Rock Band 3 Expert Pro Keys 5* Breakdown

[googleimage]

With Rock Band 3's biggest innovation of Pro Mode, Harmonix has introduced a new layer of challenge that makes 5-starring songs a tall task even for high-level players. As such, a 5-star breakdown for Pro Keys may be useful even for Scorehero-calibre players. As with any instrument, some songs are gimmes, while others may take some serious work and practice. Unlike the standard charts, however, the toughest songs will be damn near impossible for all but the best of the best.

*NOTE* - For the purposes of this list, I am assuming that you are attempting these songs as a solo player, and not in a band setting.

The breakdown below is a work in progress, and will require your feedback (ranked easiest to hardest). I will definitely need some help with the harder end of this.

1. Need You Tonight - Do you know what a C-major chord is? Even if not, then the only requirement for this 5-star is that you are able to see white spots on a colored background. This note chart is a farce.
2. Before I Forget - There's absolutely nothing to this note chart. The only thing keeping it from #1 is that you may be required to push more than 1 combination of buttons during its running time.
3. Rainbow In The Dark - The beginning of this song may fool you into thinking this is an actual note chart. Unfortunately not - there's only 1 thing to learn, and while it's an actual note sequence unlike the 2 easiest songs, it's still extremely tame and extremely easy to learn.
4. Whip It - The first song on this list resembling an actual note chart. The BE/BF progressions may cause a miss in the transition, but since it makes up the vast majority of the points, using OD here should give you the 5* regardless.
5. Werewolves Of London - You know this piano riff. It might take a couple of tries to nail the two-note-chord progression. But you play it over... and over... and over... and since there are VERY few deviations, 5 stars should happen very quickly.
6. The Beautiful People - Like Before I Forget, this is completely substance-free. The margin of error is low though, and some of the note patterns are easy to misinterpret.
7. Foolin' - The verses are very slow, but also very twisty and kind of nerve-wracking. It's the choruses that make this astonishingly easy. It's almost too slow.
8. Just Like Heaven - The first song that contains some semblance of variety, which means you can't really just identify and play a constant pattern right away, and you might actually have to read the chart. It's all single notes, and very few happen in a quick sequence, so this should be straightforward.
9. Rock Lobster - You're only playing for the first half, and the notes are very easy to read and play. The only challenge is in a fast-but-not-too-fast 8th-note stretch that occurs multiple times.
10. Stop Me If You Think You're Heard This One Before - Now we're back into super-sparse note chart territory. Not a whole lot of riffs to learn, but it's easy to break combo on sightread as you're learning the main one.
11. The Con - The note sequences here are all very easy to learn, however the chorus rhythms can be a bit unpredictable, and the "Encircle me" sequence isn't entirely intuitive at first.
12. Living In America - This song is a little bit faster paced, but Most of the song falls in straight lines, and most of the verses and the choruses are easy to combo. The bridge is a little tougher, but not really necessary, and most players should eventually be able to combo that too.
13. In The Meantime - There are a lot of sections that can be a bit unpredictable, even if they are slow. But there's also a lot of easy stuff to restore your combo relatively quickly. The outro solo is very challenging to combo without practice.
14. Oh My God - Outside of 2 very brief curveballs in the latter half, this song contains nothing but a 3-chord progression of 3-note chords. It may be a run or two before you have the sequence pegged, but once you do, this should be simple.
15. Combat Baby - The bulk of this song's points occurs in one section in the 2nd verse. The note sequence has a solid amount of range, and likely will be a challenge to combo on sight-read, but since it's repetitive and the rest of the song is only long sustains, this shouldn't take more than a couple cracks.
16. 20th Century Boy - The verses and choruses are usually enough to get you a 5-star before the crazy outro solo. Even though the verse riff has a semi-grace note, it's still easy to FC up to the solo. Just don't fail out.
17. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - The intro note sequence is a little bit brisk, but it's super-intuitive and silky smooth. The verse are easy 2-note chords, and the choruses are single-sustained-note melodies. Overall, not a ton to trip you up.
18. I Love Rock And Roll - We're now starting to get into chord changes that require some hand movement. There's not a whole lot to learn, and the outro octave-sequence is a bonanza for points - but its speed can hold you back.
19. Crosstown Traffic - Yay overtiering! This one's fairly fast for this level, but very predictable and not too tough on the whole.
