***Offficial Rock Band 2 Thread****

[glenn beck]

Originally posted by: jdport
That is only part of the answer though... with guitar I found that with enough practice I was able to play pretty much anything. Stuff I originally thought to be impossible became more and more doable over time.

With drums though, I hit a brick wall and never seemed to improve. It seems like there are physical limits to anybody's ability to play the drums that aren't there, or at least are much less with the guitar. My foot can only twitch so fast, and it isn't fast enough to hit the fast double or triple bass hits.

The coordination and such you can improve on with practice, but there are some things you really can't improve.. .or so it seems to me.
In Rock Band 1 I never did get past Don't Fear the Reaper on expert drums... and I practiced it a ton.... kept going to practice mode and doing it slowly then increasing the speed slowly.... but never was able to get through it. Rock Band 2 seems significantly more difficult than Rock Band 1 drumming to me...

so while practice is a key to getting good, I think that drums moreso than guitar there are natural attributes that are needed in order to be able to play well.

with those bass pedal hits it does make a difference getting a better bass pedal, you could get the rockpedal, it is the least expensive route

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: glenn beck

Originally posted by: jdport
That is only part of the answer though... with guitar I found that with enough practice I was able to play pretty much anything. Stuff I originally thought to be impossible became more and more doable over time.

With drums though, I hit a brick wall and never seemed to improve. It seems like there are physical limits to anybody's ability to play the drums that aren't there, or at least are much less with the guitar. My foot can only twitch so fast, and it isn't fast enough to hit the fast double or triple bass hits.

The coordination and such you can improve on with practice, but there are some things you really can't improve.. .or so it seems to me.
In Rock Band 1 I never did get past Don't Fear the Reaper on expert drums... and I practiced it a ton.... kept going to practice mode and doing it slowly then increasing the speed slowly.... but never was able to get through it. Rock Band 2 seems significantly more difficult than Rock Band 1 drumming to me...

so while practice is a key to getting good, I think that drums moreso than guitar there are natural attributes that are needed in order to be able to play well.

with those bass pedal hits it does make a difference getting a better bass pedal, you could get the rockpedal, it is the least expensive route

What? $75 is far and away the 'least expensive' route. $35 is all you have to pay for this thing which I bought and works great:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1218007399851

 

[ShOcKwAvE827]

The best things that significantly helped me, and I also started at medium and worked myself to expert would be:
1. Get a good pair of drum sticks. I have some Vic Firths 5A nylon tipped sticks i bought for about 8 bucks. Stock sticks are trash, though they work.
2. Aftermarket bass pedal. I built my own with a Pearl P120 bass pedal I got on ebay for about $30 and then some parts from radio shack and an alarm sensor. I can handle any bass section including Disturbed and All that remains easily. Of course this leads me to 3.
3. Bass pedal technique. I switched from a heeldown method to heel up. See drum lesson site or youtube.
4. Like someone mentioned earlier, concentrate on playing loosely. Use your wrists instead of your arms and learn how to hold the sticks right so they do most of the work for you. This is probably the #1 mistake of most new players and it takes a lot of practice to get it right. Also it helps to have a throne so you have the correct posture and it makes it easier to use the bass pedal.
5. Calibration. I've spent a really long time getting it perfect and I personally think it makes a huge difference.

Hmm what else, I would recommend RB2 drums or Goodwood mods mesh heads or ION set if you have the money. After I got my RB2 set I can actually play songs like everlong without dropping notes b/c the set sucks.

Also, I think not being able to beat DFTR is a matter of practice. You will get that limb independence eventually, that song gave me a hard time also. Now I can only not beat Visions, because I refuse to play that song again, and Shoulder t the Plow, bc its just, well, extremely hard. Oh and the end of Painkiller, because that charting is awful and I refuse to practice that too.

 

[abaez]

Originally posted by: jdport
That is only part of the answer though... with guitar I found that with enough practice I was able to play pretty much anything. Stuff I originally thought to be impossible became more and more doable over time.

With drums though, I hit a brick wall and never seemed to improve. It seems like there are physical limits to anybody's ability to play the drums that aren't there, or at least are much less with the guitar. My foot can only twitch so fast, and it isn't fast enough to hit the fast double or triple bass hits.

The coordination and such you can improve on with practice, but there are some things you really can't improve.. .or so it seems to me.
In Rock Band 1 I never did get past Don't Fear the Reaper on expert drums... and I practiced it a ton.... kept going to practice mode and doing it slowly then increasing the speed slowly.... but never was able to get through it. Rock Band 2 seems significantly more difficult than Rock Band 1 drumming to me...

so while practice is a key to getting good, I think that drums moreso than guitar there are natural attributes that are needed in order to be able to play well.

