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Guitar Hero II (360) -- April 3rd

I must suck at this game cause Medium is kicking my ass in this game. I am trying to get 5 stars in all songs in medium and the way it's going it's going to take me at least couple of weeks to get it.
 
Just bought the game, first time play Guitar Hero. I'm playing in easy mode for the moment, and I'm enjoying this A LOT :D
 
ACK! I brought my 360+guitar home for easter, but I LEFT THE GODDAMN GAME AT HOME

What the hell can I do? Is Blockbuster renting the game--I'd doubt it... shit.
 
BrandNew said:
Sort of unrelated question–but was Guitar Hero II's version Jordan the only time it had a solo like that? Every time I watch a video of Buckethead playing it he never plays the solo.
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The videos you are seeing of Buckethead play Jordan are probably old. Jordan was written a few years ago and has been playing it live long before Guitar Hero 2 came out, I've seen him play this song at almost every show i've been to. The GH2 version of Jordan is slightly different with a longer solo section.
 
Blimblim said:
Just bought the game, first time play Guitar Hero. I'm playing in easy mode for the moment, and I'm enjoying this A LOT :D
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even though i'm an easy medium player... the awesomeness you feel in hard / expert is amazing compared to the simple successes of easy :P try playing heart shaped box on hard... easiest song to get into for hard difficulty i think
 
storybook77 said:
Yes. I'm starting to learn to slide those two fingers for the green-yellow chord down for the red-blue chord due to my "yellow" finger not wanting to lift when the "red" and "blue" fingers are down thus keeping the yellow note down as well.
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Same issue I have. For a guy who has played games for 25+ years...I have surprisingly little dexterity in my ring and pinky fingers.

It's hard to explain this in words (I could show you better) but I have found that sort of "rocking" the guitar to meet your fingers half way helps a lot with those chords. Not to mention this movement makes you look very cool too...especially if you kind of furrow your brow and look as if you are in some sort of pain.
 
The most interesting part about this game is how much better I have gotten at it while not realizing it. I just realized I was getting frustrated that I hadn't improved because I was failing songs on hard. When I first started I couldn't even get to 10% of a hard song. I got 3 stars every time on easy. But now I am able to occasionally get 5 stars on medium, and 5 stars on easy pretty much every time.

Also regarding the pinky.. Yeah it definitely takes some getting used to. Make sure that you aren't pressing on the guitar like you would with a keyboard with a lot of movement. I was lifting my fingers before pressing which caused a lot of extra effort. I also found that it's much easier to move your index finger to red to play the orange notes rather than trying to reach.

Still haven't done much with hammer-ons and whatever the other thing is so I have a lot of room for improvement. This is my favorite 360 game since Oblivion.
 
brokenwatch said:
Also regarding the pinky.. Yeah it definitely takes some getting used to. Make sure that you aren't pressing on the guitar like you would with a keyboard with a lot of movement. I was lifting my fingers before pressing which caused a lot of extra effort. I also found that it's much easier to move your index finger to red to play the orange notes rather than trying to reach.
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That's not the problem. Whenever I try to use the middle and pinky at the same time for a chord....the ring finger bends as well. It's the way my fingers work...guitar or no guitar.
 
Got it today.... started on hard (as I played the PS2 version ALOT) and I am having great fun. I have lost a song yet but just got to Hush... I played it and five-stared it first time. I freaked out with joy but now I must stop...

Can’t wait for some of the DLC... any confirmed day yet?

I have one small complaint though... the back of neck of the guitar is kinda rounded and after playing with the flat surface of the PS2 version for years it is making things harder for my thumb... nothing I can cope with though

\\nn//
 
Storybook, yeah I was talking to people who are having difficulty using the pinky + ring finger at all.

I had the same issue for a little while, but there is one song that alternates green+yellow and red+blue that helped me a lot. Maybe it was Salvation. I played whatever song it was in practice mode a bit and didn't have that problem any more.
 
brokenwatch said:
Storybook, yeah I was talking to people who are having difficulty using the pinky + ring finger at all.

I had the same issue for a little while, but there is one song that alternates green+yellow and red+blue that helped me a lot. Maybe it was Salvation. I played that in practice mode a bit and didn't have that problem any more.
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I was getting better at just sliding my index and ring finger down one for the red and blue chords.
 
For me that is the hardest part. When I move my index finger off green, I definitely need some "recovery time" to get back after the section is done.
 
brokenwatch said:
For me that is the hardest part. When I move my index finger off green, I definitely need some "recovery time" to get back after the section is done.
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I think the key for me is that I'm learning to anticipate notes more and more so I'm mentally prepared to make the transistion. I'm also getting used to pulling off the pull offs and hammer ons which help tremendously.
 
what is the difference between the difficulty levels? How is medium and hard more difficult then easy?

I am only playing on Easy at the moment so I have no clue and had not played Guitar Hero before ever....
 
Kingpen said:
what is the difference between the difficulty levels? How is medium and hard more difficult then easy?

I am only playing on Easy at the moment so I have no clue and had not played Guitar Hero before ever....
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Do you the blue and orange buttons that you never use in Easy?