20. Last Dance - This one is all about taking advantage of the choruses, which consist of a moderately brisk wall of 2-note chords. However, because of its repetition and predictability, figuring it out should occur sooner rather than later.
21. Imagine - This keys chart is a dream to play. The patterns are easy to pick up and play if you're using two hands, but a bit more twisty if you insist on playing with one. A couple awkward 4-note chords and quick 3-note bursts can get in your way.
22. Walk Of Life - Its signature riff is very easy to play, but the 3-note verse chords are difficult to hold a 4X throughout. Still, the easy stuff should be enough to pull this one off.
23. Break On Through (The Other Side) - The intro riff is very easy, but the middle solo section can be choppy. The chord transitions are easier than they look, though, and the outro sequence should be playable for most.
24. Low Rider - Repetition makes this a lot easier than it could be. It's pretty deceptive, and a little strange - but there's nothing particularly fast, and the signature melody is really easy.
25. Humanoid - Quite fast for an "apprentice" song, and a likely mess on sight-read, but repetitive enough to pick up relatively quickly. The choruses have this rapid-fire sequence of GGGG-DD-GG-etc-etc that's really tough to combo, except for one chorus that's awesomely easy.
26. Heart Of Glass - Can you say 99% 4-star? There's a tricky bridge and a 4-note (E6 I think?) chord towards the end that WILL make or break you. Nail that section before anything else - otherwise, expect pain.
27. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - Much of it is very slow, but like many songs at this level, the points-dense spots can be rough to combo until you learn them. Nothing is especially hard, just fairly unintuitive.
28. Something Bigger, Something Brighter - Jeez, is this song overtiered on every freaking instrument? Most of the song is pretty cake octave-shifted single notes. The bridge is tough at first, but has a pretty clear pattern that shouldn't take long to smooth out.
29. Get Up Stand Up - I find this one kind of frustrating - it teases you with those slow repeating chords that make you think this is super-easy, but it constantly interrupts your groove. Although the ending's a bit messy, nothing is particularly cruel.
30. Radar Love - If you enjoy taking a bathroom break in between spurts of 3-note chords, have we got the chart for you! Tons of overdrive, and not a lot of notes. Still, don't expect this on your first couple tries.
31. Portions For Foxes - Well, you're spotted 3 stars pretty much right off the bat, but the rest of the song has combo-breaker written all over it. You'll likely need to have a couple of the speedier parts cleaned up to earn this one.
32. The Killing Moon - Holy 4-note chords. Thank goodness the first half of this song is pretty easy, because the second half can be really unpleasant - but at least it's repetitive. Get your points early.
33. Walking On The Sun - Pretty similar style to Imagine (anchor/2-noter/anchor/2-noter), but in a harder key signature, and faster.
34. Oye Mi Amor - Ugh, another 99% 4-starrer. There's not much that's crazy in this one, but you'll definitely want to have a handful of runs to identify the verse chords - otherwise you'll have very little chance of sustaining a combo.
35. Du Hast - This one all depends on if you can hit the fast chords with ease. If you can, the chords alone will get you 4 stars. If not, you'll need to compensate through the exceedingly goofy (but luckily repetitive) second half of the song.
36. Good Vibrations - The first part of this song is a long chain of 3-note chord quarter notes. The pace is quite manageable, and none of the transitions are all that hard. Most of the points come from here - but the tougher bridge can also be a boon if you can figure it out.
37. 25 Or 6 To 4 - This one, she's high-scoring. Lots of 3-note chords here, with some tricky transitions, but for a chord-fest, this one's not too bad.
38. Centerfold - The signature riff is pretty cake, but the rest of the song has all sorts of ways to knock you off your game. Glissandos and fast melodic lines abound - but there's also a lot of reasonable stuff to compensate.
39. Here I Go Again - The bulk of this tune consists of transitions between 3-note chords. Most of them are fairly standard (there are a couple weird ones in verse 2), but as with any chart like this, you need to be able to identify the chords before you can string them together for a lengthy combo.
40. Midlife Crisis - Yup, more 3-note chord transitions, many of the octave-spanning variety. Once again, if you can identify the chords, you'll be able to get this one - but you had better hold on to your multiplier, cuz you ain't getting it back any time soon.
41. Cold As Ice - The places to earn points are glaringly obvious slow-chord sections. Those won't be enough for the 5-star. The verse-2 triplets will likely help - they're not nearly as hard as your first play-through would suggest.
42. The Power Of Love - More sparse slow-chord transitions! Except this time, the chords are four notes. 2-handing the song isn't too bad once you've learned it, but 1-handing it is an absolute nightmare.
