Texas Flood Hard help

**eachann** · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 1340 Location: Michigan

I only have 4 songs left to 5 star on hard... Texas Flood, CFH, BATM, and Breaking Wheel... i'm just a smidge away from getting BW..

Of the last 3 though, I've been playing them for a while and I just can't get any better at them, i'm completely hitting a wall with them. What's worse is I can't even get 4 stars on CFH and BATM... I pass them with no trouble at all but can't improve even enough to get 4 stars.

On Texas Flood, my best is only 114k... I usually get about 102-104k and I can't do any better no matter how much I practice. There are a lot of parts on this song I can't do, but for a specific question.. is there any trick to hitting that very first star power group? It has fast notes (1/16?) RRYBYRB and I've tried everything and cannot hit it. I loaded up the VGS Player and practiced it for about an hour slowing it way down and then speeding it up as I tried to play along and I still couldn't come close to hitting it. I can't even tell just what it is i'm missing on it because it goes by so fast.

Any hints please?

**Mordred** · Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 249 Location: Austin, TX

I finally 5*'d Texas Flood on hard this weekend leaving me only TBW which I should be able to do.

As to your question, I'd say that the first star power group is actually one of the easier little "sweep" runs to hit in the game. The trick with this song is that you have to get good at the HO/POs. I don't see how you could do well trying to strum every note. They come too fast and you're bound to double strum or throw yourself off. Of course doing the HO/POs perfectly is tough and you're bound to miss a few. When I play that stretch the capitol letters are notes I strum and the lower case are ones I don't: RRyByr By RgB

I may not do it always the same, but that's the pretty much the idea. You have to get good at those HO/POs if you want to 5* it. Think fluid and soulful. Strumming doesn't feel soulful

**eachann** · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 1340 Location: Michigan

Gah.. if you really have to do HO's and PO's i'm so screwed.. lol

Guess I will start practicing them though, because like i said as far as I've come 5 starring everything but those 3 songs, I'm at a complete dead end now.. I just can't seem to get any better at those songs.

When I started the breaking wheel, I thought if I could 5 star that I could 5 star anything but after spending some time working on it , it doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as BATM, CFH, and TF.

**COBW3BB** · Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:47 pm Post subject:

The first star power on Texas Flood does not require HO/POs. You can alternate strum the entire thing. I do this, and get it 100% of the time. Try that, don't give up. No need for HO/POs unless you want to get a good score on Frankenstein or Texas Flood on expert.
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**Mordred** · Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 249 Location: Austin, TX

You don't have to do them, but it certainly helps. As you get better at the HO/POs you'll get a lot better at the other guitar solos as well, and you'll be a lot more prepared for expert.

**eachann** · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 1340 Location: Michigan

The problem with HO/PO's for me isn't the basic HO/PO action... I could do it with a bit of practice if it was just a couple of notes and timing was my only issue... but I can't do something like : GrYb (capital being the strum, lowercase being the HO), when I move my left hand fingers my right hand automatically wants to strum. And I can't do PO's well either because 1) you have to have the buttons held down ahead of time and I just can't think far enough ahead to put 3 fingers down for one strum... and also I just can't move my fingers well enough to put fingers down that aren't being played yet and then lift up fingers as they are played (if that makes sense). For example on a B R B R B R a lot of people would hold down the blue and just tap the R... I have a really hard time doing that, it's much easier for me to alternate pressing R and B instead of holding down the B.

**Mordred** · Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 249 Location: Austin, TX

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. You can always force yourself to do them. Just move your hand away from the strum bar and only strum when you break the chain. There are so many damn HO/POs in TF that you'll get a lot better just by forcing yourself to use them. It's certainly no way to go for score, but hopefully you can break your mental block and you don't lose much meter if you miss a note without strumming so you can usually play for a pretty long time, even if you end up failing the song.

This is all basically just what worked for me and maybe the really good players don't do what I do. I haven't really had a chance to play through many of the songs more than once but I'm still a long flight from COBW3BBs talent. Mr. Green

**Shadow** · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 329

People are saying that one has to keep the buttons held for the PO... I wonder if I encountered a bug since just played a B-note, and after that (a longer pause than usually on HO/PO) there was a Y-note to be POd. I wasn't holding the Y down when I played the B, and let the button go almost immediately after playing it, but I still hit the Y when I only pressed the button without strumming. :|

**MLafer** · Joined: 26 Mar 2006 Posts: 464 Location: Canton, MI

You can also downstrum the first SP if you're weird like me.
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**catfish7** · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 927 Location: North Florida

I downstrum the whole song, and I have at least a top 40 score, although I haven't checked it in a while. It was like 20 something. Alternate strumming is overrated except on BatM, CBfH, and TBW.

**eachann** · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 1340 Location: Michigan

I worked on this some more, and I'm getting nowhere with it. I tried working on HO's and PO's for a while... I can do them ok if it's only a couple of notes, if it's more than 3 notes though I generally can't get them all. However, I really don't understand the benefit of pulloffs. You still have to hit the frets just as fast, and that's the hard part.... at least when you strum the notes you have something to time yourself with. I don't get any benefit out of HO/PO... everything I am able to HO/PO I am able to do with normal strumming. And the things I can't strum, are too fast for me to HO/PO as well. Maybe I'm missing something, I just don't see the benefit.

I'm so frustrated with these last 3 songs ... I've spent hours just trying to get this star group. The other night I actually got it one time and I was so excited.. but then I tried it again and wasn't able to get it again the rest of the night. I don't know how I got it, and I don't know why I miss it when I don't get it.... I just know I can't get it no matter how much I practice.

**Echelar** · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 1246 Location: Fort Wayne, IN

I downstrum the whole song except for the fast oranges, and I have a top 5 score.

For the first SP, just remind yourself to strum 6 times, pause slightly, and strum again. When I miss, I'm usually not strumming enough.. or too much flailing. Let your frets take care of themselves, those fingers probably know what to do... just concentrate on 6 fast strums at the right speed... at least, that's what did it for me.
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**HylianHero** · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 4673 Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Yeah, I gotta agree with most of the guys in here. I downstrum pretty much everything in this song (except for the O streak, but for some reason I don't really hit those anyways). I could give you a recommended score you should have by the parts if you want. It helps a little bit more when you know exactly what score you need to get by what point.

Coming out of the beginning solo, I aim for +40k, and I've actually managed to get 48 once, but on average I have about 40k. This normally involves hitting pretty much everything in it, with the exception of about 2 screwup spots. Right at the beginning of the main solo, you should have roughly 75k. At the RO - GB holds, I try to have about 100k. Lately, I've bumped that up to about 110k, but that may just be luck. Coming up to the OSOD (orange streak of doom), I aim for 125k. By the end of the solo, I aim to have 140-145k. Depending on how much SP I have (aka: if I hit the OSOD or not), I aim to have 160 or 165k each run.

This has been your public service announcement for one of the only songs in the game I consider myself pretty good at. (Besides ZS, TK65, Callout, and FL kinda)
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