Ride the LightDANGIT I LOST AGAIN

**JoshNeff** · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 222 Location: Minneapolis, MN

I'm having a lot of issues with ride the lightning... most of my songs on expert are either 5 star or GS, with the last tear a few 4 stars. Now blackened is a joke for me, i beat it sightread and was thinking "oh, it must only be hard on drums"

RtL I can NOT freaking beat, when its the GG (chord) GGGG (note hammer on) part, I can ONLY get the note/hammer on pair if I upstrum the first and downstrum the hammer on. I can NOT downstrum it... which seems really weird, like my TV is lagging or my brain/upstrum is broken...

I usually alt strum everything, so this made the song seem really weird to me. Then I get to the solo, that first huge zig zag I cant beat without OD, and maybe only a 5% chance of doing it WITH OD, in practice I can nail it perfect, but in the song it feels like something with the timing is off... then when it gets to the end area of ziggyzagacraziness I can't hit squat...

Does anyone else think this song feels "off"? Or is it a mix of lag on my TV and me sucking at this song... I feel like I can do it, and I should be able to, but crunch time it just won't come togather. =\

My buddy (see- can beat jordan on command, dragonforce with no star power) gets killed by this song too... it really doesnt seem THAT tough, and while I admit there's a chance I just suck at it, it seems fishy no one can flipping beat it, while I can breeze through every other song in the game

**ExileLord** · Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 440 Location: Wisconsin

I really don't know what to say if you can hit hit the solo in practice mode every time. If you're getting too tense during the song just relax a little bit. I personally think Blackened has a much harder solo than Ride the Lightning. I'll try it again later after I hook my 360 back up.
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**Zamie** · Joined: 26 Nov 2007 Posts: 23

its definately you man, i cant beat TTAF for the life of me but i just tried this song again to see wtf u were talking about and i 4 starred it without hardly trying

maybe something to do with your TV?

**JoshNeff** · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 222 Location: Minneapolis, MN

zomg. double you tee eff.

I could NOT pass that intro solo zigzag, so i used a pencil as a slide and did it that way... managed to freaking NAIL it... then for some odd reason, I couldn't hit anything, but snagged the first OD... then snagged the second one, then missed the third and dropped to red... I was almost dead at the end zigzags, and somehow just left my body and realized I was halfway through without OD, used OD and missed almost EVERY note, almost failed, when it wore off I hit all that weird business at the end of the solo perfectly. O.o

Then I played the last half sloppy as all hell because I didn't give a damn about anything other then my xbox not freezing up or my guitar breaking...

If anyone knows anything about me and this song... I don't know why, but I couldn't do it. I beat GGaHT over a month ago, and still couldn't do RtL... no clue why, just couldn't.

Turns out I think I trained myself to play it too fast, and was going off muscle memory, and since I practiced so much I didn't get out of the habit. When I just went weird and blanked out, I nailed it all perfect. Thank god, there's 74/74-

In retrospect, I could of had five stars if I tried for the second half and wasn't all shakey and wibbleywobbley inside from finishing the solo. Oh well, at lease I beat it and know I can 5* fairly easily in the future.

=D wooohoo!
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**DorkmasterFlek** · Joined: 14 Oct 2006 Posts: 1968 Location: Toronto, ON

Jesus titty %$&*ing Christ, I cannot do the intro to the guitar solo to save my life. It's just too bloody fast!

I didn't even think to try sliding one finger up and down the frets...I have to try this right now!

EDIT: While that worked like shit. :P Goddamnit, I hate this $%&*ing section so much! I just cannot do it fast enough or accurately enough at that speed. At best, I can hit 50-60%. Of course, sometimes I somehow end up just a little bit off and miss everything... I just have to hit my overdrive going into it and pray. Does anyone have any tips for this section? If I can just get through this, I can clear the rest of the solo fine. This is the only song I can't do yet.
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**ac196nataku** · Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 115 Location: Riverside, CA

I was going to post this earlier, but I wasn't sure if bumping a 28 day old topic was taboo here or not...

This section is the only thing I haven't passed on Expert yet. It's driving me nuts. Blackened, Green Grass, My Sharona, I've beaten them and their solos (although not spectacularly). I can't do this one. GRRR

PS: This reminds me... Anyone find the solos on hard to be downright hilarious? They are so intensely nerfed. I got -1 on this solo on a sightead.

**PeridotWeapon** · Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 1072 Location: Pittsfield, MA

To add my voice to the "lost" that will probably never get this one ...

