Guide to Passing Difficult Songs on Drums

[FatsDomino64]

THIS THREAD IS CONSTANTLY IN THE UPDATING PROCESS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR SONGS THAT SHOULD BE ON HERE OR THAT YOU NEED HELP PASSING, POST THEM IN A REPLY.

It seems that whenever I pass a hard song or get marginally consistent with another song, people tend to ask me how I do it. It's not that I think I'm good, it's just that I know how to crap my way through songs. Therefore this thread will be all about how to pass hard songs. I tried to find a thread like this, but couldn't find one so I decided to make my own. Hopefully it will be able to help you out if you're having trouble with a song.

General Advice:

There are some songs that have unique parts or are especially difficult, but many difficult songs can boil down to a few things: technicality (i.e. parts that are not overly fast, but seem to be all over the place and don't make sense at first glance), speed, and endurance. Here are some tips to help you overcome each:

1. NOTE DISCRIMINATION - This is one of the first tips you'll ever see on the loading screen in Rock Band, even going back to Rock Band 1, but so many people forget about it. Your meter (or the crowd) doesn't care as much if you miss Yellows, Blues, and Greens (high hats and cymbals) as much as if you miss Reds and Footpedals (snare and bass). This does come with good reason, if you went to a legit show and just heard the drummer messing around on the cymbals like a moron you'd think "Wow, what an idiot, get off the stage" or something to that effect. If you can keep the beat with the snare and bass, though, you'll have a much greater chance of survival. Always keep this in mind on any song.

2. SPEED - Not necessarily referring to playing fast enough, but rather playing a correct, steady speed (unless the beat is not steady, of course). One of the most common mistakes someone can make when trying to get through a hard part is to over think it and play way too fast. One of the best examples I can think of is the Blue Monster Roll in "This Calling". The NPS for the Blue Roll is 14.40 Notes Per Second. This may seem blistering, but in reality it is the same speed as the rolls in the intro and the chorus. What many people do, and what I used to do, is way over play this and over hit like crazy. Therefore if you find a fast part, and no matter how fast you play it you fail out immediately, or at least miss a lot of notes, actually try playing slower than you think. You may be shocked by what you find! If you're having trouble, take it into practice and try slowing the speed and gradually increasing the speed. Practice can only help. If you're still having trouble figuring out if you're going too fast or too slow, there is a way to tell. If you see notes turn red and go past, that means you are playing too slow. You are hitting some notes, but the game isn't receiving enough input for each note to register, so some go past the activation window, turn red, and go off the screen. If you don't see red notes, but keep losing your multiplier, you are playing too fast. The game is receiving enough input for all of the notes, but it also receives input where there is no note to be hit, constituting an over hit, and a loss of multiplier. If you still can't quiiiiite lock in on the tempo, just focus (O.O) on the activation window (the spot on the screen where the note actually gets "hit"). If you're starting to get behind, the notes will start to creep slowly past the window. If you're getting ahead of the notes, they won't quite make it all the way to the window (depending on your calibration settings). Staring at the activation window is a great technique for long rolls or blast beats that I use often, not only because it helps you not miss, but you don't really have to worry for other parts of the song because it's just the same thing over and over and you can focus 100% on the window.

3. ENDURANCE - Endurance is potentially your biggest problem. This is because there is no real quick fix for the problem. One of the things you can do to help get through a song is to pause the song during a fill (or just in the middle of the song if you feel daring :P) and take a nice rest. Get the lactic acid from your muscles, let them rest, and regain your breath. If you are playing on the XBOX 360, I would recommend hitting the Guide Button. Not only because it's bigger and easier to hit quickly than the Start Button, but it doesn't cover up the chart like hitting Start does. This way you won't forget where you are when you go to continue the song. Don't feel like you are any less of a drummer because you have to pause in the middle of the song. To speak from personal experience, I had to pause the first song that people have trouble with endurance wise, "Run to the Hills" in Rock Band 1, several times and I still fell out of my chair (partially due to relief ) once I passed it. I also had problems with "Paranoid", of all songs, because of its footpedals. Even when I first got Rock Band 2, I had to pause during "Bad Reputation" and "Let There Be Rock". The only way your stamina will get better is by playing more. Since then I have FC'ed all of those songs and I have Gold Starred "Run to the Hills", so believe me, you'll get better. If you still refuse to pause, there are other things you can do. First of all, breathing heavily through your mouth and not your nose when you get tired will help. It will help get Oxygen to your muscles to prevent them from producing lactic acid and help carry away the lactic acid that causes fatigue. Also, if there is a fast high hat/snare pattern, like in "Bad Reputation" and "Let There Be Rock", you can alternate hands for the high hats. For instance, hit the RY with your R and L hands (obviously) then hit L for the next Y, then R for the next, then L, then you're back to the RY. It may seem like another wuss out but SSkitzzo, A.K.A. one of YouTube's most popular Rock Band drummers, AzuriteReaction, alternates hands during his video for "Bad Reputation", so don't feel bad about it!

Helpful Techniques and Other Tips - There are several sticking and foot techniques that can make things easier for you. But be advised: not every technique is going to work like a charm at first. In fact, most will take quite some time before you're good enough at it for it to be useful. Also no mater how much you practice a technique, it may just not be for you. Everyone is different and has a different playing style, and what works for someone else may not work for you. Those disclaimers out of the way, the techniques I will talk about in this section may either be something you'll use all the time or perhaps just something in very rare spots.

To start things off, I will discuss my personal favorite technique: the Heel-Toe technique. Heel-Toe is a technique used in real drumming to get ridiculously fast double-bass rhythms. For our purposes, however, it is used to hit quick double kicks that would normally cause your leg to lock up and probably cause you to look like a complete idiot to a neutral observer. What Heel-Toe involves is coming down on the pedal with your heel to register the first note of the double kick, then sliding your foot down and using your toes to register the second note. This may sound strange, but here is an instructional video to help get the idea in your mind. The guy in that video, Derrick Pope, is a great instructor and has great video lessons that are all very helpful, you should check them all out! The "rocking motion" he talks about is very important to master. Heel-Toe I have found is much easier on an ION pedal (one reason why I prefer the ION pedal) than a Destroyer, for several reasons. One, the ION is more sensitive. Two, it doesn't have the cam drive that the Destroyer has, so you can move your foot all over the footboard and not run into anything. You can use it for ridiculously fast stuff like the double kick in "Ride the Lightning"; quad fills (where I think it really shines) like the intro to "Hey John, What's Your Name Again?", "Are You Dead Yet?", "Laid to Rest", and "Constant Motion"; or just two moderately fast kicks like in "Panic Attack" and "Painkiller". Other than letting you hit difficult parts, it also takes much less effort than stomping your foot over and over, which is why I love it so much. "Panic Attack" will become effortless with practice.

The next things I want to touch on are techniques for constant streams of bass like the intro to "This Calling" and many other songs. There are several ways to combat them. First is just a basic foot technique, dealing with the heel-down foot position (as opposed to heel-up) that Derrick Pope talked about in the video I mentioned earlier (if you don't know what I'm talking about because you didn't read that Heel-Toe section for some crazy reason, this is the video I mean). This, once again, only really works on the ION pedal since it is so much more sensitive than the Destroyer pedal (why do people like Destroyers again? :P). Basically you just keep your heel glued to the footboard and stomp away. This requires much less effort than lifting your foot up each time, which reduces fatigue, but also makes for a much smaller motion, so you can make more of such motions in a certain time period. Another way you can try the heel-down method is to actually lift your toes up slightly and just flick, for lack of a better word, the pedal down, whichever works best for you.

Now is when things get interesting, using two feet. There are a few ways to play double bass hardware-wise. First, there is the bLiNdz0r method, using two feet on one pedal. I never did this because it felt very unnatural to me, but if you like it, go for it! Next, you can use the Roadie Double Bass Coupler, which is what I use (it works pretty well) or the ION brand Double Bass Coupler. Not sure how well the ION one works. Your third option is to use legit double bass pedals and a kick tower. However, I can't find one that works for Rock Band and isn't Guitar Hero-only on www.rockbandparts.com so you might be on your own if you want to give that a shot. People tend to see videos of people using two feet to hit fast bass stuff and think "Man, that would make things so much easier, why don't I try it?" But be warned although using two feet can make some previously-impossible-to-play parts and some really-difficult-to-play parts possible and easier, respectively, it is by far the most difficult technique that I will mention to master. This is because that chances are, if you haven't played drums before you started playing Rock Band, and if you did, unless you're a good drummer (and if that is the case, why are you reading this?), your non-dominant (left foot if you're right handed, right foot if you're left handed) foot has probably never touched a foot pedal. Too often people just rush right into a song, try to use two feet, then get frustrated and are bewildered why it sounds like a horse's gallop and why they cant get a 2x multiplier. Since your dominant foot is not only the one you have better control over mentally because of whichever hemisphere of your brain is dominant, but also is much more acquainted with playing bass, your non-dominant foot has a lot of catching up to do. The only, and I mean only, way to do that is, brace yourself, practice, practice, practice, and, oh yeah, more practice. No one ever wants to put in the work to master something, they just want a quick short-cut, but there truly isn't one. Your brain does not want to use two feet, but through practice, you'll eventually force it into submission. First, you have to get the motion down. What I did was just when I was sitting in class or something I would practice doing double bass motions because I normally shake my foot anyway. You must strive for completely even back-and-forth between your feet. Then, basically just take the intro to "This Calling" or, my personal favorite section in almost all of Rock Band, Chorus 1-Chorus 1B of "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" into practice mode and do nothing but play bass. Slow it down at first and strive for completely even notes. If you hear yourself not playing it perfectly even but it still registers, don't just accept it. Don't cut corners. The best you can do for yourself is just grind it out and get the motion down in your brain. Eventually, you'll have it so that it is so natural, your brain won't even think about it. Then you'll be able to focus on the more complex things that your hands are probably doing in whatever section you're playing. Remember to practice, I can't stress that enough!

Now for sticking techniques. There is all ready a sticky thread on this subject, Stickings and You -- Making Parts Flow, which you should absolutely read first, but I still want to touch on a few and mention some that I don't think that thread talks about.

The first one I want to mention is the use of double strokes. You have probably come across some patterns in songs that aren't standard RLRL sticking in the past. Some times you may just have to start the pattern with your non-dominant hand and it will work fine, but other times simple RLRL alternation just doesn't cut it. You may have to employ my personal favorite sticking technique, the aforementioned double stroke technique. This fairly simple technique involves using the rebound you get from your drum pad to your advantage by hitting the pad twice with one arm motion, or down stroke. Here's a section of the roll in "My Last Words" where double strokes are useful, if difficult:



Each of those little parts with two reds between the footpedals are a good spot to use double strokes, as using RLRL sticking and crossing over would be rather unwieldy.

The only other sticking technique I want to mention is called flying fingers. This is a technique used in real drumming to get constant streams of notes with one hand, or, in other words, a kind of one-handed roll. This technique does, however, require a kid with very good rebound. IONs probably aren't going to cut it. I'm not sure about Goodwoods, but an electronic kit may be necessary for this. Basically what it involves is using only your middle or ring finger to move the drumstick without moving your arm at all. This is why you need a lot of rebound, because there's only so much your fingers can do. To fully understand what is involved, see this video. This is how drummers play the parts in the intros of "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" and "This is Exile" so fast with only one hand. It can also be used for basic blast beats. Personally, I never really mastered this technique because my IONs were totally worn out by the time I discovered it, but the general principle can be used for other moderately fast songs like "Bad Reputation" and "Let There Be Rock" to help with endurance.

A Word About Blast Beats - Blast Beats are generally the thing that give people the most trouble. However through practice they have come to be my specialty, so I'll let you in on some tips and tricks. To begin, though, you must learn more about blast beats and what defines them as blasts. Blast beats are generally defined as a drum pattern that is not intended to keep time in the song, which a general drum pattern does. Instead, blasts are meant to provide a constant, intense, wall of sound. That being said, the most important thing when playing blasts is you must keep a constant tempo. Very rarely does a blast beat pattern speed up or slow down. In fact, I can't think of a single song in Rock Band that does. Therefore you must figure out the speed, then focus on staying at that speed. There are two types of blasts, alternating blasts and simultaneous blasts. Alternating blasts have one hand, usually the right hand, hitting on the down beat along with the foot and then the left hand hitting on the up beat. Alternating blasts show themselves in "Prequel to the Sequel", "This is Exile", "B.Y.O.B.", "Conquer All", and most extravagantly in "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse". Simultaneous blasts are when both right and left hands hit at the same time, usually accompanied with a bass hit. The bass hit can be with each time the hands hit, it can be every other hit, or it can hit every third hit as in triplet blasts. For instance, in "Hammer Smashed Face", the main pattern of the song consists of this:



As you can see, each time the hands hit, there is also a bass hit. Here is an example from "Idealistic Types":



Here there is a bass hit on every other hand hit. And here is an example of the triplet simultaneous blasts. These are the infamous triplet blasts of "Visions":



These are a little tricky, not because of their speed. It is just difficult keeping your foot in straight time while you have triplets going on in your hands. Luckily, this is about the only time you'll have to deal with these types of simultaneous blasts. Simultaneous blasts can be found in the aforementioned "Hammer Smashed Face", "Idealistic Types", "Visions", and in "This is Exile" and "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" after spurts of alternating blasts.

