Misirlou 5* Expert Guide - Seventh Edition

[FoxNtd]

Intro

This was a guide I wanted to write after I got my Log since Misirlou was my last song to 5*, like it is for so many other Expert players trying to get their precious wooden guitar. I worked on this song for about a month, which is longer than all the time I spent on the other 4* songs combined. For those, like me, who aren't naturally talented at tremolo picking, this song is notoriously difficult to get 5* on. After those four weeks or so, about 950 runs of Misirlou was the cost for the Log. Hopefully what I learned is helpful so nobody else has to suffer that badly working on this. But hey, it sure did raise my fast picking skills incredibly.

Right, so hopefully this thread becomes the complete source for Misirlou help anyone might need. Oh, if some details or explanations seem a bit mundane, you're just a better, more experienced Expert player. This guide tries to help out even those who have never played Misirlou before on Expert.

Technique

I can't tell you how many times I've seen threads based on just playing technique alone. Sure, there is sitting versus standing. But there is also lying down (I've seen it brought up, so I'm mentioning it), and strumming with all five fingers, and strumming with only the thumb and index finger. And there is strumming using your arm, or just your wrist.

Everyone is different; if you don't know which combination of the above works for you, you'll have to experiment and see what helps you strum consistently. Don't worry about what might feel like is the easiest way to strum fast because of two reasons: one, Misirlou really isn't that fast as many people think it is, and two, you need endurance and consistency in your strumming. Flailing away at your strum bar and getting worn out before half the song is over is not the way to approach this song.

Regarding technique, there is something I learned practically the same day I got the 5*, and that is keep your strumming arm relaxed. I've seen some people say that can't even do quick alt strumming without having issues, and daily practice sessions with Misirlou should start building up stamina in this department. If in the beginning you can't alt strum without muscles in your arm being tensed, just work with it. After a while you should find a way to strum at the right speed and have the muscle tension much lower. (I'm a little hazy about the development in alt strumming fast here, I don't know how other people have learned fast picking. It's probably the same thing going on.)

If you can pick fast and comfortably without so much tension, you'll be able to maintain your strumming consistency so much more easily, and throughout the entire song, too. Arguably this will make or break your chance of getting the 5*, period.

Finally, a big question in technique for Misirlou: strumming speed! People talk about notes per second but seriously does that help much? Maybe I'm dumb with measurements like that but I think the best thing to do is to listen to the perfect speed. This is PriestMLH's Misirlou FC video on YouTube. Fortunately you can hear his strumming well; note that it is not super-fast and you don't need to be raping your strum bar! By the way good job on that FC.

To fine-tune your strumming speed, here's how you identify when your speed is wrong. If you are understrumming, you will see notes pass through your "note window" at the bottom of the screen, and if your ears are really sharp you will notice a note missing in the song. If you are overstrumming, you will be *plink*'ing so that can be easily identified.

All that talk about strumming made me forget about fretting. Another thing bjw reminded me about. At first I found it to be very difficult to judge when to change frets. I think the counting method is the best, but it takes some time and experience with fast strumming until you can begin to grasp that. Some people use a certain strumming pattern and use the strum bar's position as a cue when they have strummed enough before changing frets. That's not a bad idea, either. Even with perfect strumming, changing frets at the wrong time will kill the multiplier. Some sections are very neat; such as this part excerpt early in the song:


Notice that each note comes in fours. It takes two double-strums before changing frets. This is why it's kinda easier to hold onto that 8x during the activation among the 3-note chords, because you can count and not miss in the tremolo picking. Other parts are a bit crazier with notes coming in unusual counts, so it takes experience to get a feel for when exactly you change frets (counting isn't always so simple.)

I think I got all the helpful techniques covered, moving on...

Practice Mode

This is one of those times where practice mode just doesn't really help you with anything. If you keep missing one of the sections outside of the fast picking, sure, go ahead and that section to practice mode until you can hit it at least most of the time. Iron out those combo-breaking note sections. If you're struggling to get 5*, minimizing the number of times you break multiplier is definitely a plus. Also, consider working on the outro in practice. Being able to FC it entirely is a huge advantage because of the ridiculous score boost you can get if you 8x it all.