43. China Grove - Deviltiersayswhat? This harder than average... but barely. There are tons of ways to earn your points on this song - and even more ways to lose them.
44. Don't Stand So Close To Me - Another one of those songs that seem to require a disproportionately high standard to earn 5 stars. There's very little of substance that you'll likely chain - but other than some truly bizarre 4-note chords, nothing will make you throw your hands in the air either.
45. Dead End Friends - So you tried this on hard and got 99%. Then you thought "I can handle this on Expert", and promptly got your ass handed to you. That oughta teach you. First half - not too bad. Second half - pretty batshit, albeit still within the realm of human comprehension.
46. I Got You (I Feel Good) - Even though I 2-starred this on my first try on Hard, I really don't think this is final tier material. It's really not all that bad - just learn the patterns (especially that ascending phrase that always seems to be an OD phrase) and you'll get this one.
47. I Need To Know - This one is deceptively tough. Chords move up and down the fret board, and always throw in that one little extra note as a curveball. You need to be on your game for this 5-star.
48. Killing Loneliness - Ugghh. Where to begin with this one. The melody lines are never in a neat pattern, and the transitions into the 2-note chords are deadly. This isn't especially demanding in a technical sense, but it will destroy you if your concentration isn't top-notch.
49. Me Enamora - The points will come from the chorus section that's like a harder version of Imagine/Walking On The Sun, but the chord transitions are really unpredictable, and aren't super-easy to combo even if you can pick them up.
50. This Bastard's Life - This is Me Enamora on pixie stix. The rhythm is weird and the pace is faster, but it's repetitive enough to make it more or less equal in terms of 5-star difficulty.
51. Antibodies - No surprise here, the verses are what make this so bloody hard. Once you're able to pass it, your next step is to figure out the transitions on the triads. Until you can hold a combo through them, this will likely elude you.
52. The Look - This has a tendency to be an all-or-nothing song, since there are so many long sustained chord sections. The verse sections are pretty fast, and all over the map, so they're quite difficult to be consistent on.
53. Space Oddity - Are you as effing tired of these types of songs as I am? Another slow 3-note-chord transition song - except this one cuts off your nuts by including 2 spots with blazing fast ascending lines, so that's at least 2 times where you're pretty much assured of needing to start your combo from scratch.
54. In A Big Country - Very sparsely laid out, and very difficult. Those chords are extremely fast for the range they span, and the bridge melody is pretty tough to clear with your combo unscathed. Not much to get any points on.
55. Sister Christian - This song will put your keyboard awareness to the test, as it shifts all over the place, and the chords come in all different shapes and sizes. The easier chorus doesn't quite offer enough on its own.
56. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) - *gulp*. This is nothing but extremely hard chord transitions. Luckily, many of the transitions happen repeatedly, so chances are you'll see huge spikes as you aim for it.
57. Free Bird - What makes this a major challenge is the extremely high score requirement - over 500K for a song that is just a constant grind to sustain a combo.
58. Bohemian Rhapsody - This song is so bloody unpredictable and tough to sustain a long combo. Most of the points come through the chords, which are tough to hit even if you know what's coming.
59. Fly Like An Eagle - Everything in this song is hard to combo, but still remotely learnable. The chords are in weird shapes and rhythms, glissandos abound, PLUS they transition into chords. And it never really settles into anything for very long. Luck starts to play a role at this stage.
60. Smoke On The Water - This is where the charts get downright mean to 5-star. This song is staggered with really difficult fills that serve no purpose other than to hold you from a 4X combo. Some of the chord transitions and blazing fast organ fills require divine intervention to combo.
61. Rehab - The grace notes are the one thing that will hold you back. They are outright nasty, and are all over the place. If you can hit them with any consistency, give yourself a pat on the back. They make 4-starring this song brutal enough; 5 stars is just insane.
62. Llama - This song will take forever to learn, and even then, you're not likely going to be able to play it. The entire song is insanely fast, the chords are incredibly awkward, and everything is all over the keyboard with no real rhyme or reason. This is off-the-charts hard.
63. Roundabout - Even against the jawdropping Llama, this takes the hardest-song prize confidently. Everything is lightning-fast, and constantly changing up. Even if you recognize the patterns, good luck actually playing them at this speed. This one is reserved for the prodigies only.