I've been playing for a long time, and can do various drum rolls and complicated hits, but double bass pedal hits pretty much slay me every, single, time. No matter how much I practice and I've tried heel down, heel up, different chair heights etc.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: glenn beck

Originally posted by: jdport
That is only part of the answer though... with guitar I found that with enough practice I was able to play pretty much anything. Stuff I originally thought to be impossible became more and more doable over time.

With drums though, I hit a brick wall and never seemed to improve. It seems like there are physical limits to anybody's ability to play the drums that aren't there, or at least are much less with the guitar. My foot can only twitch so fast, and it isn't fast enough to hit the fast double or triple bass hits.

The coordination and such you can improve on with practice, but there are some things you really can't improve.. .or so it seems to me.
In Rock Band 1 I never did get past Don't Fear the Reaper on expert drums... and I practiced it a ton.... kept going to practice mode and doing it slowly then increasing the speed slowly.... but never was able to get through it. Rock Band 2 seems significantly more difficult than Rock Band 1 drumming to me...

so while practice is a key to getting good, I think that drums moreso than guitar there are natural attributes that are needed in order to be able to play well.

with those bass pedal hits it does make a difference getting a better bass pedal, you could get the rockpedal, it is the least expensive route

What? $75 is far and away the 'least expensive' route. $35 is all you have to pay for this thing which I bought and works great:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1218007399851

Ooh, that looks fun. I really don't like the "responsiveness" of the bundled pedal. Is this closer to the feel and response of a real bass pedal (I've never played a set of real drums )?

EDIT: Saw a review that this had compatibility issues with RB1 drum kit? Any truth to this?

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
The best things that significantly helped me, and I also started at medium and worked myself to expert would be:
1. Get a good pair of drum sticks. I have some Vic Firths 5A nylon tipped sticks i bought for about 8 bucks. Stock sticks are trash, though they work.
...

As a neophyte when it comes to drumming, what constitutes good drum sticks? What makes one set better than another? Weight? Balance?

Thanks,
Trevor

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: tdawg

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: glenn beck

Originally posted by: jdport
That is only part of the answer though... with guitar I found that with enough practice I was able to play pretty much anything. Stuff I originally thought to be impossible became more and more doable over time.

With drums though, I hit a brick wall and never seemed to improve. It seems like there are physical limits to anybody's ability to play the drums that aren't there, or at least are much less with the guitar. My foot can only twitch so fast, and it isn't fast enough to hit the fast double or triple bass hits.

The coordination and such you can improve on with practice, but there are some things you really can't improve.. .or so it seems to me.
In Rock Band 1 I never did get past Don't Fear the Reaper on expert drums... and I practiced it a ton.... kept going to practice mode and doing it slowly then increasing the speed slowly.... but never was able to get through it. Rock Band 2 seems significantly more difficult than Rock Band 1 drumming to me...

so while practice is a key to getting good, I think that drums moreso than guitar there are natural attributes that are needed in order to be able to play well.

with those bass pedal hits it does make a difference getting a better bass pedal, you could get the rockpedal, it is the least expensive route

What? $75 is far and away the 'least expensive' route. $35 is all you have to pay for this thing which I bought and works great:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1218007399851

Ooh, that looks fun. I really don't like the "responsiveness" of the bundled pedal. Is this closer to the feel and response of a real bass pedal (I've never played a set of real drums )?

EDIT: Saw a review that this had compatibility issues with RB1 drum kit? Any truth to this?

It's more durable and feels much better than the stock pedal. It still is lacking the 'feel' of a true acoustic drum set of something hitting a drum head, but it feels pretty good. I use it on my RB1 drumset and haven't had a single problem.

 

[ShOcKwAvE827]

Originally posted by: tdawg

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
The best things that significantly helped me, and I also started at medium and worked myself to expert would be:
1. Get a good pair of drum sticks. I have some Vic Firths 5A nylon tipped sticks i bought for about 8 bucks. Stock sticks are trash, though they work.
...

As a neophyte when it comes to drumming, what constitutes good drum sticks? What makes one set better than another? Weight? Balance?

Thanks,
Trevor

Both balance and weight. The stock sticks are really flimsy and have poor balance and feel. They are also made out of choptick wood, so they are really light but also prone to chipping. I prefer a little more weight to the sticks. It's basically all up to preference but if you go to guitar center and try out different sticks, they are all better than the stock sticks. I have also heard good things about Zildjian anti-vibe drum sticks, which are about $11.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827

Originally posted by: tdawg

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
The best things that significantly helped me, and I also started at medium and worked myself to expert would be:
1. Get a good pair of drum sticks. I have some Vic Firths 5A nylon tipped sticks i bought for about 8 bucks. Stock sticks are trash, though they work.
...

As a neophyte when it comes to drumming, what constitutes good drum sticks? What makes one set better than another? Weight? Balance?

