Rock Band 3 looks pretty awesome!

My MIDI box arrived last night, so I spent an hour plucking away at the Squier. Mostly ran through the initial few trainers, and played one song on Easy.

I'm already hooked.

Back when RB3 first came out, Elysium said on the conference calls about the keys:

Elysium wrote:

"I don't want to sound like a douche, but it's really nice to have an instrument I suck at"

There's definitely an element of that to it - being on the steep part of the learning curve is really satisfying. At the end of the hour I'd spent playing, I was so much better at it than when I started. What's really nice about it is how much depth I can sense out there. I can see this yawning chasm of skill ahead of me, waiting to be dove into and subdued, and that's really exciting.

And I have a sore index finger. Bring on the calluses.

I'm not totally convinced that the game will be an effective way to learn to play the instrument for real. If anything, I think it'll probably lead to me developing a bunch of bad habits. A friend has offerred to hook me up with a bunch of video tutorials that she's got for the novice guitarist, so I'm going to try and use those in parallel with the game.

Jonman wrote:

I'm not totally convinced that the game will be an effective way to learn to play the instrument for real.

Certainly not in a vacuum. You need to play through an amp and without that dampener engaged because so much of playing guitar is your interaction with the instrument and subtle nuances on the strings. Just triggering prerecorded guitar parts with the right fingerings and picking isn't going to teach you how to play guitar. It is however a great way to teach the mechanics and if you add in some source for learning technique then you've got a potent combination.

If you haven't seem them, Bill Harris has a couple of good articles on learning guitar via RB3: Part 1 and Part 2.

[quote=Gravey]

Jasonofindy wrote:

For a new keyboardist, here is something I can suggest that will have an impact on how you play: proper posture. Get posture right, and it will make playing that much easier.

This is one of the reasons why I'm hoping Rock Band 4 will have Kinect support. If the software can see how I'm sitting, holding the instrument, etc. then it can give feedback. Not only could the tutorials help you find the right positions, but the game itself could let you know how you're doing as you play. Like say if your posture slips it turns the note track red or something. That kind of continuous, real-time performance feedback is really good for training physical techniques. A human teacher has to really know what they're doing to pull it off, and even then it's difficult, but video games excel at this kind of thing.

LiquidMantis wrote:

If you haven't seem them, Bill Harris has a couple of good articles on learning guitar via RB3: Part 1 and Part 2.

It might be worth re-linking something that Bill links to in one of those articles.

Free online video guitar lessons, from complete beginner onwards.

I've spent 10 minutes poking around on there, and I've already learned a crapload. I'll be spending a lot of time on that site.

Please, please, please keep posting your experiences. I've read Bill's article and got super excited, and reading this makes me that much more excited. Now I just need to hope that Fender keeps producing the Squiers.

I just finished my first 90 minute session. I've played guitar for years, but am very very lapsed (no calluses at all left). So, OWE of course, but I know that fades fast. The action on the squire is pretty light, so it wont be that hard at all. It's a fairly crappy electric guitar, but then, i knew that going in. It's fine for the purpose.

As for the actual play experience. I was able to plow through all the first two sets of lessons pretty much straight through. I think what they're doing with chord shapes is interesting, but I think I'll be turning it off in favor of notation pretty quickly. As expected, I DO have to look at my hands -- I always have playign guitar, which means that I'll be actually having to LEARN songs. Which is fine.

I found I was able to 3 or 4 star on medium the few 1-2 dot pro guitar songs right off the bat (Fly Like an Eagle, for instance).

But overall -- ludicrously fun. I wish my hands were stronger, I'd still be playing.

a few days in, finger strength and calusses seem to be coming back. Lots of bar chords are still cramping my hand up -- some of this is because the neck is a little thicker than either of my regular guitars, some of it is just me being wimpy.

I do wish that the "learn a song" training mode stopped on missed notes a bit more like the lessons. Even so, learning songs this way is just plain fun, and its super satisfying when you get a lick right. I can do most of Cold as Ice on hard now, except for the crazy stupid hard lead parts. This is going to cost me a lot in DLC, I can tell already.

Is there a good place to try out the new guitar? I sorta missed out on seeing it if it was at PAX East. The comments so far have me on the fence of whether to get it or not.

Ive never seen it except in my living room.

I'm clearly at the opposite end of the skill spectrum from Rabbit.