Now about hitting them. Alternating blasts tend to really freak people out because it looks like there is a whole slew of notes coming at them. That's not to say that there aren't a whole slew of notes, but it doesn't have to be so scary. The most important thing is to learn just how fast it is and have a mental picture of the speed. To do this, take it to practice and only try hitting one hand or just the feet. Once you know the speed, make sure that you start on time! Don't rush into it, you'll just screw yourself. Next, you must stay completely steady. A good way to do this, as I said before, is to watch the window where you actually hit the notes at the bottom of the chart. If you see the notes going past a little bit then get hit, you're falling behind. If they don't quite reach the window, slow down just a hair. Most blasts are the same notes over and over, so you don't really need to look ahead at what notes are coming, now do you? One of the easiest ways to get screwed is to get off beat so the most important thing is to stay steady. This is why it is always good to use OD during blasts. This is because it is so easy to get off beat. If you lose the beat, you'll start failing quite rapidly, but if you can start hitting one of the three notes in the pattern (for instance if the pattern is , if you can just start hitting the B's) then the OD will keep you alive. If you can regain yourself and get everything back on the beat, you'll be in ship shape! Always remember to focus on that window to see if you're going too fast or too slow, because a lot of the time you can't really tell. The final thing I can say is that blasts are a lot easier with a good kickpedal. If you're still using a stock pedal, you should definitely get a much more sensitive pedal, such as a Destroyer, or my personal choice, an ION pedal. This will make it so that you need minimal effort to have a note register, making constant streams of bass much easier.

There is one more thing I want to say. When you can't pass a song, focus on PASSING it, not doing well in it. All too often people will refuse to crap their way through something because they think "z0mg I g0t 2 G3t 5* d00d!" If you think like this, tell me: What looks better, "SONG FAILED 11% COMPLETE" or a three star? Don't be afraid to fake a part. You can worry about improving your score later. Always keep that in mind.





BREAKDOWN BY SONG

This will be a list of songs that I have heard people having trouble with. I will post them in order of hardest to easiest as determined by the RB2 tier system, even though that is not the correct order. The reason I do that is because the order of difficulty of passing songs will vary from person to person, so I thought this would be a good compromise. Also, if you have trouble passing a song post a request for it I will be MORE than happy to do it!





1. "This is Exile" by Whitechapel is in my opinion the second hardest song to pass in the game, behind WAHNTHAC. By no means am I knocking on its difficulty. The very beginning of this song is hard, with the constant snare hits clocking in at over 8 NPS if my calculations are correct. These are supposed to be one handed, making them faster than the blasts in "Idealistic Types" to start off the song. However for every measure of 16 red notes, there are only 6 greens or yellows. Therefore it is highly advised to keep your meter up to screw doing them one handed, forget about the other notes, and just play the reds and footpedals while alternating hands. This should keep you in the green for the whole intro if you stay true. Also a handy hint for the intro, the first set of greens before the reds start are the same speed as the reds so if you can hit those, you can hit the reds! After the intro is done, you'll have to face two measures of blasts at the same speed of the intro, a little slower, ranging from 8.0-7.8 NPS. These are important because you have two measures of alternating blasts at the same speed for each hand, going from 7.6 back up to 7.8 NPS. However, when people see alternating blasts they think they're faster just remember that your right hand is doing the same speed, your left hand just hits the off beats. Back to the song, after the second measure of alternating blasts there is a VERY important OD phrase. If you can get through here, you've made it past the first test. Next is a fairly easy mid section. There are two fairly easy OD phrases, one of which you must hit, because the main blast is on its way. Here is the chart for the main blast:



In the first string of blasts, there are 78 notes. Then, there are 42 notes in the second string for a total of 120 notes of Hell. Now two measures before that little section of chart begins there is a fill. If you get all the easy OD phrases before the blasts, you will have 3/4ths of a bar. If you use the OD, which I would recommend, you will have 1/2 of a bar left at the beginning of the blasts, which will last you almost through the entire thing. If you're feeling daring and want points, you can skip that first fill and try the first string of blasts by yourself. This will, however, cover up the second string of blasts with a fill! Hooray! Once you activate there (late so you don't have disappearing OD), if you wish (don't be afraid to hoard OD), you should chain that next OD and be able to build up a combo on the next section. However, you are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. Soon after you will have to deal with this:



What you could do is the same as the intro, just alternate and hit the kickpedals. If not, be sure to stay on beat, those and notes are important to hit. Then you'll get a spot like this soon after:



This is similar, but notice that every 7th green note is not on the beat with the bass note. This next part, however, is in my opinion the hardest part:



This is because the footpedals are in triplets while the hands are in straight time. It's not very hard to get, but it is completely different rhythmically than the rest of the song. To get through it I would recommend focusing on the hands, then trying to mush your way through it with the feet. If you're having trouble remember it's no different than "Sleepwalker" or "Laid to Rest", it is just faster. The hands are only at 4 NPS, the feet are at 6 NPS so it is by no means not do able, especially compared to the rest of the song, just be prepared for it. The rest should be easy to crap through, just some quick three note busts of footpedal, clocking in at almost 9 NPS, but don't fret, just hit two of them or something and you'll be fine. Make it to the end with some more of those annoying fills you've been seeing throughout the song that are at about 16.28 NPS and you'll be done. CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed what Harmonix claims to be the game's hardest song, "This is Exile!" Give yourself a pat on the back, this is no easy feat. Very few people have passed it so take a nice deep breath. Feels good, doesn't it? Go get yourself a "This is Exile PASS" banner here! Remember to always host banners yourself!





2. "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" by the Black Dahlia Murder - this is the real hardest song to pass. This is for numerous reasons. First there are many incredibly technical sections. Second there are no easy parts, so you'll be fighting the whole way. The real reason is that there are two BIIIIIIG strings of blasts. The first is mindblowingly technical, the second is mindblowingly long. But before we get into that, let's start at the beginning. First off, there are the bursts that begin the song. The second burst is an OD phrase, which is extremely critical for passing this song. The bursts are as follows:



To hit these, you must lock your right hand in sync with your foot. Then you just drop that note between them with your left hand. It does take a little practice and it is very hard to hit them consistently. They come in at a whopping 14.40 NPS if my calculations are correct. This is the same speed of the blasts to come, so be prepared. The intro past that is remarkably like "This is Exile", except slower and with more notes that aren't snares. Therefore to do well, you really have to do the snares one handed. The reds clock in at *only* 7.2 NPS one handed, a little slower than "Let There Be Rock (Live)" and "Dammit". The most important part is to hit the bass notes with it. There are never any right hand hits that don't have a footpedal along with them. You can think of them as bursts of 4 hits, 4 hits, then 6 hits. If you can hit them, then it is not obligatory to hit the two reds between each burst. I understand that this may sound like Jibberish, but here's what I mean:

Concentrate on hitting the parts with footpedals, then forget the two reds between each:



Doing this should keep you in green until the most technical section in my opinion in any song anywhere:



It may not look like much in the chart, but those double kicks clock in at a whopping 14.40 NPS! Not only that but they're very frequent and have a moderately fast standard hand pattern on top of it. There is one way to get through this, just hit one kick instead of two. Just keep one kick on every down beat, and your meter will hover nicely. Then, however, you'll come to Verse 1A, the first glimpse at some blasts. These alternating blasts followed by a few simultaneous blasts clock in at 7.2 one handed NPS, which means 14.40 for two hands. Keep in mind that these are slower than "This is Exile" so don't go flailing everywhere! Remember, always keep your foot and your right hand locked in synchronization. They don't last very long, though, so don't fret. They are only 30 beats each, bringing the total to 90 notes. Getting through this is great, but unfortunately you have another one of those technical polyrhythmical sections to look forward to. Stay focused and on the beat. Then you have another section like the intro! Believe it or not, this is where you're going to have to boost your meter to get you through the rest of the song. After this, you'll have everyone's favorite: constant streams of very fast bass notes with slow hand rhythms over it. The bass is at 7.2 NPS but it constant, making it very difficult to build a combo. Oh and remember when I said there is a slow hand rhythm over it? Yeah there are periodical 14.4 NPS rolls over the top. However, 12 measures after this Chorus 1 section starts, there is a CRITICAL OD PHRASE that you MUST HIT, because it will give you 1/2 of a bar. Here it is:



That part highlighted in green is the OD phrase. If you miss it, you might as well restart, because you're going to go into the first, and hardest blasts, completely on your own without OD. There is another OD later in the Chorus that will certainly help if you get it, but it isn't completely necessary. Now for the part that separates the boys from the men. The blasts. There are two strings of blasts. The first being a very strange technical pattern that looks something like this:



Note the spastic and completely random nature of it. Also there are some lovely parts that are just about impossible to hit. There is a fill right before this blast starts. To be frank: USE IT THEN!!!!!!!! You'll need it. Once you're actually playing it, focus on getting those 4 little parts to help your meter hover but when you have no right hand hits, just start pumping in foot pedals and try to somehow hit some of the reds. Believe me, you'll feel like an idiot, but you'll have to do it. This pattern repeats a lovely 8 times, totaling about 220 notes over those 16 measures. That was the first blast. The next blast is much less technical, it is only over and over, but it is a constant stream of 14.40 NPS blasts for 16 measures. No rolls every 8 measures like the first blast. 282 notes. Here's a quick snap shot:



There is, about mid way, a little part where it switches to G in your right hand for two notes. Ignore it, just stay on and just focus on the window to keep a steady speed. The biggest thing I can say is FOCUS O_O. If you can manage to grind through that, do NOT let up! Grind through another Chorus section with the constant bass to get your meter back up from the pits of Hell where it must be after those blasts. There is another hard section left. Just one more, I swear! Here's what it looks like:



It is a cross between the constant bass of the Chorus and the hand patterns and three note bursts of the Intro. Then you have another Chorus section then the Outro which is just like the Intro and you're Scott free!!! CONGRATULATIONS! You've passed the hardest song in the game! If you can pass this, you can pass anything! Have a nice big sigh and maybe a beer if you're old enough, because thank God you're done with that song, right? Go get yourself a "WAHNTHAC PASS" banner here! Remember to always host your banners yourself!





3. "Conquer All" by Behemoth - This is one of the most brutal songs out for Rock Band, full of dethgrowls and anti-Christian lyrics! What people always talk about with this song is the bass. It is true that it is a pain and is constant for just about the whole song, but it isn't that fast, averaging only 6.3 NPS. There are two things you really need to worry about in this song, the two sets of backwards blasts (I'll explain later), and the polyrhythm at the end. Therefore you should always be saving your OD. However, to get through both sets of backward blasts, you will actually have to miss one of the three OD phrases before it or else you will chain OD and not have any for the second backward blast. I recommend hitting the first two then missing the third, so you can have some rest time during the fills you skip. Now to explain the backward blasts. The reason they're backward is because in a typical blast the right hand is on the beat, then the left hand, or snare, is off the beat. In these blasts, the opposite is true. The foot is still on the beat, however. Here's what they look like:



To hit it, you could use OD, flail about, hoping to hit some notes, and crap your way through it, or you could choose one of two other options. Option one, you could cross over. This means hitting with your right hand and hitting with your left. This will make the blasts natural blasts, however this is INCREDIBLY awkward. Then there is option two, using a cymbal. Assign your cymbal to yellow, then you can hit yellow off beat with your off beat hand and red on the beat with your on beat hand without crossing over. A good example of the cymbal method is shown at 1:20 of Kknyrass's video found here. Another way you can tackle these is to totally ignore the yellows and just play . After the backward blasts are some natural blasts with a few changes to , clocking in at 12.00 NPS on average, the same as the backward blasts. There are, however some missing notes in the blasts. Fortunately, not nearly as many missing as the first blast in WAHNTHAC, but still enough to make it hard to keep a combo. Basically just to crap your way through it just ignore the fact that they're missing and pretend that there is a right hand note there. Here is the chart:




So pretty much just add a Blue where there isn't a note and you'll be fine. If you do that, this one shouldn't give you too much trouble, focus hitting the sections and the sections and you'll do just fine. They're both moderately slow in general, being a full NPS slower than the "Prequel to the Sequel" blasts and the "Train Kept A Rollin'" Rolls, even slower than the triplets in "Maps" :P. But don't get cocky. There's still that polyrhythm. Here's what it basically looks like:



It is a very fast triplet bass pattern with a standard high hat/snare pattern over the top. The feet clock in at 6.4125 NPS, just a bit faster than the rest of the song but it seems much faster. What I suggest to crap your way through the end is to focus on hitting the hands. You may hit some footpedals, but either way you should be able to survive. It may make a few tries, but it's really the only way. Also make sure you hit the fills during the polyrhythm, they really help keep you alive. Once you're done with the polyrhythm, you're done with the song! Congratulations! You've passed "Conquer All"!