Suggestions are highly welcome.
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[googleimage]

With Rock Band 3's biggest innovation of Pro Mode, Harmonix has introduced a new layer of challenge that makes 5-starring songs a tall task even for high-level players. As such, a 5-star breakdown for Pro Keys may be useful even for Scorehero-calibre players. As with any instrument, some songs are gimmes, while others may take some serious work and practice. Unlike the standard charts, however, the toughest songs will be damn near impossible for all but the best of the best.

*NOTE* - For the purposes of this list, I am assuming that you are attempting these songs as a solo player, and not in a band setting.

The breakdown below is a work in progress, and will require your feedback (ranked easiest to hardest). I will definitely need some help with the harder end of this.

1. Need You Tonight - Do you know what a C-major chord is? Even if not, then the only requirement for this 5-star is that you are able to see white spots on a colored background. This note chart is a farce.
2. Before I Forget - There's absolutely nothing to this note chart. The only thing keeping it from #1 is that you may be required to push more than 1 combination of buttons during its running time.
3. Rainbow In The Dark - The beginning of this song may fool you into thinking this is an actual note chart. Unfortunately not - there's only 1 thing to learn, and while it's an actual note sequence unlike the 2 easiest songs, it's still extremely tame and extremely easy to learn.
4. Whip It - The first song on this list resembling an actual note chart. The BE/BF progressions may cause a miss in the transition, but since it makes up the vast majority of the points, using OD here should give you the 5* regardless.
5. Werewolves Of London - You know this piano riff. It might take a couple of tries to nail the two-note-chord progression. But you play it over... and over... and over... and since there are VERY few deviations, 5 stars should happen very quickly.
6. The Beautiful People - Like Before I Forget, this is completely substance-free. The margin of error is low though, and some of the note patterns are easy to misinterpret.
7. Foolin' - The verses are very slow, but also very twisty and kind of nerve-wracking. It's the choruses that make this astonishingly easy. It's almost too slow.
8. Just Like Heaven - The first song that contains some semblance of variety, which means you can't really just identify and play a constant pattern right away, and you might actually have to read the chart. It's all single notes, and very few happen in a quick sequence, so this should be straightforward.
9. Rock Lobster - You're only playing for the first half, and the notes are very easy to read and play. The only challenge is in a fast-but-not-too-fast 8th-note stretch that occurs multiple times.
10. Stop Me If You Think You're Heard This One Before - Now we're back into super-sparse note chart territory. Not a whole lot of riffs to learn, but it's easy to break combo on sightread as you're learning the main one.
11. The Con - The note sequences here are all very easy to learn, however the chorus rhythms can be a bit unpredictable, and the "Encircle me" sequence isn't entirely intuitive at first.
12. Living In America - This song is a little bit faster paced, but Most of the song falls in straight lines, and most of the verses and the choruses are easy to combo. The bridge is a little tougher, but not really necessary, and most players should eventually be able to combo that too.
13. In The Meantime - There are a lot of sections that can be a bit unpredictable, even if they are slow. But there's also a lot of easy stuff to restore your combo relatively quickly. The outro solo is very challenging to combo without practice.
14. Oh My God - Outside of 2 very brief curveballs in the latter half, this song contains nothing but a 3-chord progression of 3-note chords. It may be a run or two before you have the sequence pegged, but once you do, this should be simple.
15. Combat Baby - The bulk of this song's points occurs in one section in the 2nd verse. The note sequence has a solid amount of range, and likely will be a challenge to combo on sight-read, but since it's repetitive and the rest of the song is only long sustains, this shouldn't take more than a couple cracks.
16. 20th Century Boy - The verses and choruses are usually enough to get you a 5-star before the crazy outro solo. Even though the verse riff has a semi-grace note, it's still easy to FC up to the solo. Just don't fail out.
17. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - The intro note sequence is a little bit brisk, but it's super-intuitive and silky smooth. The verse are easy 2-note chords, and the choruses are single-sustained-note melodies. Overall, not a ton to trip you up.
18. I Love Rock And Roll - We're now starting to get into chord changes that require some hand movement. There's not a whole lot to learn, and the outro octave-sequence is a bonanza for points - but its speed can hold you back.
19. Crosstown Traffic - Yay overtiering! This one's fairly fast for this level, but very predictable and not too tough on the whole.
20. Last Dance - This one is all about taking advantage of the choruses, which consist of a moderately brisk wall of 2-note chords. However, because of its repetition and predictability, figuring it out should occur sooner rather than later.
21. Imagine - This keys chart is a dream to play. The patterns are easy to pick up and play if you're using two hands, but a bit more twisty if you insist on playing with one. A couple awkward 4-note chords and quick 3-note bursts can get in your way.
22. Walk Of Life - Its signature riff is very easy to play, but the 3-note verse chords are difficult to hold a 4X throughout. Still, the easy stuff should be enough to pull this one off.
23. Break On Through (The Other Side) - The intro riff is very easy, but the middle solo section can be choppy. The chord transitions are easier than they look, though, and the outro sequence should be playable for most.
24. Low Rider - Repetition makes this a lot easier than it could be. It's pretty deceptive, and a little strange - but there's nothing particularly fast, and the signature melody is really easy.
25. Humanoid - Quite fast for an "apprentice" song, and a likely mess on sight-read, but repetitive enough to pick up relatively quickly. The choruses have this rapid-fire sequence of GGGG-DD-GG-etc-etc that's really tough to combo, except for one chorus that's awesomely easy.
26. Heart Of Glass - Can you say 99% 4-star? There's a tricky bridge and a 4-note (E6 I think?) chord towards the end that WILL make or break you. Nail that section before anything else - otherwise, expect pain.
27. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - Much of it is very slow, but like many songs at this level, the points-dense spots can be rough to combo until you learn them. Nothing is especially hard, just fairly unintuitive.
28. Something Bigger, Something Brighter - Jeez, is this song overtiered on every freaking instrument? Most of the song is pretty cake octave-shifted single notes. The bridge is tough at first, but has a pretty clear pattern that shouldn't take long to smooth out.
29. Get Up Stand Up - I find this one kind of frustrating - it teases you with those slow repeating chords that make you think this is super-easy, but it constantly interrupts your groove. Although the ending's a bit messy, nothing is particularly cruel.
30. Radar Love - If you enjoy taking a bathroom break in between spurts of 3-note chords, have we got the chart for you! Tons of overdrive, and not a lot of notes. Still, don't expect this on your first couple tries.
