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Blingdomepiece

Hello Scorehero. My name is Sean, and I am a 31-year old software developer from Canada. Although I do not consider myself a gamer in the traditional sense, I started playing rhythm games in mid-2007 and have been hooked ever since. I joined Scorehero in August 2007. After playing the hell out of Guitar Hero 2, I picked up Guitar Hero 3 on its day of release. I was pretty excited when I heard about Rock Band, a game that would include drums, and picked it up shortly after it was available in Canada on the PS2. I have rarely touched Guitar Hero since, and have subsequently moved to the PS3. I picked up Guitar Hero: World Tour for the PS2 while waiting for my PS3 to be repaired.

I have been involved in music for most of my adult life. I play several real instruments, but all of them at an amateur's level. I've had formal instruction on two instruments and have a minor in music so I am pretty solid on theory and history. I am involved in a progressive rock reissue label that digitizes and releases Quebec music from the 1970s. I also help run an annual music festival in Montreal in this same musical style. Below is a collage of our releases so far: note that while I'm proud of this work, the musical style is probably not something that a lot of Scorehero people would go for. I post it only in case you are curious about what I do.











I enjoy participating on the Scorehero forums, on the Rock Band side. I'm pretty much past the days of getting into arguments on the Internet. After a few years you realize you never win any of them. I try to help out in the drum technique forum as much as I can, to help beginner players along. That plus a modest financial contribution are what I give back to this valuable web-site. I respect all the elite players on the site and like interacting with the Rock Band regulars but I think I have some distance from it compared to some of the younger players. I know I will never be an elite talent at this, and I'm not terribly interested in that anyway, so my efforts are instead directed towards competing with myself to be the best I can. I do tend to drop jaws when I play with people in person, but that is a world that doesn't know Scorehero, so it's a conceit we all get to indulge a bit.

Band

Drummer for plucky PS3 Expert band Atomic Toaster Oven

Rock Band 2

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I picked the game up on (PS3) release date in October. I am mainly focused on drumming, with a goal to make it to 15 million points on the Expert difficulty. I am also working on getting five stars on every song in the game, and as many gold stars as possible. I am going to finish all four careers, simply so I can participate in the all-instrument leaderboards, and I would like to get a score of at least 40 million. I am a reasonably good drummer, a good enough vocalist (I choose to sing instead of hum unless I can't otherwise pass the song), and a weak-by-Scorehero standards guitar/bassist (I've regressed since dropping GH for RB).

I am currently using an Ion kit with a Rock Pedal. Both of these have required adjustment periods and in some cases I am not yet as good as I was with the stock equipment! It appears to be more durable though which is, in the long run, what I wanted. I don't use the cymbals when I'm playing for score but they're fun to slap on for a bit of goofing off.

I briefly considered getting all DLC but in the end I can't justify spending another $100+ mostly on songs I don't like. I was at least going to get every Tier 4 or higher song on drums, but the release of the Naked Brothers DLC has persuaded me to drop that commitment as well. So now I pick up any Tier 5 or higher DLC, as well as anything else that I think I might enjoy.

[2] To Pass: They're Red Hot, Prequel to the @#^%@ Sequel
[1] Needed 5* (RB1): Run to the Hills
[1] Needed 5* (RB2): Visions
[35] Needed 5* (DLC):
Tier 7: Blinded By Fear, Kool Thing, Love Spreads, This Calling, Young Man Blues, That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate, YYZ, Jesus Christ Pose, The Conjuring, My Last Words, Rude Mood, Kids Don't Follow, Cuz U R Next, Run to the Hills, Good Mourning/Black Friday
Tier 6: Going Mobile, Summertime Blues, Burn, Hands Down, Clouds Over California, My Lovely Man, Sorrow, Devil's Island, Are You Dead Yet, More Human Than Human, All I Want, Bad Omen, Wilson, The Trooper
Tier 5: New, Time Bomb (Live), Standing in the Shower Thinking, Lucid Dreams
Tier 4: Cold Rain and Snow, Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy) (Live)

Tier	Total	Passed	5*	GS	100%	Comment
1	34	34	33	33	22	All Gold but Polly
2	39	39	39	38	18	GS: Burn You Down
3	55	55	55	40	12
4	160	160	158	66	11	Cold Rain and Snow, Jailbreak
5	89	89	85	27	6	New, Time Bomb, Standing..., Lucid Dreams
6	72	72	57	11	1
7	57	54	36	6	0	Can't pass GM/BF, Red Hot, Prequel to the Sequel
TOT	506	502	463	221	70	91% 5*, 44% GS, 14% FC/OH

Updated 5/15/2009

Rock Band

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I started playing on PS2 in January and finished the game in early April by beating Run to the Hills on drums. I passed the entire guitar setlist on my sightread, including Green Grass and High Tides; nowadays I could never do that. I finished the vocal career as well. I upgraded to a PS3 and downloaded most of the DLC and all the hard ones. My main accomplishments on drums were:

• Hitting 10 million career score (RB1) in drums; not so easy for someone who had never drummed prior to getting the game.
• Completing the RB1 endless setlist on drums and vocals, expert difficulty. I use a mic stand for singing. I failed Run to the Hills nine times while doing this.

