Guitar Hero II

[KermitM42]

Just wanted to see how good the ATOT console gaming forum is at gh2.
im personally stuck on hangar 18 on expert. also wanted to give an opportunity for pros to dish out advice and for beginner's to get some pointers.
thanks

 

[blurredvision]

I've currently beat Easy and Medium with all 5 stars, and I've beat Hard mode with a mixture of 3, 4, and 5 stars. I've started on Expert mode, but only played a couple of songs to this point (haven't picked it up in a while). When I catch myself playing just single songs and goofing off, I'll typically try to play in Expert, but mostly just stick to Hard.

I'm not a pro, but I can give advice to beginners. Practice, practice, practice. It definitely seems hard moving from easy --> medium, and then medium --> hard, but it's all about getting your fingers used to moving the distance needed without you having to think about it. I'd say play Easy until you're able to 5-star most songs, then move to Medium. Once you're able to 5-star most songs, then move to Hard. It won't happen overnight, but if you put in a few hours a week, you'll be playing on Hard and Expert within a month, guaranteed.

 

[KermitM42]

right on. i think the hardest part is getting a hang of using your pinky finger. those blue ones killed me when i first started. and yeah definitely practice.
and once you really start playing you'll be surprised how quickly you get better. it took me atleast 20 tries to get past the beginning of crazy on you on expert and now i can beat it no problem.

 

[galperi1]

After about a month I was able to beat the game on Expert. My 2 pieces of advice

1) Learn how to hammer on/off. It pays off big time when it comes to some of the harder sections in the expert songs

2) Start playing on hard. I started on medium and the jump to playing with a 5th finger ended up being a little more difficult than expected.

 

[MikeyLSU]

I've had the game about a month now, have 5 starred all of Easy and medium.

5 starred all but 2 songs on Hard

and have beaten everything on expert except freebird, just can't finish the damn thing, lol.

 

[tatteredpotato]

I'm working through the 7th set on Expert right now.

 

[CPA]

I'm almost done on Hard - Phsychobilly Freakout was killing me. I have 4 songs to go before Expert (I've actually already done 2 songs on Expert).

I have not mastered Hammer-ons and Pull-offs, which I know is hurting me. And I can not get used to up and down strumming for the sixteenth and 32nd notes, so I am suffering on those trying to hit them all by only strumming down. The other downfall of only strumming down is I get cramped up in my forearm.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: CPA
I'm almost done on Hard - Phsychobilly Freakout was killing me. I have 4 songs to go before Expert (I've actually already done 2 songs on Expert).

I have not mastered Hammer-ons and Pull-offs, which I know is hurting me. And I can not get used to up and down strumming for the sixteenth and 32nd notes, so I am suffering on those trying to hit them all by only strumming down. The other downfall of only strumming down is I get cramped up in my forearm.

I have the same problems.

 

[jdport]

I have 5 starred all of the main tracks on expert... and all of the bonus tracks except for Six which I have a ways to go for 5 stars, and Jordan which I still have not managed to pass.

I came *this* close to beating Jordan... I actually got a bit of divine intervention and passed the solos and was cruising through the song and got over excited or something... on the "fast picking" part (for lack of a better name for it) right after the bridge, I just lost it.. I don't know what happened but suddenly I got off and was missing everything and tried to hit my star power and just as it activated I failed... at 81%. I almost cried... lol. I'll beat it soon though.

 

[Kyle]

had it about a week now - 5stared the easy, havent beat medium yet mainly because I havent had too much time to play it - havent "failed" a song yet, but the mediums are all 3-4stars. Fun so far, not sure if I'll ever get toooo good at it, seems like it would take a LOT of time.

 

[TallBill]

Stuck on Hanger 18 on expert. Got to like 86% 50 times and can't get past it yet. I will eventually!

 

[mtnboydl]

hangar 18 is tough on expert simply because of the barrage of mini-solos. It took me about on hour of dedicated effort before I got it down. At least hammer-on/offs are actually doable in GHII. They were not at all in GHI.

 

[MrToilet]

I just finished the game on Hard- redoing it on Expert. Some of those really fast passages (Misirlou, Freebird, etc) get a little hairy, but I 5-starred every song on hard except for Freebird and a couple others (4 stars on those).

What a great game. You really get into it after playing for a while.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: MrToilet
I just finished the game on Hard- redoing it on Expert. Some of those really fast passages (Misirlou, Freebird, etc) get a little hairy, but I 5-starred every song on hard except for Freebird and a couple others (4 stars on those).

What a great game. You really get into it after playing for a while.

yeah, once anyone starts playing on hard/expert, you get addicted.

I finaly beat freebird on expert, and I 5 starred everything on hard except for psychobilly
freakout. I just can't 5 star that song.

 

[MrToilet]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: MrToilet
I just finished the game on Hard- redoing it on Expert. Some of those really fast passages (Misirlou, Freebird, etc) get a little hairy, but I 5-starred every song on hard except for Freebird and a couple others (4 stars on those).

What a great game. You really get into it after playing for a while.

yeah, once anyone starts playing on hard/expert, you get addicted.

I finaly beat freebird on expert, and I 5 starred everything on hard except for psychobilly
freakout. I just can't 5 star that song.

