Readers? Friends? I need your help. I am trying to determine how much I suck at Rock Band. I’ve never been a “Blame the game” type of guy. I usually have no problem admitting when I suck at something. Something tells me that this time, with Rock Band, it might not be me.
I got Rock Band as a present from my friends here at the site. The day it arrived at my house, was something of a family holiday. The kids were kept back, the stereo was EQ’d just right, and all of the directions for setting up my band were followed to the letter. Of course, like most people, I dove into the drums first and most ferociously. After the newness of being a percussionist wore off, I started dabbling with the guitar and quickly found myself wishing I hadn’t. Find out why, after the jump.
I was one of the many unfortunate folks that got a bum guitar, which I returned using the automated system set up by the publisher. It was lightning-fast. I had a new guitar in like 3 days, and slapped the crippled one into the package. NOW I was ready to RAWK.
Well, it didn’t work out that way. Sadly, I think the Rock Band Strat may be the weakest point in the Rock Band experience. I know many of you have your own feelings about this, and rather than just running off down Rant Boulevard screaming “This Sucks” I thought I’d present my case to you. First, here are my gripes with the Strat.
- Too Squishy – The Strum Bar on the Strat is way too slow to rebound from a strum to be even remotely accurate in the HARD mode. You have to work your hand to the bone just to get through “Move Along” (DLC) with a decent score. I must admit that I am NOT an UP and DOWN strummer. I never had this problem with the GH2 controller. The squishiness of the strum bar makes the gameplay VERY inaccurate on HARD and the more intricate MEDIUM difficulty songs.
- Too Sticky – The buttons on the fret bar do not instantly pop up. This was something I noticed on both my bum guitar and the replacement. While its not like they just stay pressed, they don’t pop back up with anywhere near the speed of the aforementioned GH2 guitar. This can lead to confusion of one’s digits during intricate solos.
- Too Small – Not the guitar itself, but the solo buttons on the guitar. I’m not a little dude, but I’m no Andre the giant. My paws are just too big for those solo buttons. I can’t hit just one in the frenzy of things. Feel free to chalk this up to me sucking…. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but I am writing this to find out if I am alone in my feelings about this.
- Too Hard to Activate - In order to go into OVERDRIVE, whereby I am supposed to raise the neck of the guitar to use up that extra power I’ve accumulated throughout the song, I literally have to jerk the guitar neck all the way around to a 2-o’ clock position just to get it to activate, and yet sometimes it just activates while I am using the Whammy bar. It’s wholly frustrating, and once again, held up to the GH2 guitar, it’s pathetic.
These are my chief complaints, but I would like to hear yours. I would especially like you to answer the following questions:
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unfortunatly seeing as europe doesnt get rock band for another freaking month i havnt had the chance to use the new guitar but can you not just use your old GHII guitar anyway?
Sounds like they shipped you another bum guitar.
I had to replace mine and the replacement one is much better.
I have not noticed any buttons sticking down/not rebounding enough.
You did calibrate the system for the type of TV you have right? I’ve heard some people need to calibrate more often than they should have to.
Sorry forgot to ask that before.
I did indeed calibrate. It works fine for the easier stuff. It’s the hard mode with the faster notes that I am having the trouble with. It wont register my stums fast enough. The OVERDRIVE issue is there all the time.
I love the guitar and I think the fingertap notes high on the fretboard are a stroke of GENIUS!
The only guitar i have used is the GH3 guitar for my Wii and I… love it.
And since rockband for Wii is announced to be in process I hope 2 things:
1) The GH3 guitar is compatible
2) It doesn’t have the same problems as Doc’s guitar
I went through the same mess. First guitar was crap, sent it in, the replacement was crap too, sent it in AGAIN and now I’m fine. I don’t have a problem with “squishiness” because I 5-starred Move Along on expert. I really hate the clacking of the note buttons and hammer-ons/pull-offs don’t work so well in RB compared to GH2 & 3. I have the same problem with the Overdrive activiation sometimes. Half the time, I can tilt it up and then back down to get Overdrive to turn on but other times I almost have to spin my guitar around almost to where I’m strangling myself with the guitar strap. Luckily, the Back button is right next to the strummer.
I’ve used each official guitar and I agree that the Rock Band guitar is by far, the worst. I’ve been having the exact same problems that Doc lists here and even after using a replacement, the problems continued.