I'm muddling through 0 or 1 star songs on Easy, and struggling a *lot* with the first Medium trainers. I say that like it's a bad thing, and it's not. It's extremely challenging, but very rewarding. The Power Chord trainer absolutely slayed me.

I spent about a half hour just trying to nail the very first Medium training exercise. Still haven't managed it, but I'm getting closer. My biggest problem isn't strength or calluses so much as just trying to bend my fingers in ways they're not accustomed to. My hand just doesn't yet know how to make a 2-fret distance between my first and ring fingers.

I've also been messing around outside of the game with some of the online videos I linked upthread. I learned to play a D-chord! Funny story about that - I tried to show the wife what I'd learned, and as I strummed what I thought was a D-chord, she frowned and said "what the f*** notes did you tune to?", to which I answered "I dunno - whichever note they were closest to."

I have since added 'Learn which note each string should be when strummed open' to my To-Do list.

I also picked up a Snark tuner on the advice of a Goodjer, and I can totally recommend it for the utter novice. I suck mightily at tuning by ear, and that makes it a piece of cake. $11 on Amazon well spent.

I'm discovering that my high E string isn't as sensitive as the other strings, and it's registering misses when it should be hits. Also, STOP MAKING ME HIT ALL SIX STRINGS ON A @#$!! BARRE CHORD. Stupid exacting software making me play them all.

And lord yes, get an electronic tuner. It will make your life so much easier.

Also, can we have an Acoustic Band game instead of a Rock Band? My guitars stop at fret 14 or so, and then this game pops up with this "play fret 19" crap, and I DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT @#$!!! FRET IS yet.

The game doesn't have a built in tuner?

Remember always tune your guitar before you play, they can go out of tune even from one session to the next, and it's sort of a little ritual to get in the mood. Otherwise you get used to the wrong notes.

From lowest to highest (thickest to thinnest) : E A D G B E

Mex wrote:

The game doesn't have a built in tuner?

Remember always tune your guitar before you play, they can go out of tune even from one session to the next, and it's sort of a little ritual to get in the mood. Otherwise you get used to the wrong notes.

From lowest to highest (thickest to thinnest) : E A D G B E

It's also worth noting that if you tune your guitar consistently after switching the strings, it should stay relatively in tune. I've picked up a guitar after three months and it only needed one or two strings adjusted.

Mex wrote:

The game doesn't have a built in tuner?

The game doesn't give too hoots what note the string is actually playing - it's just looking at fret positions and whether the string is vibrating. The strings are damped when you're playing the game anyway.

Jonman wrote:
Mex wrote:

The game doesn't have a built in tuner?

The game doesn't give too hoots what note the string is actually playing - it's just looking at fret positions and whether the string is vibrating. The strings are damped when you're playing the game anyway.

Yeah, I was wondering about that too, specially for songs that have alternate tunings, but it's still pretty damn cool, I'm still looking for one of those guitars.

I believe you can also TURN OFF the strum detection, which means as long as your left hand is doing the correct thing, it gives you credit for the hit detections. For the trainers -- what's the point. But for songs, it could make a difference.

Incidentally, you'd absolutely expect more sensitivity on the fatter strings -- its true with the pickups as well. More sophisticated pickups than the big fat humbucker on the squire feature adjustable pole pieces so you can change both the pickup and the tone on each string.

As for bar chords: everyone hates bar chords. I know I do. But if you're playing rhythm and your NOT actually pressing on ally 6 strings, you'll get crappy sound. Some songs actually quite specifically have you holding a bar chord and just playing 2-3 strings and then fully strumming, so yeah, it's exacting. It's making me a much better guitar tinkerer already though.

There are also a handful of free/cheap guitar tuner apps for smartphones that work AMAZINGLY well, believe it or not.

rabbit wrote:

As for bar chords: everyone hates bar chords. I know I do. But if you're playing rhythm and your NOT actually pressing on ally 6 strings, you'll get crappy sound. Some songs actually quite specifically have you holding a bar chord and just playing 2-3 strings and then fully strumming, so yeah, it's exacting. It's making me a much better guitar tinkerer already though.

There are also a handful of free/cheap guitar tuner apps for smartphones that work AMAZINGLY well, believe it or not.

Barre chords are awesome and easy once you get the hang of them, they're even better than power chords for general music because you can easily switch to a dominant or minor sound with just removing a finger. Also they're a great way to start learning the notes on the fretboard, which an amazing number of guitar players don't know.

