Contents
⢠General Info
⢠Random Facts
⢠Achievements
⢠My Scorehero Threads
⢠My Guitars
⢠Original Mods
⢠On the Interwebs
⢠My Guitar Heros
⢠Quotes
General Info
Name: Brian
Age: 33
Relationship Status: Married (sorry ladies!)
Location: Boston, MA - Just a few miles from Harmonix! On a good day if the wind is right, I can hear them rocking!
ScoreHero UserID# 348! (Joined March 6, 2006)
XBL Gamertag: zBriGuy
Rock Band 2 Band: The Pyro Patrol (named after an actual Boy Scout patrol I was in, training me for future pyromania) (see below)
Occupations:
Senior Research Chemist - Screening drug compounds to make new antibiotics.
Forum Moderator, ScoreHero - Specializing in hardware repairs, modifications, and other crazy projects.
Former Jobs:
Starbucks Barista: Voted one of the top 16 Baristas in the country (I won a fucking pen!)
Mad Scientist∞: Science edutainment parties for kids. Indoor fireworks, dangerous chemicals, rocket launches, MILFs.
Mosquito Control Entomologist: Drove a Jeep all around the county collecting and counting mosquitos. (they suck!)
Food Scientist for Mars (M&Ms): Researched heart healthy compounds in peanuts, tasted experimental candy Willy Wonka style!
| Game | Favorite Song |
| GH1 | Frankenstein |
| GH2 | Jessica |
| GH:80s | Play with me |
| GH3 | My Name is Jonas |
| Rock Band 1 | Won't Get Fooled Again |
| Rock Band 2 | Rock'n Me |
| Rock Band 3 | The Doors - Break on Through |
| All Time DLC | Skullcrusher Mountain* |
*You might be surprised by a "joke" song as my top all time DLC, but it holds a special place in my heart since for years now my wife and I have several running inside jokes about monkeys and ponies and this song makes her laugh every time.
That makes it a winner in my book.
Random Facts
Favorite TV Show: BattleBots∞ - All too brief show about fighting robots. Coming back soon!!!
Favorite Movie: Waking Life∞ - Visually stunning and a mind bending trip
Favorite Radio Show: Opie and Anthony∞ Hilarious show on Sirius XM satelite radio.
Favorite Band: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones∞ - They are amazing live! Benn Carr worked for HMX.
Favorite Food: Hamburger Fatty Melt∞ (A hamburger with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for buns + toppings) IN...SANE!
Favorite non-video games: Texas Hold'em, Chess, and Magic: The Gathering TCG∞
Achievements
-Amazed my friends by beating Bark at the Moon on Medium∞ the first time I played the game. WoW! -Prize: Bragging rights for a whole week!
-Won two Gamestop Guitar Hero 2 tournaments∞ in one day (including an epic sqeaker over TheRidGE)∞-Prize: Two t-shirts! (one too many)
-Won and placed many times at Guitar Hero night at the Alchemist Bar in Jamaica Plain, MA∞-Prize: $100 (not enough to pay for my tab!)
-Won the first Rock Band tournament∞ at Game Universe in Framingham, MA∞ along with Garra72 and abarre1234 and our incredible drummer. -Prize: $40 each. (Not too shabby)
-Won "Judges Choice" award at the Beatles: RB/Hard Day's Night Harmonix event in Somerville, MA Theater by singing and playing lead guitar with my custom Duo Jet with the rest of my band to Sgt. Pepper/Get By on stage in front of thousands (okay maybe a few hundred) screaming fans. Pic Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmxcommunity/4090629858/in/set-72157622769778966/∞
-Won a 8-week long game competition at Sunday Funday (Hugh O'Neils in Malden, MA)∞ and took home a small grill, a 6 pack of those sweet Sam Adams glasses and the main prize: A Rock Band 3 keyboard which I modded of course (see below)
Good Scorehero Threads
As you can probably tell, my primary interest is in the hardware of these games. It is the intimate connection that bonds a player to the game, and without it, these games would not exist. Do you think you would love these games as much if you could only play them with a handheld controller? Me neither. I love seeing all of the beautiful creations people make and all of the completely insane mods that people come up with. Although I am an educated and trained scientist, I am a self taught electrician and engineer. For me, this game has been a portal to knowledge and creativity that I don't know if I would ever have pursured otherwise. If you have any interest in this kind of stuff at all, please feel free to ask questions and post your ideas, no matter how crazy. There are NO stupid questions.