I personally prefer the GH3 Wii guitar. It’s a good weight, the buttons are perfectly spaced for my fingers, the star power works when I want it to, it rumbles, and the strum bar has that satisfying *click* that lets me know I actually hit the damn notes.
hey the problem is definitley the guitar. I used the rock band guitar for about 15 minutes before i reverted to the gh3 guitar. I play on expert and with the rock band guitar i could barley get through the first set. the problem is of course the strum bar but on top of that the buttons take up the entire neck of the guitar so you are often pushing them down without realizing it. whereas on the ghe controller they are just buttons on the neck so you dont hold them down just by holdig the neck.
As a fan of the Guitar Hero franchise, I must say that I only had one problem with the Rock Band guitar. Sure, it took a few songs to get used to the fact that the strum bar didn’t click, but I didn’t have any problems with the fret buttons. However, attempting to activate the star power is so frustrating. I literally flipped that guitar every which way, and in the process destroyed my combos, and the power never activated. Then, during the next song, I was holding the guitar horizontal and it activated. What the hell?
I had a problem at first with the non clicking of the strum bar, but i kinda found my way around that by hitting it with my thumb instead of holding it with my index and thumb fingers… it clicks that way and seems to work for me. other then that i love the guitar alot…. i like it better then both my guitar hero 2 and 3 controllers for ps2…. and i think the solo buttons are awesome… and there small for a reason i think… same as a real guitar, no? just my 2 cents
I have some issues with the overdrive as well… I seem to hold my guitar at a little angle, and a lot of the time it just goes off by itself whenever there is enough power to activate (and I mean a LITTLE angle).
Recently my RB guitar has been double strumming, which pretty much destroys my will to play. I -know- I can’t be that bad
On a side note, I love that the strum bar doesn’t click. That always annoyed me :/
sry man but u just suck the only problem that i can relate to is the going into overdrive. ur rite is to hard to go into overdrive but other then that i have no problem with my guitar
Rockband’s guitar definitely has a hardware flaw, from what I’ve heard. Everyone tells me the same thing you just complained about: squishy strum bar, crappy fret buttons. The wireless guitar for Guitar Hero III is far superior. I’ve played the wired Guitar for 360 and PS2 and the wireless Les Paul still proves to be better; it seems much more sensitive and responsive. Try rocking with the Les Paul on rock band and see for yourself.
I would have to agree on the squishiness of the strum bar and the inaccuracy of the Overdrive. Many a streak has been ruined by not pressing the button hard enough or having to throw a fit and jump up and down to activate the Overdrive. The Guitar Hero III controller is so much better. I kinda needed the click.
Waiting for my FOURTH guitar from Harmonix in the mail… At least they sent me a copy of Skate… Right. That guitar is awful, barely useful as the bass guitar in most of the songs. This is truly the only thing I hate about Rock Band. My buddy has a copy of GH II as do I; this means when he is over we can play four player, but without a doubt this is the most awful, continually deficient controller I have ever seen.
Really, THREE BAD STRUM BARS!? You will also notice that while the drums and microphones go on sale this month the guitars won’t be available till the end of April. I think two out of every three they make probably goes out to disgruntled gamers like myself.
Oh, and you cannot accurately get overdrive to work either, just randomly happens. Hard to save someone when your axe is dead.
If you have a plasma be sure you calibrate with the TV hot (turned on for at least 30 minutes). You will find you get a different setting when it is cold and then another one when it is hot. The RB guitar itself is a good idea, but the button design is a bit flawed. There should be much more action with the buttons.
These are all issues that influenced my decision to take the bundle pack back and trade it in for just the game. I use the GHIII guitar and I will probably buy the off brand guitar for it when it finally comes out.
I’ve used both the Rock Band guitar, the wireless GH III guitar, and the wired GH II guitar. Ok, I lied… I also own GH I and GH II for the PS2. There, I’ve played every official guitar released with a GH or RB game. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I could have the build quality of the wired Xplorer from GH II (and GH III if you shop at Walmart), combined the the size/shape of either the GH I/II PS2 guitars or even the GH III wireless guitar, you’d have an EXCELLENT guitar. But everything is SO close but not quite perfect.
The PS2 guitars were too flimsy/squeaky and my original guitar actually squeaks whenever you strum… like “squeezing a dog toy” squeak.
The Xplorer’s shape bothered me. I would often have the sharp-esque corners dig into my forearm.