4. "Embedded" by Job For A Cowboy - Ahh, "Embedded", the fourth of four songs tiered higher than "Panic Attack" in Rock Band. The good part about this song is that it stays at a completely constant tempo, 172 Beats Per Minute (BPM), for the entire song. That means you never have to worry about straying tempo (whoopie, right?).The bad part about this song is that the hardest part is the very beginning. This means no messing around hoarding OD, it's all out from the get-go. This is because there are some very fast simultaneous blasts throughout the song. Unfortunately, they start off, and are most prevalent, in the first verse. These are no ordinary blasts rhythmically, and I'll explain why. Here's what they look like:



Now you may be thinking "So what, they look fine. They're just fast, right?" Well they're most certainly not fine! Although they are fast. Quite fast in fact. A blistering 8.60 NPS one handed. That's the second fastest in the game. About 1 NPS slower than the triplet blasts in "Visions" but slightly faster than the normal blasts in the Bridge sections of "Visions". But back to the point, if you play drums in Rock Band by rhythm, that is to say, you've had some musical training in your life and understand the concept of triplets, eighth notes, etc., etc., then these blasts will be Hell. If you play by the patterns you see, you will be all right at these. If you don't know which way you play, these blasts are likely to let you know by how well you do. The reason these are rhythmically ridiculous is because they are triplets BUT the double bass under the blasts are ALSO triplets, but it's only charted for one foot! That means that you have triplets going in your hands but some ridiculous half triplets going on in your foot. This is the only instance in Rock Band where I think double bass would actually be easier, because it would be much easier to stay in time. But that's just me, I play rhythmically, not visually. If you play visually, don't read them as triplets, read them as normal 1 2 1 2 blasts like in the bridge of "Visions" and you'll do just fine. The only thing (only is a relative term :P) you'll have to worry about is speed. And trust me that's enough. There isn't unfortunately, a consistent trick to crap your way through these. If you just hit the and skip each but as far as I have tried not only is this hard to do but it does not make your meter hover; you go down fairly quickly. However, what you could do (this is untested, I will update this once I have tried it) is use the concept of Note Discrimination in your favor and just hit the reds and footpedals. If not, you might just have to flail around and pray to survive. There is hope, however. After the second string of blasts there is your first key OD phrase that is easy to hit. Once you grab that, there are going to be two mini blasts of 5 hits and 6 hits respectively, then another key OD that is easy to hit. Once you've got yourself a half meter, you can get down to business. There is a funky section of quasi-blasts where there are more left hand hits than right. They're a bit hard to describe so here's what they look like:



Some people find these to be a breeze but they really give me a lot of trouble. All I can say is to try to do over and over and forget the right hand. Thankfully, this pattern only lasts 2 measures and there's only 2 little bursts of it. Immediately after the second one there is another OD phrase which is nifty to snag, but by no means crucial. You'll want to activate OD right after that, though, because the hardest part of the song in my opinion is coming up. Thankfully it only rears its ugly head once in the song, but it is none the less ugly. It is another string of blasts. Yellow and red this time instead of blue and red but there is more to it. There are four and a half straight measures of these blasts, twice as long as the others. Plus, there are little three note red bursts at the beginning of each measure. These little buggers clock in at a spine-tingling 17.2 NPS! Also once every measure there is a change from yellow to green. Basically I would recommend activating OD right before these and just try to hit red and yellow your way to the chorus, screwing the red bursts and change to green. Here's that tricky blast:



It's that whole slew plus three more measures. Anyhow, if you can muster your way through that, try to hit the OD right at the end and you've made it to the "easy" part, the Chorus! This is where you're going to have to get your meter up, because no other part is going to do that for you for a long time. The constant stream of bass should be your only worry, clocking in at approximately 5.7 NPS, so not too bad. Help yourself out by picking up another OD in this section to give yourself half a bar, because more blasts loom. At the end of the Chorus get ready because more blasts like in the intro are on their way. I would recommend toughing through the first one, then activating. You can activate before the first one if you wish, but there are more after the second blasts so it'll be easier in my opinion to go through the first one on your own then activate. Eventually you'll get to a part with just left hand hits and a few right hand hits. Like the rest of the song, focus on those reds! Then you'll see one section with a footpedal for every red, basically just mash your foot for that . The feet for that section are at 8.6 NPS, for 9 notes which is craaazy. The "Wall of orange" in "...And Justice For All" is 9.28 NPS which is slightly faster but is only 6 notes so this particular orange wall is quite a doozey. Then after that there's a slow part to help your meter out, but then a few more :OBR: blasts yadda yadda yadda. Then you'll get to Chorus 2. Chorus 2 starts out like Chorus 1, but once it gets to Chorus 2B it starts getting all alternating blasty. Here's what I mean:



If you have Over Drive here, I suggest using it, the song is nearly over and this is just about the hardest remaining part. These here are 11.4 NPS which is quite slow for blasts, slower than "Conquer All" and "Prequel to the Sequel" but they do have everyone's best friend, missing notes. Thankfully, though, the only missing notes are on the left hand! This way your right hand and foot are always in sync, always on the beat so these won't be too much trouble. There is one more weird roll after this that is only two measures long, here it is:



The sticking is what's funky about this roll, I believe it goes RLLRLLRLRLRLRLRRLRLRLRLRLLRLRLRLR. So yeah, pretty weird. From here on out, though, its just more constant bass, a few blue rolls, and some alternating cymbal "blasts" and you're all done!!! Congratulations, you have passed "Embedded"!





5. "Panic Attack" by Dream Theater - Dream Theater is a band known for their skillful playing from each of its members, long, epic songs, topsy-turvy time signatures, and insane organ solos. "Panic Attack" is no exception. Each instrument has very tough, syncopated parts, the song is around eight and a half minutes long, the song switches many times between 4/4, 3/4, 5/8, and 2/4 time signatures, and yes, it does have an amazing organ solo! There are several rhythms that may give you trouble in this song, many of them involve triplets, polyrhythms, and of course changing time signatures. The first one is what opens the song. This rhythm is straight sixteenth notes, that is, four notes per beat, sixteen notes per measure since it begins in 4/4 time, however it is still a little strange. Here is what it looks like:



Now, if you're having trouble with this, you could simply play what is on the Hard difficulty's chart, which looks like this:



However, I think it isn't very hard to throw in a couple of footpedals, so you'll be playing a bit of a hybrid to help keep your meter up. The end result will look like this:


(Sorry about how that looks choppy, I'm not familiar with my Mac's software yet.)

This way you only drop four notes, your meter should keep up. Now like just about any of these songs on the list, you're going to be hoarding OD, there's just no way around it. There is a hurdle that is looming in the distance, the Odd Riff, that will likely require your OD. Before we get there there really aren't any large sections of difficult parts, some "simple" rhythms with some syncopated bass notes, another spurt like the intro, but otherwise not too bad. Eventually, however, you will meet up with it. Here's the chart:



Now, it must be said that right as the odd riff begins, the song switches from 4/4 time to 3/4. The reason this part is difficult is that there are sixteenth note basspedals (charted for one foot so it ends up being eighth notes) with triplets in the hands over the top. This nice little polyrhythm is very tough to build up a combo for, so basically you're going to want your OD for this. Once you activate to keep you from failing one thing you could do is just completely forget the footpedals and focus on the hands. However, if you're feeling cocky the feet during the Odd Riff is the exact same speed as the section before it, so if you lock in that speed and go into auto pilot mode, you might just be able to get through it. If you've gotten through it, you're in the clear! You now have a very helpful and very easy section to recover that has two, count 'em, two (to quote Spongebob Squarepants) OD phrases! However you shouldn't really need it if you've gotten thus far. However there's nothing wrong with continuing to hoard OD, but just make sure you use it just before the outro; not only is it the end of the song but it is the hardest remaining section. It is just like the intro except there are two extra measures of it! Just grind it out, grit your teeth and hit those last notes and CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Panic Attack"!





6. "Hammer Smashed Face" by Cannibal Corpse - This song is actually one of my favorites to play. It is also the only one of the five hard songs in the Mayhem pack that I passed on my sightread. But enough about me. One of the problems that plagues this song is the massive speedups and slowdowns in tempo at random times. For instance just in the first verse over a period of 6 measures it goes from 204 BPM to 184 BPM back up to 209 BPM. This is more than enough to break your combo if you can't roll with the changes. Then just four measures after that it spikes to 225 BPM. It does this several times in the song, at one point skyrocketing from 233 BPM to 272 BPM in one measure! But moving on, this song is mainly composed of RYO blasts which switch to a RYO YO RYO YO pattern every once in a while. Also another part of this song that is schmutzy is that there are sections that are actually charted for double bass. The first of these parts is at the first prechorus:



As you can see, it switches from normal blasts at 191 BPM to the double bass part at 224 BPM. If you listen to the song, though, it really truly is charted for double bass. A rare mishap by Harmonix, but hey, just try to mash your foot for that, because the foot there does clock in at a nasty 7.5 NPS so its tough to hit. Luckily it won't last long. The chorus sections of this song are quite easy, with an easy ride cymbal or high hat pattern. However you will see these little fills throughout the song during these sections and they are key to being successful:



They don't look like much, but they are tricky to hit consistently averaging at 13.4 NPS. Basically just stick them RRL RLRLRLR but be sure not to wait too long for that little pause, its only one note long. The reason these are so key is because they appear as OD phrases about 3 or 4 times so if you can hit them, you'll be in great shape. The song will carry on like this, blasts, random speedups, then slow ride/high hat section until you get to a slow break down section. This section is very easy, but right after it comes the hardest part of the song. Therefore hoard your OD! The slow section will last about 25 measures but then out of nowhere comes a mega-fast, "Blinded By Fear"-esque section. The BPM shoots from about 210 to 250 BPM and the NPS for your right hand is a massive 8.37, only a tinge slower than "Blinded By Fear"!



Now if you feel like a big man, you can try this legit. Likely, however, you will tire easily, because this lasts for a whopping 26 measures. Therefore I recommend using a little trick for songs like this. Instead of hitting , I recommend just hitting . This will feel a little weird but you're saving your right arm while still staying well in the green since you're only missing one yellow for every red, foot, and two yellows. If you can grind through that part though, legitimately or with the trick, you'll be nearly finished so hit that last weird speed up section and finish the song! CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed "Hammer Smashed Face"!




7. "Visions" by Abnormality - "Visions", although widely hated on by those who play it, is one of my favorite songs on the disc. It's a crude, raw, demo by Abnormality, a Harmonix band. This song is the only song on disc that has any form of blast beats, but its also full of seemingly random notes, and not to mention strange rhythmical rolls. In my opinion there is no reason why this song is tiered lower than "Painkiller" and "Panic Attack". It is without a doubt, no argument, no controversy, the most difficult song on the disc to pass, four star, five star, gold star, and FC. Sounds inviting, eh? So let us begin! This song doesn't have any sissy intro that builds to a difficult part, its balls to the wall from the bat! However, most people who cannot pass this song can't even get through the first set of blasts. However, if you can hit those first four OG notes (which is an OD phrase that I suggest you hit), you can hit those blasts because they are precisely the same speed. For some reason whenever they see those blasts they flip out and flail around like their life depends on it. This always blows my mind, but if you keep those tips from the "SPEED" section of the "THINGS TO REMEMBER" section, if playing it faster makes no difference, you're probably going to want to slow down. They are only 6.5 NPS per hand, which is slower than "Bad Reputation". They're also slightly slower than the RY blasts during the first verse. So just take a pill, slow down, and blast those into next week. Once you get through those blasts, you'll have the first verse to deal with. it begins with an easy hand pattern with a fairly difficult bass pattern underneath. Here's the chart:



The part that makes this difficult for some is those double kicks in each measure. As always, I would recommend taking it into practice so you can hit it, but if you're looking for a quick fix, you could simply skip one or both of the bass notes in the double kicks. That should help you get through and your meter should stay in a good spot. Next you'll be faced with the RY blasts which I mentioned earlier. To pass this song you're going to have to be good at this part, not only does it appear numerous times in the song, but several times after a tough part. Therefore if you can get this part, it will resurrect your meter several times in the song. After the RY blasts you'll have another section with the double kicks, then there will be a break. At this break there is a very large jump in the tempo of the song, from 201 BPM to a whopping 270 BPM. I advise you use OD at the next fill you see, assuming that you have some, because now you have some blasts that you should be worrying about. These are the same rhythmically for the hands as the ones in the intro, but that spike in tempo has pushed them up to 8.56 NPS, over two more notes per second! Granted, they are only three measures long each but they do appear a nasty five times in a span of about 20 seconds, so you'll likely need some help from your OD. After that you'll have the mid section, full of strange triplet rolls and seemingly random footpedals. However, there are at least two OD phrases that are fairly easy to hit and it is crucial that you hit them. Keep hoarding your OD through the next section until you see a HUGE string of RG notes, these are the infamous triplet blasts! When you see them, activate, for God's sake! There really isn't anything you can do here except flail about, there really isn't. They clock in at a whopping 9.75 NPS for each hand which is the fastest in the game for any song, regardless of DLC, disc, or Rock Band 1! Here's what they look like:



As I said, keep your foot on the beat and flail your arms like they've never flailed before! If this isn't enough, you can just disregard the greens and use two hands to hit the red notes of the blasts. Remember, they're triplets so don't go hitting them like they're eighth notes or sixteenths. From here on out, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Just some sextuplet rolls (more flailing around!) and then some blasts like you saw at the beginning and you'll be scott-free! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed the hardest on disc song by far: "Visions"! You've likely passed your 84th song, and congratulations again for that!





8. "Blinded by Fear" by At the Gates - The only reason this song is hard to pass is because of speed. That's it. The pattern basically for the whole song is either or . The only problem is, it does those patterns at an arm-snapping 8.46 NPS for the right hand. You may think, well what is there to do, then? We're going to do the same thing we did at the end of "Hammer Smashed Face", play instead of or instead of . Unfortunately, this tactic only makes your meter hover and there are some fills that will make it drop. Therefore you have two choices. One, tough it out and use the trick until it gets easy in measure 56 at Chorus 1, or you can use the trick until you see an OD phrase coming up and try to tough it out and get that OD phrase for some help. You're going to have to try both ways. Either way, Chorus1, Chorus 2, Gtr Melody, and Gtr solo are the only sections you'll be able to regain some ground on, as they slow down to a nice groove. After that, though, its more debauchery until Chorus 3, then one last push to the end of the song. CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Blinded By Fear"!





9. "They're Red Hot" by Red Hot Chili Peppers - This song, although only 1 minute 12 seconds long, can give an average drummer a whole mess of trouble. This is because to the untrained eye the pattern is completely random, but that is not the case. The key to passing this song is a recurring pattern that once you understand it is fairly easy to hit. This is what it looks like:



This may not seem like much, but when you first see it it looks pretty weird. The reason it's easy to hit is that unlike most of the song the sticking is natural: RLRLRLRLRLRL with a footpedal on each R. This pattern is basically the entire song with little weird fills between each one. In fact this pattern or a very similar one is seen 20 times in the song. Therefore if you can get the easy peasy RLRL parts, you should be able to not worry about the fills between them and crap your way through the song. There is one strange little break down section though that goes like this:



What I would suggest here is just to hit the yellows that are on the beat and forget about the other ones, they're a bit tricky to hit. Always remember during this song to keep your foot pumpin' away and keep a whether eye out for the RLRL sticking sections. Besides, it's only a minute long! CONTGRATULATIONS! You have just passed "They're Red Hot"!





