xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |------------------|-------------------|-------------------|------------------| |------------------+-------------------+-------------------+------------------| |##################### Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s #####################| |------------------+-------------------+-------------------+------------------| |------------------|-------------------|-------------------|------------------| xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Version: 1.00 Learn to master your favorite 80's classics! Written by: Kyle Duffy Table of contents: 1.) Legal Information [GHLEGAL] 2.) What's new? [GHNEW] 3.) General Tips [GHTIPS] 4.) The Songs [GHSONGS] = "Opening Licks" [GHOPEN] -- (Bang Your Head) Metal Health [GHOPEN1] -- We Got The Beat [GHOPEN2] -- I Ran (So Far Away) [GHOPEN3] -- Balls to the Wall [GHOPEN4] -- 18 and Life [GHOPEN5] = "Amp Warmers" [GHAMP] -- No One Like You [GHAMP1] -- Shakin' [GHAMP2] -- Heat of the Moment [GHAMP3] -- Radar Love [GHAMP4] -- Because, It's Midnite [GHAMP5] = "String Snappers" [GHSNAP] -- Holy Diver [GHSNAP1] -- Turning Japanese [GHSNAP2] -- Hold On Loosely [GHSNAP3] -- The Warrior [GHSNAP4] -- I Wanna Rock [GHSNAP5] = "Return of the Shred" [GHSHRED] -- What I Like About You [GHSHRED1] -- Synchronicity II [GHSHRED2] -- Ballroom Blitz [GHSHRED3] -- Only a Lad [GHSHRED4] -- Round And Round [GHSHRED5] = "Relentless Riffs" [GHRIFF] -- Ain't Nothin But a Good Time [GHRIFF1] -- Lonely is the Night [GHRIFF2] -- Bathroom Wall [GHRIFF3] -- Los Angeles [GHRIFF4] -- Wrathchild [GHRIFF5] = "Furious Fretwork" [GHFRET] -- Electric Eye [GHFRET1] -- Police Truck [GHFRET2] -- Seventeen [GHFRET3] -- Caught in a Mosh [GHFRET4] -- Play With Me [GHFRET5] 5.) Frequently Asked Questions [GHFAQ] 6.) Contact Information [GHCONTACT] 7.) Still to come... [GHCOMING] 8.) Update History [GHUPDATE] 9.) Thanks To [GHTHANX] 10.) Certified Sites [GHSITES] For easy searching, just hit Ctrl+F and then type in what you want to look for. For example, if you want to search for the song Ballroom Blitz, you would open the search window and type in "GHSHRED3" without the quotes. You will then be taken right to it. Get your hairspray ready, it's time to rock.... 80's style. ******************************* 1.) Legal Information [GHLEGAL] ******************************* This guide is completely, 100%, without a doubt created originally by me, Kyle Duffy. It may NOT be reproduced in any form or fashion without consent from me which can be obtained by e-mailing me at the adress listed at the bottom of this segment. If you want to use it for your site or whatever, please send me a request instead of just posting it. If I find (or someone tells me that) it is used on another site without my permission.. I will forever hold a major grudge and send you many nasty e-mails. Any suggestions, corrections, comments, etc. can be sent to the following e-mail address: there_is_no_spoon2007@hotmail.com Copyright Kyle Duffy, July 2007 *********************** 2.) What's New? [GHNEW] *********************** If you're visiting this game after playing the wonderful Guitar Hero 2, you'll notice that not a whole lot has changed. The game engine is still exactly the same (as in, HO/PO [Hammer-on's and Pull-off's] are still easier to hit). Also, you not only get the same characters in this game, but you don't even get all of them. The good thing is they've all been upgraded to match the style of the 80's, which is appropriate for this game. You'll see the same venues, except this time there are only six instead of eight. However, much like the characters, the venues have been upgraded to match the style of the 80's (one of the more noteable differences is the Vans Warped Tour has now become the Rock for Safety concert.) The guitars are exactly the same, the Grim Ripper is still an unlockable character, and you even get the same rewards for completing and five-starring every song on each difficulty level. I like to consider this as more of an expansion to Guitar Hero 2 than a standalone game, which is probably quite accurate. It brings a fresh new experience to the stuff you've been playing all year. ************************* 3.) General Tips [GHTIPS] ************************* (If you've read my original GH faq, you'll notice this is practically copied and pasted off of that one, with a few new things at the bottom.) There are many hints and tips that you can use in order to make your guitar playing skills better. Some of which are introduced through the game's tutorials, and others are learned simply by playing. Everyone's style is different, and this is important to remember. Just because your friend likes to slide his hand all over the guitar and use the same two fingers for every chord doesn't mean that's right for you. I personally try to avoid sliding as much as I can. If there's a G-Y chord followed by a R-B chord, then I'll use my index finger and ring finger for the first, and switch to my middle finger and pinky for the second. Then, if that chord translates into a Y-O chord, I'm forced to resort to sliding. A lot of people I know just slide their index and ring fingers all the way up the board. There are even others who slide the index and ring fingers for the first and second chords, then switch to their middle finger and pinky for the last. It's all a matter of personal preference, and the only way to develop that is by playing. There are, however, a few universal tips that need to be followed by every person wanting to become a success. Which is everyone. The first, and possibly even most important thing you need to learn is to know where your hand is on the board at all times. There are five frets and only four fingers to press them with. Therefore, there WILL be times where you will need to position your fingers on the top four, and other times where you'll need to position your fingers on the bottom four. Switching between the two in the middle of a song is absolutely KEY to becoming a great player. The first time you have to move your pinky to hit the orange fret, it feels extremely unnatural. Sometimes, the rest of your hand will follow, and you'll hit every note one fret higher than it's supposed to be, causing to to take your attention off of the screen and look down at your hands. The best way to learn how to do this is try some simple songs on Hard. Analyze places where you're going to need to pull your hand up. Or maybe just turn off the game and sit there to work on your transitions. Work on going up the frets, just make up some notes and then move your hand. Keep practicing this until you feel comfortable moving your hand up and down without having to pause and look. Making this action habitual is something that takes a lot of time and practice, so just do the best you can. This is one of the hardest humps you'll encounter when trying to step up to the Expert plate. After you can move your hand freely along the board, you need to work on the dreaded Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs. These are the most advanced fingering techniques in this game. The in-game tutorial does a decent job, but they have you practicing so slow that you won't be able to keep up to a real song. Run over that a few times, and learn the basics. Hit the two and three note runs they have you doing until it feels somewhat natural. The only way to improve is by playing the game. It's also really important to remember that not every note that can be hammered-on or pulled-off absolutely has to be. These notes can be strummed just like any other notes you encounter. If you feel more comfortable strumming some of the slower ones, then go for it! The only difference between the strategies for GH1 and GH2 + Rock the 80's is that the HO/PO's are much easier this time around. Many of the solos are gonna be physically impossible to strum, and you'll need to know how to do these. You can also utilize them when you've been double-strumming a lot and need to give your hand a break. Just make sure you strum the notes that are necessary to strum. Finally, and I can't stress this enough, is just be patient. When you pick up the game for the first time, you probably won't go through and five-star every single song you come across, and there might also be some that you get stuck on. The main thing to remember is that this is PERFECTLY NORMAL. All of the GH greats got stuck at the beginning of their careers, and what seperates the expert players from the intermediate or beginner players is that the expert players keep working on what they know they struggle with. By keeping an even skill set (not focusing solely on one thing and screwing up on everything else) you'll be able to get through anything this game can throw at you. You'll need certain skills for certain songs, and people are going to struggle with different things. Just practice, and don't slam your guitar down and scream "I can't do this," because you can, and you know it. Attitude is what determines how much fun you have with this game... so for your sake and everyone around you, make it a good one. *********************** 4.) The Songs [GHSONGS] *********************** Welcome to the meat of the guide. You'll find the complete listing of every song available in this game, as well as tips to beat it as well as five-star it on Expert Mode. I'll also be providing the four and five-star cutoff scores (courtesy of www.scorehero.com. Props to those guys.) for every difficulty. I'm sure this is what you came here for, so I'm gonna shut up now and let you get to conquering. Feel free to e-mail me if you need additional help or want to add something. Note: ???'s in the Cutoff category means that a value is currently unknown. Expect a lot of these at this point since this game just came out. Please do not send me information regarding this, I'm using Scorehero's table. I will update my list as theirs is updated. Most values are NOT confirmed. The ones that are will be marked with a *. Note 2: These tips are for EXPERT MODE. If you need tips for other modes, then feel free to e-mail me and ask for them! I would write them on here, except it would make the file extremely huge and would take so much longer to write. However, expect tips for Hard difficulty in an upcoming update. -------------"Opening Licks" [GHOPEN]------------- (Bang Your Head) Metal Health [GHOPEN1] as made famous by Quiet Riot Difficulty: 3/10 Welcome to the world of the 80's. This is actually a really great introduction song, because it gives you a little taste of pretty much everything to expect. It starts you out with your basic chord transfers, especially the first and third finger chords (GY, RB, YO) and a nice jump from a GY to a BO, good chance to brush up on your ability to move across the board. When you get to the verse, you'll notice that they're more serious about the 3-note chords this time around. You'll get a nice smooth transfer that goes like this. RYB-RYO-RBO-RYO-RYB. It just goes up and back, and gives you plenty of time to switch inbetween them, but can be a little tricky if you're not yet used to the three-note chords. The guitar solo starts out easy, but then when you get to the second part (labeled Gtr Solo 1b) you'll see a nasty little trill. It has a R-Y-R-Y back and forth motion, and your best bet is to just hold the red down and tap the Y button as fast as you can. You probably won't hit it, but you'll be more than fine. The rest of the solo is pretty routine, just a couple of three-note runs, that can be HO/PO'ed or just strum, it's up to you. You'll be more than fine on this one. Five-Star Tips: Should be pretty automatic. You'll come pretty close to FC'ing (Full Combo, 100%) this one, except for maybe the trill. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 48,795 -- 51,101 Medium: 75,781 -- 77,337 Hard: 90,930 -- 105,739 Expert: 115,394 -- 131,679 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 60,505 -- 85,661 Medium: 108,223* Hard: 144,568 -- 170,822 Expert: 169,184 -- 169,630 ============================= We Got The Beat [GHOPEN2] as made famous by The Go Go's Difficulty: 2/10 Meh, I never really liked this song, and it provides a somewhat boring experience as the second song in the game. The first two verses are extremely easy... just hold the green the whole time, strum on beat, and then hit the two blues whenever they come up. The chorus gives you another smooth three-note chord transfer section, the last transfer may not be so smooth as it requires sliding however. The notes are RBO-YBO-RYO-GRB. The first three can be hit in the same position, but you'll need to just keep your fingers in the same position they were in and just slide them down to switch from RYO to GRB. Other than that, the "solo" (*snicker*) is extremely routine, you'll nail this one. I personally FC'ed this song on Expert the first time through. No worries mate. Five-Star Tips: Just play the song. You'll get it if you've practiced at all. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 31,296 -- 34,474 Medium: 46,032 -- 46,056 (Derived to be 46,056 from proof) Hard: 61,216* Expert: 67,382* 5-Star Cutoffs Easy: 43,025 -- 50,214 Medium: 64,479* Hard: 85,557 -- 85,729 (Derived to be 85,703 from proof) Expert: 94,139 -- 94,443 (Derived to be 94,335 from proof) ============================= I Ran (So Far Away) [GHOPEN3] as made famous by Flock of Seagulls Difficulty: 4/10 Somewhat interesting shift away from The Go Go's here. These first three note chords ARE off beat, as I'm sure you'll notice after the first one. They are, however, all the same length apart. They are all three-note chords that are right next to each other, and they're all played 8 times in this section. Your two chords are RYB and YBO, try to hit the first one as you see them and you'll quickly catch onto the timing. The verses themselves can be a little tricky due to the quick three note series of O's that you have to double-strum. Jumping from the G-Y transition up to the three quick oranges might be a little weird the first time up, but if you learn to time this double strum it's really not that difficult. The breakdown is notable because it seems like the Greens are coming at you extremely fast, but these are really sixteenth notes if you take the time to listen. Pretend like you're strumming down like they were eigth notes, except strum up inbetween each down. Or if you've got an ear for rhythm just double-strum to the beat. The solo tries to trip you up with the off-beat Yellows, but hit these like you hit the three-note chords at the beginning. You then have to double-strum the Yellows inbetween a few regular eigth notes, but the advantage is these are mostly Yellow, so just work on the rhythm. Once you hit that long double-strum of Yellows (you'll know what I mean when you see it) it'll start switching up and become a very hittable solo. From then on, just do it. The last guitar solo is just a bunch of eigth notes, don't let the hold inbetween the two similar notes confuse you. Pretty cool stuff, eh? Five-Star Tips. Just use star power whenever you get to a part you can do well. You probably won't even need it, but just in case it can't hurt. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 57,507 -- 64,127 Medium: 52,496 -- 81,849 Hard: 88,868 -- 142,067 Expert: 118,712 -- 118,932 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 64,127 -- 93,626 Medium: 87,025 -- 94,066 Hard: 86,868 -- 142,067 Expert: 165,967 -- 166,389 ============================= Balls to the Wall [GHOPEN4] as made famous by Accept Difficulty: 4/10 This one can be at extremely easy and monotonous at some points, but the solo just pretty much makes you feel cool. Especially when it's hittable like this one is. But first things first, you're gonna meet up with a few chord transfers as soon as you start this bad boy up. You want to stay in the first positon (Green through Blue) for the majority of this, and then slide up when you get the YO and BO chord, then switch back down. You'll be able to get all of this as long as you take into account the slight off-beatness of the YO and BO. The verses are easy, just three slow chord transfers at a time. The chorus starts out with a three-note sequence of the same note plus the note two frets higher on the very last one (for example, G-G-GY; R-R-RB; Y-Y-YO). Make sure you don't hit the higher note until the very last in the sequence, or else you'll miss the middle one every time. You then transition via a GY chord and Orange into the main chorus, in which you'll also want to stay in first position sliding when necessary. A Red and RB chord will be thrown in the midst of 4 or so G, GR, and GY chords. Then you switch up to second position, then switch back down afterwards. Not too bad. The solo starts routine, albeit somewhat off beat. Once you get to solo B as its labeled, You'll see a little streak of Reds with a RO chord at the end. These Reds are actually triplets, you'll hit six of them before hitting the RO, so when you spread it out it looks like R-R-R-R-R-R-RO, even though it only takes up two beats. 6/2 = 3, which is why these are triplets. Just practice it slow in practice mode if you want to get it, if not then you can fake it fine enough. The last part of the solo has a little B-O-B riff that goes super fast that I want you to take note of. Learn how to hold the Blue and then tap the Orange in order to hit all three (by letting go of the orange right afterwards). This will be very important in the entire game. After that it's basically routine, just hit it. Five-Star Tips: Use it whenever you feel comfortable, the second part of the chorus is always nice for points, so is the solo. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 53,879 -- 62,292 Medium: 73,611 -- 103,901 Hard: 93,962 -- 149,954 Expert: 112,961 -- 131,252 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 64,165 -- 87,471 Medium: 73,611 -- 103,901 Hard: 149,954 -- 201,333 Expert: 170,296 -- 178,210 ============================= 18 and Life [GHOPEN5] as made famous by Skid Row Difficulty: 3/10 While this song may not be as hard as some of the others, it's way more fun than some of the others. For the most part it's just got the single note feel, which was popularized in GH2. It's very routine until you get to the solos, where you need to concentrate on Solos B and C (which are the last two parts.) B gives you one interesting little piece, a three-note then four-note run. It looks like G-R-Y, G-R-Y-B. These notes are neither eights nor sixteenths, they are somewhere inbetween, and it'll take a little practice to pick out the timing. Once you do, remember it, because you see things like this a lot later too. On C you're immediately presented with a nice chance to practice your quick high-low-high (in this case, a B-Y-B) and then a pretty nice little run. It starts out as a B-R-B-R-G sort of thing, and then goes back and forth like G-R-Y-G-R-Y-R-G-R-Y pretty quickly and then ends with a hold. These are nice practice for what comes up later, except what comes up later is about 20 times longer. Five-Star Tips: You should get this one pretty automatically, really. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 35,893 -- 39,540 Medium: 44,426 -- 77,250 Hard: 46,279 -- 75,662 Expert: 81,051 -- 101,188 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 46,803 -- 53,904 Medium: 44,426 -- 77,250 Hard: 78,354 -- 131,068 Expert: 117,213 -- 117,520 -------------"Amp Warmers" [GHAMP]------------- No One Like You [GHAMP1] as made famous by Scorpions Difficulty: 5/10 Well, to start, let's throw out the things that you won't need help on. The verses are rather pedestrian, and the chorus is just the same two-note chords played over and over again. If you've ever heard the song then you know how easy they are. The parts you probably will need help on span a little larger than the songs so far, so more detail is needed. Allow me to explain. The Guitar Hook at the beginning starts out pretty nicely, the part you'll want a little heads-up on is when you get to the end of the first half of it. You'll know your there when you see a quick B-Y-R-O part. You should be able to pick out the timing for this. The run you'll see ahead might fool a few people, but it's really just on beat and can be HO/POed fairly successfully. You get into the second part which is kinda like the first except a little more advanced. You'll get to the same B-Y-R-O run, and then the run after that begins. It's much like the first one, except about halfway through it you'll encounter the sixteenths which may throw a little kink into your fingers. Just watch it, and I believe it oftentimes sticks with the G-R-Y-R-G pattern, which can be pretty easily hit. After this, you reach the easy parts. The first solo isn't so bad, Your runs are mostly eigth notes with a fast B-Y-R -B right in front of it which is hittable. You then go into another Guitar Hook followed by a nasty little solo. Y-B-B-Y-B-B will be coming at you fast and furious, just try to hit what you can. The next part is just as crazy, it has a super fast G-R-Y-R-G (leading you in on a red, going down. R-G-R-Y-R-G) then follows up with a run that goes from a B-Y-B-Y-R sort of pattern back down to your original G-R-Y-R-G pattern. It's pretty tricky, and you won't hit most of them, but the good news is it's smooth sailing after that. Five-Star Tips: Make sure you've earned enough points before you hit the solos. Generally it's not that difficult, since the verses and choruses are incredibly easy. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 55,072 Medium: ??? -- 68,259 Hard: 74,017 -- 81,044 Expert: 75,975 -- 93,791 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 55,072 -- 64,100 Medium: 68,259 -- 95,786 Hard: 81,044 -- 133,210 Expert: 109,716 -- 110,435 ============================= Shakin' [GHAMP2] as made famous by Eddie Money Difficulty: 4/10 One of my favorites, I hear it on the radio quite often. The intro seems pretty awkward, and that's because it is. The stream of Oranges are all off-beat, you may want to actually listen to the song because it may be kind of hard to pick up on the rhythm. Once you do it's not too bad. The verses are easy as pie. Suprisingly enough, the majority of your solos are gonna take place in the chorus. Nothing too extremely difficult to start out with. the G-R-G-R in solo B after the second chorus aren't really the hard, but your fingers might get a little bit confused about the rhythm. Maybe it's just me, but it felt really weird the first time through. The bridge gives you your chord transfers, the three chords you'll need to know are RB, RBO, and GY. It goes a few RB, then a few RBO, and then it switches to GY, back to RBO, and then starts over. It'll be pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Have fun, it's a pretty cool song. Five-Star Tips: You should get this one automatically too. Just use Star Power when you have a 4X multiplier and are at a part you can do well. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 24,134 -- 31,392 Medium: ??? -- 40,217 Hard: 39,179 -- 70,045 Expert: 59,816 -- 74,920 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 31,392 -- 56,900 Medium: 40,217 -- 75,297 Hard: 70,045 -- 82,187 Expert: 87,156 -- 89,970 ============================= Heat of the Moment [GHAMP3] as made famous by Asia Difficulty: 4/10 Another one of my favorites. =) The intro starts out with GRB--RYO--GRY--GRB-- YBO-YBO. If you know anything about music theory, this part repeatedly switches from a 6/4 during the chords to a 4/4 inbetween, so the rhythm will feel a bit strange. This is normal. This same pattern continues until the chorus, which is just the same three-note runs over and over. No problems here. The bridge starts out slow and easy, and from then on the beat is kind of weird, but if you just look at the notes you'll catch 'em. At Chorus 4A, you'll have a constant stream of notes instead of the three note runs, don't be caught off guard. Your solos will have a few quick runs, but they are never any more than three or four notes in length, so if you're quick with your fingers you should be able to breeze through these without too much hassle. The song seems like it speeds up a bit, so don't freak out if it seems that way. After that, you're home free. Five-Star Tips: The three-note chords are a gold mine for points. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 38,508 -- 43,108 Medium: 39,648 -- 74,954 Hard: 64,223 -- 100,093 Expert: 95,494 -- 105,452 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 58,133 -- 84,258 Medium: 74,954 -- 106,957 Hard: 100,093 -- 121,172 Expert: 133,539 -- 135,019 ============================= Radar Love [GHAMP4] as made famous by White Lion Difficulty: 5.5/10 In my honest and humble opinion.... I really think they botched this one. But that's just me. Radar Love is an amazing song that has been saturated with all these airy guitar riffs that detract from the feel that the original gives you. But I guess you can't expect too much, huh? To start out, they give you a GO chord (don't see that often eh?) that you have to hold. If your hands aren't big enough to hit it, just don't worry about it. While it's better if you can at least get the note, you don't have to hold it in order to salvage your multiplier, but if you just can't do it, then forget it. Those guys at Harmonix are mean anyway. I will say that on the verses they like to throw in little things here and there, and the beat they tend to use is actually a dotted eigth as well as a sixteenth and then it repeats. For those who don't know what that means (which is probably a lot of you) you play the first note, and then the second note right before you play the third note. It has kind of a bouncy feel. You'll run into that a few times. Watch for the "noise build" (which I mistook for "nose" build the first time through. lawl.) cause you're about to enter the solo. It's fun to play once you know how to do it. Let's break this down. It starts with a yellow, so we'll model off of that part. You'll have Y-YB-Y--Y-YO-YB-Y--Y-B-O-B-Y and then start over again. The same pattern happens with the Reds, except it's RO and RB instead of yellow. It would've been nice if you would've learned the hold-tap-release method to hit the B-O-B part. If you haven't by now... learn it. The next solo part has a few chords, a few notes... and then a run starts. It's off-beat, going down the board. Sort of like triplets, except slower. Then you'll have a bunch of fast runs, G-R-Y-G-R-Y-R-Y-B-R-Y-B etc. These can be hit with practice, since it's basically just the same thing over and over. The next part is really cool to hear but kind of hard to master. You'll have an Orange down to a Blue, then back to Orange, then down to a Yellow, and it keeps bouncing back and forth. You MUST let go of the Orange for each note, which makes the jump quite difficult. Just practice it in practice mode a bit if you'd like, then move on. The next part will just run down and up the board a few times, and then it's sort of like a trill afterward. There isn't much I can say about that. Part E features a lot of double strumming, and then you see a series of RB chords. There are seven of them, and they are like triplets as well. Then a few easy parts. The outro has a nasty trill here and there, but it's also very hittable. This little song can be quite deceiving, it's got some hard to hit stuff, but it's still not too bad. Five-Star Tips: Use it on the solos if you're good enough at them and your five stars will be nailed after just one use. If not, then use them everywhere else for points. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 47,963 -- 51,982 Medium: 24,946 -- 79,544 Hard: 54,853 -- 111,838 Expert: 102,381 -- 105,567 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 51,982 -- 90,768 Medium: 79,544 -- 112,120 Hard: 111,838 -- 125,895 Expert: 144,266 -- 144,832 ============================= Because, It's Midnite [GHAMP5] as made famous by Limozeen Difficulty: 3/10 I kept going back and forth over what difficulty rating to give this song.. and that's what it ended up with. Barring the solo, the rest of it is basically a 1 difficulty. Maybe even a 0.5. The solo WILL fail you if you don't use star power. If you have star power, madly mash the notes where I tell you to and laugh with glee as your rock meter goes crazy. I'll tell you the general areas of what happens with the solo. The rest you can FC, definitely. Start Part A with fast G-Y, then G-R-Y repeatedly, then G-R-B, then R-Y-O. Part B will give you a B, then fast B-Y, and then it'll go from the top of the board to the bottom. Just kinda flail around. It can be fun. Part C will throw an O-B-Y that is absolutely impossible. Then there's actually a halfway hittable G-R-Y-R-G pattern to finish this part. Part D has a few runs from B to G, and then a really fast B-O repeated. After that, you are free. Make sure you save all of your star power for this solo. It's really not too long, your star power will last you throughout the whole thing. Five-Star Tips: Star power the solo so you survive, then nail the rest. Easy. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 16,594* Medium: 25,694* Hard: 71,580* Expert: 78,056* 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 16,594 -- 27,105 (Derived to be 23,232 from proof) Medium: 34,907 -- 55,388 (Derived to be 35,972 from proof) Hard: 100,211 -- 100,812 (Derived to be 100,212 from proof) Expert: 109,279* -------------"String Snappers" [GHSNAP]------------- Holy Diver [GHSNAP1] as made famous by Dio Difficulty: 4/10 Kind of disappointing for the first song at the midway point. But still, it's a great song and one of my favorites. The verses and chorus aren't really anything to point out, just make sure you can hit the RB-BY-YO transfers. You do it once or twice and you should have it throughout the entire song. The only real honorable mention here are some of the solos, which I'll point out for ya. The first noteable one starts at solo 1C in case you wanna practice it. It's kind of off-beat ish for the most part, but mostly in the form of slow triplets, shouldn't be too bad. The solos in part D get a little faster, but it is somewhat predictable. It usually starts with some sort of B-Y run, and then goes down to a Red or something. My best advice would be to take this one into practice mode and just practice solos C and D, and then you should get the rest of the song no problem. Five-Star Tips: Use star power on anything you're good at with a 4X multiplier. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 55,072 Medium: ??? -- 91,423 Hard: 110,404* Expert: 119,484 -- 141,509 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 54,346 -- 107,360 Medium: 97,791 -- 158,582 Hard: 153,963 -- 154,655 (Derived to be 154,566 from proof) Expert: 189,167 -- 191,797 ============================= Turning Japanese [GHSNAP2] as made famous by The Vapors Difficulty: 2.5/10 Really not that difficult at all. A fun little song that gets stuck in my head every time I play it, but pretty easy overall. The break is the closest thing this song gets to a solo, the chorus and verses repeat themselves throughout the entire song. The only part that's a little tricky is the speed makes the three sixteenth GR chords and so on in a row a little fast and you tend to screw up a lot. But there are only three of them in a row, and there are only like three sets at a time... so it's all good. There's also a quick GY-GY-YB transfer in the chorus a few times, but it's pretty easy as well as long as you double-strum at the right time. The only scary thing about this song is... I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so. Five-Star Tips: Automatic. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 42,977 -- 88,996 Medium: ??? -- 66,432 Hard: ??? -- 115,575 Expert: 110,256 -- 110,498 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 42,977 -- 88,996 Medium: 66,432 -- 97,131 Hard: 115,575 -- 152,996 Expert: 151,962 -- 154,850 ============================= Hold On Loosely [GHSNAP3] as made famous by .38 Special Difficulty: 4/10 Anyone who has ever listened to any 80's music has heard this song. As a result you can probably already figure out the rhythm to the chords in the intro. But even if you haven't already, then you will after you play it down once. It's pretty much easy as pie. The chorus repeats about four times, and the fun part starts near the end when you start your eight solos. That's right, it goes up to Gtr Solo 1H on the practice menu. So, Since you should get the rest of it without too much trouble, I'll go really lightly on it and concentrate on the solos. The chorus variation of the chord progression has a couple of alternating rhythms, but it's always just holding the lower note and tapping the higher one when it comes up. Nothing too fancy. You'll have one thing that's really annoying. At one point instead of having the quick Y-B transfer, it has instead A YB-BO transfer that's like sixteenth notes. These cannot be hammered-on and must be strummed, as annoying as it is. That's pretty much all you need to know here. Guitar solo A is standard stuff. On both B and G you'll have a section that repeatedly double-strums the same note, and then moves up 4 or 5 notes later. Just make sure you keep your finger on the note the duration of the double strum and just move up like normal. These strums are EXACTLY on beat, so just try to keep it that way and you should get it. C has a solo that goes from Orange to Red, then back up to Yellow. It looks like O-B-Y-R-Y, and does it twice. Then you have what's pretty much the same thing except it has a few notes thrown in there inbetween to make it whole. Put it in practice mode if you absolutely have to master it. D is pedestrian except for the RY-YB transfer that must be strummed, then the double-strum R-R-R--R-R-Y part. E brings back the O-B-Y-R-Y parts, and then goes into a solid O-B-Y-R-G-R part that repeats a few times. I find it best to stay in second position and then just slide your first finger for the R-G-R part. While it may feel weird, it's easier than trying to find a place to switch positions in the middle of it. You try it and see how it works out, and if it doesn't then try something else. It is doable and it's not that difficult, it's just awkward. In addition to the double-strumming, solo F gives you a pattern that looks like Y-B-Y-R and it's all in one beat. Use the Hold-Tap-Release method for the Y-B-Y, and then just let go of the yellow and hit the red, and it'll give it to you. Then H just finishes this song with the same BO-B pattern over and over. Phew, what a solo. Five-Star Tips: If you can get the solos without much problem they will be your main source of points in this one. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 72,342 Medium: 54,309 -- 96,993 Hard: 94,240 -- 160,354 Expert: 117,309 -- 133,231 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 72,342 -- 103,982 Medium: 54,309 -- 96,993 Hard: 160,354 -- 180,273 Expert: 179,212 -- 181,581 ============================= The Warrior [GHSNAP4] as made famous by Scandal Difficulty: 4/10 Nothing new here. I'll give you a few tips though. The verse's structure is always something like R-RY-R-RB-R-RO. It goes back to the first note and then plays another chord, but the pattern varies depending on where you're at in the verse. Just hold the bottom down and tap the top, easy. It also switches down to green, so be prepared for that. The chorus is always a three note double-strum of the same chord (GY or RB usually) and then a chord that's just higher. Get that timing down and you'll get every chorus and every verse. The solo is really nothing to be intimidated about, just remember that when two chords are really close together, they cannot be HO/PO'ed. You must strum them both. C'mon, I want some harder songs now! And then you mysterious fade out.... You're not going deaf, I promise. You're really just fading out. Live. Five-Star Tips: Using them during verses and the chorus will insure that you get it, if it wasn't insured already. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 54,502 Medium: ??? -- 65,227 Hard: ??? -- 113,793 Expert: 99,688 -- 103,454 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 54,502 -- 85,189 Medium: 65,227 -- 127,661 Hard: 113,793 -- 153,237 Expert: 140,218 -- 140,815 ============================= I Wanna Rock [GHSNAP5] as made famous by Twisted Sister Difficulty: 6/10 It only gets this because of the solo. The beginning and middle are basically consisted of basic chord transfers, even most of them are just between GY, RB, and YO. Take note of the three in a row, and then hit them all. Do it. I hope you don't mind but I'm skipping straight to the solos again. They are really the only threat in this song. =/ Solo 1A is pretty basic, albeit a little fast. Just pay attention to the notes and you shouldn't have too much trouble seeing them all. Be careful not to fall behind either. 1B gives you a taste of what a true solo is like. You start out with a B-O to a stream of blues, there are five or six, I haven't taken the time to count. Then the run goes from the top to the bottom (not directly of course, there are many many notes here and there that will give you a solid run of sixteenths) and will lead you into a couple of quarter notes. This is the halfway point for this part. After this, you get more sixteenths that tend to hang around the Y-B-O area, and it flutters around up there a bit before ending on the bottom. Congratulations, you've finished your first semi-real solo. Now for Solo 2. 2A is cake. 2B is tough. It starts out in the R-Y-B area, and Yellow is the only note that's constant. Sometimes it'll go R-Y-B-Y-R, and other times it'll go R-Y-B-Y-B, or sometimes a B-Y-R-Y-R, or sometimes both. You then hit a stream of Yellows, and do it again in the G-R-Y area. This one can be quite a toughie, make sure you have star power to get you through it. 2C starts you out with double-strumming to triplets. Be careful, the rhythm can get tricky to catch onto. Then it goes back to 2B's B-Y-R stuff. Finishing off with a weird B-O pattern that is seemingly random and hard to judge, especially since you're mysteriously fading out again. Five-Star Tips: Get all the points you can before the solo, as long as you ace the rest of the song, the solo won't bring you down past the cutoff point as long as you saved star power for it. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 22,372 -- 37,072 Medium: ??? -- 58,329 Hard: ??? -- 105,058 Expert: 85,596 -- 102,067 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 37,072 -- 50,944 Medium: 58,329 -- 105,588 Hard: 105,058 -- 105,210 Expert: 129,505 -- 135,891 -------------"Return of the Shred" [GHSHRED]------------- What I Like About You [GHSHRED1] as made famous by The Romantics Difficulty: 8.5/10 Now we're getting to the good stuff. I rated it as high as I did because the constant switching between three-note chords is a nightmare. Practice this one and practice it a lot, you'll never have trouble with three-note chords again. The three basic ones they use are GRY, RYB, and YBO. There are constant 8th notes between them, and transition between them is a nightmare. The only way I can tell you to work on it is to pretend that they were just two note chords. You still slide the bottom one up, and the release the top one to hit the bottom note by itself, right? Only this time, instead of releasing just one finger, you release two. It's awkward and takes a LOT of practice to get used to. This is how three-finger chords should've been implemented in GH2, but Harmonix was just too panzy to do it. Now we all regret it. Either the good news or the bad news is that the majority of this song is the three-note chords. It takes a lot of practice to get the hang of, but once you get the hang of it, it almost feels automatic. It takes a while to get to that point, and this will be one of the most frustrating songs in the game. But once you get there, the solos are rather easy, and that's all there is to it. Good luck on this one, I'm expecting a lot of e-mails on it. =/ Five-Star Tips: Three-Note chords are always a gold mine for points. This is a gold mine of gold mines. Let it loose. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 42,465 Medium: 49,240 -- 89,404 Hard: 111,732 -- 134,085 Expert: 153,216 -- 153,729 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 42,465 -- 68,620 Medium: 49,240 -- 89,404 Hard: 163,514 -- 165,284 Expert: 153,216 -- 153,729 ============================= Synchronicity II [GHSHRED2] as made famous by The Police Difficulty: 5.5/10 An overall pretty boring song, but it needs to be covered nonetheless. For the intro, just work on your BY-R-G, BY-R-BY-R parts. You'll get the whole thing. The verses and chorus are all exactly the same. The first part of the chorus has a three-note chord and then the three notes from top to bottom, then the next three note chords. (GRY--Y-R-G-RYB, etc.) That's not too bad either. The second part of the chorus has two greens, two yellows (or reds after the first part) and then two oranges. G-G-Y-Y-O-O-Y-Y, and so forth. The last part of the chorus goes down with three notes, does it again, then plays the top and middle and moves on to the next secion. B-R-G-B-R-G-B-R-B or something like that. There are so many variations that I couldn't cover them all. You'll get it. The solo is basically just a bunch of noise... kind of a waste, kind of pointless since the notes are completely random. The second solo is what you want to pay attention to. It starts out with the much overused B-Y-R-Y-B pattern, and then switches down to a Y-R-G-R-Y pattern, goes back up to B-Y-R, and then briefly has a O-B-Y before ending on the B-Y-R section. It's quite a doozy, but you should be able to make it through even if you didn't save any star power for it. Five-Star Tips: Hit it anywhere you can. The last two parts of the chorus are always guaranteed to have a steady stream of notes. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 75,888 Medium: 50,786 -- 103,421 Hard: ??? -- 130,973 Expert: 143,222 -- 153,262 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 75,888 -- 113,574 Medium: 103,421 -- 174,000 Hard: 168,042 -- 184,553 Expert: 199,568 -- 206,029 ============================= Ballroom Blitz [GHSHRED3] as made famous by Krokus Difficulty: 6/10 Ahh, I was looking forward to this song so much ever since I heard it was on the track list. It didn't really disappoint either, I love it. Watch out for the trill as soon as you start. It's nasty, and it shows up a few times in the song. Just tap it as fast as you can and you'll fake it well enough to pass. The verses are pretty routine, nothing too fancy. The chorus is just a series of chords that you'll have memorized by the time it's over. It then goes back to the first verse, with a few slight differences, not much though. Another chorus, but the ending chords are a ltitle different, you'll notice it. I'm not being super specific cause I'm not actually looking at it at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it's YB-BO--YO. It's kinda quick but easy to hit. The solo is pretty killer as I'm sure you've guessed by the rating and easy verses/chorus. The second part is what you need to watch out for, when you get the repeated Y-B-O parts, there are four of them before it switches to the next, they can be rather tricky. Then after that comes a Green to Blue, then Red and Yellow (or something like that, it's not important right now) and then comes the absolutely impossible part. Just strum like mad and put your fingers where the notes seem to be. You'll probably miss most of them, but at least you'll have fun doing it. It'll make it look like you're really trying. The bridge repeats itself a lot, and isn't that hard to pick up on. YO--Y-Y-YO-Y-YB-BO-YO. The second solo is pedestrian, just look out for those YB-YO transfers that are really freakin' fast. Five-Star Tips: Use it anywhere there are lots of notes. Verses especially, just make sure you save some for the solo. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 77,272 Medium: ??? -- 98,568 Hard: 42,785 -- 116,468 Expert: 129,159 -- 132,395 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 77,272 -- 115,954 Medium: 98,568 -- 156,504 Hard: 150,680 -- 171,374 Expert: 181,276 -- 182,234 ============================= Only a Lad [GHSHRED4] as made famous by Oingo Boingo Difficulty: 5/10 Really not that hard at all, I just gave it what I did for the chord transfers. The beginning has a bunch of three note doble-strums, but they're mostly on beat, just look at the notes and they're sixteenths. You should get it from that. The verses have a bunch of easy chord transfers, followed by easy notes. It then switches from GRB-GRB--GRB---RBO-RBO-RBO-RBO-RBO. It's slow and fairly easy. The first chorus has RB followed by three YB chords. Bridge C gets a little bit tricky when it has the BO, YO, RO, and then alternates between GO and RO. As you know, GO's by themselves are hard to get, but you're having to alternate between it and another chord. This is all a matter of the size of your hand. You know if you can hit it or not. Bridge 2A has a steady stream of eigth notes, they can be easily hit as they always follow a down-up-down pattern. Then you're good to go.. Five-Star Tips: Using it during the chorus is a good idea, and the three-note chords are always good options as well. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 61,819 Medium: 67,311 -- 155,644 Hard: 73,962 -- 111,254 Expert: 119,067 -- 124,088 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 61,819 -- 95,596 Medium: 67,311 -- 155,644 Hard: 138,617 -- 155,254 Expert: 165,417 -- 169,780 ============================= Round And Round [GHSHRED5] as made famous by Ratt Difficulty: 6/10 Pay attention to the intro, as it comes along quite a few times in the song. It's really not that hard to get, just a few basic two-note chord transfers, nothing you haven't already been dealing with. The verses are all just composed of single notes, which you should get without much hassle. Right when you go into the chorus, there are a few parts where you'll have a three-note double strum sequence, with the two notes and then a chord (R-R-RB; G-G-GY, etc.) and near the end it goes into a three-note chord instead of two, but it's still easy to get as it is the same as the R-R-RB, except it's R-R-RYB. Just add the second finger. After you go through the chorus twice, you have the first solo. First thing to watch out for is the stream of fast notes that stay in the Green to Blue area. The Red is the repeating note here, which makes it somewhat harder to hit since you have to let go of it to hit the Greens. Just do what you can and it'll be alright, it's only a few beats long anyway. The next part you must strum basically the entire thing which gets a little awkward since the notes are somewhat quick. The pattern stays the same the whole time though so just look at it in practice mode and it'll be okay. You then get three easy two-note chords, a R-Y-R (Hold-Tap-Release! Learn it!) Then a very hittable run of sixteenths, starts out with Blue, goes up to Orange and then comes down to stay in the G-R-Y area. You can pretty easily see the notes coming and you should be able to hit the majority of these. You'll then see a bunch of close two-note chords that you're gonna have to transfer going up the board. These are all right next to each other (GR, RB, BY, etc.) and are all eigth notes, which at this song's tempo isn't very fast. I personally can just keep switching fingers when I need to. Here's my chart: GR - RY - YB - RY - YB - BO - YB - RY - YB 12 23 34 23 34 34 23 12 23 I'm used to using my fingers this way because I've played piano for 13 or 14 years, so I'm able to do that. A lot of people get mixed up when they try this, and I'm here to tell you that it's perfectly okay to slide more than I did, and it's also perfectly okay to slide the entire thing (as long as you can keep track of where your hand is.) This is just a matter of personal preference. The bridge is where you get the double-strum with a three-note chord on the end of it. Another chorus, then another solo. The first part of it is fairly routine, you'll get a series of notes on mostly the same fret that are sixteenths. You'll most likely want to double-strum these. The next part has a Red to Blue and back run, followed by a lot of quick notes in the G-R-Y area. Fake these to the best of your ability. Then the next part is virtually the same concept, except it ranges from Green to Blue. It then ends with a bunch of quick notes, but they're all seemingly on-beat and slower than the last section or two, so you stand a much better chance at these. Then just when you thought it was all over, the second part of the outro gives you a a Y-B-O-B-Y run that's impossibly fast, then a bunch of B-Y-R-G that are just as impossibly fast. Then another one of those G-R-Y area solos that seem to be popular in this game. It's somewhat annoying, because you'll probably end this song in the yellow or the red (unless you star power it) and it seems kind of disappointing to let your fans down like that in an encore. Five-Star Tips: I would say to use star power during the solos if you're good, because the rest of the song seems kind of lacking in the points department. The best strategy would be to completely master the rest of the song, so that way you'll still get five-stars even if you botch the solos. Which you probably will. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 54,173 Medium: ??? -- 63,303 Hard: ??? -- 137,295 ExperT: 112,862 -- 129,623 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 54,173 -- 89,725 Medium: 63,303 -- 107,459 Hard: 137,925 -- 171,656 Expert: 168,682 -- 175,992 -------------"Relentless Riffs" [GHRIFF]------------- Ain't Nothin But a Good Time [GHRIFF1] as made famous by Poison Difficulty: 5.5/10 These chord transfers aren't for the faint of heart (or coordination) as they require a little bit of thinking. For the switching between YB and YO, it's easy, just let go of the third finger and then hit orange with your pinky, then to go back just let go of the pinky and hit the third finger. The weird part is the transfer from YB-YO-YB-RYO-RYO. You see the orange coming up and it's like your pinky gets frozen and stays on that orange. I know, it happens to me too. Since you stay on that orange you end up missing the YB, and it kills your multiplier. Just train your finger to let go because you know you need to hit that YB. Good news is, once you get this, you've got the majority of this song. It's in every verse, and the chorus is just a slight variation of it. The chorus's variation has you going to the RYO chord a lot earlier, and then slides down to it's cousin the GRB chord. After you hold that, you switch to a GRY, and then a few GR to RY transitions, and then start over. Not too bad right? The bridge has a bunch of easy three-note chord transfers, you'll have PLENTY of time to see them before they actually get there. The first run you come across in the solo is full of all sixteenths, but they're all going down so you shouldn't have too much trouble as long as you stay on beat. Part C will give you faster notes, but these consist of three-note runs going up the board. G-R-Y-R-Y-B-R-Y-B, stuff like that. If you concentrate on each three-note part at a time then the whole thing doesn't seem that bad. Coming up next you'll see a bunch of quick B-Y-R-G parts, these are 32nds. Start the run halfway between beats, and then end it on the beat. You'll get it every time. The O-B-Y are also on-beat, just be wary of the couple times that instead of going to O-B-Y it just has O-B and goes from there. After that you'll see a 32nd run, that you could still focus on the three-note parts for the first half or so of it, but the notes will be coming too fast for you to keep doing that. Hit what you can because you should've gotten a good part of the rest of the solo. The outro is mostly off-beat, watch and hit what you can. Five-Star Tips: The whole song is pretty evenly distributed as far as points go so just use it whenever you feel comfortable. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 76,073 Medium: ??? -- 104,224 Hard: ??? -- 120,164 Expert: 117,003 -- 127,703 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 76,073 Medium: ??? -- 104,224 Hard: 120,164 -- 158,026 Expert: 173,240 -- 177,791 ============================= Lonely is the Night [GHRIFF2] as made famous by Billy Squier Difficulty: 4/10 This should've been put a LOT earlier in the game. If you've ever heard the song at all, then you know the rhythm already. If you haven't, then you'll pick up on it soon. Here, let me demonstrate. YO---YO-RB---RB-YO------YO---YO-RB---RB-GR As you can see, the two transitioning chords are grouped together (YO-RB). These are played one after the other, while you hold the first one a little bit longer. Easy stuff, really. This repeats the MAJORITY of the song. The only differences are the parts where the transitions are even slower and easier right before it repeats this part again. The solo is routine compared to what you've been facing in the last few songs. The only part you might have a little trouble picking up on is the outro, which has the same notes except a variation on the rhythm. The basics of this are as follows: YO---YO-RB---RB-YO---YO-RB---R-YO-YO-RB-RB-YO---YO-RB---RB-GR The main difference you'lll notice is the group of six. Just play them like you see them. They're played at the same speed as you played the YO-RB and RB-YO parts, except they're all grouped together. Once you got this, you will probably be able to FC this song. I did. Five-Star Tips: They're all chords. Millions of points for everyone!! 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 92,523 Medium: 59,435 -- 139,070 Hard: ??? -- 127,663 Expert: 115,319 -- 136,580 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 92,523 Medium: 59,435 -- 139,070 Hard: 127,663 -- 173,815 Expert: 182,390 -- 187,441 ============================= Bathroom Wall [GHRIFF3] as made famous by Faster Pussycat Difficulty: 5/10 Shouldn't these songs be getting harder? We're nearing the end! The main riff you hear at the beginning comes up a few times, nothing too much though. treat the two notes right next to each other as one, just hold the bottom note and strum it, then hit the top one right after. But you should know that by now. Some general tips for the chord transitions in this one, for the ones such as YB-YO-YB-YO, just switch your third and pink fingers for each chord change (or your second and third if that's what you're using). You'll also see a few O-B-Y-B-Y-R type things, these are triplets, so make sure you don't try to hit them like they were really on beat or else you'll miss 'em. When the solo starts, hold the YB, and tap the Orange when it comes up. Another triplet section comes up, and then in a second you'll need to double-strum to a little stream of 32nds, they don't last too long so don't strum too much. In D you'll get another quick Hold-Tap-Release. Doesn't it just feel cool when you only have to strum the first one? Nothing too daunting after that. The outro has a little triplet chord-transfer, and you're done. Five-Star Tips: Use star power where there's a lot of chords. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 91,062 Medium: 60,833 -- 112,471 Hard: ??? -- 142,377 Expert: 109,571 -- 120,830 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 91,062 Medium: 112,471 -- 117,345 Hard: 142,377 -- 147,390 Expert: 162,051 -- 167,675 ============================= Los Angeles [GHRIFF4] as made famous by X Difficulty: 7/10 Watch out, this one is EXTREMELY boring, but you'll need to stay awake through the whole thing in order to nail those tricky beats. The whole thing is basically double-struming sixteenths, holding the bottom note and then tapping the top whenever it comes along. Sometimes you'll be doing the holding and tapping, other times you'll just be strumming the chords, sometimes you'll have to double strum a chord and then add the middle note (GY-GY-GY-GRY-GRY-GRY) which might throw you off guard since I don't think it's ever been set up that way in Guitar Hero before. Due to the sheer amount of chords (I think there are like 754 notes total, most of them chords) the parts with the YB-YB-GR-RY-YB-GR won't really matter as much if you can't hit them. The transfer is fast and weird and it takes a lot of practice to master it. The rest of the chords will completely override that part, so if you can do this kind of song then you're absolutely set, and if you have trouble with it you might get stuck here for a while. The key is to ALWAYS make sure you're staying on beat. Always watch the notes carefully and time the top note taps just right. Sometimes the rhythm might seem a little weird, but the best way to judge it is to just watch it as it comes down to you. Ignore the bottom note, and just focus on the top one. Practice makes *almost* perfect. Five-Star Tips: Just go to town on this one. The multitude of chords and the addition of the three-note chords in certain parts make prime targets for star power fodder. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 66,708 Medium: ??? -- 75,833 Hard: 132,136* Expert: 144,486 -- 154,313 (derived to be 145,120 from proof) 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 66,708 Medium: 75,833 -- 147,004 Hard: 184,986 -- 185,279 Expert: 203,168* ============================= Wrathchild as made famous by Iron Maiden Difficulty: 7/10 Pretty fun one to play, good choice for the second to last encore. The end of the intro has the Y-Y-R-Y-B-Y-R-G run that you'll wanna learn for this one. The chords in the verses are as follows: GR-GY-G-G-GY---GY, then it repeats two more times, and then it has the run that was at the beginning of the intro. It's pretty quick too, so you may want to run by this in practice mode. As I'm sure you've figured out, the easiest way to do this is to hold the Green and then hit the R and Y as they come up. The chorus has those four notes that serve as triplets. It's very tempting to hit them exactly on beat, but they're not, I promise. The guitar hook as a nifty beat to it. Here it is: RY-RY-RY-RY-RY--G-RY--RY--G-RY--RY As you can see, the five RY (or the beginning chord of whatever part you're in) as right after each other, then you wait a bit, hit the G and GRY right after each other, hit the RY slightly after that, then the G slightly after that with the RY right after it. This is the kind of beat you want to get in your head throughout this song. The run at the end also his this same beat. The solo is moderate, but since the song is faster the solo is a little harder too. The first part you'll need to take note of, you'll notice as soon as you get there. It says in the same G-R-Y area as does seemingly every other solo in this game, and then moves up to end in the Y-B-O area. Then after that it pretty much dies down, except for a couple 4 or 5 note runs. The bridge is simple, but in case you have trouble with the beat. It's: G-G---G-R-G---G-R-G-B-Y-R-G So there's that. Then after that it's just a verse and a chorus again, then the outro ends with the run that was at the end of the guitar hook three times. Five-Star Tips: Honestly, the verse probably provide the most points. The fact that they threw in chords here and there add to it. Use it there, probably. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 39,834 Medium: 37,149 -- 86,715 Hard: 72,791 -- 84,510 Expert: 80,595 -- 86,124 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 39,834 -- 61,997 Medium: 37,149 -- 86,715 Hard: 95,353 -- 105,235 Expert: 114,778 -- 118,259 -------------"Furious Fretwork" [GHFRET]------------- Electric Eye [GHFRET1] as made famous by Judas Priest Difficulty: 9.5/10 Prepare yourself, now. They went from pretty hard songs to "Oh my gosh this is freakin' crazy hard" songs. At least this one is, you'll get a small break after this so don't fret too much. (Get it? Fret? Like... guitar frets?) The intro is the only easy part you'll see. Notice after you get done with the intro how the beat speeds up? That means, get ready, punk. Then it starts out with one of the main beats of the song, I don't know the notes off the top of my head and it would take too long to put them out anyway, so I'll give you a basic diagram. X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1---2---3---4---1 Sorry that the diagram sucks, but it's the best I can do. I'll even interpret it for you. As it shows, the first three notes are right on beats 2, 3, and 4. The last one comes just before one. It's somewhat off-beat, but still technically correct. It does this three times, and then the last one has two chords where the last two X's are, the first one is right between 3 and 4, the second one is right before one. Since this probably isn't making any sense, just play through the song in practice mode and you'll pick up on it. That took way too long. The verses as you'll see have a bunch of RB-RB-RB-YO-RB transfers. At this speed it's all a matter of whether you feel more comfortable sliding or actually lifting your fingers off of 1 and 3 for RB and putting down 2 and your pinky for the YO. I personally do the latter, but again it's just a matter of personal preference. Occaisionally you'll see a few weird YB-RB, RY-RB