31. Portions For Foxes - Well, you're spotted 3 stars pretty much right off the bat, but the rest of the song has combo-breaker written all over it. You'll likely need to have a couple of the speedier parts cleaned up to earn this one.
32. The Killing Moon - Holy 4-note chords. Thank goodness the first half of this song is pretty easy, because the second half can be really unpleasant - but at least it's repetitive. Get your points early.
33. Walking On The Sun - Pretty similar style to Imagine (anchor/2-noter/anchor/2-noter), but in a harder key signature, and faster.
34. Oye Mi Amor - Ugh, another 99% 4-starrer. There's not much that's crazy in this one, but you'll definitely want to have a handful of runs to identify the verse chords - otherwise you'll have very little chance of sustaining a combo.
35. Du Hast - This one all depends on if you can hit the fast chords with ease. If you can, the chords alone will get you 4 stars. If not, you'll need to compensate through the exceedingly goofy (but luckily repetitive) second half of the song.
36. Good Vibrations - The first part of this song is a long chain of 3-note chord quarter notes. The pace is quite manageable, and none of the transitions are all that hard. Most of the points come from here - but the tougher bridge can also be a boon if you can figure it out.
37. 25 Or 6 To 4 - This one, she's high-scoring. Lots of 3-note chords here, with some tricky transitions, but for a chord-fest, this one's not too bad.
38. Centerfold - The signature riff is pretty cake, but the rest of the song has all sorts of ways to knock you off your game. Glissandos and fast melodic lines abound - but there's also a lot of reasonable stuff to compensate.
39. Here I Go Again - The bulk of this tune consists of transitions between 3-note chords. Most of them are fairly standard (there are a couple weird ones in verse 2), but as with any chart like this, you need to be able to identify the chords before you can string them together for a lengthy combo.
40. Midlife Crisis - Yup, more 3-note chord transitions, many of the octave-spanning variety. Once again, if you can identify the chords, you'll be able to get this one - but you had better hold on to your multiplier, cuz you ain't getting it back any time soon.
41. Cold As Ice - The places to earn points are glaringly obvious slow-chord sections. Those won't be enough for the 5-star. The verse-2 triplets will likely help - they're not nearly as hard as your first play-through would suggest.
42. The Power Of Love - More sparse slow-chord transitions! Except this time, the chords are four notes. 2-handing the song isn't too bad once you've learned it, but 1-handing it is an absolute nightmare.
43. China Grove - Deviltiersayswhat? This harder than average... but barely. There are tons of ways to earn your points on this song - and even more ways to lose them.
44. Don't Stand So Close To Me - Another one of those songs that seem to require a disproportionately high standard to earn 5 stars. There's very little of substance that you'll likely chain - but other than some truly bizarre 4-note chords, nothing will make you throw your hands in the air either.
45. Dead End Friends - So you tried this on hard and got 99%. Then you thought "I can handle this on Expert", and promptly got your ass handed to you. That oughta teach you. First half - not too bad. Second half - pretty batshit, albeit still within the realm of human comprehension.
46. I Got You (I Feel Good) - Even though I 2-starred this on my first try on Hard, I really don't think this is final tier material. It's really not all that bad - just learn the patterns (especially that ascending phrase that always seems to be an OD phrase) and you'll get this one.
47. I Need To Know - This one is deceptively tough. Chords move up and down the fret board, and always throw in that one little extra note as a curveball. You need to be on your game for this 5-star.
48. Killing Loneliness - Ugghh. Where to begin with this one. The melody lines are never in a neat pattern, and the transitions into the 2-note chords are deadly. This isn't especially demanding in a technical sense, but it will destroy you if your concentration isn't top-notch.
49. Me Enamora - The points will come from the chorus section that's like a harder version of Imagine/Walking On The Sun, but the chord transitions are really unpredictable, and aren't super-easy to combo even if you can pick them up.
50. This Bastard's Life - This is Me Enamora on pixie stix. The rhythm is weird and the pace is faster, but it's repetitive enough to make it more or less equal in terms of 5-star difficulty.
51. Antibodies - No surprise here, the verses are what make this so bloody hard. Once you're able to pass it, your next step is to figure out the transitions on the triads. Until you can hold a combo through them, this will likely elude you.
52. The Look - This has a tendency to be an all-or-nothing song, since there are so many long sustained chord sections. The verse sections are pretty fast, and all over the map, so they're quite difficult to be consistent on.
53. Space Oddity - Are you as effing tired of these types of songs as I am? Another slow 3-note-chord transition song - except this one cuts off your nuts by including 2 spots with blazing fast ascending lines, so that's at least 2 times where you're pretty much assured of needing to start your combo from scratch.
54. In A Big Country - Very sparsely laid out, and very difficult. Those chords are extremely fast for the range they span, and the bridge melody is pretty tough to clear with your combo unscathed. Not much to get any points on.
55. Sister Christian - This song will put your keyboard awareness to the test, as it shifts all over the place, and the chords come in all different shapes and sizes. The easier chorus doesn't quite offer enough on its own.
56. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) - *gulp*. This is nothing but extremely hard chord transitions. Luckily, many of the transitions happen repeatedly, so chances are you'll see huge spikes as you aim for it.
57. Free Bird - What makes this a major challenge is the extremely high score requirement - over 500K for a song that is just a constant grind to sustain a combo.
58. Bohemian Rhapsody - This song is so bloody unpredictable and tough to sustain a long combo. Most of the points come through the chords, which are tough to hit even if you know what's coming.
59. Fly Like An Eagle - Everything in this song is hard to combo, but still remotely learnable. The chords are in weird shapes and rhythms, glissandos abound, PLUS they transition into chords. And it never really settles into anything for very long. Luck starts to play a role at this stage.
60. Smoke On The Water - This is where the charts get downright mean to 5-star. This song is staggered with really difficult fills that serve no purpose other than to hold you from a 4X combo. Some of the chord transitions and blazing fast organ fills require divine intervention to combo.
61. Rehab - The grace notes are the one thing that will hold you back. They are outright nasty, and are all over the place. If you can hit them with any consistency, give yourself a pat on the back. They make 4-starring this song brutal enough; 5 stars is just insane.
62. Llama - This song will take forever to learn, and even then, you're not likely going to be able to play it. The entire song is insanely fast, the chords are incredibly awkward, and everything is all over the keyboard with no real rhyme or reason. This is off-the-charts hard.
63. Roundabout - Even against the jawdropping Llama, this takes the hardest-song prize confidently. Everything is lightning-fast, and constantly changing up. Even if you recognize the patterns, good luck actually playing them at this speed. This one is reserved for the prodigies only.