Heh, yeah, Psychobilly Freakout on hard is nuts, I should try on Expert (I did get 5 stars on hard, though :beer

 

[abaez]

I cannot do hammer on/offs. I've tried in practice and I get it but then when I'm in the live song I just meltdown and go to crap. I've got quite a few songs on hard, but any song that requires hammer on/offs (woman etc) I just do really crappy on. Ugh it's getting annoying.

 

[mpitts]

I have finished Hard with five stars on all songs. I have just gotten started on Expert, but it's going to have to wait since NCAA 2008 is coming out tonight.

 

[yllus]

You guys are nuts. I can avoid failing songs on Medium, haha.

 

[KermitM42]

i actually just beat the game on expert.
i beat hangar 18 and could not pass freebird, so i was going to try a different song and i accidentally selected freebird again. i was like "its a sign!" and i actually beat it that time.
so now im working on four/five starring the expert songs.
jdport, wow you fivestarred all the expert songs? thats awesome. thats funny becaue ive actually beaten jordan on expert but i have 5-starred very few expert songs.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: KermitM42
i actually just beat the game on expert.
i beat hangar 18 and could not pass freebird, so i was going to try a different song and i accidentally selected freebird again. i was like "its a sign!" and i actually beat it that time.
so now im working on four/five starring the expert songs.
jdport, wow you fivestarred all the expert songs? thats awesome. thats funny becaue ive actually beaten jordan on expert but i have 5-starred very few expert songs.

if you can beat the game on expert, you should be able to 5 star half the songs on expert.

That is what I did after beating the game, I 5 starred all but psycobilly freakout on hard, and have somewhere around 25 songs 5 starred on expert...the first half of the songs are very easy to 5 star.

 

[CKDragon]

I've 5-starred all of medium except for "Institutionalized" and I've beaten all of hard except for "Carry Me Home" (and subsequently "Freebird"). There's one particular technique that I just can't get down that kills me on every song, whenever I have to alternate back and forth between two notes for 10+ times I always get off the beat and get all screwed up. Other than that I think I'm ready for Expert (I've beaten like 8-9 songs on Expert so far).

New question: You guys that are talking about 5-starring Expert songs, did your Guitar Hero experience start with 2 or did you play the original for PS2? Just wondering and hoping for an excuse as to why I'm progressing slower.

 

[MikeyLSU]

GH2 was the first one I played. I've had it probably a month and a half.

It took a couple of days till I was consistantly playing on hard, I went through that pretty easily and went to expert next. I got stuck at a couple of songs on expert but wasnt' too bad. Only two that stumped me for more than a couple of tries were Hanger 18 and Freebird.

I have a music background playing clarinet through college so I think that probably helps a little(though, I do know some friends who have similar experiences but can't play GH at all).

I think it is a good mix of music background(for rhythm) and gaming in general(for dual hand coordination)

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU
GH2 was the first one I played. I've had it probably a month and a half.

It took a couple of days till I was consistantly playing on hard, I went through that pretty easily and went to expert next. I got stuck at a couple of songs on expert but wasnt' too bad. Only two that stumped me for more than a couple of tries were Hanger 18 and Freebird.

I have a music background playing clarinet through college so I think that probably helps a little(though, I do know some friends who have similar experiences but can't play GH at all).

I think it is a good mix of music background(for rhythm) and gaming in general(for dual hand coordination)

After a month and a half that's pretty darn good. I started playing on launch day of the 360 Elite (April 29th) and have been going off and on.

The only excuse I have left is that during these first 2.5 months I've been concurrently playing through Gears, Crackdown, Viva Pinata, Bionicle Heroes (Don't ask, It was $8 new and I've turned into an achievement whore ), Marvel: UA, Rainbow 6: Vegas, and Saint's Row.

I keep coming back to GHII and now with all this Rock Band coverage I've been motivated to get better so I'm not a weak link when it gets released. My fiance and friends have been asking me to download the song packs for $6 a pop, they even offer to pay. I keep telling them that I don't want to pay $2 a song out of principle. Regardless of what I say, I think I'm going to come home one day to find her playing Franz Ferdinand and my extra MS Points gone.

 

[jdport]

I finally beat Jordan on expert... and since that time, have been able to beat it several more times. Now it's just a matter of working on my score to 5 star it I still need a bit of luck to beat it though... I can beat it maybe 1 in 5 tries. My biggest obstacle is getting star power off during solo B. The bug where the tilt trigger doesn't want to function when you are strumming too fast is a killer, and I haven't quite figured out how to hit the select button without a pause in my strumming and basically an instant fail. If I can get into the break in solo B AND get the star power activated, I have a decent chance to beat the song.

Only have Jordan and Six left to 5 star on expert.

 

[KermitM42]

Originally posted by: CKDragon
I've 5-starred all of medium except for "Institutionalized" and I've beaten all of hard except for "Carry Me Home" (and subsequently "Freebird"). There's one particular technique that I just can't get down that kills me on every song, whenever I have to alternate back and forth between two notes for 10+ times I always get off the beat and get all screwed up. Other than that I think I'm ready for Expert (I've beaten like 8-9 songs on Expert so far).

New question: You guys that are talking about 5-starring Expert songs, did your Guitar Hero experience start with 2 or did you play the original for PS2? Just wondering and hoping for an excuse as to why I'm progressing slower.

gh2 was the first i played also. ive been playing probably 2 months.
the thing about me is that i can pass songs really well and do well on the solos, but im inconsistent on the easy parts, so i dont get very many 4x multipliers and so not very high scores.