The chunk of quick chords is key, learning to keep combo coming into it as well as maintaining combo is insanely helpful!

bjw has pointed something out that I didn't think was necessary to cover since anyone playing on Expert this far in the game already should know this technique. But for completion this should be here. The Guitar Break, for the most part, is a combination of green note pairs and non-green note pairs. For example:



If you aren't already, keep your index finger on green and use the other fingers to hit the other frets as they come. Yep, you have to stretch to hit that orange; it's probably not a good idea to let go of green to go for orange and come back to green. No need to make this any harder than it already is. Since you never release green, technically you are playing the non-green notes like chords. You play it as though it were as follows:



One last note about the Guitar Break. Although all the non-green notes come in pairs, it is still pretty fast. Don't hold those frets too long. It's like around half a second, then you let go. Press down on the fret and hesitate only very, very slightly, then release it. You will strum that note a second time possibly sooner than you think, and you don't want to hold it too long because you will miss the next green pair and you will be thrown out of sync and you will be missing a lot more than just that one note.

An additional comment I must make about practice. Technically, every single time you play the song counts as practice as well, regardless how well or poorly you do. Depending on the stamina of your strumming arm, I would suggest at least 15 Misirlou runs daily (preferably consecutively) in order to promote improvement. Your arm will get in the habit for tremolo picking, you will get better at doing it and it will become less tiring over time. Also your fretting should be improving as you begin to learn and consequently memorize the note chart as it comes at you. If you are hitting fairly decent scores, about 170k+, but suddenly you drop severely, around 150k or less, take a break or play a different song before returning to Misirlou.

Some are lucky and can nail the 5* within a dozen runs, but others, especially me, will need hundreds of tries. If you really want the 5* and that Log, get used to this song and don't neglect it. Oh yeah, don't play if you arm is tired and/or sore. Tremolo picking isn't good for you at that point I would think.

New addition to the practice section: Take Six's intro/outro to practice mode where it requires you to strum really fast and fret every four or eight notes. It's an excellent way to work on both fast strumming and fretting while doing so. For example I got 5* on Six twice in a row, then did a run of Misirlou and bam, 5* first shot. Thanks to f4phantom2500 for suggesting I mention this strumming training advice in the guide!

Star Power!

Of course, you will want to know how to take advantage of SP to sneak up on that 5* cut-off and steal the five stars. A warning before anything else that follows: my SP suggestion is NOT optimal! The optimal path as I have seen posted on SH involves an activation on the Guitar Break. The majority of players cannot keep a combo here so it is not the best idea to activate there. If you're pretty good at it, having minimal combo breaks (well if you can FC it you probably don't need a Misirlou 5* guide ) then maybe you might want to use the optimal guide. I posted the SP path I used personally because it seemed to be the most advantageous to me.

Besides optimal and mine, there are other paths. This is just a guideline path; if the activations seem to work well for you, use it; if you can adjust it and activate where you keep combo more easily, adjust the path. Don't ask me why, sometimes some tremolo picking sections are easier than others.

bjwdestroyer's SP path. I don't know who made the original charts, somebody tell me so I can give proper credit. In the meantime, to whoever made it, thanks for the chart! His SP path is essentially the same as mine except an error my path had is corrected. Thanks bjw. Credit to strikebowler585 for finally pointing out the note chart change in the Xbox 360 version of GH2. The final sequence of HOPOs just before the last note (green note sustain), the three note scale lacks the yellow note on Xbox. This puts Xbox players at a very, very slight disadvantage because any player about to barely graze the cut-off for 5* will have one less note to contribute to the total score at the very end.

In case it wasn't clear, green boxes highlight where the nine SP phrases are, and the red brackets with arrows show approximately where to activate. The first activation is much more beneficial to your score if you can combo the fast-picking between the 3-note chord chunks. At measure 46 I had a tendency of holding 8x for a good length before breaking combo so I always activated there. This is one of the activations you may want to change when making your own path.

Finally my last activation took advantage of the fact I can always FC the chords in the Ending, although I miss the fast picking there 99% of the time, and the outro is included under SP so you can still take advantage of an amazing boost in points. Screwing up the outro in a good run probably results in a score within 10k of 5*, you don't want that to keep happening... So learn the outro, and learn it well.