The solo and I refuse to see eye to eye. I've never even hit friggin 40% on practice, and often don't break 20%. Of course, I'm also in a world without solo buttons, so that adds an extra level of difficulty to it.

Either I'm doing something very wrong or it has a very tight timing window for ALL the notes - I've tried playing through just hitting the low and high notes, hoping I could get by it with overdrive and less "miss strum damage" - but most of the time I don't even get THOSE notes to register right.

Ah well. Guess some of us aren't cut out to Ride The Lightning unless we're playing Guilty Gear and doing Ky's special move.

**DorkmasterFlek** · Joined: 14 Oct 2006 Posts: 1968 Location: Toronto, ON

The timing window is undoubtedly tight, especially if you're used to GH3. Honestly, I'm hitting about 50% pretty consistently now, and the only reason I can do this at all is the solo buttons. You need to learn to use them. It's just bloody impossible without them.
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wlinn751 wrote:

Everybody likes Boston on some level. They're like a soul detector. Most people don't know this, but vampire hunters carry a Talkboy containing a snippet of More Than A Feeling. Anyone who doesn't smile when they hear it gets staked on the spot. It works flawlessly.

**Kozack** · Joined: 30 Oct 2007 Posts: 133

If you can do it in practice it is just nerves that stop you from doing it in the song. I was playing jordan and I never once hit the bridge in the song but in practice I do it perfectly.

Anyway, I think of the zig zags to be two different sections. If you break it up into groups of four, you will find it much easier.
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**SilentEcho** · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 17

My best advice for the solo is to use the solo buttons if you can. Play normally and when you get to that slow chord part right before the solo you can easily move your hands to the solo buttons mid-chord. Put your right hand on the solo buttons for the chord your holding, take off your left hand from the main frets and place them over the solo frets and move right hand back to strum bar. Then strum out the rest of the pre-solo with left hand on solo and right on strum. On the last chord move your right hand to the solo buttons that your left hand is holding to avoid breaking the hold and to prepare for the sweeps. When using solo buttons I play with left middle and index on green and red, and right index middle ring on yellow blue orange... hands over the top of the neck, keyboard style. Do what feels best for you.

If you just want to pass the crazy fast sweeps of ultimate rockband guitarist pwnage at the beginning, hold down the red with your left index and just quickly roll across the first 3 descending notes with the three fingers of your right hand. Make sure you're pulling your fingers off fast enough or you'll miss the pull-off (pretend the frets are burning hot or something and tap them very quickly as you would if you were to tap on hot metal). Your start timing has to be perfect. Ignore the two notes coming back up and concentrate very hard on the orange timing at the start of the descent. Its much easier and if you nail those 4 descending notes every time you can pass without OD, as you're hitting 2/3 of the sweep. Learn to tap the rest of the solo and it makes matters much easier.

Before I switched to solo buttons I was failing out a lot and when I did make it, it was with something stupid like 75%. After practicing about an hour, using solo buttons I do about 10% better and I'm getting more consistent every time I play it. It takes some practice and getting used to them but it helps quite a bit. Just start at the section before the solo up to the part after (to practice switching from main frets to solo and back) @ 50% and raise it up as you get comfortable using them.

**ac196nataku** · Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 115 Location: Riverside, CA

I've heard of people playing slide guitar on the solo buttons with a pen. I may try this eventually, although since acquiring an Xplorer I haven't ONCE touched my Fender. I also haven't played Green Grass or Highway Star since either.

**turb0time** · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 19

Yes its rediculously fast. I can finally hit most of it now, but only thanks to the solo buttons lol.

**PeridotWeapon** · Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 1072 Location: Pittsfield, MA

Well, I finally figured out that the problem with the "intro zigzag" was that I was trying to play it correctly. Especially since I have no solo buttons, and won't give the Stratocaster the satisfaction of using it. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

As long as I play it as a serious of "descending orange to red" sequences and ignore the fact it goes back up for two notes

, it's easy enough to pass the opening lightning bolt without using Overdrive. ... which is pretty much what SilentEcho TOLD me to do if I ever bothered to READ any of this stuff.

Now I'm stuck where the rest of the world once was - discovering that the 'shenanigans' at the end of the solo go on for about 10 seconds too long for my skill level.

Not that this hasn't been posted a thousand times in a thousand different threads around the internet. Or that I expect any advice or sympathy. Just whinin'.