The GH III wireless guitar just doesn’t feel as responsive as the wired ones and has that “connection” issue where fret buttons can simply not register.
The Rock Band guitar needs the tactile click from strumming. The range of the strumbar is too far IMO. I also dislike the additional force needed to press the frets and the solo frets are lost on me… not to mention the effects switch that I _never_ use. This is clearly the best LOOKING guitar out of the bunch, but it’s the last one out of the FIVE guitar controllers I own that I’d want to play with.
I’ve beaten Rock Band on Hard with the Xplorer and am halfway through Expert but I can’t even finish most of the second half of the hard songs with the Strat. It sucks.
What those guys said… I exclusively use the GH3 controller for Rock Band. + one less wire to trip on is always a good thing.
I agree, My RB controler NEVER uses star power unless I hit the BACK button… It’s so annoying
ya i actually broke a lamp swingin my guitar to start star power…. the strum bar sucks too i can only play mine goin up not down so it makes navigating a pain and my arm starts to kill after a while
as for everything else i think its great but guitar hero has a way betta guitar
The rock band guitar is terrible. Strumming is always off, the frets are terrible, the effects switch is just a novelty, and the plastic case creeks like it’s going to fall apart. I have used the Gibson SG (PS2), les paul (360), xplorer (360) and the stratocaster (360) and rock band’s axe is definitely the worst. I had to send mine in and sold the replacement on ebay. I use my guitar hero guitars to play rock band now. It’s much better. I recommend the xplorer since the les paul has connection issues (i had to reseat the board in the neck of the guitar for it to work).
I never played Rockband, but I have Beaten GH1,2,3 and 80’s on Expert so I have experience, there are only two controllers I use, My Red SG from Gh2 and the Les Paul, only I don’t own one, I tested it and it still performed on expert, I could never use the React Guitars, they were the same, great looks, but no playability.
Well ive used the GH2 PS2 strat and the 360 Rock Band strat. and i love the PS2 guitar cause i do play on Expert and when i hit the buttons it works great, and if i fail its me not the guitar.
Well that all changed when i played with the Rock Band one, First the whole OVERDRIVE thing were it would activate when im using the whammy bar that happens to me alot, and it not activating when you tell it to that does happens from time to time.
Second, the small frets are WAY to small im 12 and i cant use those thing ive tryed time and time again but it just doesnt work.
Third, the top frets are to squishy and i noticed that right away, and it SUCKS.
oh and i cant rember if you said this but the whammy bar is bad you have to put it down like 12 feet for it to work.
Now im not that great at GH i play on Expert but i still kinda suck, BUT if i had a regualr GH guitar i would probaly be able to beat “Green Grass and High Tides”.
So ya Doc your not alone my Guitar hassent broke yet but ive only had it for 3 weeks so mabye thats why.
i forgot to mention that the strum is to hard to well strum i have to push it down way farther
the be completely honest… I have had zero trouble with the rock band guitar, and I play expert. I probably just got lucky with mine, but I’m loving it. The strum bar did take a little getting used to but it beats the false positives I’d get from my GH3 guitar
I havent played Rock Band yet (considering that i’m in Aust and it hasent been realeased here yet) but I’ve heard bad things about the fender that comes with it so heres a word of advise to you: GHII(4 360) guitars strum bar is a bit unresponsive so (if you have it) USE THE GHIII GUITAR!!!!! the first one I had had a few Whammy bar problems(got it the first week it was out here) But the second one I got NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!!!!! GHIII Guitar FTW!!!!:D:D:D
I wholeheartedly agree with this post. Unfortunately, I have the PS3, so I can’t use the GH3 Les Paul w/RB. My most-hated feature of the controller is definitely the strum bar. I like to know that I actually did hit the bar. Next is overdrive. My friend has a 360, and RB, and during the middle of Green Grass and High Tides’ solo, I wanted to get into Overdrive. So, I turned up the controller, of course. Nothing. I turn it up higher. Nothing. “You need to drop the controller down and then turn it up” my friend, furiously drumming, tells me. I do, still nothing. By that time, I fail, because I have totally forgotten to actually play.
Sometimes my controller’s strum bar doesn’t even work, yet the next day, I come back, and it does. I know for a fact that it’s not me, because I have beaten GH3 on Expert, have 5-starred every RB song on Expert except for Run to the Hills. It’s the controller. It sucks, and I hope they finally get the patch out so I can use my GH3 controller.