parts that can be tricky if you're not paying attention. These transfers also end up going down to a GY--GY-YO transition. This should be more hittable than the rest of it. The next part of the verse has similar transfers, except they are like RB-RB-RB-RY-RB instead of shifting up to YO. These are slightly easier, as all you have to do is switch fingers going back and forth between the Blue and Yellow. The chorus has a bunch of three-note chord transfers that are triplets. Use practice mode for this if you struggle with them, it'll help you tremendously, especially if you slow it down. Watch out for the solos, save your star power for these for insurance. The first part going up is just weird and awkward, don't worry about it. If you train yourself enough in practice mode, you can see the next set of notes coming up, even if they are all over the board. In the next part a lot of these are just triplets going down, and you'd be suprised at how many of these you can hit if you realize that. Stay on beat and hit those suckers, show 'em you mean business. The next part has some awkward B-O hammer ons, the damage these will do is negligible, however. Then you see another stream of notes, there are all going up, they start out with just the G-R-Y-G-R-Y-G-R-Y-B type of thing, but then eventually progress to span the entire board each time you go up. The next part starts out easy to hit, and then a few slower triplet runs up the board. After that, the solos are over, and it goes back to parts similar to the beginning. Phew. Five-Star Tips: The verses provide a ton of points with their multiple chords, if you can get a 4X multiplier and then unleash star power, one run just might seal the deal for it. If not, then just use it as much as you can there, or if you can nail the chorus better then save it for when you can get a 4X multiplier. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 71,820 Medium: ??? -- 89,103 Hard: 136,339 -- 144,400 Expert: 176,643 -- 185,910 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 71,820 -- 106,065 Medium: 89,103 -- 155,730 Hard: 173,519 -- 194,672 Expert: 247,671 -- 249,769 ============================= Police Truck [GHFRET2] as made famous by Dead Kennedys Difficulty: 6.5/10 It only gets what it gets due to its speed and constant double-strumming. If you're well-practiced at double-strumming you should have basically no problems with this song, the only problems will come from accidentally falling off beat. Much like Los Angeles, this song is nothing but a bunch of double-strumming and switching notes inbetween strums. A general rule for almost the ENTIRE song is hold the bottom, tap the top. Oh, and you see that quick down-up-down that's throw in there? Tap-Hold-Release, my friend. =) There are no solos, nothing out of the ordinary, and the chorus repeats itself approximately four times. Just strum. Disappointing for the last tier. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 37,450 -- 45,085 Medium: ??? -- 51,756 Hard: 60,925 -- 97,486 Expert: 106,370 -- 109,043 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 45,085 -- 54,919 Medium: 51,756 -- 69,049 Hard: 125,495 -- 126,051 Expert: 152,634 -- 152,678 ============================= Seventeen [GHFRET3] as made famous by Winger Difficulty: 9.75/10 Note that if the verses would've been a bit more complicated, this would've gotten a 10. =P Really REALLY fun song to play once you get the hang of it, but a complete beast before then. The intro is what you'll NEED to learn in order to even pass this song. It starts out YO--BO--YO--YB-Y-B-Y-B-O-RB-RY. This is probably the hardest part of the introduction. The YO BO YO chords are easy enough to get without much hassle. Whenever you get to the YB-Y-B-Y-B-O part, just treat the YB chord like it was just a blue, and you are holding down the yellow in order to easily go back and forth. Let me give you an example. If a R-G-R-G-R-G part was coming up, the easiest way to handle it would be to hold down the G and tap the R as it came along, right? Treat this the same way. Think of it as B-Y-B-Y-B-O, and just make sure you hold the yellow down the whole time. If that doesn't work for you, then just think of it as a chord, like it is. Either way it's important. The next important part is the transfer from O to RB. You really haven't done it that much, and it's extremely easy to freeze your pinky on that Orange and end up missing all the rest of this sequence. Go into practice mode and put it on slower, maybe slowest if it's your very first time ever playing this song. Then the transfer from RB to RY is just a matter of switching fingers. Now, you're about a third of the way done with this one part that repeats. The next part goes like R-RY-R-RY-RB-R, which is normally easy to get, but can be a little confusing at the high speeds. Practice it. The first time you encounter this part in the introduction, the last part will have a few less notes, but the majority of the time it's gonna end with O-B-R-O-B-R-Y-G. This is an awkward jump, especially going this fast. Stay in second position for it, and then reach down with your first finger when the green comes up. The verse is actually really simple, you just might want to listen to that section in practice mode in order to know what the beat is, cause it's a little bit off. Fun, but a little bit off. The bridge has a weird part your first time through. The G chords at the beginning go G-G-GR-GY-G-G. You're used to just tapping R and the Y because that's what all the other songs do, but the R and Y are right after one another, and then quickly go into a suprisingly awkward R-RY-R after it. If you're not expecting it, this WILL throw you off. So... expect it. Now that repeats, and then comes a solo. The first part has a few Hold-Tap- Release parts which you can get if you've been practicing it. The rest is quite routine. Then the next part is where the REAL solo is about to come up. It starts out by giving you a stream of fast notes going down the board, hit what you can, and then does a few more things which you can probably get. After this comes a bunch of double-strumming Blues, and then trying to hit a few O-B-Y runs inbetween. Good luck. Then a verse, and a chorus, and now the true solo rears its ugly head. The first part is routine, however, and the second part will give you yet another Hold-Tap-Release. The third, fourth, and outro is what you will need star power for. The third part gives you a run that goes up and down all over the board, and these notes are extremely fast. The last part will probably cramp your hand if you could really go that fast. You'll see a bunch of stuff that only occupies the R-Y-O part of the board, but it changes up and eventually starts giving you 64ths and all that jazz that is just absolutely impossible to keep up with. Hit every note there as fast as you can and just kind of strum when you feel like it in order to hit random notes. Star power is probably a must here. Five-Star Tips: Using star power during the verses if you can nail them will pretty much guarantee getting it, and if you seem to be having trouble throughout most of the song, and there's not one part that you can absolutely nail, then you're going to have a really rough time getting five stars. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 32,389 -- 50,387 Medium: 82,759 -- 142,042 Hard: 117,928 -- 125,819 Expert: 141,377 -- 146,003 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 50,387 -- 62,721 Medium: 82,759 -- 142,042 Hard: 160,425 -- 173,891 Expert: 202,795 -- 205,617 ============================= Caught in a Mosh [GHFRET4] as made famous by Anthrax Difficulty: 10/10 Make sure your arm and fingers are well rested. This one comes at you fast and furious, and if you're not careful it will completely leave you in the dust. Fortunately for you, I'm here to try to give you a little boost. However little it may be, because I honestly don't know what to say. I'll give it a shot though. First of all, yes the introduction completely ignores the concept of rhythm. It doesn't follow the beat at all, just do the best you can, hit it before you think you should, and you'll get it. The next part is one of the easier parts of this song. Hold the bottom, tap the top when it comes up, and then when you get the O-B-Y run, let go of the bottom in order to reach up there, or else you'll get there late. Notice the tempo change after you do this a few times. Double strum the greens to the beat, and work as best you can on getting the two-note chord transfers. They are EXTREMELY awkward at this tempo, and also since you're trying to get back to a green immediately afterwards. Don't expect to hit all of these, you probably won't. If you're a slider, then try to slide those two chords, it might work better than the way I do it which is just to switch fingers. When you get to the chorus, you'll see the G-GR-G-GR-G-GR. While this usually wouldn't be that hard, the tempo has slowed down again, and it also starts and ends inbetween beats. If you can't pick up the rhythm right off the bat, expect to miss quite a few notes. The main key in the chorus is to find some way to get the rhythm as soon as you get there. If you do that, you should be able to just tap with your second finger when the reds come up, and hit the other two-note chords as they appear. The second part of the chorus is similar (albeit easier) than the end of the intro, then it goes back to the ridiculously fast verse, another chorus, then the bridge, which is actually quite a break. It's just simple repeating notes and then a chord, over and over like you've already seen in this game. Then the solo comes up, and if you've been practicing your Hold-Tap-Release, it will go a LONG way here. The solo thankfully isn't too taxing, as the runs are generally short and contained. You'll notice a lot of the hold-tap-release notes right before runs, and there is one faster one that repeats itself a few times, these are mostly on beat, do whatever you've been doing to get to this point. That's all I have to say right now, the 10 difficulty is because of its insane speed, and the constant tempo changes, the off-beat notes. It's definitely one of the more difficult songs, and I expect e-mails. I'll answer your questions as I get them, and I might even come up with a few more strategies to put up here as time goes on. Five-Star Tips: If there is any part that you can do well, or at least better than the others, use it there. The higher the multiplier the more points you get. It doesn't matter really where in the song it is, points are points and there are plenty of them almost anywhere you go in this song. 