a bit better and just have more balance to them than the ones that come with the bundle.

Get nylon tips (or mallets) if you're really worried about noise.

+1

obviously a fellow drummer or well informed musician

The above tip derives from actually playing a kit. Basic "suggestion" is to have your thigh parallel or perhaps a slight degree ABOVE parallel to the floor. Do not stomp on the pedal. You can actually get away with leaving a bit of weight on it and keeping it slightly depressed. You will have to develop a feel for it to play that way though.

Further, as some have mentioned the drums being "loud", as in the actual striking there of....Yes you can obviously hear the sticks hitting the pads. But I have to say the pads are QUITE sensitive and have a fair range to the outer edge. Play RELAXED without a death grip and no need to pound on the things.
You will save yourself from some painful experiences...seriously. Buying an actual pair of well made "balanced" sticks might be a benefit for this GAME. Some people may find that a lighter/heavier/larger diameter, etc., stick feels better in their particular hand. Last palyng tip" Try playing with using your fingers/wrists. Don't move your entire arm up and down. Check out a music video here and there. No you do not NEED to play like an actual drummer, but I do see many people developing real pain quickly from "improper" technique.

Finally, I would have to say their claim that you be able to "play" a kit after "mastering" the game is fairly accurate. You WILL develop a good sense of rhythm/timing. But it would be an adjustment to play actual hardware. But you WILL have a firm foundation from where to begin.

anyone singing with XBL headset? what do you do with the controller? hang it around your neck? Seriously, until I maybe pick up a mic stand, what's the best alternative???

How is it possible to sing and play guitar/drums anyway? Wouldn't that be extremley difficult?

If you're gonna try using an XBL headset I'd use a wireless headset.

yeah, i'll probaby just have to pick up a cheap stand...

Yes...it would be. I haven't seen the singing portion but I believe it scrolls the lyrics across. Not sure how you "play" that role in the game either. So unless you knew the lyrics verbatim for every song (thus allowing you to focus on the notes for the instruments), not sure how a "novice" would be able to both at the same time.
Heck...some "real pros" can't do it well on stage....

hold it in my hand when I do my tamborine/cowbell solos

plosive sounds work too like "BAH"