FretsOnFireGh2 said something about breaking combo in order to ensure acquisition of the second SP phrase. Because of that, I think it can't hurt to cover all nine SP phrases and common mistakes that will keep that precious SP away from you:

SP Phrase 1
Measures 7-8
There is nothing difficult here within the SP phrase itself. Missing this SP is purely a stupid error that rarely occurs, if at all. Be careful when transitioning from the intro to this phrase and don't overstrum your way out of the final three red notes of the intro; flailing away excessively might plink your SP away if you strum too carelessly...

SP Phrase 2
Measure 17
Careful here, especially if you are getting frantic with the tremolo picking. The previous section has the usual eight yellow notes with the ninth one tacked on where the SP phrase begins. Don't break combo on purpose just to ensure you get this SP phrase. When you get experience with this section of the song, you'll get used to putting a little emphasis on that "extra" strum. Be aware of this and you shouldn't get in too much trouble with under/overstrumming.

SP Phrase 3
Measure 24
Don't get anxious and start strumming early. You'll slip outside the timing windows (or overstrum) for sure and *plink* goes your SP. Strum steadily and, if your strumming is decently developed, you can start counting on getting this most of the time. Good luck with Guitar Break 1...

SP Phrase 4
Measure 29
Early whammy! Actually, I need someone to confirm you do indeed acquire a little extra SP here if you whammy early.

SP Phrase 5
Measure 37
Same as SP Phrase 1, only a stupid mistake will keep this SP away.

SP Phrase 6
Measures 42-43
Careful with the HOPO at the beginning of the phrase. I like to hold yellow and tap blue and pull-off to get the yellow right after it. I'm talking about this:

Rest of the phrase is a cake walk.

SP Phrase 7
Measure 45
Easy one again. Also the star notes help remind that you need to activate right after it!

SP Phrase 8
Measure 54
Arguably the toughest SP to get, and essential if you want that precious activation for the outro. Watch your strumming and keep it steady, and also do your best to time when and how long to hold the yellow fret so that you can snag this SP. Good luck hitting the second guitar break, by the way..

SP Phrase 9
Piece of cake, just don't get excited and activate prematurely.

Statistics

Unusual section huh? Yeah I know. But it's probably good to look over.

The goal is 201,197. That reminds me when I hit 200k but fell 348 points short of the 5* cut-off. Anyway, one thing I definitely noticed is that when you reach the second Guitar Break, the higher your score is over 150k the more likely you are going to 5* this. That's because, as mentioned above, you get over 40k or so from the outro with 8x multiplier. So if you are past 150k when you hit Guitar Break 2, you will lose the 5* only if you make a grave error. Being a little under 150k, it's a touch call. Being far below, like below 140k, you are probably screwed unless you pull an FC out of your ass until the song is over, but that's not likely.

Don't restart the song because you see yourself coming up to Guitar Break 2 with like 130k. Okay you are pretty much screwed but at the very least you are getting another practice run at the ending and outro sections. That is always a good thing, so always finish the song. You can always hit restart when you get to the last green sustain anyway.

For fun I will list what kind of barriers you are hitting based on score ranges:

Less than 150k: Far too many combo breaks. Probably overstrumming, try slowing down in the fast-picking sections. Work on the other parts of the song so you can FC all or most of them. Also remember, there are nine SP phrases. The more SP phrases you hit, the better!! Two of them appear in the beginning of each Guitar Break. If you can never hit them, learn how to hit them at least some of the time.

150k-160k: Not too much improvement from above. I got these scores when losing out on an activation, such as having only 1/4 SP at the end meaning no big bonus. And/or it means you sucked at keeping combo, you got a lot of work to do.

160k-170k: It's kinda nice when you first get here, isn't it? The plateau effect happens in Misirlou a lot, you can reach a new range of scores then you kinda get stuck there and have trouble breaking out. I noticed I was pushing 170k when I started to get a hang of the strumming speed and keeping streaks longer.

170k-180k: Not counting a fluke run, if you can get here at least half of the time on a decent day, well then good news, you're learning something! Hopefully this is a sign of effective usage of SP and a sign that you are getting streaks here and there with the occasional combo break. With more practice and a bit of luck, you're almost there!

180k-190k: Again this reflects on the previous score range, but this time you did better, but still inches away from the goal. I hit 182k once and it took me over two weeks to do it again so hitting over 180k consistently means the strumming has gotten pretty good. Be happy, hard work is paying off!

