Rock Band 3 (various)

[Matt]

The efforts I had to go through to get the bloody thing....

Yeah, with real guitar experience, this will be, TBH, a doddle I think. It'll just be a case of learning a song; probably not with the Mustang, I'll sit with a real guitar through the Learn A Song then move over. There's only one song in the whole game that has pro guitar that I already know, and ironicallly from what I've read it's charted wrong, lol!

What may be trickier is learning the intricate bits of any song. All covers I've done, you get the basics and make the song your own, to whatever extent. With this, you'll be replicating another player, which is kinda odd.

Think I'll start with Hardest Button To Button as I looked at that the other day, sat with a guitar, and obviously it's a real easy song (A to C or something like that, with a D for the chorus). From just sitting in front of YouTube with the accoustic I got the basics down for 4 songs within 10 to 15 minutes, after which point it becomes a case of learning the differences between each verse and chorus. I'm making an effort here to LEARN the songs, and not play Simon Says which I was doing on keys

TBH I can't imagine the horror coming at this with no guitar background. At least with a real guitar, if you hit something wrong, you can hear where you've gone wrong (too high, too low) and make adjustments on the fly. This will be far more technical.

Unfortunately one of the kids has a very high temperature so I'm looking after him and won't turn on the game until he's in bed. By which point the football is on. So not sure I'll get much playtime tonight

[Stoppy2000]

Does this game feature a pro bass mode??

[Matt]

Yes it does, and the Fender US website did show a pro stringed bass guitar!

[Stoppy2000]

One more question - is this mustang easily switched to left handed play? Is there a lefty specific one available?

[Matt]

I don't think so. I'm sure there's lefty mode in game of course. I'll check the position of the strap pegs later.

[Matt]

Strap peg unscrews for lefty. Shape is regular so flipping will be like a regular guitar; but as frets/buttons don't go all the way up the neck, reaching the higher buttons in lefty mode will be fine.

Looking at it now (still watching the football) strings are more A string size.

[Matt]

Got 2 hours in on the Mustang.

Impressions are very favourable. I have a bit of a problem with the strumming position, I tend to strum quite high on the neck. Also, far too easy to lose hand position, especially during solos. There needs to be some markings on the fret board for, at minimum, frets 7 and 12. Where the markings are now, it's not convenient.

Playing wise, it's awesome! Learned and played through a few songs. Shame there's no option to skip the solos and carry on strumming away in the background. Buttons are accurate, strumming is very forgiving, and infinitely better on the chord based songs than the regular plastic guitars.

RB3 still lets me down. Obviously, you need to LEARN the songs before you can play them, but the functionality in the game is horrible. Choose the section you want to learn (and it should be noted, not all parts of each song are available), and it shows you a top down view of the highway and the strings you'll be playing, but no numbering on them! To get the chart, you have to be playing the game, and sorry but even at 60% that's a **** way to learn a song. A tough bit comes up you've not quite got the feel for yet, so you hit Pause to study it - and the ****ing pause menu sits front and center on the highway!

Thought I'd give Wanted DOA a blast, as a singer in a band I used to play in insisted we play that all the time - in other words, I know it all [except the solo, I know hardly any solos!]. Well, they've ****ed the tab up and it's NOT how you're supposed to play it. The famous intro jingle is transposed an octive down for who knows why (guessing the original is played on a 12 string and whoever charted it isn't too bright). And I just couldn't read the numbers flying down the screen to work out how play it, I'd need to literally write them down on a tab sheet. So annoying.

I could smack HMX in the face. The games one let down after another. It's both brilliant and frustrating. Especially as all the issues shouldn't exist in the third iteration of the series.

Anyway, got a long way to go to learn all the songs I want. After a minute of getting pissed at Wanted DOA, I thought I'd stay in cheese mode so learned Livin' On A Prayer. First play through and I'm ranked 38th in the world. Get in

[Matt]

Yikes. A year. Anyone still playing this? FWIW I ended up top ten a day or two later in Livin' On A Prayer, lol. CHEESE.

Well, it's been a year and I recently sold the Mustang and this Xmas have put this little setup together:





Fender Strat for Rock Band 3, midi adapter to the 360. As I've not really played for years, I needed an amp so got the Peavey Vypyr 75 modelling amp and Sanpera II pedal (essential). And ended up buying a second hand Sony Bravia LCD on Friday, which means I can noodle on the guitar / game in the bedroom.

Well happy, fantastic to play through an amp in game. Initial guitar setup was atrocious, so I've messed around with it but the intonation is horrendous - I've given up myself and will get a luthier to sort it out. Loads of phantom string hits, which means I can't combo anything but I'm getting over 80 / 90% in most songs I know. Truly a wonderful experience (especially once I turned the amp down so I could actually hear the game - oh look I'm in time now!).

I'm not going to lie. I miss the simplicity of the Mustang. Plug and play. I'm now surrounded with cables, setup takes time, and messing around creating amp sounds to match each song (hence why I got a modelling amp). I've ended up spending a lot of money here, just for Rock Band, but **** it I do enjoy it

Got a Rock Band session with friends in a few weeks. We're getting increasingly ambitious. Last time we were in a factory, projector setup on a forklift, PA system, electronic midi drum kit, using my Shurt SM58 mic, a couple of sound activated mics. We're more band than gamers now, lol. Just need the Rock Band Stage Kit.

For laughs, this was from a couple of months back:

[Skull Commander]

Cheap Xbox 360 game and keyboard at ?29.99:

http://www.thehut.com/games/platform.../10244135.html