10. "Prequel to the Sequel" by Between the Buried and Me - This is usually the hardest song outside the Mayhem Pack for someone to pass. If you're looking for a challenge though, it's one of the 20 free songs you get for registering your game with the code on the back of the game guide, so everyone has access to it! If you haven't done this already, I strongly recommend it because hey, it's 20 free songs! Five or six of them are pretty fun too! Back to the point, the reason "Prequel to the Sequel" is a hard song to pass besides its wavering, strange time signatures is a huge chunk of alternating blasts. As I mentioned, it isn't all peas and carrots up until then, so we'll get to the blasts in due time. Before I mention any specific parts, I should remind you that you should be hoarding OD for those blasts. That being said the first tough part is at Verse 1. It's a strange rhythm with uneven bass hits and equally uneven hand hits. Very hard to hit the first time you see it. Here's the last 2 measures of the total four measures it takes up.



This section begins a nagging section of the song that lasts until the blasts where the time signature changes from 4/4 to 7/8 and back. Then it changes from 4/4 to 3/4 and back. Therefore the pattern is even more irregular than it normally is. The only real way to get good at this section is to take it to practice mode, slow it down, and ever so slowly work your way up to 100% speed. To crap your way through it, I would recommend concentrating on the O RG O parts. That should make your meter hover to the fill at the very end where you can rest and prepare for the next part, which is easy to get through. You should be able to get through the rest of the song up until the blasts. The blasts are at first OB R alternating, then change to OY R for two separate strings. But before you try bullcrapping your way through them, go to practice and choose Verse 2. Completely ignore the OY R blasts that you'll see and just play this measure:



Once you've played it you're probably thinking "Okay what the Hell was the point of that? That was....really easy." Well guess what? Those blues that your right hand hits are the EXACT same speed as the blasts! If you can hit those easy peasy blues, you can easily at least get the hands for the blasts. Now try that section (Verse 2) again and keep the speed of those blues in your mind. Those blasts are really easy, aren't they? A lot slower than you thought they were, I bet. You may, however, have trouble with the footpedal speed, so there are a few things you can do. First, it's helpful to know that the blasts themselves are triplets. What you could do, which I recommend, is just think of it as a roll with a foot pedal on every right hand hit, not unlike many rolls, like this one in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper":



The only difference between that and the blasts is that you keep your right hand on yellow. If you are having trouble still, you can try a little bit different. You could just play the hands then hit a footpedal on every third right hand (since they are triplets you'll always be on the beat with the foot). This will just keep you on the beat will you concentrate on the hands. Here's them big ol' blasts:



Activate right before them, then after the second set there is an OD of those blues that it is very important to chain so you can have some OD for the third and final chunk of blasts. If you've made it thus far, don't let up, you're not quite out of the woods yet. If your meter is on the brink of failure, this next section could make or break you!



For the first six footpedals just hit red, ignore the bursts of three so just play ORG OR OR ORG OR OR. This should keep you alive. Then, you're basically just going to have to flail around for those strange R Y R Y O parts, I personally still can't hit them. Now that you've made it thus far, I'd bet you would hate to fail now! Therefore I recommend you hoard OD to the end of the song because there are some strange fills and rolls. Whether you decide to or not, the rest shouldn't be too hard. If you've made it, CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Prequel to the Sequel" you badass!





11. "Good Mourning / Black Friday" by Megadeth - You probably purchased "Good Mourning / Black Friday" solely because you heard it was quite difficult, and you'd be right, it is. Much like "Foreplay / Long Time" by Boston, this song is actually two songs separated by a short break. Why they do that, I'm not sure, but it sounds good so who cares. Anyhow, "Good Mourning" is certainly not the part that you have to worry about in this song; alone it's probably a Tier 1 song. ALTHOUGH it does have many key OD phrases that you are definitely going to want to hoard. When you first sightread this, you probably thought "What's the big deal?" like I did then suddenly realized "OMFG HELPZ PLEAZ!" then failed out. I personally failed my first two reads of this song, mainly because the main pattern of "Black Friday" is both very difficult and very tiring to play. Then there are some very scary looking rolls and other things spiced up between it. Let's roll the tape back a bit, because it doesn't start out bad. "Black Friday" starts off looking strikingly similar to the end of "Peace Sells", a high hat beat with some quick kicks spiced up around the snare.



As you can see, there are some quick kicks just before and after each snare, with the occasional double hit thrown in there. This won't be too bad to get through, especially with a fill every four measures to regain your composure. Just focus on those OY notes if you're really having trouble. This pattern only lasts 20 measures, followed by another break. The next section has some slow triplet double bass with a straight time ride beat laid over it, strikingly like "Sleepwalker". This section also has some more key OD phrases. It lasts slightly longer than the earlier section, 35 measures total with plenty of fills. There's another break, but then comes the part that really gives people nightmares. Worst of all, you'll be stuck like this for the rest of the song. It consists of a very uptempo beat with double kicks that peak at a gnarly 12.5 NPS on every other beat! On top of that there are periodically some fills that look like some variant of this:



I say variant because the first measure of the fill changes I believe each time it appears. It can be some alternating footpedals and blues or it can be triplet footpedals...you've got to roll with the punches. However these fills are most likely what will cause to you activate OD to save yourself. When you see one of these they can look very scary, especially that second measure. But if you look at it, the second measure is standard RL sticking, it's just a little screwy looking. You could go for the little G notes for these but just for passing purposes I'd just say stay on red. There are four or five of these fills. Other than that there are just those annoying double kicks. A quick tip if your foot is getting tired towards the end of the song (don't worry, everyone's does), just hit one note of those double kicks, that should be enough to carry you up until the end with one more crazy fill (this one isn't RL sticking) and boom, the song is over! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Good Mourning / Black Friday"!





12. "YYZ" By Rush - Ahh, although this song gave me a lot of trouble, it has grown to be one of my favorite songs to play. Also a little factoid did you know that YYZ is the code for the Toronto International Airport? Anyhow, the reason this song is hard to pass is because basically the whole song is very technical and syncopated. What do you want, it's Neal Peart. Anyhow, there are two main beats to this song. This one:



And this one:



You'll see that one with the blues first, then the one with the yellows, then the blues, then yellows, etc., etc. Anyhow what's going to happen with both of these is eventually you're going to have a moment were everything just "clicks". It's happened to everyone before, whenever a strange beat suddenly makes sense. It first happened to me on "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter". It has happened to me for the blues, but not the yellows. Anyhow! For the blues the first thing to learn is the hand pattern. Don't even try to alternate on the blues, they've all got to be with the right hand. Just take it into practice, screw the feet. Work on getting the beat, because it changes every time. A good way is to focus on the reds, that's what helps me any way. Then there are those footpedals. Of course Neil isn't nice and has the right hand lock on with the feet. Once again, it changes constantly. A good way to just crap your way through it, however, is to hit the foot with the right hand at all times. This is because they are in sync more often than not. Anyhow the only way to get it is practice, practice, practice. Then, there is that yellow part, which haunts me to this day. Not the base pattern which is what is shown above, but once or twice there are like a zillion extra reds thrown in that always mess me up. It looks like this:



It's only five extra notes, but it's pretty screwy. To get these little sections, unlike the blue sections, the place to start is the feet. Two hits on the beat then a quick double kick. Thankfully this actually is fairly constant during these sections, so be sure to get that down. Then comes the hands. The yellow is always on the beat, but the red changes from being on the beat to being on the pickup that leads into yellow. A little weird, but not too hard to get down. Again, you're going to have to take it into practice, working on the foot, then on the hands separately, then slowly adding them together (remember it's always easier slower!).

Now to passing the song. You do have one beacon of luck with this song, the intro is very easy and is chock-full of OD. You should be able to get a full meter just from the intro, which is great! Basically, you know the drill: hoard that OD. However do not be afraid to use it if you get low. This is because there are very few recovery points until the middle section. The middle section is a blessing indeed though. Before I get into that, if you've used OD, there is one key OD phrase right before the mid section that consists of a very fast, but still hittable, red roll that looks like this:



Now it is 13.56 NPS but if you grind it out I'm sure you can hit it. The reason this is key is because there is only one OD phrase in the mid section. The mid section itself is incredibly easy, a standard pattern. If you don't hit that roll, don't fret because there is one more OD phrase besides the one in the mid section that you can hit before the main riff kicks in again, I just think the red roll is easier. Plus if you get all 3, you've increased your chances even further! Anyhow once that blue part kicks in again, basically use OD as soon as you start taking a dive, because the song is nearly over (yahoo!). Just a couple measures of the blues and some rolls left and you're done! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "YYZ"!

Special Thanks:

-Fearthereapist
-the1and0nly1

[FatsDomino64]

THIS THREAD IS CONSTANTLY IN THE UPDATING PROCESS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR SONGS THAT SHOULD BE ON HERE OR THAT YOU NEED HELP PASSING, POST THEM IN A REPLY.

It seems that whenever I pass a hard song or get marginally consistent with another song, people tend to ask me how I do it. It's not that I think I'm good, it's just that I know how to crap my way through songs. Therefore this thread will be all about how to pass hard songs. I tried to find a thread like this, but couldn't find one so I decided to make my own. Hopefully it will be able to help you out if you're having trouble with a song.

General Advice:

There are some songs that have unique parts or are especially difficult, but many difficult songs can boil down to a few things: technicality (i.e. parts that are not overly fast, but seem to be all over the place and don't make sense at first glance), speed, and endurance. Here are some tips to help you overcome each:

1. NOTE DISCRIMINATION - This is one of the first tips you'll ever see on the loading screen in Rock Band, even going back to Rock Band 1, but so many people forget about it. Your meter (or the crowd) doesn't care as much if you miss Yellows, Blues, and Greens (high hats and cymbals) as much as if you miss Reds and Footpedals (snare and bass). This does come with good reason, if you went to a legit show and just heard the drummer messing around on the cymbals like a moron you'd think "Wow, what an idiot, get off the stage" or something to that effect. If you can keep the beat with the snare and bass, though, you'll have a much greater chance of survival. Always keep this in mind on any song.

2. SPEED - Not necessarily referring to playing fast enough, but rather playing a correct, steady speed (unless the beat is not steady, of course). One of the most common mistakes someone can make when trying to get through a hard part is to over think it and play way too fast. One of the best examples I can think of is the Blue Monster Roll in "This Calling". The NPS for the Blue Roll is 14.40 Notes Per Second. This may seem blistering, but in reality it is the same speed as the rolls in the intro and the chorus. What many people do, and what I used to do, is way over play this and over hit like crazy. Therefore if you find a fast part, and no matter how fast you play it you fail out immediately, or at least miss a lot of notes, actually try playing slower than you think. You may be shocked by what you find! If you're having trouble, take it into practice and try slowing the speed and gradually increasing the speed. Practice can only help. If you're still having trouble figuring out if you're going too fast or too slow, there is a way to tell. If you see notes turn red and go past, that means you are playing too slow. You are hitting some notes, but the game isn't receiving enough input for each note to register, so some go past the activation window, turn red, and go off the screen. If you don't see red notes, but keep losing your multiplier, you are playing too fast. The game is receiving enough input for all of the notes, but it also receives input where there is no note to be hit, constituting an over hit, and a loss of multiplier. If you still can't quiiiiite lock in on the tempo, just focus (O.O) on the activation window (the spot on the screen where the note actually gets "hit"). If you're starting to get behind, the notes will start to creep slowly past the window. If you're getting ahead of the notes, they won't quite make it all the way to the window (depending on your calibration settings). Staring at the activation window is a great technique for long rolls or blast beats that I use often, not only because it helps you not miss, but you don't really have to worry for other parts of the song because it's just the same thing over and over and you can focus 100% on the window.

3. ENDURANCE - Endurance is potentially your biggest problem. This is because there is no real quick fix for the problem. One of the things you can do to help get through a song is to pause the song during a fill (or just in the middle of the song if you feel daring :P) and take a nice rest. Get the lactic acid from your muscles, let them rest, and regain your breath. If you are playing on the XBOX 360, I would recommend hitting the Guide Button. Not only because it's bigger and easier to hit quickly than the Start Button, but it doesn't cover up the chart like hitting Start does. This way you won't forget where you are when you go to continue the song. Don't feel like you are any less of a drummer because you have to pause in the middle of the song. To speak from personal experience, I had to pause the first song that people have trouble with endurance wise, "Run to the Hills" in Rock Band 1, several times and I still fell out of my chair (partially due to relief ) once I passed it. I also had problems with "Paranoid", of all songs, because of its footpedals. Even when I first got Rock Band 2, I had to pause during "Bad Reputation" and "Let There Be Rock". The only way your stamina will get better is by playing more. Since then I have FC'ed all of those songs and I have Gold Starred "Run to the Hills", so believe me, you'll get better. If you still refuse to pause, there are other things you can do. First of all, breathing heavily through your mouth and not your nose when you get tired will help. It will help get Oxygen to your muscles to prevent them from producing lactic acid and help carry away the lactic acid that causes fatigue. Also, if there is a fast high hat/snare pattern, like in "Bad Reputation" and "Let There Be Rock", you can alternate hands for the high hats. For instance, hit the RY with your R and L hands (obviously) then hit L for the next Y, then R for the next, then L, then you're back to the RY. It may seem like another wuss out but SSkitzzo, A.K.A. one of YouTube's most popular Rock Band drummers, AzuriteReaction, alternates hands during his video for "Bad Reputation", so don't feel bad about it!

Helpful Techniques and Other Tips - There are several sticking and foot techniques that can make things easier for you. But be advised: not every technique is going to work like a charm at first. In fact, most will take quite some time before you're good enough at it for it to be useful. Also no mater how much you practice a technique, it may just not be for you. Everyone is different and has a different playing style, and what works for someone else may not work for you. Those disclaimers out of the way, the techniques I will talk about in this section may either be something you'll use all the time or perhaps just something in very rare spots.