Guitar Modding 101∞
- This thread has been my baby for a while now. Ever since I got interested in this aspect of the game, I started to keep track of all of the fixes for common problems and also the crazy mods that people came up with to play the game in unique ways. If you haven't already, take some time out to look over this thread and think about which mods you would like to do to either fix a broken guitar or construct something crazy.Drum Modding 101∞
- Although originally started by dcos15, I have also contributed a lot to keeping this thread as updated as possible with the as much of the drum modding links that I can find (and understand.) This thread is indeed a work in progress as we catch up with the countless mods that some very smart people have developed (see below for DocSoCal's modding forum)GTJem's Painting Guide∞
- The original painting guide was posted by GTJem (one of my Guitar Heros, see below). This thread covers almost every aspect of what you need to know if you wanted to go the extra mile and personalize your guitar with something other than lightning bolt stickers. I have personally used this guide to paint several of my guitars (see below) and am very knowledgeable on the basics of this craft. Again, I am a self-taught craftsman in this area and realize when it comes to art, there is still much to be learned such as airbrushing, etc. I urge you to use this resource to create a one of a kind guitar that is worthy of our Custom Painted Guitar Index.∞My Guitars
Over the years, I've spent countless hours and money modifying my guitars. In addition to the custom paint/fur/vinyl skin finishes you can see, I've added all sorts of hidden stuff that gives me advantage against everyone with unmodded controllers. Of course, all the time that I've spent researching and soldering has left me little time to practice, so you can probably still kick my butt.
Fire and Ice guitars∞
ZZ Top wireless∞ (with spinner belt! ala ZZ Top "Legs" video)∞
"The One" - Strat/LP/LP hybrid∞
Mustang Blue Gretsch Duo Jet∞
Promotional Tron Guitar∞
Light up Rock Band 3 Keyboard∞
StratoBlaster (Drum beats playing Strat)∞
I also own an unpainted wired Strat with a bytearts strum bar∞ and solo button selector switch∞, a hardwired Les Paul with an improved tilt mechanism∞, an unmodded (for now) wired Strat, PS2 Red SG, a Beatles RB Rickenbacker, a GH:WT Schecter, and my unmodded Xplorer that has the signatures of 11 Bang Camaro members!.
Bang Camaro signed guitar with some unknown but significant percentage of the band. (11 out of ??)
Original Mods
"The One" - Stratocaster/Les Paul/Les Paul Hybrid Guitar∞
Stratocaster - Solo button swap selector switch∞
Stratocaster - Mute button for song selection screen∞
Strum bar wiggle fix∞
Limp whammy bar fix∞
Rock Band drum mat and anchor∞
MadCatz cymbal mod for RB1 kit∞
On the Interwebs
A few years ago with the completion of my flamethrowing custom painted guitar, I posted a picture of me in only two places; the original GH forum, and Scorehero. I had absolutely NO idea what I was getting myself into!! This picture has made it's way around the interwebs to an extent I could have never imagined. For a long time it was on the 1st page of a Google Image search for Guitar Hero.∞ I lost track a long time ago but it can be found on well over 1,000 different websites!∞
Most recently, the picture is featured in a new book by Kiri Miller "Playing Along: Digital Games, YouTube, and Virtual Performance".∞ There's a handful of quotes from my interview with her and a few other great pictures of my friends as well. This book is chock full of awesomesauce, you should check it out!
A few people have taken this image and photoshopped it and made their own versions of what has apparently become one of the iconic images of the prototypical "Guitar Hero". A dubious honor at best.
