Don't Hold Back FC Help please- Hitting the Phazers

[Adohu]

Wow. I always considered Don't Hold Back overrated because of how much I always hit it, but I guess a lot of people actually have trouble with it. I'm really consistent at the Phazers (e.g. I could probably get 10 times in a row without much trouble). I strum every single one of the notes at a constant speed of close to 18 NPS and change frets at the correct timing. That's probably the most challenging part: changing frets. You need to change in between your second and third strum, which is really tough considering the notes are going by at 18 NPS. The main key is to make sure you are switching frets at the EXACT moment every time. You end both of the the fast streaks on an upstrum, and downstrum the rest of the slow notes shortly afterwards. It is REALLY easy when you get the hang of it, I used to be able to nearly FC it back when I had 8 FCs.

Also, before you grind out an FC, make sure you can FC the 3-note chord strum-fest at measure 150. The switch from RBO to GYB can REALLY fuck you up, and it would really suck to choke there after hitting the Phazers.

[Adohu]

Wow. I always considered Don't Hold Back overrated because of how much I always hit it, but I guess a lot of people actually have trouble with it. I'm really consistent at the Phazers (e.g. I could probably get 10 times in a row without much trouble). I strum every single one of the notes at a constant speed of close to 18 NPS and change frets at the correct timing. That's probably the most challenging part: changing frets. You need to change in between your second and third strum, which is really tough considering the notes are going by at 18 NPS. The main key is to make sure you are switching frets at the EXACT moment every time. You end both of the the fast streaks on an upstrum, and downstrum the rest of the slow notes shortly afterwards. It is REALLY easy when you get the hang of it, I used to be able to nearly FC it back when I had 8 FCs.

Also, before you grind out an FC, make sure you can FC the 3-note chord strum-fest at measure 150. The switch from RBO to GYB can REALLY fuck you up, and it would really suck to choke there after hitting the Phazers.

[Matt276]

OK, this is just a really stupid song. Unless you can consistently strum 17 NPS, you're going to have to use what I call "HOPO cheating," where you strum slightly slower than the speed of the notes, fret accurately, and let the HOPO's take care of the rest. I also use this on TTFAF's Post Insanity and Rampaging Dragons, with pretty good consistency.

Anyway, in my experience, about the best you can hope for is to hit each Phazer about 25% of the time. It's damn hard to be any more consistent than this when you're relying on random HOPO's to save you. Plus, this percentage drops even lower when you're playing Phazer II in a real run after hitting Phazer I. So you should expect to have to play the song a ton of times before you finally put everything together.

As for actual strategy, I'm a pretty slow strummer in general, so I'm thinking to myself "Strum really fast" most of the time, but when there's a streak of the same note, I'm thinking to myself "Strum REALLY REALLY fast," since you need to be strumming the full 17 NPS on these parts. Otherwise, concentrate a lot on your fretting. For Phazer I, I like to think of the G right after the Phazer as part of the Phazer. Learn which type of strum (downstrum or upstrum) you tend to end on and stick with that. Good luck!
_________________

200 Combined GH1/GH2/GH80's/GH3 Expert FC's! - 3/6/09
RB2 Expert Guitar FC'd! - 11/21/08
Goal: Stop wasting all my time playing GH/RB. (Done!)

[Matt276]

OK, this is just a really stupid song. Unless you can consistently strum 17 NPS, you're going to have to use what I call "HOPO cheating," where you strum slightly slower than the speed of the notes, fret accurately, and let the HOPO's take care of the rest. I also use this on TTFAF's Post Insanity and Rampaging Dragons, with pretty good consistency.

Anyway, in my experience, about the best you can hope for is to hit each Phazer about 25% of the time. It's damn hard to be any more consistent than this when you're relying on random HOPO's to save you. Plus, this percentage drops even lower when you're playing Phazer II in a real run after hitting Phazer I. So you should expect to have to play the song a ton of times before you finally put everything together.

As for actual strategy, I'm a pretty slow strummer in general, so I'm thinking to myself "Strum really fast" most of the time, but when there's a streak of the same note, I'm thinking to myself "Strum REALLY REALLY fast," since you need to be strumming the full 17 NPS on these parts. Otherwise, concentrate a lot on your fretting. For Phazer I, I like to think of the G right after the Phazer as part of the Phazer. Learn which type of strum (downstrum or upstrum) you tend to end on and stick with that. Good luck!
_________________

200 Combined GH1/GH2/GH80's/GH3 Expert FC's! - 3/6/09
RB2 Expert Guitar FC'd! - 11/21/08
Goal: Stop wasting all my time playing GH/RB. (Done!)

[fludstud09]

I FCd Phazer 1 in a real run 61 times before FCing the song.

For Phazer 1, start on a downstrum and end on an upstrum. That is what i do and I never miss there.

For Phazer 2, I start on a downstrum and when I get to the last 10 notes of it i start to use the hammerons. I would always overstrum when I ended on an upstrum on this one, but when i started to use this way, I FCd it within 5 tries.

Oh and good luck. This song is a HUGE pain in the ass.
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[fludstud09]

I FCd Phazer 1 in a real run 61 times before FCing the song.

For Phazer 1, start on a downstrum and end on an upstrum. That is what i do and I never miss there.

For Phazer 2, I start on a downstrum and when I get to the last 10 notes of it i start to use the hammerons. I would always overstrum when I ended on an upstrum on this one, but when i started to use this way, I FCd it within 5 tries.

Oh and good luck. This song is a HUGE pain in the ass.
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[wreckz]

Fuck this song, I played it the other day for the first time in ages and FCed both the phazers then did the most retarded choke ever.

[wreckz]

Fuck this song, I played it the other day for the first time in ages and FCed both the phazers then did the most retarded choke ever.

[HeavensUltima]

I tried to strum it at the speed its going but it was too fast so I used my TDWDTG strumming technique it works every time on the Phazers

[HeavensUltima]

I tried to strum it at the speed its going but it was too fast so I used my TDWDTG strumming technique it works every time on the Phazers

[JR626]

Yeah I'm in the "this song is fucking impossible to FC" boat......

I have 65 FC's on GH3X and this isn't one of them. After roughly 2592 tries you MIGHT get lucky enough to make it past the first phazer, but then sure enough phazer 2 shows up and it's just, "SURPRISE BITCH NO FC FOR YOU!" I actually FC'd both phazers in a real run for the first time ever today. Shame I missed in verse 2.......it's just not meant to happen I guess haha.


My tips for hitting the phazers: None. They're stupid. Get lucky.
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psxfreak101, regarding jaimeclaude's 1st place league score on BttW wrote:

<psx> not our fault she can squeeze balls to the wall

[JR626]

Yeah I'm in the "this song is fucking impossible to FC" boat......

I have 65 FC's on GH3X and this isn't one of them. After roughly 2592 tries you MIGHT get lucky enough to make it past the first phazer, but then sure enough phazer 2 shows up and it's just, "SURPRISE BITCH NO FC FOR YOU!" I actually FC'd both phazers in a real run for the first time ever today. Shame I missed in verse 2.......it's just not meant to happen I guess haha.


My tips for hitting the phazers: None. They're stupid. Get lucky.
_________________

psxfreak101, regarding jaimeclaude's 1st place league score on BttW wrote:

<psx> not our fault she can squeeze balls to the wall