To start things off, I will discuss my personal favorite technique: the Heel-Toe technique. Heel-Toe is a technique used in real drumming to get ridiculously fast double-bass rhythms. For our purposes, however, it is used to hit quick double kicks that would normally cause your leg to lock up and probably cause you to look like a complete idiot to a neutral observer. What Heel-Toe involves is coming down on the pedal with your heel to register the first note of the double kick, then sliding your foot down and using your toes to register the second note. This may sound strange, but here is an instructional video to help get the idea in your mind. The guy in that video, Derrick Pope, is a great instructor and has great video lessons that are all very helpful, you should check them all out! The "rocking motion" he talks about is very important to master. Heel-Toe I have found is much easier on an ION pedal (one reason why I prefer the ION pedal) than a Destroyer, for several reasons. One, the ION is more sensitive. Two, it doesn't have the cam drive that the Destroyer has, so you can move your foot all over the footboard and not run into anything. You can use it for ridiculously fast stuff like the double kick in "Ride the Lightning"; quad fills (where I think it really shines) like the intro to "Hey John, What's Your Name Again?", "Are You Dead Yet?", "Laid to Rest", and "Constant Motion"; or just two moderately fast kicks like in "Panic Attack" and "Painkiller". Other than letting you hit difficult parts, it also takes much less effort than stomping your foot over and over, which is why I love it so much. "Panic Attack" will become effortless with practice.

The next things I want to touch on are techniques for constant streams of bass like the intro to "This Calling" and many other songs. There are several ways to combat them. First is just a basic foot technique, dealing with the heel-down foot position (as opposed to heel-up) that Derrick Pope talked about in the video I mentioned earlier (if you don't know what I'm talking about because you didn't read that Heel-Toe section for some crazy reason, this is the video I mean). This, once again, only really works on the ION pedal since it is so much more sensitive than the Destroyer pedal (why do people like Destroyers again? :P). Basically you just keep your heel glued to the footboard and stomp away. This requires much less effort than lifting your foot up each time, which reduces fatigue, but also makes for a much smaller motion, so you can make more of such motions in a certain time period. Another way you can try the heel-down method is to actually lift your toes up slightly and just flick, for lack of a better word, the pedal down, whichever works best for you.

Now is when things get interesting, using two feet. There are a few ways to play double bass hardware-wise. First, there is the bLiNdz0r method, using two feet on one pedal. I never did this because it felt very unnatural to me, but if you like it, go for it! Next, you can use the Roadie Double Bass Coupler, which is what I use (it works pretty well) or the ION brand Double Bass Coupler. Not sure how well the ION one works. Your third option is to use legit double bass pedals and a kick tower. However, I can't find one that works for Rock Band and isn't Guitar Hero-only on www.rockbandparts.com so you might be on your own if you want to give that a shot. People tend to see videos of people using two feet to hit fast bass stuff and think "Man, that would make things so much easier, why don't I try it?" But be warned although using two feet can make some previously-impossible-to-play parts and some really-difficult-to-play parts possible and easier, respectively, it is by far the most difficult technique that I will mention to master. This is because that chances are, if you haven't played drums before you started playing Rock Band, and if you did, unless you're a good drummer (and if that is the case, why are you reading this?), your non-dominant (left foot if you're right handed, right foot if you're left handed) foot has probably never touched a foot pedal. Too often people just rush right into a song, try to use two feet, then get frustrated and are bewildered why it sounds like a horse's gallop and why they cant get a 2x multiplier. Since your dominant foot is not only the one you have better control over mentally because of whichever hemisphere of your brain is dominant, but also is much more acquainted with playing bass, your non-dominant foot has a lot of catching up to do. The only, and I mean only, way to do that is, brace yourself, practice, practice, practice, and, oh yeah, more practice. No one ever wants to put in the work to master something, they just want a quick short-cut, but there truly isn't one. Your brain does not want to use two feet, but through practice, you'll eventually force it into submission. First, you have to get the motion down. What I did was just when I was sitting in class or something I would practice doing double bass motions because I normally shake my foot anyway. You must strive for completely even back-and-forth between your feet. Then, basically just take the intro to "This Calling" or, my personal favorite section in almost all of Rock Band, Chorus 1-Chorus 1B of "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" into practice mode and do nothing but play bass. Slow it down at first and strive for completely even notes. If you hear yourself not playing it perfectly even but it still registers, don't just accept it. Don't cut corners. The best you can do for yourself is just grind it out and get the motion down in your brain. Eventually, you'll have it so that it is so natural, your brain won't even think about it. Then you'll be able to focus on the more complex things that your hands are probably doing in whatever section you're playing. Remember to practice, I can't stress that enough!

Now for sticking techniques. There is all ready a sticky thread on this subject, Stickings and You -- Making Parts Flow, which you should absolutely read first, but I still want to touch on a few and mention some that I don't think that thread talks about.

The first one I want to mention is the use of double strokes. You have probably come across some patterns in songs that aren't standard RLRL sticking in the past. Some times you may just have to start the pattern with your non-dominant hand and it will work fine, but other times simple RLRL alternation just doesn't cut it. You may have to employ my personal favorite sticking technique, the aforementioned double stroke technique. This fairly simple technique involves using the rebound you get from your drum pad to your advantage by hitting the pad twice with one arm motion, or down stroke. Here's a section of the roll in "My Last Words" where double strokes are useful, if difficult:



Each of those little parts with two reds between the footpedals are a good spot to use double strokes, as using RLRL sticking and crossing over would be rather unwieldy.

The only other sticking technique I want to mention is called flying fingers. This is a technique used in real drumming to get constant streams of notes with one hand, or, in other words, a kind of one-handed roll. This technique does, however, require a kid with very good rebound. IONs probably aren't going to cut it. I'm not sure about Goodwoods, but an electronic kit may be necessary for this. Basically what it involves is using only your middle or ring finger to move the drumstick without moving your arm at all. This is why you need a lot of rebound, because there's only so much your fingers can do. To fully understand what is involved, see this video. This is how drummers play the parts in the intros of "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" and "This is Exile" so fast with only one hand. It can also be used for basic blast beats. Personally, I never really mastered this technique because my IONs were totally worn out by the time I discovered it, but the general principle can be used for other moderately fast songs like "Bad Reputation" and "Let There Be Rock" to help with endurance.

A Word About Blast Beats - Blast Beats are generally the thing that give people the most trouble. However through practice they have come to be my specialty, so I'll let you in on some tips and tricks. To begin, though, you must learn more about blast beats and what defines them as blasts. Blast beats are generally defined as a drum pattern that is not intended to keep time in the song, which a general drum pattern does. Instead, blasts are meant to provide a constant, intense, wall of sound. That being said, the most important thing when playing blasts is you must keep a constant tempo. Very rarely does a blast beat pattern speed up or slow down. In fact, I can't think of a single song in Rock Band that does. Therefore you must figure out the speed, then focus on staying at that speed. There are two types of blasts, alternating blasts and simultaneous blasts. Alternating blasts have one hand, usually the right hand, hitting on the down beat along with the foot and then the left hand hitting on the up beat. Alternating blasts show themselves in "Prequel to the Sequel", "This is Exile", "B.Y.O.B.", "Conquer All", and most extravagantly in "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse". Simultaneous blasts are when both right and left hands hit at the same time, usually accompanied with a bass hit. The bass hit can be with each time the hands hit, it can be every other hit, or it can hit every third hit as in triplet blasts. For instance, in "Hammer Smashed Face", the main pattern of the song consists of this:



As you can see, each time the hands hit, there is also a bass hit. Here is an example from "Idealistic Types":



Here there is a bass hit on every other hand hit. And here is an example of the triplet simultaneous blasts. These are the infamous triplet blasts of "Visions":



These are a little tricky, not because of their speed. It is just difficult keeping your foot in straight time while you have triplets going on in your hands. Luckily, this is about the only time you'll have to deal with these types of simultaneous blasts. Simultaneous blasts can be found in the aforementioned "Hammer Smashed Face", "Idealistic Types", "Visions", and in "This is Exile" and "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" after spurts of alternating blasts.

Now about hitting them. Alternating blasts tend to really freak people out because it looks like there is a whole slew of notes coming at them. That's not to say that there aren't a whole slew of notes, but it doesn't have to be so scary. The most important thing is to learn just how fast it is and have a mental picture of the speed. To do this, take it to practice and only try hitting one hand or just the feet. Once you know the speed, make sure that you start on time! Don't rush into it, you'll just screw yourself. Next, you must stay completely steady. A good way to do this, as I said before, is to watch the window where you actually hit the notes at the bottom of the chart. If you see the notes going past a little bit then get hit, you're falling behind. If they don't quite reach the window, slow down just a hair. Most blasts are the same notes over and over, so you don't really need to look ahead at what notes are coming, now do you? One of the easiest ways to get screwed is to get off beat so the most important thing is to stay steady. This is why it is always good to use OD during blasts. This is because it is so easy to get off beat. If you lose the beat, you'll start failing quite rapidly, but if you can start hitting one of the three notes in the pattern (for instance if the pattern is , if you can just start hitting the B's) then the OD will keep you alive. If you can regain yourself and get everything back on the beat, you'll be in ship shape! Always remember to focus on that window to see if you're going too fast or too slow, because a lot of the time you can't really tell. The final thing I can say is that blasts are a lot easier with a good kickpedal. If you're still using a stock pedal, you should definitely get a much more sensitive pedal, such as a Destroyer, or my personal choice, an ION pedal. This will make it so that you need minimal effort to have a note register, making constant streams of bass much easier.

There is one more thing I want to say. When you can't pass a song, focus on PASSING it, not doing well in it. All too often people will refuse to crap their way through something because they think "z0mg I g0t 2 G3t 5* d00d!" If you think like this, tell me: What looks better, "SONG FAILED 11% COMPLETE" or a three star? Don't be afraid to fake a part. You can worry about improving your score later. Always keep that in mind.





BREAKDOWN BY SONG

This will be a list of songs that I have heard people having trouble with. I will post them in order of hardest to easiest as determined by the RB2 tier system, even though that is not the correct order. The reason I do that is because the order of difficulty of passing songs will vary from person to person, so I thought this would be a good compromise. Also, if you have trouble passing a song post a request for it I will be MORE than happy to do it!





1. "This is Exile" by Whitechapel is in my opinion the second hardest song to pass in the game, behind WAHNTHAC. By no means am I knocking on its difficulty. The very beginning of this song is hard, with the constant snare hits clocking in at over 8 NPS if my calculations are correct. These are supposed to be one handed, making them faster than the blasts in "Idealistic Types" to start off the song. However for every measure of 16 red notes, there are only 6 greens or yellows. Therefore it is highly advised to keep your meter up to screw doing them one handed, forget about the other notes, and just play the reds and footpedals while alternating hands. This should keep you in the green for the whole intro if you stay true. Also a handy hint for the intro, the first set of greens before the reds start are the same speed as the reds so if you can hit those, you can hit the reds! After the intro is done, you'll have to face two measures of blasts at the same speed of the intro, a little slower, ranging from 8.0-7.8 NPS. These are important because you have two measures of alternating blasts at the same speed for each hand, going from 7.6 back up to 7.8 NPS. However, when people see alternating blasts they think they're faster just remember that your right hand is doing the same speed, your left hand just hits the off beats. Back to the song, after the second measure of alternating blasts there is a VERY important OD phrase. If you can get through here, you've made it past the first test. Next is a fairly easy mid section. There are two fairly easy OD phrases, one of which you must hit, because the main blast is on its way. Here is the chart for the main blast:



In the first string of blasts, there are 78 notes. Then, there are 42 notes in the second string for a total of 120 notes of Hell. Now two measures before that little section of chart begins there is a fill. If you get all the easy OD phrases before the blasts, you will have 3/4ths of a bar. If you use the OD, which I would recommend, you will have 1/2 of a bar left at the beginning of the blasts, which will last you almost through the entire thing. If you're feeling daring and want points, you can skip that first fill and try the first string of blasts by yourself. This will, however, cover up the second string of blasts with a fill! Hooray! Once you activate there (late so you don't have disappearing OD), if you wish (don't be afraid to hoard OD), you should chain that next OD and be able to build up a combo on the next section. However, you are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. Soon after you will have to deal with this:



What you could do is the same as the intro, just alternate and hit the kickpedals. If not, be sure to stay on beat, those and notes are important to hit. Then you'll get a spot like this soon after:



This is similar, but notice that every 7th green note is not on the beat with the bass note. This next part, however, is in my opinion the hardest part:



This is because the footpedals are in triplets while the hands are in straight time. It's not very hard to get, but it is completely different rhythmically than the rest of the song. To get through it I would recommend focusing on the hands, then trying to mush your way through it with the feet. If you're having trouble remember it's no different than "Sleepwalker" or "Laid to Rest", it is just faster. The hands are only at 4 NPS, the feet are at 6 NPS so it is by no means not do able, especially compared to the rest of the song, just be prepared for it. The rest should be easy to crap through, just some quick three note busts of footpedal, clocking in at almost 9 NPS, but don't fret, just hit two of them or something and you'll be fine. Make it to the end with some more of those annoying fills you've been seeing throughout the song that are at about 16.28 NPS and you'll be done. CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed what Harmonix claims to be the game's hardest song, "This is Exile!" Give yourself a pat on the back, this is no easy feat. Very few people have passed it so take a nice deep breath. Feels good, doesn't it? Go get yourself a "This is Exile PASS" banner here! Remember to always host banners yourself!