190k-200k: Bad luck, sorry, try again. When I reached this area, I knew I was set, I had enough skill in Misirlou to finally beat it. Have patience...

200k-201,196: DON'T THROW THE GUITAR OUT THE WINDOW! You'll get your Log really soon! Maybe next run, maybe tomorrow, but you'll get your wooden instrument soon. Really, you will!!

Now, thanks to bjw yet again, this new piece is a 3rd Ed. bump. If you are inclined to know the mathematics behind the points you're trying to get, this ought to be intriguing.

Keep in mind that the 5* cut-off is 201,197, one note is worth 50 points, a 2-note chord is worth 100 points, and a 3-note chord is worth 150 points.

A 3-note chord under 4x multiplier gets you 600 points, and under SP that's 8x multiplier, so 1200 points. That's just one 3-note chord!! The outro has 20 chords; FC'ing that with 8x multiplier is worth 24,000 points, proving to be quite beneficial!

Backtrack slightly before those 3-note chords, back to the last set of chords in measure 63 (See SP path above.) There are 10 chords and 21 notes. Under 8x, these amount to 16,400 in addition to 24,000 for all the 3-note chords. FC'ing under the final SP activaton is worth 40,000 points; clearly it is worth being able to FC this part of the song.

Continuing to be busy with numbers, bjw points out the section in measures 46 through 50 (see Misirlou SP path above) contains 113 notes. Should these be FC'ed under SP, it is worth 45,200. Unfortunately most people won't FC this, but you will still notice a big chunk of points added on under SP even if you make (very) few combo breaks.

At the very least, this proves why the chords in the ending and outro are so valuable and why it's necessary to have some tremolo picked areas of the song under SP. (If you attempt to use an SP path that avoids tremolo picked section as much as possible, consider the 5* unobtainable unless you have very high note accuracy.)

Outro

Hopefully this covered every freakin' aspect there is to this song. Credits and thanks to the maker of the note chart, that is so convenient to have, and to Priest for posting his remarkable FC on Youtube for all to see. And bjwdestroyer for a few tid-bits as well as a corrected SP path. Thanks to FretsOnFireGh2 for mentioning the tricky second SP phrase, inspiring the new SP review section I added. And thanks to strikebowler585 for pointing out the one-note change for the 360 version of the song. Thanks to f4phantom2500 for PMing me about using Six in practice to further enhance strumming skills; I had unknowingly done that myself!

I beat Misirlou before needing to play it for the one thousandth time, hopefully the shittiest Misirlou players won't need to go past even 200 runs with this guide.

If anything is missing, if anything should be added, removed, revised, edited, or otherwise, post or PM me and I will polish this guide so it shines in its usefullness.

Enjoy Misirlou, you'll be hearing it hundreds of times!

...and enjoy the Log.

[FoxNtd]

Intro

This was a guide I wanted to write after I got my Log since Misirlou was my last song to 5*, like it is for so many other Expert players trying to get their precious wooden guitar. I worked on this song for about a month, which is longer than all the time I spent on the other 4* songs combined. For those, like me, who aren't naturally talented at tremolo picking, this song is notoriously difficult to get 5* on. After those four weeks or so, about 950 runs of Misirlou was the cost for the Log. Hopefully what I learned is helpful so nobody else has to suffer that badly working on this. But hey, it sure did raise my fast picking skills incredibly.

Right, so hopefully this thread becomes the complete source for Misirlou help anyone might need. Oh, if some details or explanations seem a bit mundane, you're just a better, more experienced Expert player. This guide tries to help out even those who have never played Misirlou before on Expert.

Technique

I can't tell you how many times I've seen threads based on just playing technique alone. Sure, there is sitting versus standing. But there is also lying down (I've seen it brought up, so I'm mentioning it), and strumming with all five fingers, and strumming with only the thumb and index finger. And there is strumming using your arm, or just your wrist.

Everyone is different; if you don't know which combination of the above works for you, you'll have to experiment and see what helps you strum consistently. Don't worry about what might feel like is the easiest way to strum fast because of two reasons: one, Misirlou really isn't that fast as many people think it is, and two, you need endurance and consistency in your strumming. Flailing away at your strum bar and getting worn out before half the song is over is not the way to approach this song.