Original
Web Creations
And some Motivational/Demotivational posters too. Some are a lot more De than others. (facepalm)
This last one was a great discovery. I stumbled across this daily comic called www.changedagain.com∞ and it features the recurring character on the left who is a mutated Bart Simpson headed, one bone armed dude who is on a neverending search for change for a dollar (for what, I don't know). This guy walks around meeting a bunch of strange characters (including me I guess), says something to them, and then asks, "Do you have change for a dollar?" I thought it was really ridiculous at first, but then the more I read, the more silly it got and it started to get (a little) funny. Regardless, I really like his interpretation of me with the smiley face and ripped jeans and now use it as my avatar:
My Guitar Heros
Most people would consider the top players who can FC songs I can't even beat to be their "Guitar Heros." Although I totally respect the playing ability and accomplishments of these players, I find myself more drawn to the people that have inspired me with their technical ability and creativity. The following people have gone above and beyond the standard 'slap some stickers on it and call it a day' mentality of most players. They have spent the time and energy to create something unique that elevates their instruments beyond a mere toy plastic guitar controller, and in my opinion, are directly responsible for a lot of the creative energy that sustains the community.
In short, they are my Guitar Heros.
John Tam - This former employee of RedOctane created the first custom guitar ever and started the legendary "Pimp Your SG" thread on the original GH forum. Hundreds of people submitted their custom painted guitars to this thread and honestly, without it, I probably wouldn't be here today.
Phrank-E - He created the first custom made Flying-V wooden body for GH and used to be everywhere helping out the fledgling modders with his guidance and awesome mustache.
Netonex - In addition to first creating practical and accessible mods that are accepted as commonplace today such as tilt sensor adjustments, cardboard fret button backing and even suggesting a second set of buttons for solos (sound familiar?) he hacked his kids toy Elmo guitar for use in Guitar Hero. Good stuff all around.
GTJem - He is a talented craftsman and artist who has helped out countless people with his comprehensive painting guide.∞ He even continued to answer people's questions after he started up his own custom vinyl guitar skin company at www.HeroGear.net∞ In addition to the tons of designs that are available, you can do like I did with my Matrix guitar, and create and upload a high resolution to create a custom made skin.
Mr. Peetza - If you haven't already, check out "The best Guitar Hero video ever."∞ Mr. Peetza plays a fantastic doubleneck SG with a player control foot pedal....in a giant pizza costume. It doesn't get much better than this folks.
DocSoCal - Not just content with wowing his adoring fans on the official Rock Band forum with his amazing modded hardware knowledge, Doc went ahead and created his own forum dedicated to hardware mods. He is as talented and hardcore as it gets and continues to pump out outrageous mods, each one better than the last. Click on his pic for a link to his forum and learn a thing or three about how to mod your equipment!
Quotes
"I said, you know, I have this black and white guitar like everybody else. It is an integral part of my playing experience: I pick it up, I touch it, it's my interface with the game....What are the things to make this guitar special and unique, to make that game more interesting for me to play?...Having something so special in my hands does make me feel more connected to the music that I'm creating, so it does help to complete the picture for me - to help create that experience and make it whole." - One of my many quotes in the book by Kiri Miller: "Playing Along: Digital Games, YouTube, and Virtual Performance∞
He's (I'm) one of the people who play Rock Band the hardest, a serious gamer who posts on Internet forums devoted to the game. -Billy Baker from The Boston Globe∞
Brian, a research scientist at a Boston pharmaceutical company who customizes and rebuilds his own experimental “Guitar Hero” instruments, is an avowed enemy of air guitar. “Everyone hates mimes and that’s all they really are,” he said. “Rock ’n’ roll mimes.” Then he produces a photo showing his doomsday weapon: a “Guitar Hero” controller that literally shoots flames. “I can set people on fire with this,” Brian bragged. “I can cause some bad-ass destruction with this instrument of rock. You show me someone that can shoot fire out of their fingertips and then maybe I’ll be impressed.” -David Wildman from The Boston Herald∞
The blacksmith and the artist reflect it in their art.
They forge their creativity closer to the heart
-Rush, Closer to the Heart
"If you don't have the right equipment for the job, you just have to make it yourself." - MacGyver
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