.. Yep.
 
Kingpen said:
what is the difference between the difficulty levels? How is medium and hard more difficult then easy?

I am only playing on Easy at the moment so I have no clue and had not played Guitar Hero before ever....
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try a higher difficulty and find out. the game doesn't get good until hard imo.
 
storybook77 said:
Yes. I'm starting to learn to slide those two fingers for the green-yellow chord down for the red-blue chord due to my "yellow" finger not wanting to lift when the "red" and "blue" fingers are down thus keeping the yellow note down as well.
Click to expand...

Don't rely too much on that, though. It's worth it to get the hang of the middle + pinky combination now, and switching from a green + yellow to a blue + red without moving your hand.

There's one song where you pretty much have to shift your hand instead of just changing finger positions (Psychobilly Freakout, Expert), though.

cahill- said:
I wasn't able to get that to register as a hammer-on in War Pigs. Found it best to just strum (the green before it and the red/yellow) both down. I've really got to understand what the game allows you to hammer/pull better though. I can get really obvious ones but more often than not they don't count one's that I think I should be able to do it with.
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Just an FYI to anybody learning HO/POs. It's been mentioned before in this thread, most likely, but you can only HO/PO notes that don't have the black ring around the center. I never did do the tutorials in GH2 so I don't know if it's mentioned, but in GH1, this wasn't mentioned anywhere in the game or in the manual, so pretty much everybody who played it couldn't figure out why their HO/POs weren't working, when you can only do them in certain spots.
 
Kingpen said:
what is the difference between the difficulty levels? How is medium and hard more difficult then easy?

I am only playing on Easy at the moment so I have no clue and had not played Guitar Hero before ever....
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waaaay more notes/chords to play. And some hammer ons and pull offs (mostly on hard and expert)

If you love the game on Easy, your enjoyment will exponentially increase on the harder difficulties since it starts to actually sorta kinda maybe simulate a "real" guitar playing
 
By the way, people.

So am I right in that using the whammy bar does NOT give you extra points, only extra starpower, and even then that only works on the long star power notes?

Like, just normal long notes + with the whammy bar doesn't give you extra star power?
 
omg rite said:
By the way, people.

So am I right in that using the whammy bar does NOT give you extra points, only extra starpower, and even then that only works on the long star power notes?

Like, just normal long notes + with the whammy bar doesn't give you extra star power?
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for long notes, using the whammy bar makes you earn points faster and it also extracts star power.
 
The Eatable Arab said:
for long notes, using the whammy bar makes you earn points faster and it also extracts star power.
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I know, but I'm saying does it work on long normal notes? Not just star power notes?

And someone in the thread earlier said it didn't give you extra points.
 
Okay, I think I'm about to cave and buy this today. I'll just cover my ears and hand him my card when the cashiers asks for my 90 bucks.
 
Anyone notice the drummer spontaneously combusting after playing Spinal Tap's "Tonight, I'm gonna rock you tonight"? I wonder how many people that joke was wasted on. :D

Fantastic game. I'm almost done on Medium. Can't wait to unlock "Laid to Rest" by Lamb of God. I think its in my next set of songs. I'd be working toward it right now, but my hand is killing me and I need a rest.

Also, I bought "The Light That Blinds" by Shadows Fall. ITS A MASTER TRACK! **** YES! Hard as hell though, even on Medium! I'm only getting like 92%. I also bought that "Jordan" song by Buckethead cuz a friend told me there's an achievement for it. That's an achievement I'll never get. Expert difficulty is for the insane. I'll be lucky if I make it halfway through the game on Hard.
 
Uno Ill Nino said:
Anyone notice the drummer spontaneously combusting after playing Spinal Tap's "Tonight, I'm gonna rock you tonight"? I wonder how many people that joke was wasted on. :D
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Probably the same amount of people who don't know why you can play a concert at Stone Henge.
 
here's a quick diagram i made to help people understand the Hammer On/Pull Off's

hammer-on.jpg

H=hammer on
P=Pull off

Strum the red note and hold it to sustain until you hammer onto the yellow note again then you can let go of the red note.

People also need to learn to use your [index + ring] finger to "power chord" and keep that same shape to slide or play those chords at a lower fret. I've seen some people using the [middle + pinky] and [index + ring] to alternate chords. That will strain your hands severely.

also practice using your pinky alot. It's a very important finger to use to stretch across the frets, that way your hands will be in the "ready" position. If you are using your ring finger as a substitute then you will be sliding and moving your wrist up and down the frets alot on the harder difficulties...
 
The more I play with this new guitar, the more I like it. Not only am I able to strum up and down much more accurately than I've been able to do before, my h.o/p.o are also much better with the smaller fret buttons.

On a side note, I also solved my late night jam session problems by plugging in my headphones while sitting on a chair with a buttkicker attached. Feeling the thump the buttkicker provides really adds to the experience and I can now rock as loud as I want and not wake anyone up.