2. "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" by the Black Dahlia Murder - this is the real hardest song to pass. This is for numerous reasons. First there are many incredibly technical sections. Second there are no easy parts, so you'll be fighting the whole way. The real reason is that there are two BIIIIIIG strings of blasts. The first is mindblowingly technical, the second is mindblowingly long. But before we get into that, let's start at the beginning. First off, there are the bursts that begin the song. The second burst is an OD phrase, which is extremely critical for passing this song. The bursts are as follows:



To hit these, you must lock your right hand in sync with your foot. Then you just drop that note between them with your left hand. It does take a little practice and it is very hard to hit them consistently. They come in at a whopping 14.40 NPS if my calculations are correct. This is the same speed of the blasts to come, so be prepared. The intro past that is remarkably like "This is Exile", except slower and with more notes that aren't snares. Therefore to do well, you really have to do the snares one handed. The reds clock in at *only* 7.2 NPS one handed, a little slower than "Let There Be Rock (Live)" and "Dammit". The most important part is to hit the bass notes with it. There are never any right hand hits that don't have a footpedal along with them. You can think of them as bursts of 4 hits, 4 hits, then 6 hits. If you can hit them, then it is not obligatory to hit the two reds between each burst. I understand that this may sound like Jibberish, but here's what I mean:

Concentrate on hitting the parts with footpedals, then forget the two reds between each:



Doing this should keep you in green until the most technical section in my opinion in any song anywhere:



It may not look like much in the chart, but those double kicks clock in at a whopping 14.40 NPS! Not only that but they're very frequent and have a moderately fast standard hand pattern on top of it. There is one way to get through this, just hit one kick instead of two. Just keep one kick on every down beat, and your meter will hover nicely. Then, however, you'll come to Verse 1A, the first glimpse at some blasts. These alternating blasts followed by a few simultaneous blasts clock in at 7.2 one handed NPS, which means 14.40 for two hands. Keep in mind that these are slower than "This is Exile" so don't go flailing everywhere! Remember, always keep your foot and your right hand locked in synchronization. They don't last very long, though, so don't fret. They are only 30 beats each, bringing the total to 90 notes. Getting through this is great, but unfortunately you have another one of those technical polyrhythmical sections to look forward to. Stay focused and on the beat. Then you have another section like the intro! Believe it or not, this is where you're going to have to boost your meter to get you through the rest of the song. After this, you'll have everyone's favorite: constant streams of very fast bass notes with slow hand rhythms over it. The bass is at 7.2 NPS but it constant, making it very difficult to build a combo. Oh and remember when I said there is a slow hand rhythm over it? Yeah there are periodical 14.4 NPS rolls over the top. However, 12 measures after this Chorus 1 section starts, there is a CRITICAL OD PHRASE that you MUST HIT, because it will give you 1/2 of a bar. Here it is:



That part highlighted in green is the OD phrase. If you miss it, you might as well restart, because you're going to go into the first, and hardest blasts, completely on your own without OD. There is another OD later in the Chorus that will certainly help if you get it, but it isn't completely necessary. Now for the part that separates the boys from the men. The blasts. There are two strings of blasts. The first being a very strange technical pattern that looks something like this:



Note the spastic and completely random nature of it. Also there are some lovely parts that are just about impossible to hit. There is a fill right before this blast starts. To be frank: USE IT THEN!!!!!!!! You'll need it. Once you're actually playing it, focus on getting those 4 little parts to help your meter hover but when you have no right hand hits, just start pumping in foot pedals and try to somehow hit some of the reds. Believe me, you'll feel like an idiot, but you'll have to do it. This pattern repeats a lovely 8 times, totaling about 220 notes over those 16 measures. That was the first blast. The next blast is much less technical, it is only over and over, but it is a constant stream of 14.40 NPS blasts for 16 measures. No rolls every 8 measures like the first blast. 282 notes. Here's a quick snap shot:



There is, about mid way, a little part where it switches to G in your right hand for two notes. Ignore it, just stay on and just focus on the window to keep a steady speed. The biggest thing I can say is FOCUS O_O. If you can manage to grind through that, do NOT let up! Grind through another Chorus section with the constant bass to get your meter back up from the pits of Hell where it must be after those blasts. There is another hard section left. Just one more, I swear! Here's what it looks like:



It is a cross between the constant bass of the Chorus and the hand patterns and three note bursts of the Intro. Then you have another Chorus section then the Outro which is just like the Intro and you're Scott free!!! CONGRATULATIONS! You've passed the hardest song in the game! If you can pass this, you can pass anything! Have a nice big sigh and maybe a beer if you're old enough, because thank God you're done with that song, right? Go get yourself a "WAHNTHAC PASS" banner here! Remember to always host your banners yourself!





3. "Conquer All" by Behemoth - This is one of the most brutal songs out for Rock Band, full of dethgrowls and anti-Christian lyrics! What people always talk about with this song is the bass. It is true that it is a pain and is constant for just about the whole song, but it isn't that fast, averaging only 6.3 NPS. There are two things you really need to worry about in this song, the two sets of backwards blasts (I'll explain later), and the polyrhythm at the end. Therefore you should always be saving your OD. However, to get through both sets of backward blasts, you will actually have to miss one of the three OD phrases before it or else you will chain OD and not have any for the second backward blast. I recommend hitting the first two then missing the third, so you can have some rest time during the fills you skip. Now to explain the backward blasts. The reason they're backward is because in a typical blast the right hand is on the beat, then the left hand, or snare, is off the beat. In these blasts, the opposite is true. The foot is still on the beat, however. Here's what they look like:



To hit it, you could use OD, flail about, hoping to hit some notes, and crap your way through it, or you could choose one of two other options. Option one, you could cross over. This means hitting with your right hand and hitting with your left. This will make the blasts natural blasts, however this is INCREDIBLY awkward. Then there is option two, using a cymbal. Assign your cymbal to yellow, then you can hit yellow off beat with your off beat hand and red on the beat with your on beat hand without crossing over. A good example of the cymbal method is shown at 1:20 of Kknyrass's video found here. Another way you can tackle these is to totally ignore the yellows and just play . After the backward blasts are some natural blasts with a few changes to , clocking in at 12.00 NPS on average, the same as the backward blasts. There are, however some missing notes in the blasts. Fortunately, not nearly as many missing as the first blast in WAHNTHAC, but still enough to make it hard to keep a combo. Basically just to crap your way through it just ignore the fact that they're missing and pretend that there is a right hand note there. Here is the chart:




So pretty much just add a Blue where there isn't a note and you'll be fine. If you do that, this one shouldn't give you too much trouble, focus hitting the sections and the sections and you'll do just fine. They're both moderately slow in general, being a full NPS slower than the "Prequel to the Sequel" blasts and the "Train Kept A Rollin'" Rolls, even slower than the triplets in "Maps" :P. But don't get cocky. There's still that polyrhythm. Here's what it basically looks like:



It is a very fast triplet bass pattern with a standard high hat/snare pattern over the top. The feet clock in at 6.4125 NPS, just a bit faster than the rest of the song but it seems much faster. What I suggest to crap your way through the end is to focus on hitting the hands. You may hit some footpedals, but either way you should be able to survive. It may make a few tries, but it's really the only way. Also make sure you hit the fills during the polyrhythm, they really help keep you alive. Once you're done with the polyrhythm, you're done with the song! Congratulations! You've passed "Conquer All"!





4. "Embedded" by Job For A Cowboy - Ahh, "Embedded", the fourth of four songs tiered higher than "Panic Attack" in Rock Band. The good part about this song is that it stays at a completely constant tempo, 172 Beats Per Minute (BPM), for the entire song. That means you never have to worry about straying tempo (whoopie, right?).The bad part about this song is that the hardest part is the very beginning. This means no messing around hoarding OD, it's all out from the get-go. This is because there are some very fast simultaneous blasts throughout the song. Unfortunately, they start off, and are most prevalent, in the first verse. These are no ordinary blasts rhythmically, and I'll explain why. Here's what they look like:



Now you may be thinking "So what, they look fine. They're just fast, right?" Well they're most certainly not fine! Although they are fast. Quite fast in fact. A blistering 8.60 NPS one handed. That's the second fastest in the game. About 1 NPS slower than the triplet blasts in "Visions" but slightly faster than the normal blasts in the Bridge sections of "Visions". But back to the point, if you play drums in Rock Band by rhythm, that is to say, you've had some musical training in your life and understand the concept of triplets, eighth notes, etc., etc., then these blasts will be Hell. If you play by the patterns you see, you will be all right at these. If you don't know which way you play, these blasts are likely to let you know by how well you do. The reason these are rhythmically ridiculous is because they are triplets BUT the double bass under the blasts are ALSO triplets, but it's only charted for one foot! That means that you have triplets going in your hands but some ridiculous half triplets going on in your foot. This is the only instance in Rock Band where I think double bass would actually be easier, because it would be much easier to stay in time. But that's just me, I play rhythmically, not visually. If you play visually, don't read them as triplets, read them as normal 1 2 1 2 blasts like in the bridge of "Visions" and you'll do just fine. The only thing (only is a relative term :P) you'll have to worry about is speed. And trust me that's enough. There isn't unfortunately, a consistent trick to crap your way through these. If you just hit the and skip each but as far as I have tried not only is this hard to do but it does not make your meter hover; you go down fairly quickly. However, what you could do (this is untested, I will update this once I have tried it) is use the concept of Note Discrimination in your favor and just hit the reds and footpedals. If not, you might just have to flail around and pray to survive. There is hope, however. After the second string of blasts there is your first key OD phrase that is easy to hit. Once you grab that, there are going to be two mini blasts of 5 hits and 6 hits respectively, then another key OD that is easy to hit. Once you've got yourself a half meter, you can get down to business. There is a funky section of quasi-blasts where there are more left hand hits than right. They're a bit hard to describe so here's what they look like:



Some people find these to be a breeze but they really give me a lot of trouble. All I can say is to try to do over and over and forget the right hand. Thankfully, this pattern only lasts 2 measures and there's only 2 little bursts of it. Immediately after the second one there is another OD phrase which is nifty to snag, but by no means crucial. You'll want to activate OD right after that, though, because the hardest part of the song in my opinion is coming up. Thankfully it only rears its ugly head once in the song, but it is none the less ugly. It is another string of blasts. Yellow and red this time instead of blue and red but there is more to it. There are four and a half straight measures of these blasts, twice as long as the others. Plus, there are little three note red bursts at the beginning of each measure. These little buggers clock in at a spine-tingling 17.2 NPS! Also once every measure there is a change from yellow to green. Basically I would recommend activating OD right before these and just try to hit red and yellow your way to the chorus, screwing the red bursts and change to green. Here's that tricky blast:



It's that whole slew plus three more measures. Anyhow, if you can muster your way through that, try to hit the OD right at the end and you've made it to the "easy" part, the Chorus! This is where you're going to have to get your meter up, because no other part is going to do that for you for a long time. The constant stream of bass should be your only worry, clocking in at approximately 5.7 NPS, so not too bad. Help yourself out by picking up another OD in this section to give yourself half a bar, because more blasts loom. At the end of the Chorus get ready because more blasts like in the intro are on their way. I would recommend toughing through the first one, then activating. You can activate before the first one if you wish, but there are more after the second blasts so it'll be easier in my opinion to go through the first one on your own then activate. Eventually you'll get to a part with just left hand hits and a few right hand hits. Like the rest of the song, focus on those reds! Then you'll see one section with a footpedal for every red, basically just mash your foot for that . The feet for that section are at 8.6 NPS, for 9 notes which is craaazy. The "Wall of orange" in "...And Justice For All" is 9.28 NPS which is slightly faster but is only 6 notes so this particular orange wall is quite a doozey. Then after that there's a slow part to help your meter out, but then a few more :OBR: blasts yadda yadda yadda. Then you'll get to Chorus 2. Chorus 2 starts out like Chorus 1, but once it gets to Chorus 2B it starts getting all alternating blasty. Here's what I mean:



If you have Over Drive here, I suggest using it, the song is nearly over and this is just about the hardest remaining part. These here are 11.4 NPS which is quite slow for blasts, slower than "Conquer All" and "Prequel to the Sequel" but they do have everyone's best friend, missing notes. Thankfully, though, the only missing notes are on the left hand! This way your right hand and foot are always in sync, always on the beat so these won't be too much trouble. There is one more weird roll after this that is only two measures long, here it is:



The sticking is what's funky about this roll, I believe it goes RLLRLLRLRLRLRLRRLRLRLRLRLLRLRLRLR. So yeah, pretty weird. From here on out, though, its just more constant bass, a few blue rolls, and some alternating cymbal "blasts" and you're all done!!! Congratulations, you have passed "Embedded"!





5. "Panic Attack" by Dream Theater - Dream Theater is a band known for their skillful playing from each of its members, long, epic songs, topsy-turvy time signatures, and insane organ solos. "Panic Attack" is no exception. Each instrument has very tough, syncopated parts, the song is around eight and a half minutes long, the song switches many times between 4/4, 3/4, 5/8, and 2/4 time signatures, and yes, it does have an amazing organ solo! There are several rhythms that may give you trouble in this song, many of them involve triplets, polyrhythms, and of course changing time signatures. The first one is what opens the song. This rhythm is straight sixteenth notes, that is, four notes per beat, sixteen notes per measure since it begins in 4/4 time, however it is still a little strange. Here is what it looks like:



Now, if you're having trouble with this, you could simply play what is on the Hard difficulty's chart, which looks like this:



However, I think it isn't very hard to throw in a couple of footpedals, so you'll be playing a bit of a hybrid to help keep your meter up. The end result will look like this:


(Sorry about how that looks choppy, I'm not familiar with my Mac's software yet.)

