Guitar Hero and Rock Band Guitar Player Tips
How to Adjust to the Hard Difficulty's Fifth Orange Button
Aug 22, 2008
Transitioning from the medium to hard difficulty can be one of the hardest things for a Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitar player to do. The initial switch from easy to medium is downright simple by comparison, most beginning players can adapt from three to four buttons fairly quickly.
The real challenge starts when going from the four button setup of medium to the much more difficult five button configuration of the hard and expert difficulties. It’s easy to get confused when the game requires players to push multiple buttons with the same finger. The transition from medium to hard in Rock Band and Guitar Hero is perhaps one of the most difficult in the music game genre.
Adapt to the Orange Button
Some players insist on using their pinkie finger to press both the blue and orange buttons on the fret board, keeping their other three fingers in their original positions over the first three buttons.
This technique is flawed on several levels. The distance between the fourth and fifth buttons makes using the shortest finger on the hand to hit them both almost physically impossible. Keeping the pointer finger on the green button while stretching to reach the orange button with your pinkie can also lead to some incredibly uncomfortable hand positions and cramps.
It’s also pretty much impossible to press both the blue and orange buttons simultaneously or transition between them quickly this way.
The trick to success at the hard difficulty is to think of the five fret buttons as two separate sets of four buttons. The first is the one players have most likely already mastered by playing on the medium difficulty, the green through blue buttons. Shift the fingers down one position for the second set, red through orange.
Finger the second set exactly the same as the first, use the pointer finger for the red button, middle finger for the yellow, ring finger for the blue, and pinkie for the orange. It’s far easier to slide the hand up and down the fret board this way than it is to constantly stretch the pinkie to hit both the orange and blue buttons.
Use Practice Mode
It will take practice to get used to sliding your whole hand up and down the buttons, but once players get the hang of it, they should see a marked improvement in their playing ability. Both Rock Band and Guitar Hero have excellent practice modes that allow players to slow down the tempo of the notes. Start out slowly, and gradually increase the tempo until full speed is reached.
The hard difficulty is where playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero starts to feel like playing an actual instrument. The transition may take some patience and effort, but the feeling of shredding through a favorite song using all five of the controller’s buttons is very satisfying and makes all the difficulty worthwhile.
Rock Band and Guitar Hero III are available now for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii consoles. Rock Band 2 hits stores this fall. Guitar Hero: World Tour is set for an October 15 release, according to 1up.com.
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