Is humming looked down upon or interpeted as cheating?

**muna** · Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 2929 Location: South Florida

Note: Humming is not cheating, and is considered using your own voice. However, using an instrument or other outside variable is considered "modding your voice" and IS cheating. Please keep that in mind.
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I find that I can play on Expert when I hum, but only on hard when I sing. Is humming considered cheating or can I continue to do it?
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**b08smith** · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1140 Location: Portsmouth, UK

hmmmm interesting, may have to try this.

I would think that for score purposes most would consider it cheating but there's no real way to prove it. I'll never be that good at expert vocals but I was and someone beat my score by humming I'd feel a bit cheated.
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**muna** · Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 2929 Location: South Florida

**b08smith** · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1140 Location: Portsmouth, UK

I wasn't trying to call you a cheater

My expert singing is pretty poor so my opinion is fairly irrelevant, I was just trying to imagine that if I put a lot of time and effort into singing well on expert but then found out that I could just hum instead - how would I feel about it.......how would you feel?

I havn't tried this yet but if can do better with it for certain songs/sections then I'm sure I'm hum through them completely guilt free.

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**MasterBlaster** · Joined: 01 Jul 2007 Posts: 720 Location: Florida

My opinion is this-humming isn't cheating, because the game only records pitch, so if you're on pitch, you're doing everything required by the game, and it's not like you're putting in a cheat or exploiting a glitch.

However, I don't hum because I find it kind of cheap. I have much less fun that way. What I do is slur my words on some sections-don't say my consonants as hard and keep the pitch going the whole time. I do just as well that way. I try and sing most parts though.

Whatever works for you, I guess.
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**skeltonath** · Joined: 04 May 2006 Posts: 917 Location: Bonney Lake, WA

Like Masterblaster, when I am concentrating on getting a good score, I tend to slur my words together. I try not to hum as much as possible, because if you think about it, if you were on stage at a rock concert would you hum all the words? No, of course not. I don't view it as cheating though, and I have done it before when I'm really frustrated with a song and want to be done with it.

An offside to humming, is that sometimes when I do, I end up humming just a bit below pitch. Also, sometimes I can't hum high enough, and am forced to sing. Plus some songs, like Sabotage, force you to use words.

I sing on expert by they way.
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**saxuallyAPeasing** · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 2975

A related question, has anyone tried playing an instrument into the mic instead of humming/singing?
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**ocelot11** · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 263 Location: Lino Lakes, MN

It's more fun to sing. So that's what I do, even if I have to go down difficulties. That's what the game is all about, having a blast.

But I wouldn't consider it cheating... although you could be cheating yourself out of a good time doing it

**Mr.BannanasII** · Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 301 Location: Everett, WA

I just mosh everything together, then sing as the song goes along and do really good. I don't really consider it cheating at all.

**rabies** · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:22 am Post subject:

its not as cool as really singing it, but no..humming is not cheating.

IMO, the game is overly strict on expert when it comes to keeping pitch. I know when I sing for points, I tend to have to drop hard consonants, start singing phrases earlier, slur in between words, etc in order to ensure awesomes on all phrases..most notably phrases with sets of short pitches.

Look at masterblasters run to the hills video:
http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2140
(sorry to use you as an example masterblaster)

see how he is having to sing? Is it really that much different from humming?

When I openly sing normal on expert..I end up with mostly strongs. On Hard, I end up with mostly awesomes..... perhaps the truth is that I am not quite as good as I had hoped as a vocalist.

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**wildbillkickoff** · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Tampa, FL

I used to play in a Madden league that was a "no cheese" league. What ended up happening is that people would play me straight until the playoffs, then use every glitch known to mankind to beat me in the playoffs. I finally figured out that, to quote EA, if it's in the game, it's in the game.

So, if you want to hum for score, go for it. If the game wants pitch, give it pitch. I tend to start phrases a bit early and therefore maximize my time in the tube, which is essentially the same thing.
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**warlock7735** · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject:

I'm very tempted to try a kazoo for vocals.
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**pmswedge** · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 427 Location: San Francisco, CA

**thespike** · Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 3198 Location: Illinois

Not cheating but really annoying when you're playing and your singer isn't saying the words. It sounds bad but it works I guess.

Standing up and humming while the other bandmates actually try and are having fun is lame. Just play it on a lower difficulty and have fun. If you're going for a high score, go ahead and hum if it works, the other guys won't care because they want a high score too.
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**youhas** · Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 3015 Location: Santa Clara, CA

If I'm playing for score? Yeah, I garblevox my way through it. Start notes early, slur the hell out of words, have multiple words on a single pitch get blurred into a single lengthy tone - I'm singing for the game's scoring, not for any sort of aesthetic brilliance. (Even though the technique drives our cats nuts, it does.) It's not the sort of thing I typically do in person, where folks might actually care about the song, y'know, being sung and all... but outside of that, humming and the like is fair game, sure.
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