This way you only drop four notes, your meter should keep up. Now like just about any of these songs on the list, you're going to be hoarding OD, there's just no way around it. There is a hurdle that is looming in the distance, the Odd Riff, that will likely require your OD. Before we get there there really aren't any large sections of difficult parts, some "simple" rhythms with some syncopated bass notes, another spurt like the intro, but otherwise not too bad. Eventually, however, you will meet up with it. Here's the chart:



Now, it must be said that right as the odd riff begins, the song switches from 4/4 time to 3/4. The reason this part is difficult is that there are sixteenth note basspedals (charted for one foot so it ends up being eighth notes) with triplets in the hands over the top. This nice little polyrhythm is very tough to build up a combo for, so basically you're going to want your OD for this. Once you activate to keep you from failing one thing you could do is just completely forget the footpedals and focus on the hands. However, if you're feeling cocky the feet during the Odd Riff is the exact same speed as the section before it, so if you lock in that speed and go into auto pilot mode, you might just be able to get through it. If you've gotten through it, you're in the clear! You now have a very helpful and very easy section to recover that has two, count 'em, two (to quote Spongebob Squarepants) OD phrases! However you shouldn't really need it if you've gotten thus far. However there's nothing wrong with continuing to hoard OD, but just make sure you use it just before the outro; not only is it the end of the song but it is the hardest remaining section. It is just like the intro except there are two extra measures of it! Just grind it out, grit your teeth and hit those last notes and CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Panic Attack"!





6. "Hammer Smashed Face" by Cannibal Corpse - This song is actually one of my favorites to play. It is also the only one of the five hard songs in the Mayhem pack that I passed on my sightread. But enough about me. One of the problems that plagues this song is the massive speedups and slowdowns in tempo at random times. For instance just in the first verse over a period of 6 measures it goes from 204 BPM to 184 BPM back up to 209 BPM. This is more than enough to break your combo if you can't roll with the changes. Then just four measures after that it spikes to 225 BPM. It does this several times in the song, at one point skyrocketing from 233 BPM to 272 BPM in one measure! But moving on, this song is mainly composed of RYO blasts which switch to a RYO YO RYO YO pattern every once in a while. Also another part of this song that is schmutzy is that there are sections that are actually charted for double bass. The first of these parts is at the first prechorus:



As you can see, it switches from normal blasts at 191 BPM to the double bass part at 224 BPM. If you listen to the song, though, it really truly is charted for double bass. A rare mishap by Harmonix, but hey, just try to mash your foot for that, because the foot there does clock in at a nasty 7.5 NPS so its tough to hit. Luckily it won't last long. The chorus sections of this song are quite easy, with an easy ride cymbal or high hat pattern. However you will see these little fills throughout the song during these sections and they are key to being successful:



They don't look like much, but they are tricky to hit consistently averaging at 13.4 NPS. Basically just stick them RRL RLRLRLR but be sure not to wait too long for that little pause, its only one note long. The reason these are so key is because they appear as OD phrases about 3 or 4 times so if you can hit them, you'll be in great shape. The song will carry on like this, blasts, random speedups, then slow ride/high hat section until you get to a slow break down section. This section is very easy, but right after it comes the hardest part of the song. Therefore hoard your OD! The slow section will last about 25 measures but then out of nowhere comes a mega-fast, "Blinded By Fear"-esque section. The BPM shoots from about 210 to 250 BPM and the NPS for your right hand is a massive 8.37, only a tinge slower than "Blinded By Fear"!



Now if you feel like a big man, you can try this legit. Likely, however, you will tire easily, because this lasts for a whopping 26 measures. Therefore I recommend using a little trick for songs like this. Instead of hitting , I recommend just hitting . This will feel a little weird but you're saving your right arm while still staying well in the green since you're only missing one yellow for every red, foot, and two yellows. If you can grind through that part though, legitimately or with the trick, you'll be nearly finished so hit that last weird speed up section and finish the song! CONGRATULATIONS! You have passed "Hammer Smashed Face"!




7. "Visions" by Abnormality - "Visions", although widely hated on by those who play it, is one of my favorite songs on the disc. It's a crude, raw, demo by Abnormality, a Harmonix band. This song is the only song on disc that has any form of blast beats, but its also full of seemingly random notes, and not to mention strange rhythmical rolls. In my opinion there is no reason why this song is tiered lower than "Painkiller" and "Panic Attack". It is without a doubt, no argument, no controversy, the most difficult song on the disc to pass, four star, five star, gold star, and FC. Sounds inviting, eh? So let us begin! This song doesn't have any sissy intro that builds to a difficult part, its balls to the wall from the bat! However, most people who cannot pass this song can't even get through the first set of blasts. However, if you can hit those first four OG notes (which is an OD phrase that I suggest you hit), you can hit those blasts because they are precisely the same speed. For some reason whenever they see those blasts they flip out and flail around like their life depends on it. This always blows my mind, but if you keep those tips from the "SPEED" section of the "THINGS TO REMEMBER" section, if playing it faster makes no difference, you're probably going to want to slow down. They are only 6.5 NPS per hand, which is slower than "Bad Reputation". They're also slightly slower than the RY blasts during the first verse. So just take a pill, slow down, and blast those into next week. Once you get through those blasts, you'll have the first verse to deal with. it begins with an easy hand pattern with a fairly difficult bass pattern underneath. Here's the chart:



The part that makes this difficult for some is those double kicks in each measure. As always, I would recommend taking it into practice so you can hit it, but if you're looking for a quick fix, you could simply skip one or both of the bass notes in the double kicks. That should help you get through and your meter should stay in a good spot. Next you'll be faced with the RY blasts which I mentioned earlier. To pass this song you're going to have to be good at this part, not only does it appear numerous times in the song, but several times after a tough part. Therefore if you can get this part, it will resurrect your meter several times in the song. After the RY blasts you'll have another section with the double kicks, then there will be a break. At this break there is a very large jump in the tempo of the song, from 201 BPM to a whopping 270 BPM. I advise you use OD at the next fill you see, assuming that you have some, because now you have some blasts that you should be worrying about. These are the same rhythmically for the hands as the ones in the intro, but that spike in tempo has pushed them up to 8.56 NPS, over two more notes per second! Granted, they are only three measures long each but they do appear a nasty five times in a span of about 20 seconds, so you'll likely need some help from your OD. After that you'll have the mid section, full of strange triplet rolls and seemingly random footpedals. However, there are at least two OD phrases that are fairly easy to hit and it is crucial that you hit them. Keep hoarding your OD through the next section until you see a HUGE string of RG notes, these are the infamous triplet blasts! When you see them, activate, for God's sake! There really isn't anything you can do here except flail about, there really isn't. They clock in at a whopping 9.75 NPS for each hand which is the fastest in the game for any song, regardless of DLC, disc, or Rock Band 1! Here's what they look like:



As I said, keep your foot on the beat and flail your arms like they've never flailed before! If this isn't enough, you can just disregard the greens and use two hands to hit the red notes of the blasts. Remember, they're triplets so don't go hitting them like they're eighth notes or sixteenths. From here on out, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Just some sextuplet rolls (more flailing around!) and then some blasts like you saw at the beginning and you'll be scott-free! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed the hardest on disc song by far: "Visions"! You've likely passed your 84th song, and congratulations again for that!





8. "Blinded by Fear" by At the Gates - The only reason this song is hard to pass is because of speed. That's it. The pattern basically for the whole song is either or . The only problem is, it does those patterns at an arm-snapping 8.46 NPS for the right hand. You may think, well what is there to do, then? We're going to do the same thing we did at the end of "Hammer Smashed Face", play instead of or instead of . Unfortunately, this tactic only makes your meter hover and there are some fills that will make it drop. Therefore you have two choices. One, tough it out and use the trick until it gets easy in measure 56 at Chorus 1, or you can use the trick until you see an OD phrase coming up and try to tough it out and get that OD phrase for some help. You're going to have to try both ways. Either way, Chorus1, Chorus 2, Gtr Melody, and Gtr solo are the only sections you'll be able to regain some ground on, as they slow down to a nice groove. After that, though, its more debauchery until Chorus 3, then one last push to the end of the song. CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Blinded By Fear"!





9. "They're Red Hot" by Red Hot Chili Peppers - This song, although only 1 minute 12 seconds long, can give an average drummer a whole mess of trouble. This is because to the untrained eye the pattern is completely random, but that is not the case. The key to passing this song is a recurring pattern that once you understand it is fairly easy to hit. This is what it looks like:



This may not seem like much, but when you first see it it looks pretty weird. The reason it's easy to hit is that unlike most of the song the sticking is natural: RLRLRLRLRLRL with a footpedal on each R. This pattern is basically the entire song with little weird fills between each one. In fact this pattern or a very similar one is seen 20 times in the song. Therefore if you can get the easy peasy RLRL parts, you should be able to not worry about the fills between them and crap your way through the song. There is one strange little break down section though that goes like this:



What I would suggest here is just to hit the yellows that are on the beat and forget about the other ones, they're a bit tricky to hit. Always remember during this song to keep your foot pumpin' away and keep a whether eye out for the RLRL sticking sections. Besides, it's only a minute long! CONTGRATULATIONS! You have just passed "They're Red Hot"!





10. "Prequel to the Sequel" by Between the Buried and Me - This is usually the hardest song outside the Mayhem Pack for someone to pass. If you're looking for a challenge though, it's one of the 20 free songs you get for registering your game with the code on the back of the game guide, so everyone has access to it! If you haven't done this already, I strongly recommend it because hey, it's 20 free songs! Five or six of them are pretty fun too! Back to the point, the reason "Prequel to the Sequel" is a hard song to pass besides its wavering, strange time signatures is a huge chunk of alternating blasts. As I mentioned, it isn't all peas and carrots up until then, so we'll get to the blasts in due time. Before I mention any specific parts, I should remind you that you should be hoarding OD for those blasts. That being said the first tough part is at Verse 1. It's a strange rhythm with uneven bass hits and equally uneven hand hits. Very hard to hit the first time you see it. Here's the last 2 measures of the total four measures it takes up.



This section begins a nagging section of the song that lasts until the blasts where the time signature changes from 4/4 to 7/8 and back. Then it changes from 4/4 to 3/4 and back. Therefore the pattern is even more irregular than it normally is. The only real way to get good at this section is to take it to practice mode, slow it down, and ever so slowly work your way up to 100% speed. To crap your way through it, I would recommend concentrating on the O RG O parts. That should make your meter hover to the fill at the very end where you can rest and prepare for the next part, which is easy to get through. You should be able to get through the rest of the song up until the blasts. The blasts are at first OB R alternating, then change to OY R for two separate strings. But before you try bullcrapping your way through them, go to practice and choose Verse 2. Completely ignore the OY R blasts that you'll see and just play this measure:



Once you've played it you're probably thinking "Okay what the Hell was the point of that? That was....really easy." Well guess what? Those blues that your right hand hits are the EXACT same speed as the blasts! If you can hit those easy peasy blues, you can easily at least get the hands for the blasts. Now try that section (Verse 2) again and keep the speed of those blues in your mind. Those blasts are really easy, aren't they? A lot slower than you thought they were, I bet. You may, however, have trouble with the footpedal speed, so there are a few things you can do. First, it's helpful to know that the blasts themselves are triplets. What you could do, which I recommend, is just think of it as a roll with a foot pedal on every right hand hit, not unlike many rolls, like this one in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper":



The only difference between that and the blasts is that you keep your right hand on yellow. If you are having trouble still, you can try a little bit different. You could just play the hands then hit a footpedal on every third right hand (since they are triplets you'll always be on the beat with the foot). This will just keep you on the beat will you concentrate on the hands. Here's them big ol' blasts:



Activate right before them, then after the second set there is an OD of those blues that it is very important to chain so you can have some OD for the third and final chunk of blasts. If you've made it thus far, don't let up, you're not quite out of the woods yet. If your meter is on the brink of failure, this next section could make or break you!



For the first six footpedals just hit red, ignore the bursts of three so just play ORG OR OR ORG OR OR. This should keep you alive. Then, you're basically just going to have to flail around for those strange R Y R Y O parts, I personally still can't hit them. Now that you've made it thus far, I'd bet you would hate to fail now! Therefore I recommend you hoard OD to the end of the song because there are some strange fills and rolls. Whether you decide to or not, the rest shouldn't be too hard. If you've made it, CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Prequel to the Sequel" you badass!





11. "Good Mourning / Black Friday" by Megadeth - You probably purchased "Good Mourning / Black Friday" solely because you heard it was quite difficult, and you'd be right, it is. Much like "Foreplay / Long Time" by Boston, this song is actually two songs separated by a short break. Why they do that, I'm not sure, but it sounds good so who cares. Anyhow, "Good Mourning" is certainly not the part that you have to worry about in this song; alone it's probably a Tier 1 song. ALTHOUGH it does have many key OD phrases that you are definitely going to want to hoard. When you first sightread this, you probably thought "What's the big deal?" like I did then suddenly realized "OMFG HELPZ PLEAZ!" then failed out. I personally failed my first two reads of this song, mainly because the main pattern of "Black Friday" is both very difficult and very tiring to play. Then there are some very scary looking rolls and other things spiced up between it. Let's roll the tape back a bit, because it doesn't start out bad. "Black Friday" starts off looking strikingly similar to the end of "Peace Sells", a high hat beat with some quick kicks spiced up around the snare.



As you can see, there are some quick kicks just before and after each snare, with the occasional double hit thrown in there. This won't be too bad to get through, especially with a fill every four measures to regain your composure. Just focus on those OY notes if you're really having trouble. This pattern only lasts 20 measures, followed by another break. The next section has some slow triplet double bass with a straight time ride beat laid over it, strikingly like "Sleepwalker". This section also has some more key OD phrases. It lasts slightly longer than the earlier section, 35 measures total with plenty of fills. There's another break, but then comes the part that really gives people nightmares. Worst of all, you'll be stuck like this for the rest of the song. It consists of a very uptempo beat with double kicks that peak at a gnarly 12.5 NPS on every other beat! On top of that there are periodically some fills that look like some variant of this:



I say variant because the first measure of the fill changes I believe each time it appears. It can be some alternating footpedals and blues or it can be triplet footpedals...you've got to roll with the punches. However these fills are most likely what will cause to you activate OD to save yourself. When you see one of these they can look very scary, especially that second measure. But if you look at it, the second measure is standard RL sticking, it's just a little screwy looking. You could go for the little G notes for these but just for passing purposes I'd just say stay on red. There are four or five of these fills. Other than that there are just those annoying double kicks. A quick tip if your foot is getting tired towards the end of the song (don't worry, everyone's does), just hit one note of those double kicks, that should be enough to carry you up until the end with one more crazy fill (this one isn't RL sticking) and boom, the song is over! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "Good Mourning / Black Friday"!