Example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRGQb...

In short: Barre chords, don't hate them, love them cos they're your friends

BTW Garage Band for the ipad is awesome and a great investment for 5 bucks, and also has a built in tuner.

I love barre chords. I play them all the time. It's just that the occasional damping of one string out of six while strumming isn't noticeable. It's just a pain. Yes, yes, I know, it's teaching me, but it drives me nuts that it's telling me that my A chord isn't right. I'm finding myself pressing abnormally hard on the fretboard to make sure everything is pushed down very hard, and that's just not good for my wrist.

Noob question here. I just picked up the beatles rock band kit (with the hoffner bass and drums) and want rock band 3. Should I go new or just grab used? Are there any freebies included with a new copy?

SallyNasty wrote:

Noob question here. I just picked up the beatles rock band kit (with the hoffner bass and drums) and want rock band 3. Should I go new or just grab used? Are there any freebies included with a new copy?

Spoiler:

Hit me up for some achievements on the Beatles RB

Hooray for Barre chords!

Has anyone seen the guitars used yet? I've checked Craigslist but nothing down here. All pre-orders fulfilled at this point?

I've been playing with the Squier for about a week now. I've had an electric since high school, but I never really learned how to play very well so I'm pretty much approaching this as a newbie as well.

I was able to mostly breeze through the easy and medium training, but stuck on the barre chords just like everyone else. I figure that at this point I'll go through the other training again, try to learn some songs, and keep coming back to the barre chords training until my hands are strong enough to hold them properly.

rabbit wrote:

Incidentally, you'd absolutely expect more sensitivity on the fatter strings -- its true with the pickups as well. More sophisticated pickups than the big fat humbucker on the squire feature adjustable pole pieces so you can change both the pickup and the tone on each string.

When I got mine the high E string was not registering properly. It wouldn't register when I strummed upwards. I messed around with the pickup a bit, and that didn't seem to help too much. After some Google-fu I read on the Rock Band forums about the potentiometers that are hidden under the battery box. Loosening those a bit fixed my problem.

Tell me more about this spoiler of yours, Min.

wordsmythe wrote:

Tell me more about this spoiler of yours, Min.

Just wait until I get internet at the new house, hopefully Friday or so. Then send a friend request my way (same name). I'm good for expert vocals all day long, expert bass, expert or hard guitar, and...okay, so I'm not coordinated enough to be a drummer.

I am almost completely enabled...

I have been playing around with the guitar for the last 1.5 years. I guess I actually practiced every day for a cumulative total of 9 months of that time.

I am working through the Hal Leonard books. I am torn, between augmenting my learning with lessons or getting RB3 for the fun element.

My playing goals are to learn a few songs and learn the technique because it is interesting. It is my relaxing hobby, and I don't want to get too rigorous with it which is the reason that I avoided lessons.

I look forward to reading more comments from beginners about how RB3 fits into your training regiment.

Edit: The Bill Harris blog posts are like the Death Star of enabling.

Greg wrote:

I am almost completely enabled...

I have been playing around with the guitar for the last 1.5 years. I guess I actually practiced every day for a cumulative total of 9 months of that time.

I am working through the Hal Leonard books. I am torn, between augmenting my learning with lessons or getting RB3 for the fun element.

My playing goals are to learn a few songs and learn the technique because it is interesting. It is my relaxing hobby, and I don't want to get too rigorous with it which is the reason that I avoided lessons.

I look forward to reading more comments from beginners about how RB3 fits into your training regiment.

Edit: The Bill Harris blog posts are like the Death Star of enabling.

Are you talking about getting the real strat guitar for RB3 and starting with that?

In any case I'd really recommend at least a few lessons just to make sure you're not getting any real bad habits in your playing. For instance, the lack of pinky exercise is a real um how you say, disability? later on, and a lot of beginners tend to ignore it.

Although it'd be interesting to see how a guy who starts with just rock band 3 ends up...

Mex wrote:

Are you talking about getting the real strat guitar for RB3 and starting with that?

I currently have a real strat and am working through the Ha Lenoard beginner's books. I am thinking about buying the RB3 Strat and game to augment my training. The training modes and song learning aspect of the software look fun.

I should probably pick up lessons, but have not because of a bad childhood experience. I am not terribly musically inclined. Quitting my first musical instrument kept me from picking another one up for over 25 years. So I kind of like the self taught route because I do not have to be judged.