Regarding technique, there is something I learned practically the same day I got the 5*, and that is keep your strumming arm relaxed. I've seen some people say that can't even do quick alt strumming without having issues, and daily practice sessions with Misirlou should start building up stamina in this department. If in the beginning you can't alt strum without muscles in your arm being tensed, just work with it. After a while you should find a way to strum at the right speed and have the muscle tension much lower. (I'm a little hazy about the development in alt strumming fast here, I don't know how other people have learned fast picking. It's probably the same thing going on.)

If you can pick fast and comfortably without so much tension, you'll be able to maintain your strumming consistency so much more easily, and throughout the entire song, too. Arguably this will make or break your chance of getting the 5*, period.

Finally, a big question in technique for Misirlou: strumming speed! People talk about notes per second but seriously does that help much? Maybe I'm dumb with measurements like that but I think the best thing to do is to listen to the perfect speed. This is PriestMLH's Misirlou FC video on YouTube. Fortunately you can hear his strumming well; note that it is not super-fast and you don't need to be raping your strum bar! By the way good job on that FC.

To fine-tune your strumming speed, here's how you identify when your speed is wrong. If you are understrumming, you will see notes pass through your "note window" at the bottom of the screen, and if your ears are really sharp you will notice a note missing in the song. If you are overstrumming, you will be *plink*'ing so that can be easily identified.

All that talk about strumming made me forget about fretting. Another thing bjw reminded me about. At first I found it to be very difficult to judge when to change frets. I think the counting method is the best, but it takes some time and experience with fast strumming until you can begin to grasp that. Some people use a certain strumming pattern and use the strum bar's position as a cue when they have strummed enough before changing frets. That's not a bad idea, either. Even with perfect strumming, changing frets at the wrong time will kill the multiplier. Some sections are very neat; such as this part excerpt early in the song:


Notice that each note comes in fours. It takes two double-strums before changing frets. This is why it's kinda easier to hold onto that 8x during the activation among the 3-note chords, because you can count and not miss in the tremolo picking. Other parts are a bit crazier with notes coming in unusual counts, so it takes experience to get a feel for when exactly you change frets (counting isn't always so simple.)

I think I got all the helpful techniques covered, moving on...

Practice Mode

This is one of those times where practice mode just doesn't really help you with anything. If you keep missing one of the sections outside of the fast picking, sure, go ahead and that section to practice mode until you can hit it at least most of the time. Iron out those combo-breaking note sections. If you're struggling to get 5*, minimizing the number of times you break multiplier is definitely a plus. Also, consider working on the outro in practice. Being able to FC it entirely is a huge advantage because of the ridiculous score boost you can get if you 8x it all.

The chunk of quick chords is key, learning to keep combo coming into it as well as maintaining combo is insanely helpful!

bjw has pointed something out that I didn't think was necessary to cover since anyone playing on Expert this far in the game already should know this technique. But for completion this should be here. The Guitar Break, for the most part, is a combination of green note pairs and non-green note pairs. For example:



If you aren't already, keep your index finger on green and use the other fingers to hit the other frets as they come. Yep, you have to stretch to hit that orange; it's probably not a good idea to let go of green to go for orange and come back to green. No need to make this any harder than it already is. Since you never release green, technically you are playing the non-green notes like chords. You play it as though it were as follows:



One last note about the Guitar Break. Although all the non-green notes come in pairs, it is still pretty fast. Don't hold those frets too long. It's like around half a second, then you let go. Press down on the fret and hesitate only very, very slightly, then release it. You will strum that note a second time possibly sooner than you think, and you don't want to hold it too long because you will miss the next green pair and you will be thrown out of sync and you will be missing a lot more than just that one note.

An additional comment I must make about practice. Technically, every single time you play the song counts as practice as well, regardless how well or poorly you do. Depending on the stamina of your strumming arm, I would suggest at least 15 Misirlou runs daily (preferably consecutively) in order to promote improvement. Your arm will get in the habit for tremolo picking, you will get better at doing it and it will become less tiring over time. Also your fretting should be improving as you begin to learn and consequently memorize the note chart as it comes at you. If you are hitting fairly decent scores, about 170k+, but suddenly you drop severely, around 150k or less, take a break or play a different song before returning to Misirlou.

Some are lucky and can nail the 5* within a dozen runs, but others, especially me, will need hundreds of tries. If you really want the 5* and that Log, get used to this song and don't neglect it. Oh yeah, don't play if you arm is tired and/or sore. Tremolo picking isn't good for you at that point I would think.