12. "YYZ" By Rush - Ahh, although this song gave me a lot of trouble, it has grown to be one of my favorite songs to play. Also a little factoid did you know that YYZ is the code for the Toronto International Airport? Anyhow, the reason this song is hard to pass is because basically the whole song is very technical and syncopated. What do you want, it's Neal Peart. Anyhow, there are two main beats to this song. This one:



And this one:



You'll see that one with the blues first, then the one with the yellows, then the blues, then yellows, etc., etc. Anyhow what's going to happen with both of these is eventually you're going to have a moment were everything just "clicks". It's happened to everyone before, whenever a strange beat suddenly makes sense. It first happened to me on "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter". It has happened to me for the blues, but not the yellows. Anyhow! For the blues the first thing to learn is the hand pattern. Don't even try to alternate on the blues, they've all got to be with the right hand. Just take it into practice, screw the feet. Work on getting the beat, because it changes every time. A good way is to focus on the reds, that's what helps me any way. Then there are those footpedals. Of course Neil isn't nice and has the right hand lock on with the feet. Once again, it changes constantly. A good way to just crap your way through it, however, is to hit the foot with the right hand at all times. This is because they are in sync more often than not. Anyhow the only way to get it is practice, practice, practice. Then, there is that yellow part, which haunts me to this day. Not the base pattern which is what is shown above, but once or twice there are like a zillion extra reds thrown in that always mess me up. It looks like this:



It's only five extra notes, but it's pretty screwy. To get these little sections, unlike the blue sections, the place to start is the feet. Two hits on the beat then a quick double kick. Thankfully this actually is fairly constant during these sections, so be sure to get that down. Then comes the hands. The yellow is always on the beat, but the red changes from being on the beat to being on the pickup that leads into yellow. A little weird, but not too hard to get down. Again, you're going to have to take it into practice, working on the foot, then on the hands separately, then slowly adding them together (remember it's always easier slower!).

Now to passing the song. You do have one beacon of luck with this song, the intro is very easy and is chock-full of OD. You should be able to get a full meter just from the intro, which is great! Basically, you know the drill: hoard that OD. However do not be afraid to use it if you get low. This is because there are very few recovery points until the middle section. The middle section is a blessing indeed though. Before I get into that, if you've used OD, there is one key OD phrase right before the mid section that consists of a very fast, but still hittable, red roll that looks like this:



Now it is 13.56 NPS but if you grind it out I'm sure you can hit it. The reason this is key is because there is only one OD phrase in the mid section. The mid section itself is incredibly easy, a standard pattern. If you don't hit that roll, don't fret because there is one more OD phrase besides the one in the mid section that you can hit before the main riff kicks in again, I just think the red roll is easier. Plus if you get all 3, you've increased your chances even further! Anyhow once that blue part kicks in again, basically use OD as soon as you start taking a dive, because the song is nearly over (yahoo!). Just a couple measures of the blues and some rolls left and you're done! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just passed "YYZ"!

Special Thanks:

-Fearthereapist
-the1and0nly1

[blingdomepiece]

This is a good topic, but in the interests of full disclosure, you have a career score of 15.6 million, and 79/84 RB2 gold stars. You may not think you are good, and maybe compared to someguy or blindzor you're not so great, but empirically speaking you are very good.

That said, I'd love to read your insights into WaHNtHaC specifically. It seems to me there is a very long, difficult blue-red blast. I think if you can't hit that pretty well you have no chance and I don't think there's any trick to get around it (if you had OD you probably used it to survive the weird blast right before it).

BTW regarding your alternating-hands tip, I remember during Drum Hell 2 they were playing some super fast song (maybe AC DC live) and Phr34k was having trouble and Calin just casually said "If it's too fast for one, use two" (or something to that effect). I figure if it's good enough for them it's good enough for us.
_________________

Expert Pro Keys: 50/63 GS, most recent The Killing Moon
Expert Pro Drums: 53/83 GS, most recent Free Bird / Oh My God / Oye Mi Amor
Expert Pro Bass: 6/83 GS, most recent Everybody Wants to Rule the World

[blingdomepiece]

This is a good topic, but in the interests of full disclosure, you have a career score of 15.6 million, and 79/84 RB2 gold stars. You may not think you are good, and maybe compared to someguy or blindzor you're not so great, but empirically speaking you are very good.

That said, I'd love to read your insights into WaHNtHaC specifically. It seems to me there is a very long, difficult blue-red blast. I think if you can't hit that pretty well you have no chance and I don't think there's any trick to get around it (if you had OD you probably used it to survive the weird blast right before it).

BTW regarding your alternating-hands tip, I remember during Drum Hell 2 they were playing some super fast song (maybe AC DC live) and Phr34k was having trouble and Calin just casually said "If it's too fast for one, use two" (or something to that effect). I figure if it's good enough for them it's good enough for us.
_________________

Expert Pro Keys: 50/63 GS, most recent The Killing Moon
Expert Pro Drums: 53/83 GS, most recent Free Bird / Oh My God / Oye Mi Amor
Expert Pro Bass: 6/83 GS, most recent Everybody Wants to Rule the World

[FoamythePuppy]

Counquer all help would be great, and the idea for the intro to This is Exile is really helpful

[FoamythePuppy]

Counquer all help would be great, and the idea for the intro to This is Exile is really helpful

[FatsDomino64]

When I said I didn't think I was good I meant that I don't think I'm as good as people can assume because I can pass these songs. Also don't worry, I have just started Conquer All!
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[FatsDomino64]

When I said I didn't think I was good I meant that I don't think I'm as good as people can assume because I can pass these songs. Also don't worry, I have just started Conquer All!
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[Zyl0]

Since I'm still in the "BS through the hardest songs" phase of my RB drums career, lemme ask for some help on GM/BF. This is the last song I have to pass outside of the Mayhem pack and it's one hell of a hurdle. I can't get all the way through the ending pattern. My foot doesn't quite have the stamina to keep up with the double kicks for so long, so I've tried ignoring the 2nd kick in each double, which more or less allows the lifebar to hover through the pattern; however, once I get off beat even a little, it's quick degeneration to failing. Should I still consider trying this BS technique just to get the pass, or hold off on the song until I can actually hit the double-kicks and combo through?
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123456doit.

[Zyl0]

Since I'm still in the "BS through the hardest songs" phase of my RB drums career, lemme ask for some help on GM/BF. This is the last song I have to pass outside of the Mayhem pack and it's one hell of a hurdle. I can't get all the way through the ending pattern. My foot doesn't quite have the stamina to keep up with the double kicks for so long, so I've tried ignoring the 2nd kick in each double, which more or less allows the lifebar to hover through the pattern; however, once I get off beat even a little, it's quick degeneration to failing. Should I still consider trying this BS technique just to get the pass, or hold off on the song until I can actually hit the double-kicks and combo through?
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123456doit.

[FearTheReapist]

[FearTheReapist]

[FearTheReapist]

My bad, double post fail -.-
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I LOVE SCOREHERO <5

[FearTheReapist]

My bad, double post fail -.-
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I LOVE SCOREHERO <5

[FatsDomino64]

Don't worry guys, I'll get some more songs up here, it's just going to take some time. I plan to add Embedded, Hammer Smashed Face, Blinded by Fear, Prequel, GM/BF, among others to the list. BTW I'll add that technique for the backward blasts and credit you for it, fear.
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Drums Scores | Vocals Scores | My Accomplishment Thread | Guide to Passing Difficult Songs on Drums

[FatsDomino64]

Don't worry guys, I'll get some more songs up here, it's just going to take some time. I plan to add Embedded, Hammer Smashed Face, Blinded by Fear, Prequel, GM/BF, among others to the list. BTW I'll add that technique for the backward blasts and credit you for it, fear.
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[Toodooloo]

I love you for this

I'd say sticky-worthy aswell, but that's just me

[Toodooloo]

I love you for this

I'd say sticky-worthy aswell, but that's just me

[megallica]

[megallica]

[blingdomepiece]

I do Conquer All differently. I have an Ion kit and crossing over for the reverse blasts is not awkward for me. So I play both reverse blasts WITHOUT overdrive. I save my overdrive for the REGULAR blast that is missing notes, which I have much more trouble with.

For the end polyrhythm, I've heard you can BS through it by playing it like Painkiller, but I haven't tried it myself.
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Expert Pro Keys: 50/63 GS, most recent The Killing Moon
Expert Pro Drums: 53/83 GS, most recent Free Bird / Oh My God / Oye Mi Amor
Expert Pro Bass: 6/83 GS, most recent Everybody Wants to Rule the World

[blingdomepiece]

I do Conquer All differently. I have an Ion kit and crossing over for the reverse blasts is not awkward for me. So I play both reverse blasts WITHOUT overdrive. I save my overdrive for the REGULAR blast that is missing notes, which I have much more trouble with.

For the end polyrhythm, I've heard you can BS through it by playing it like Painkiller, but I haven't tried it myself.
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Expert Pro Keys: 50/63 GS, most recent The Killing Moon
Expert Pro Drums: 53/83 GS, most recent Free Bird / Oh My God / Oye Mi Amor
Expert Pro Bass: 6/83 GS, most recent Everybody Wants to Rule the World

[the1and0nly1]

You might wanna consider mentioning the missing note blast section of Conquer All. It's a pretty difficult spot, but you can make it much simpler by just pretending there are notes where there aren't. As long you overhit any pad but red, it'll barely do anything to your meter and it'll really help you stay on rhythm.

Also, I don't know if you realize (or care) that you use "star power" instead of "overdrive" a lot.
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Try out my riddle: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~clabulis/home.html

(4th riddle now available as of 8/19/09)
Feel free to PM me if you need any help!

[the1and0nly1]

You might wanna consider mentioning the missing note blast section of Conquer All. It's a pretty difficult spot, but you can make it much simpler by just pretending there are notes where there aren't. As long you overhit any pad but red, it'll barely do anything to your meter and it'll really help you stay on rhythm.

Also, I don't know if you realize (or care) that you use "star power" instead of "overdrive" a lot.
_________________

Try out my riddle: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~clabulis/home.html

(4th riddle now available as of 8/19/09)
Feel free to PM me if you need any help!

[hydrapower]

I can attest to the Speed thing, whenever I fail out of the middle of Don't Fear the Reaper (which still happens a bunch >_>) it's almost always because I'm playing the bass too fast. If I consciously slow down, boom, instant combo.

You've already made a ton of effort for this topic, great job! I'll be sure to keep checking it to see how it develops.
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Now Available in e-book format! Book 1 Book 2
Otharia - Science Fiction/Fantasy from some aspiring writers, check it out! Updates weekly!

[hydrapower]

I can attest to the Speed thing, whenever I fail out of the middle of Don't Fear the Reaper (which still happens a bunch >_>) it's almost always because I'm playing the bass too fast. If I consciously slow down, boom, instant combo.

You've already made a ton of effort for this topic, great job! I'll be sure to keep checking it to see how it develops.
_________________

My Backloggery
My Drum Accomplishments: Guitar Hero / Rock Band

Now Available in e-book format! Book 1 Book 2
Otharia - Science Fiction/Fantasy from some aspiring writers, check it out! Updates weekly!

[Hitoshura]

Thanks for this very helpful post! I've got only This Is Exile and WAHNTHAC left to pass, but when I get a chance I'll try some of your suggestions out.

Also, one thing I did for the Conquer All polyrhythm is to play it kind of like GM/BF. By this I mean for each set of 3 bass notes, play the first two closer together (like sixteenths) and ignore the third one.
So instead of , with the Oranges as triplets, I play (rest) , with the first two Oranges as sixteenths.
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My accomplishments (Llama pro bass FC!)

[Hitoshura]

Thanks for this very helpful post! I've got only This Is Exile and WAHNTHAC left to pass, but when I get a chance I'll try some of your suggestions out.

Also, one thing I did for the Conquer All polyrhythm is to play it kind of like GM/BF. By this I mean for each set of 3 bass notes, play the first two closer together (like sixteenths) and ignore the third one.
So instead of , with the Oranges as triplets, I play (rest) , with the first two Oranges as sixteenths.
_________________

My accomplishments (Llama pro bass FC!)

[FatsDomino64]

Hey sorry I couldn't update it today, I was busy painting all day. To respond to a few posts, thanks for catching my mix up of This is Exile and this calling stupid me. And yes I know I say starpower instead of OD a lot, I catch myself doing it but I'm going to wait until I have most of the songs done before I comb through with the nifty Quick Find function on Firefox to fix them all. I'll try to get Embedded and HSF done today. Also I'll add that second missing note blast for Conquer All, thanks for reminding me. It had been a while since I played it so I forgot there were missing notes, I thought they were normal blasts.
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Drums Scores | Vocals Scores | My Accomplishment Thread | Guide to Passing Difficult Songs on Drums

[FatsDomino64]

Hey sorry I couldn't update it today, I was busy painting all day. To respond to a few posts, thanks for catching my mix up of This is Exile and this calling stupid me. And yes I know I say starpower instead of OD a lot, I catch myself doing it but I'm going to wait until I have most of the songs done before I comb through with the nifty Quick Find function on Firefox to fix them all. I'll try to get Embedded and HSF done today. Also I'll add that second missing note blast for Conquer All, thanks for reminding me. It had been a while since I played it so I forgot there were missing notes, I thought they were normal blasts.
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Drums Scores | Vocals Scores | My Accomplishment Thread | Guide to Passing Difficult Songs on Drums