Suggestions are highly welcome.
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[TheLonging]

1. Need You Tonight
2. Rainbow In The Dark
3. Before I Forget
4. Whip It
5. Just Like Heaven
6. Rock Lobster
7. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
8. Imagine
9. Everybody Wants To Rule The World
10. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
11. The Beautiful People

This is all I know from the first 20. TBP was very hard (and still is) for me because it's so spare, and even though there's barely any notes, missing even a few will not get you a 5*. This is why I'd place it above everything else. For BiF and RitD, there's at least enough notes at a time to be able to 5* even missing a couple.

EDIT: I'd also say Antibodies would be high or mid 50's. When you get to the 2nd half of the song with at least 3*, the rest of the song is so ridiculously simple to play, you'll almost get 5* guaranteed. You just need to be consistent on the first half.
_________________

I wanna thank you for letting me be myself.

NavyCherub wrote:

AshleyWilis wrote: hi for me Its something different... It seems like Full sound full combo... I mean It show passion and determination for my guitar Smoke weed erryday.

[TheLonging]

1. Need You Tonight
2. Rainbow In The Dark
3. Before I Forget
4. Whip It
5. Just Like Heaven
6. Rock Lobster
7. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
8. Imagine
9. Everybody Wants To Rule The World
10. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
11. The Beautiful People

This is all I know from the first 20. TBP was very hard (and still is) for me because it's so spare, and even though there's barely any notes, missing even a few will not get you a 5*. This is why I'd place it above everything else. For BiF and RitD, there's at least enough notes at a time to be able to 5* even missing a couple.

EDIT: I'd also say Antibodies would be high or mid 50's. When you get to the 2nd half of the song with at least 3*, the rest of the song is so ridiculously simple to play, you'll almost get 5* guaranteed. You just need to be consistent on the first half.
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NavyCherub wrote:

AshleyWilis wrote: hi for me Its something different... It seems like Full sound full combo... I mean It show passion and determination for my guitar Smoke weed erryday.

[googleimage]

Beautiful People's sparseness would be a factor if there was anything that wasn't completely piss easy - not to mention it's all predictable. Its sparseness just makes it easier to fall short if you plunk at the wrong time, but it doesn't make it harder to achieve.

I agree with Antibodies though - the 2nd half still isn't "ridiculously simple"; it's tough to activate if you play it with 2 hands, and 1 hand is tricky. But there are plenty of tougher songs to 5*. It's not a candidate for #61, that's for sure.
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[googleimage]

Beautiful People's sparseness would be a factor if there was anything that wasn't completely piss easy - not to mention it's all predictable. Its sparseness just makes it easier to fall short if you plunk at the wrong time, but it doesn't make it harder to achieve.

I agree with Antibodies though - the 2nd half still isn't "ridiculously simple"; it's tough to activate if you play it with 2 hands, and 1 hand is tricky. But there are plenty of tougher songs to 5*. It's not a candidate for #61, that's for sure.
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Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[malictus]

If it helps, here are the ones I haven't yet 5 starred:

Rehab
Fly Like An Eagle
Smoke On The Water
Llama
Roundabout
_________________

RB3 Pro Keys Expert Progress:
FC's: 39/63 on-disc + 38 DLC

[malictus]

If it helps, here are the ones I haven't yet 5 starred:

Rehab
Fly Like An Eagle
Smoke On The Water
Llama
Roundabout
_________________

RB3 Pro Keys Expert Progress:
FC's: 39/63 on-disc + 38 DLC

[jesse0986]

I was waiting for a thread like this to show up. Already looking forward to the completed list. I'm all over the place on Pro Keys right now--I'll push myself to five-star some of the easier songs on Expert, but the harder songs still bury me on Hard and even Medium in some cases.

I'll contribute more later, but one glaring omission to your 20 easiest songs is 20th Century Boy. That one might be top ten material, in fact. The verse and chorus sequences are piss easy--no chords, no octave shifting, and both can be done with a stationary hand. If you don't completely waste your OD you can get the five-star before you even hit the solo.
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Signatures are overrated. Like pants.

[jesse0986]

I was waiting for a thread like this to show up. Already looking forward to the completed list. I'm all over the place on Pro Keys right now--I'll push myself to five-star some of the easier songs on Expert, but the harder songs still bury me on Hard and even Medium in some cases.

I'll contribute more later, but one glaring omission to your 20 easiest songs is 20th Century Boy. That one might be top ten material, in fact. The verse and chorus sequences are piss easy--no chords, no octave shifting, and both can be done with a stationary hand. If you don't completely waste your OD you can get the five-star before you even hit the solo.
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Signatures are overrated. Like pants.