Drums : 10.2 million career score. PSN rank of 287 as of 01/02/2009.
Vocals : 8 million career score, 50/58 5*. I don't have the patience to do solo vocals that much. I usually prefer massacring Phil Collins mode instead.
Guitar : 7 million career score (on PS2), 29/58 GS.
Bass : I was 5-starring most of them until my Strat broke 45 songs into it.
PHIL COLLINZ MODE : Completed the Endless Setlist, 15.6 million career score, 27/58 5*.

Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Guitar Hero III (PS2)

Guitar Hero 2 was the first rhythm game I played. I finished the game on Medium and did about half of Hard before finally moving on to Expert. I eventually went back and finished the game on Hard and earned my Battleaxe. I have passed every song in GH2 except Jordan, and I am ten songs away from my Log.

I expended a ridiculous amount of effort on this game and the improvements came pretty slowly. I actually improved a lot after spending a month away playing GH3. Some of my 5* and 4* came fairly late in the game for my GH2 playing. I suspect if I went back to play now I would do pretty poorly, at least at first. I'm simply not that good a guitar player and whatever skills I had have eroded while I focused on drumming. Some of the songs in this game are really excellent though and I hope they will be making their way to Rock Band at some point.

Generally speaking I did not enjoy Guitar Hero 3 as much as GH 2. The timing window was more forgiving, which I was kind of indifferent about, but some of the songs were made pretty hard to compensate. There's also been the debate about overcharting; everyone can have their opinions but I think in cases like the "One" solo or Raining Blood's Flood (not Mosh) the chart doesn't much resemble what a tab for the song would tell you to play. So make of that whatever you will. The other problem for me is that a lot of the bonus material was not to my liking. I'm not big on the modern heavy rock stuff I guess, so stuff like "Nothing For Me Here" and "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." and others just do nothing for me. I also downright hated some of the songs in the main setlist (Slipknot, Tenacious D, White Zombie). So I ended up playing the same songs I enjoyed over and over rather than working much on score. Some of my favorite songs in the game were the easier ones, like the Stone Roses and Kaiser Chefs.

I have passed every song in GH3 except Through the Fire and Flames. I need 11 songs for "El Jefe" or whatever it is you get, and I can't be bothered to try since I hate at least half of them. Sorry :).

RB2 Drum Tips

Let There Be Rock: For long songs like this I cross my arms over to keep my right arm from tiring out. I play normally until my right arm is tired, then I switch to play red with my right and yellow with my left. It's not too tough to do and this is an easy gold star once you can.
Bad Reputation: Never content to do things the easy way, the first couple times I was playing basically the whole verse with my right hand. It's obviously a lot easier (and fun) to stick it RL and move around the kit.
Shoulder to the Plow: Not much of a tip, but if you are just trying to pass you have to get the first two OD phrases. The second one is an O R+G O R+G O R+G series. That will get you through the crazy stuff at the end of the verse with the blue/yellow flams and bass. There are two verses so after you get past that you should make sure to have OD for the second one as well.
Panic Attack: The intro part (that recurs) can be broken down as 16 8th notes in the pattern 3-3-3-3-2-2. It's actually a reasonably common beat and it's not in odd time or anything. It's mainly hard because of the speed. If you really can't pass this I would probably either skip the pads or skip one bass note in each double kick and you'll probably be ok. The odd riff is a lot harder. So far I can only get 97% at 70% speed! The way I passed it was to skip some of the blue notes. Take it into practice at some low speed and do just the bass and snare and you see it's a common metal pattern from songs like Sleepwalker. , , , , and so on. Now still at that speed, add in blues on the second part's bass notes. So it's , , , . About halfway through there is a which is easy to play so might as well hit that too. So you are basically skipping two blues notes in each pattern. At each speed, first play the snare and bass only until you can handle that, then add in the blues. You should be able to hit enough notes to survive without OD, and with OD it's pretty easy.