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 72,051 -- 111,571 Medium: ??? -- 89,013 Hard: 174,241 -- 222,789 Expert: 194,101 -- 198,443 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 111,571 -- 122,354 Medium: 76,124 -- 154,710 Hard: 244,499 -- 247,625 Expert: 273,871 -- 274,812 ============================= Play With Me [GHFRET5] as made famous by Extreme Difficulty: 10/10 Welcome to the last song in the game! It's honestly really fun to play and to listen to, so enjoy it while you can, before your fingers absolutely give out and the crowd boos you off the stage. Right off the bat, you know this is going to be an awesome song. Why? Because the into riff is Mozart's Turkish Rondo. How amazing is that? It made me so happy the first time I ever played it. Granted it's hard to do, the Y-R-G-R-Y and similar parts are extremely fast, and it will oftentimes cause you to start out the song either in the lower yellow range or even in the red, so be warned. Luckily the next intro is just a bunch of eigth notes going up the board, they are all very hittable, and then the verse starts off with a bouncy but easy to hit alternation between R and YB. The chorus starts out with a rapid-fire RY-R-RB-R-RY-R-RB type thing, you know how to hit this. Hold the bottom and tap the top. In the part right after that, you get the GB chord, and then on the small run that looks like it just goes B-Y-R-GY, the first note is ACTUALLY a GB chord. Many people don't see that because they're just paying attention to the blue since it's coming so fast. Hold the Green note down the whole run if you want, or you can just hold it on the GB and GY. Your call. Then another chorus, then an interesting little run. It starts out kind of like the second intro, all eigth notes, and then instead of just one note at the end you get two at the start of each pattern. It's YB-R-G-YB-R-G each time. Keep that in mind, just treat your two fingers used to hit the YB as one. Then you get to the last part of the chorus, the last part of the last part has a small little run, that goes from Y up to O, then back down after a little bit to G. Hit it as you can. After it repeats the Verse, then the Chorus, and then the Verse again and gets to the fourth chorus, you'll want to pay attention. You'll start noticing a couple more advanced versions of things you've already hit. Immediately after you do the O-B-Y-B-O-B-R or whatever near the end of that chorus, be prepared. All of these notes coming up are triplets, and ALL are actually very hittable. Just keep the beat and make sure that your third or pinky finger is always hitting on each beat. You'll be able to tell what the notes are since they play through a few times before they actually change. This is a huge way to up your score, especially if you can FC this part. Then comes a part exactly like the end of the second intro, then you hit your bridge. Your bridge is your cooldown for the madness that's coming up. You have been warned. "Alright," you say, "This hasn't been too difficult so far... what's the catch?" Well I'll tell you the catch my friend. From here on out, you're being fed to the wolves. This half of the song takes NO prisoners, and you're gonna need all your star power and wits to stay alive. Here we go. Immediately after the bridge you'll face one of the more daunting tasks of this song. The dreaded double-strum section. This song is already fast to begin with but you'll see just how fast it is when you're trying to hit all those 32nds. Hold down the Green the ENTIRE time, and try to hit the higher notes as they come along. It will ALWAYS go back down to green, so by always holding it down you can concentrate more on the rhythm with your strumming than the actual notes. If anyone has ever played the song Thunderhorse on GH2, think of that double-strumming part except a lot faster and a lot longer. After you manage to get through it, you'll get to the first riff. It'll always start low, and then end high, so use that if you're just trying to flail your way through it. The next part is basically constant, and it always follows an up-down motion, starting on green and going up either to blue or orange. I believe it actually ends on an up note, in order to transition to the next stage. Coming up is where you've been practicing for all game. The makers have thankfully put in a hefty amount of star power in these 4 or 5 hold-tap-release patterns. Your star power should've ran out before you got here, if not time it better next time. Use this to refill your meter and prepare yourself for the rest of the song. The next solo part is kind of weird, and hard to hit. The double-strum part in the middle is extremely awkward for me since I usually use HO/POs to get the majority of this solo, and strum on beat. Hit what you can. All of the parts after this follow a down-up-down-up-down pattern. For example, the first one is like G-R-Y-B-Y-R-G-R-Y-B-Y-R-G. Except, all of this is in almost one beat. Just get your fingers moving really fast. Then the notes slow down but become more constant, you can generally end up seeing where most of the notes are, so you know where you put your fingers and approximately what notes you need to hit. We then go back to the chorus for some more soloing. I hate this part more than most of the other solos in this song. It starts with that general up-down-up type of thing, and then gets faster as it switches from 4 notes to three, and then just practically randomly goes all over the board, ending with the GR chord. Then after that one comes the same kind of deal, the random all over the board with a GR chord. The last part of the chorus is actually the hittable part. It goes four notes down (O-B-Y-R) a lot, and then switches to B-Y-R-G and has one or two three note down parts along the way. If you're paying attention and staying on beat, you should hit a lot of these, which is good, because I'm betting your star power is probably drained by now. The outro starts out with the eigth notes going up, and then ends with the up and down, ending on that short orange note of freedom. Five-Star Tips: Okay, there are two sections in here that will help you more than any other. Remember the part in the third paragraph that I said could really help your points? If you get a 4X multiplier and star power this, it'll go an extremely long way to adding to your five star chances. There's also the last part of the soloing chorus, with the four note down runs. If you can save enough of your star power until there, then that'll also help drastically. Sometimes, nailing these two parts alone will be enough to push you over that five-star threshold. Good luck! 4-Star Cutoffs: Easy: ??? -- 54,665 Medium: ??? -- 87,383 Hard: 112,102* Expert: 138,092 -- 139,859 5-Star Cutoffs: Easy: 54,665 -- 79,435 Medium: 94,761* Hard: 156,781 -- 158,720 (Derived to be 156,943 from proof) Expert: 195,646 -- 196,041 =============================================================================== ************************************** 5.) Frequently Asked Questions [GHFAQ] ************************************** None yet, this guide has just now gone up. =) Send me some! *********************************** 6.) Contact Information [GHCONTACT] *********************************** Contact me at my e-mail address, it was given in the legal section but I'll give it again because most of you probably skipped right over that. there_is_no_spoon2007@hotmail.com My general rule for answering e-mails is I try to get to all of them. My inbox sometimes gets piled up because I get lazy, so you may get lost in there for a little while. It also sometimes puts some of you in the junk mail filter, where I have a tough time discerning what's actually a question/comment and what is a virus sent by some random person. Because of this, I have asked that all subject lines be labeled "Guitar Hero" or something along those lines, so I can sort through them easily. Other guidelines you might want to follow include making sure the question is related to the game, not sounding like a complete idiot, and not using 1337-speak because you think you're awesome. Don't. It's hard to read, and it will just get deleted. Other than that, I welcome all e-mails. I'm a nice guy, I promise. ******************************* 7.) Still to come... [GHCOMING] ******************************* I'm planning on adding in tips for Hard difficulty instead of just Expert, but I didn't type all of them out this go-around because it took long enough just to make this part, and it could still be considered a "complete" guide without it. Of course, the frequently asked questions are still to come. Maybe other general guide stuff. Who knows? Just wait and see. ***************************** 8.) Update History [GHUPDATE] ***************************** July 27, 2007: (Version 1.00) Welp, finished writing this FAQ today and submitted it to GameFAQs. It's been a long, hard road down my Guitar Hero path, and I'm hoping to make yours not so hard. Long isn't such a bad thing, cause you get better over time. Anyway, I consider this version 1.00, even though I'm still planning to add some Hard difficulty tips, since I still consider this guide to be complete. See you next time! *********************** 9.) Thanks To [GHTHANX] *********************** - Everybody that's reading this, because you're amazing. Seriously. Pat yourself on the back, right now. You deserve it. - Harmonix/Red Octane/Activision/Whoever else made this game. You guys rock my face off. Thanks for this wonderful series! - www.scorehero.com for always being the first to compile the most complete list of scores, cutoff points, etc. Great stuff. ****************************** 10.) Certified Sites [GHSITES] ****************************** The following sites are certified to host this guide. For permission, just e-mail me! www.gamefaqs.com