Writing it makes it sound ridiculous. I should try to find a teacher probably a better use of $350.

My local Best Buy *finally* had the XBOX MIDI PRO adapter in stock, so I picked one up, then proceeded to arrange the furniture so I could move my Alesis QS8 into the living room from the "office". If nothing else, I'm going to get a lot of exercise moving my keyboard back and forth!

First impressions of Pro Keys on a real keyboard:

-The controller came with no instructions. But that's because it doesn't need any MIDI Out to MIDI In, plug USB cable in, you're all set.

-The keyboard note lane is really tough to read for me, since I'm used to reading sheet music. This is mostly because it shows the keys you're supposed to hit. I'm used to thinking of the notes in chords always being the same distance apart from one another (which they are in sheet music), but on the note lane, thirds are sometimes one column apart, and sometimes two. This drives me *nuts*.

-In general, the practice mode is really not very useful. You can't slow it down enough (at least on Expert Mode) to actually learn the notes unless it is trivial. I need to slow it down to 20 or 30 percent so I can put together the chord progressions two to four measures at a time, not sixteen or twenty! ( My brain can't memorize more than 4 at a time )

-I must be missing the mode that lets you instantly rewind (in practice mode) after you make a mistake so you can try again. Did they forget to include one? Sigh.

-Playing in pro mode is pretty tough on an 88-key keyboard. I keep forgetting where my keyboard stops and starts when they slide up and down. I need to make myself a color bar and tape it to the keyboard to remind me.

-Most of the Pro Expert Warmup songs are really boring for keyboard. I fell asleep and failed out of that Slipknot song waiting for notes to appear.

-Never go from playing Expert Pro "I Need You Tonight" by INXS to trying "Bohemian Rhapsody". It's just jarring.

Haha, way to troll everyone with "Through the fire and the flames" for Pro guitar, Harmonix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jgrC...

that's not gonna happen anytime soon man

I bought Rock Band 3 for the PS3. Also, I decided to purchase the Mustang Pro guitar.

I already own a Squier Standard Stratocaster. As I mentioned earlier, I have been stuck in beginner mode for the last 1.5 years.

First off, the game is really cool. Two hours just vaporized. It is almost like not practicing. Very engaging. It will be interesting to see how long that feeling lasts.

The Mustang controller takes some getting use to. The lack of real strings is jarring because I can 'feel' my way around the fret board by the string thickness. No such luck with the strings on this instrument. The fret and hence the buttons are pretty close together compared to my full size guitar. I am slowing getting use to the fingering.

The Mustang guitar is only $100 for the PS3. The jury is out on whether I should have just dropped the $300+ for the Squier.

Overall, I am very happy that I bought the game and controller. Two years, I bought band hero for the kids and it sits largely unused. My daughter got sucked into this game and I had to wait for her to go to bed to even play it.

Question for the guitar players here. In the second position, should I put my index finger on the 5th fret and use my pinkie finger for the 8th fret? What is the best technique to get the 9th fret?

I went to Best Buy yesterday and they had both the Midi Adapter (360) and the Squier. I had a $50 gift card, so I put it towards those 2 things and came away happy. I spent a few hours with it yesterday and after some initial frustration when it would detect my chord shape but not my strumming (fixed by turning the guitar off and on again), I had a great time with the guitar.

My only previous guitar experience was to self-teach using the Justin guitar site for a while, but I hadn't picked my guitar up in about a year now. Still, I know the major chord shapes.

It is very impressive how the guitar recognizes your finger placement on the neck. I find that I have to press the strings down quite hard though and it can be a bit picky about where exactly you place your fingers. I try to place my fingers right up against the fret bar (as taught by Justin), but on occasion it will register that finger placement as on the next fret.

The muted strings when playing also is kind of..odd. It is necessary, I understand..but it affects the 'feeling' of playing the guitar, if that makes sense.

I went through the first 2 levels of instruction, but it wasn't what I was looking for, so I just went to play some songs. What I was looking for (maybe you can help me) is to play songs using the chord shapes, but perhaps not jumping up and down the neck from say 5th fret to 13th for some fiddly single notes. It looks like easy has you plucking 1 note at a time, medium has a partial chord and hard is more what I'm looking for with full chords, but they also sprinkle in those fiddly single notes.

Maybe I just need better song selection?