Edit: Forgot to list some of my favorite bonus tracks to play:

Arterial Black
Collide
Gemini
Less Talk More Rokk
Jordan
Parasite
Radium Eyes
Thunderhorse
X-Stream
 
omg rite said:
I know, but I'm saying does it work on long normal notes? Not just star power notes?

And someone in the thread earlier said it didn't give you extra points.
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Yeah, the whammy bar does not give you extra points. It's only for building star power on the long high-lighted notes. Beyond that, it's just to play with on the non-star power notes.
 
Vicious said:
Yeah, the whammy bar does not give you extra points. It's only for building star power on the long high-lighted notes. Beyond that, it's just to play with on the non-star power notes.
Click to expand...

And a good thing know, and I'm sure it was brought multiple times in this thread, is that it Star Power goes up the same amount if you press the whammy bar fast or slow. Just have to move it enough to make the Star note stay blue constantly.

Still not sure if I'll be picking up this version since I was able to complete, not five star, all songs on Expert except Six and Jordan the first night I got the PS2 version. Downloading songs does make it very tempting though.
 
Giant Robot said:
here's a quick diagram i made to help people understand the Hammer On/Pull Off's

hammer-on.jpg

H=hammer on
P=Pull off

Strum the red note and hold it to sustain until you hammer onto the yellow note again then you can let go of the red note.
Click to expand...
So I need to strum only once to pull of that sequence?
 
Holy crap, there's a spike on hard around Woman. How am I supposed to get my fingers moving fast on solo C, I have a hard time doing it on slowest practice setting.
 
Giant Robot said:
here's a quick diagram i made to help people understand the Hammer On/Pull Off's

hammer-on.jpg

H=hammer on
P=Pull off

Strum the red note and hold it to sustain until you hammer onto the yellow note again then you can let go of the red note.

People also need to learn to use your [index + ring] finger to "power chord" and keep that same shape to slide or play those chords at a lower fret. I've seen some people using the [middle + pinky] and [index + ring] to alternate chords. That will strain your hands severely.

also practice using your pinky alot. It's a very important finger to use to stretch across the frets, that way your hands will be in the "ready" position. If you are using your ring finger as a substitute then you will be sliding and moving your wrist up and down the frets alot on the harder difficulties...
Click to expand...
Do you mean that if a red and blue chord comes up that I need to slide my hand to play it instead of using my middle and pinky fingers that are already on the buttons?
 
Ace 8095 said:
Do you mean that if a red and blue chord comes up that I need to slide my hand to play it instead of using my middle and pinky fingers that are already on the buttons?
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yes, thats what he means.

it's an invaluable skill on harder difficulties, and stuff like Institutionalized on expert is impossible without it.
 
sublime085 said:
yes, thats what he means.

it's an invaluable skill on harder difficulties, and stuff like Institutionalized on expert is impossible without it.
Click to expand...
I just tried that and it does feel better. Also how important is alt strumming. I was reading that I need to learn to do it but whenever I do it messes up my rhythm. I’m playing on medium right now. Should I make myself learn it or just continue to use my thumb for now.
 
Ace 8095 said:
I just tried that and it does feel better. Also how important is alt strumming. I was reading that I need to learn to do it but whenever I do it messes up my rhythm. I’m playing on medium right now. Should I make myself learn it or just continue to use my thumb for now.
Click to expand...
I think it's kinda hard to utilize on medium. Your first instinct is usually to go too fast. I didn't learn it until some stuff on hard and expert, but my alt-strumming isn't the best, so try using it as early as possible, and remember to slow down and listen to the music. It becomes very natural and necessary.
 
I have a bunch of songs in the top thousand on the leaderboard and have only played on hard difficulty, once or twice for each song... watch out once I hit up expert.
 
Has anyone whos played this game on a plasma tv get really bad burn in with the rock and score meters? Is there any way around this?
 
So I finally bought this game. Wow, it's pretty fun and I've only started playing on easy. Definitely mad at myself that I completely ignored Guitar Hero when it first came out.
 
Vlad said:
Just an FYI to anybody learning HO/POs. It's been mentioned before in this thread, most likely, but you can only HO/PO notes that don't have the black ring around the center. I never did do the tutorials in GH2 so I don't know if it's mentioned, but in GH1, this wasn't mentioned anywhere in the game or in the manual, so pretty much everybody who played it couldn't figure out why their HO/POs weren't working, when you can only do them in certain spots.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tip. It is NOT mentioned in the tutorial of GHII.
 
Ace 8095 said:
I just tried that and it does feel better. Also how important is alt strumming. I was reading that I need to learn to do it but whenever I do it messes up my rhythm. I’m playing on medium right now. Should I make myself learn it or just continue to use my thumb for now.
Click to expand...

I recommend learning alt-strumming as soon as possible. It may be frustrating at first but it is totally worth it. Your game will improve dramatically, especially when you get to Hard and Expert. It made me a much better player.
 
So what's everyone's favorite song? Mine used to be Sweet Child O Mine, but I'm now leaning towards Hanger 18. Megadeth for the win. I hope Symphony of Destruction is part of the first DLC's
 
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