RB1 Drum Tips

General: Look up the path for any song you are doing.

29 Fingers: I hit the first roll RLRLRL and the third roll LRLRL. I'll let you know when I hit the 2nd roll :).
In Bloom chorus: The chorus pattern is one you will see in a ton of songs. You just have to learn to alternate hands and feet. You can count each section "1 and 2 and 3 and 4", and you be using your foot on each "and". The final beat you use both hands and feet but if it's easier to only do the hands at first to pass it, that works.
Mississippi Queen: If your calf wears down playing this, try playing it heel up. "Heel up" means you lift and drop your entire leg instead of just your foot. It can give you more speed but at first you will have difficulty controlling it. This comes with practice. Songs with nearly constant bass lend themselves well to "heel up". Note that this style can be hard on the stock pedal so you may want to reinforce it first.
Maps: At first I tried playing all the triple hits with the same hand. It is hard to maintain a constant foot rhythm if you do this. I eventually realized it was a lot easier to play each one with RLR sticking. So on the chorus you are moving your left hand between hitting Red and Green; it's a lot of fun to play it this way in addition to being easier.
Reptilia chorus: This is a basic beat with the bass on the off-beat, but people new to Expert might not be able to handle it at that speed. All you can do is practice it at 80% and 90%, or play songs like Here It Goes Again and Main Offender until you can 5* them. Eventually this song is a piece of cake.
Time We Had chorus: Start all the rolls with your right hand and the bass will always end up lining up with your right hand.
Hand that Feeds: Play the triplets RLR, with bass lining up on the second R. For the chorus, if you really suck at using bass with your left hand, just play the whole chorus with the right hand. It's slow enough. For the rolls, again, always start with your right hand, bass will line up for you.
Paranoid / Go With the Flow: Play it heel up. When You Were Young is slower if you want to practice this.
Orange Crush: Again always start with your right hand. The fills in the verse that use blue are structured in such a way that your left hand never leaves Red, and you are simply hitting yellow or blue with your right, sometimes with a bass. This song is not that fast; a steady tempo is more important than speed.
Vasoline: This song is one of those that simply clicks at some point. The chorus is a paradiddle rhythm between hands and feet so practicing this rudiment can help.
I Get By verse: This is a RLRL alternating sticking, with the right hand doing the yellow and every second red. Once you are comfortable with this rhythm, play the bass every time you RIGHT hand comes to RED. Ignore the second bass in the double-bass hits. Once you can pass the song comfortably start adding the second bass hit in; that's really all you have to do to go from 4* to Gold Stars.
Green Grass and High Tides solo 1E-1G: There are a few theories on how to do this one, assuming you don't have the arm stamina to just play it straight. Some people alternate-stick it, which is kind of tricky and convoluted. I do something a bit simpler which works well because I'm left handed. I start playing it normally. Once I start to tire out I switch arms so my left hand is playing all the blues. My right hand crosses over top (the way you would play all the time on a regular kit) and hits the reds. This might take a bit of practice if you aren't using to playing fast with your left hand, but I can do a -1 run this way pretty easily.
Ballroom Blitz: I play the last four notes of each snare series RLLR instead of RLRL. This allows me to keep the bass always synced up with the right arm. The ending is actually really easy, you are rolling slowly while hitting the bass with each right hand stroke. If your meter is dropping then it's because you are out of sync, so skip ONE note and resume, and you'll be fine.
Dead on Arrival: This is simple hand-foot alternation and the memorization of a few red/green/orange patterns. It's a good one to take into practice and do each section separately.
Train Kept a Rollin': Roll softly. You won't tire out so fast.
(Don't Fear) the Reaper: The drum solo is basically the end of Ballroom Blitz, sped up. Don't go too fast, roll steadily, with bass timed up with right hand. The non-red notes help to stay on time because they also will be lined up with the bass and you play them with the right hand, so if you are getting off just start over at the next non-red note. The outro is basically a question of coordinating your hands with your feet. I usually play it heel down to make sure my foot can keep up with my hands.
Foreplay: Play it LLR. Suck it up and get your left arm speed up :).
Outside: The chorus has one bass beat that should line up with your LEFT hand, immediately before the yellow. If you keep losing combo there that's probably why.
Next to You: Heel up.
Run to the Hills: Many people feel like they have to rush the bass a bit to keep it on time. Roll lightly. The issue with this song is usually stamina so practice the whole song at 90% or full speed if you usually fail, otherwise you won't have the arms to get through it. Once you can get in the low 80% on a full run at full speed you can pass it in a real run.