[googleimage]

Yeah, you're right that 20th Century Boy is top 20 easiest, but I doubt that it's top 10, simply because of pass difficulty. I think people will find themselves with an 80-85% 5-star on that one.

My initial instinct said Steve Miller's #61 - but judging by the leaderboards, I think Rehab's right up there as well.
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[googleimage]

Yeah, you're right that 20th Century Boy is top 20 easiest, but I doubt that it's top 10, simply because of pass difficulty. I think people will find themselves with an 80-85% 5-star on that one.

My initial instinct said Steve Miller's #61 - but judging by the leaderboards, I think Rehab's right up there as well.
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[jesse0986]

Good point. I've been using No Fail Mode since I got the game; I hadn't even considered fail factor. I wonder how much of an effect it would have on a list like this. I don't remember even coming close to failing 20th Century Boy's solo, although I didn't exactly get any points out of it either.
_________________

Signatures are overrated. Like pants.

[jesse0986]

Good point. I've been using No Fail Mode since I got the game; I hadn't even considered fail factor. I wonder how much of an effect it would have on a list like this. I don't remember even coming close to failing 20th Century Boy's solo, although I didn't exactly get any points out of it either.
_________________

Signatures are overrated. Like pants.

[TheLonging]

Rehab doesn't have the grace notes a la regular keys, but it's shifting plus some of the times where it deviates from a random rhythm makes it very hard. I'd say top 20.

If it helps, the only lower tier songs that I have played that I didn't 5* yet are Oh My God (chords), TBP (sparesness + non familiarity with the chart <_<) and Everybody Wants To Rule The World (although the sole fact that I'm almost 5*ing it doesn't really count).

Yeah, 20th Century Boy is easy to 5* before the solo, it's passing the solo for me that's a bitch. I'd say to leave No Fail out of it, as, even when you're not good at the song, it can affect how close you are to the 5* if all you fail at is one part or you hoarde OD to one spot where you normally score, which can screw with how easy a 5* can be to achieve.
_________________

I wanna thank you for letting me be myself.

NavyCherub wrote:

AshleyWilis wrote: hi for me Its something different... It seems like Full sound full combo... I mean It show passion and determination for my guitar Smoke weed erryday.

[TheLonging]

Rehab doesn't have the grace notes a la regular keys, but it's shifting plus some of the times where it deviates from a random rhythm makes it very hard. I'd say top 20.

If it helps, the only lower tier songs that I have played that I didn't 5* yet are Oh My God (chords), TBP (sparesness + non familiarity with the chart <_<) and Everybody Wants To Rule The World (although the sole fact that I'm almost 5*ing it doesn't really count).

Yeah, 20th Century Boy is easy to 5* before the solo, it's passing the solo for me that's a bitch. I'd say to leave No Fail out of it, as, even when you're not good at the song, it can affect how close you are to the 5* if all you fail at is one part or you hoarde OD to one spot where you normally score, which can screw with how easy a 5* can be to achieve.
_________________

I wanna thank you for letting me be myself.

NavyCherub wrote:

AshleyWilis wrote: hi for me Its something different... It seems like Full sound full combo... I mean It show passion and determination for my guitar Smoke weed erryday.

[jesse0986]

I guess my future suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt then since I'm playing without worrying about failing. (It might seem like a copout to play with NFM on, but trust me, it's a hell of a lot less embarrassing to fail a song than it is to scrape through it without even getting a second star--looking at you, Tuesday's Gone .)

I will say that I personally think the chord-heavy songs are a bit more difficult than you're suggesting, if only because most of those chords are followed by really long sustains that make up a healthy bulk of your overall score. Stuff like Oh My God, Walk of Life, and especially Heart of Glass are all dependent on you hitting some funky chords and holding onto them for every tick possible. It took me more tries to five-star those last two than it did for 15 of your first 21 songs, and I still haven't even gotten Oh My God yet. I imagine Radar Love is gonna be even more infuriating.
_________________

Signatures are overrated. Like pants.

[jesse0986]

I guess my future suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt then since I'm playing without worrying about failing. (It might seem like a copout to play with NFM on, but trust me, it's a hell of a lot less embarrassing to fail a song than it is to scrape through it without even getting a second star--looking at you, Tuesday's Gone .)

I will say that I personally think the chord-heavy songs are a bit more difficult than you're suggesting, if only because most of those chords are followed by really long sustains that make up a healthy bulk of your overall score. Stuff like Oh My God, Walk of Life, and especially Heart of Glass are all dependent on you hitting some funky chords and holding onto them for every tick possible. It took me more tries to five-star those last two than it did for 15 of your first 21 songs, and I still haven't even gotten Oh My God yet. I imagine Radar Love is gonna be even more infuriating.
_________________

Signatures are overrated. Like pants.

[Shvegait]

Living in America is an easy 5*. Not even any chords. The only tricky part is the end, but it's not harder than Last Dance.

I have a lot more trouble with Last Dance and especially Oh My God compared to their places on the list. I get a decent % on Oh My God, but you can't afford to break streak, which is something you really need to consider for a 5* list.

Foolin' is much much easier than its place on the list. Really, I would be surprised to meet anyone who could 5* Oh My God but could not 5* Foolin'. You can 5* Foolin' even with mistakes in the sustains, and the rest is easy.