Thanks,
Trevor

Both balance and weight. The stock sticks are really flimsy and have poor balance and feel. They are also made out of choptick wood, so they are really light but also prone to chipping. I prefer a little more weight to the sticks. It's basically all up to preference but if you go to guitar center and try out different sticks, they are all better than the stock sticks. I have also heard good things about Zildjian anti-vibe drum sticks, which are about $11.

I'll definitely have to run by the Guitar Center in the U District to test some out.

 

[lupi]

Those interested may want to head to your local TRU today. Just walked out with a RB2SE for $115 with a $25 giftcard. It's listed in the weekly ad

 

[Aikouka]

Doh, Lupi... you couldn't have told me this last Monday? :Q

I'm getting a lot more used to the RB guitar and trying to get myself to eventually use some more "advanced techniques" while playing. But the one thing I really don't like about Rock Band 2 (and I didn't like it about the first either)... the career mode. To my knowledge, Career Mode is how you unlock the songs and I hate how well... not-so-linear it is. I like how Guitar Hero was "here's a group of songs... beat it and do the next until you hit the end" (which GHWT is straying from that as well). I guess you could just try and ignore the sets that don't necessarily give you anything, but I think you might eventually run out of songs to provide you enough stars? That also doesn't sit well with my need to complete something as I usually won't leave a venue until I complete all the gigs. Although I'm not sure if I can even complete things before my XBOX screws up and says the disc is unreadable .

 

[cpacini]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
To my knowledge, Career Mode is how you unlock the songs and I hate how well... not-so-linear it is.

Here is the quickest way to unlock all songs.

http://rockband.scorehero.com/.../viewtopic.php?t=14901

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Woah awesome. Pearl Jam Ten on RB in March. Heard it on the Spike Awards.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
Woah awesome. Pearl Jam Ten on RB in March. Heard it on the Spike Awards.

The whole album?! That's a definite buy for me.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: tdawg

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
Woah awesome. Pearl Jam Ten on RB in March. Heard it on the Spike Awards.

The whole album?! That's a definite buy for me.

Sweet! Now all we need is a Pink Floyd pack. I want to play "Comfortably Numb" and "Hey You" on guitar. Tired of playing it on my real guitar, wanna play it online and whip some ass!

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
Woah awesome. Pearl Jam Ten on RB in March. Heard it on the Spike Awards.

no wai

 

[Krazy4Real]

I'm so pumped for the ten album.

 

[SunnyD]

So based on what I'm reading - is there any real reason to NOT get RB2 for the Wii? Supposedly it supports everything that the PS3/XBox360 versions do (aside from backward compatibility with tracks from RB1).

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
So based on what I'm reading - is there any real reason to NOT get RB2 for the Wii? Supposedly it supports everything that the PS3/XBox360 versions do (aside from backward compatibility with tracks from RB1).

Are you allowed to download songs? Will you get to use an SD card for you downloads? If so then it may be worth it.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: SunnyD
So based on what I'm reading - is there any real reason to NOT get RB2 for the Wii? Supposedly it supports everything that the PS3/XBox360 versions do (aside from backward compatibility with tracks from RB1).

Are you allowed to download songs? Will you get to use an SD card for you downloads? If so then it may be worth it.

Yes and yes. The only thing is that Harmonix says Nintendo won't let them do "song bundles" in addition to single songs (Nintendo won't allow duplicate content) - so you have to buy EVERY song individually. And Nintendo made some changes to allow things to be streamed off the SD cards recently, Harmonix is using that feature.

I'm just wondering if there's anything that Harmonix is "forgetting" to tell potential Wii customers they left out.

 

[Uppsala9496]

The music store for the wii doesn't have any content yet.
And there is no code in the manual to download the 20 free songs for registering.

 

[randay]

so im tasked with unlocking the songs on my friends rock band 2 for tomorrows new years eve party. my question is is it like rock band 1 where i can just play all the songs in solo mode and unlock them all for all other modes?

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: randay
so im tasked with unlocking the songs on my friends rock band 2 for tomorrows new years eve party. my question is is it like rock band 1 where i can just play all the songs in solo mode and unlock them all for all other modes?

So you're tasked with entering...

Red, Yellow, Blue, Red(2), Blue(2), Red, Yellow, Blue to unlock all songs. Alternately, press Y, B, X, Y(2), X(2), Y, B, X on a controller. Note: This code also disables achievements and online features.

I trust you can handle it.

 

[lupi]

stopped by my local CC looking for something else, but noticed they had a PS3 RB1 in the clearance bin for $18. Since they also have a clearance video game sale going this week it was only $10 out the door for it. Not bad to go with the TRU RB2 SE deal

Now I just have to read up on transferring the songs over to see if I want to do that.

 

[Oyeve]

I want to do the endless set list 2 but I am afraid of having my xbox 360 on for that long of a time! Sure to get the RRoD!