My changes would be...

Foolin' to right after wherever Rock Lobster is
Oh My God up a few spots (maybe it's just me?)
Living in America to easiest 15 somewhere, below Last Dance

20th Century Boy is in a good spot. Personally, I'd put it in the easiest 15, even though the solo is failable, but that's just because I have passed (thus 5*'d) the song and still not 5*'d many (more passable) songs...

More later.
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Expert Drums
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Bladder of Steel/Platinum Artist - 2/15/09

[Shvegait]

Living in America is an easy 5*. Not even any chords. The only tricky part is the end, but it's not harder than Last Dance.

I have a lot more trouble with Last Dance and especially Oh My God compared to their places on the list. I get a decent % on Oh My God, but you can't afford to break streak, which is something you really need to consider for a 5* list.

Foolin' is much much easier than its place on the list. Really, I would be surprised to meet anyone who could 5* Oh My God but could not 5* Foolin'. You can 5* Foolin' even with mistakes in the sustains, and the rest is easy.

My changes would be...

Foolin' to right after wherever Rock Lobster is
Oh My God up a few spots (maybe it's just me?)
Living in America to easiest 15 somewhere, below Last Dance

20th Century Boy is in a good spot. Personally, I'd put it in the easiest 15, even though the solo is failable, but that's just because I have passed (thus 5*'d) the song and still not 5*'d many (more passable) songs...

More later.
_________________

Expert Drums
PS2 RB, 360 RB2, RB3

Bladder of Steel/Platinum Artist - 2/15/09

[googleimage]

[googleimage]

[Shvegait]

Great, thanks.

I don't have too many 5*s, maybe 20, The only other 5*s I have that aren't on the list yet are Low Rider and The Killing Moon.

Low Rider is an easy 5* if you can do the pattern, because it's very repetitive. The solo at the end is very short so that it shouldn't prevent a 5* and it's not too hard anyway. I don't know where it should go, but it's easier than Something Bigger, Something Brighter, in my opinion. The bridge on that is harder than the Low Rider pattern (for me). So maybe around 20. See where other people would put it.

The Killing Moon is a very long song, and the ending is a real hand stretcher. Undertiered if you ask me. Fortunately, the first half of the song is easy once you get the pattern. If you can combo the entire first half of the song (accumulating quite a lot of points at 8x), and do a passable job at the ending, you will get 5*. I had to practice the ending rather a lot, however. Hard to say, but I'd put it at 30 or so probably.
_________________

Expert Drums
PS2 RB, 360 RB2, RB3

Bladder of Steel/Platinum Artist - 2/15/09

[Shvegait]

Great, thanks.

I don't have too many 5*s, maybe 20, The only other 5*s I have that aren't on the list yet are Low Rider and The Killing Moon.

Low Rider is an easy 5* if you can do the pattern, because it's very repetitive. The solo at the end is very short so that it shouldn't prevent a 5* and it's not too hard anyway. I don't know where it should go, but it's easier than Something Bigger, Something Brighter, in my opinion. The bridge on that is harder than the Low Rider pattern (for me). So maybe around 20. See where other people would put it.

The Killing Moon is a very long song, and the ending is a real hand stretcher. Undertiered if you ask me. Fortunately, the first half of the song is easy once you get the pattern. If you can combo the entire first half of the song (accumulating quite a lot of points at 8x), and do a passable job at the ending, you will get 5*. I had to practice the ending rather a lot, however. Hard to say, but I'd put it at 30 or so probably.
_________________

Expert Drums
PS2 RB, 360 RB2, RB3

Bladder of Steel/Platinum Artist - 2/15/09

[blingdomepiece]

[blingdomepiece]

[googleimage]

Re Oye Mi Amor: my issue isn't that there's a specific technique that give me trouble, it's that I had the same problem with it that I did with Heart Of Glass - I could hit damn near everything, and still fall short. The difference between "near gold stars" and "not 5-stars" is teensy. Ditto with Midlife Crisis. I can see this moving up a couple spots, but not an awful lot.

Jesse: there are two things that make Radar Love easier than it otherwise would be: pretty much everything you play is under overdrive, and because there are so few notes, it doesn't require a huge multiplier (I'm not sure what the adjustment factor is, but I think I got my 5-star with a 2.4 or 2.5 avg multiplier).
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[googleimage]

Re Oye Mi Amor: my issue isn't that there's a specific technique that give me trouble, it's that I had the same problem with it that I did with Heart Of Glass - I could hit damn near everything, and still fall short. The difference between "near gold stars" and "not 5-stars" is teensy. Ditto with Midlife Crisis. I can see this moving up a couple spots, but not an awful lot.

Jesse: there are two things that make Radar Love easier than it otherwise would be: pretty much everything you play is under overdrive, and because there are so few notes, it doesn't require a huge multiplier (I'm not sure what the adjustment factor is, but I think I got my 5-star with a 2.4 or 2.5 avg multiplier).
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[googleimage]

Preliminary list is complete.
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!

[googleimage]

Preliminary list is complete.
_________________

Hey, Lindsay Lohan - "drink Canada Dry" is a slogan, not a dare!