New addition to the practice section: Take Six's intro/outro to practice mode where it requires you to strum really fast and fret every four or eight notes. It's an excellent way to work on both fast strumming and fretting while doing so. For example I got 5* on Six twice in a row, then did a run of Misirlou and bam, 5* first shot. Thanks to f4phantom2500 for suggesting I mention this strumming training advice in the guide!

Star Power!

Of course, you will want to know how to take advantage of SP to sneak up on that 5* cut-off and steal the five stars. A warning before anything else that follows: my SP suggestion is NOT optimal! The optimal path as I have seen posted on SH involves an activation on the Guitar Break. The majority of players cannot keep a combo here so it is not the best idea to activate there. If you're pretty good at it, having minimal combo breaks (well if you can FC it you probably don't need a Misirlou 5* guide ) then maybe you might want to use the optimal guide. I posted the SP path I used personally because it seemed to be the most advantageous to me.

Besides optimal and mine, there are other paths. This is just a guideline path; if the activations seem to work well for you, use it; if you can adjust it and activate where you keep combo more easily, adjust the path. Don't ask me why, sometimes some tremolo picking sections are easier than others.

bjwdestroyer's SP path. I don't know who made the original charts, somebody tell me so I can give proper credit. In the meantime, to whoever made it, thanks for the chart! His SP path is essentially the same as mine except an error my path had is corrected. Thanks bjw. Credit to strikebowler585 for finally pointing out the note chart change in the Xbox 360 version of GH2. The final sequence of HOPOs just before the last note (green note sustain), the three note scale lacks the yellow note on Xbox. This puts Xbox players at a very, very slight disadvantage because any player about to barely graze the cut-off for 5* will have one less note to contribute to the total score at the very end.

In case it wasn't clear, green boxes highlight where the nine SP phrases are, and the red brackets with arrows show approximately where to activate. The first activation is much more beneficial to your score if you can combo the fast-picking between the 3-note chord chunks. At measure 46 I had a tendency of holding 8x for a good length before breaking combo so I always activated there. This is one of the activations you may want to change when making your own path.

Finally my last activation took advantage of the fact I can always FC the chords in the Ending, although I miss the fast picking there 99% of the time, and the outro is included under SP so you can still take advantage of an amazing boost in points. Screwing up the outro in a good run probably results in a score within 10k of 5*, you don't want that to keep happening... So learn the outro, and learn it well.

FretsOnFireGh2 said something about breaking combo in order to ensure acquisition of the second SP phrase. Because of that, I think it can't hurt to cover all nine SP phrases and common mistakes that will keep that precious SP away from you:

SP Phrase 1
Measures 7-8
There is nothing difficult here within the SP phrase itself. Missing this SP is purely a stupid error that rarely occurs, if at all. Be careful when transitioning from the intro to this phrase and don't overstrum your way out of the final three red notes of the intro; flailing away excessively might plink your SP away if you strum too carelessly...

SP Phrase 2
Measure 17
Careful here, especially if you are getting frantic with the tremolo picking. The previous section has the usual eight yellow notes with the ninth one tacked on where the SP phrase begins. Don't break combo on purpose just to ensure you get this SP phrase. When you get experience with this section of the song, you'll get used to putting a little emphasis on that "extra" strum. Be aware of this and you shouldn't get in too much trouble with under/overstrumming.

SP Phrase 3
Measure 24
Don't get anxious and start strumming early. You'll slip outside the timing windows (or overstrum) for sure and *plink* goes your SP. Strum steadily and, if your strumming is decently developed, you can start counting on getting this most of the time. Good luck with Guitar Break 1...

SP Phrase 4
Measure 29
Early whammy! Actually, I need someone to confirm you do indeed acquire a little extra SP here if you whammy early.

SP Phrase 5
Measure 37
Same as SP Phrase 1, only a stupid mistake will keep this SP away.

SP Phrase 6
Measures 42-43
Careful with the HOPO at the beginning of the phrase. I like to hold yellow and tap blue and pull-off to get the yellow right after it. I'm talking about this:

Rest of the phrase is a cake walk.

SP Phrase 7
Measure 45
Easy one again. Also the star notes help remind that you need to activate right after it!

SP Phrase 8
Measure 54
Arguably the toughest SP to get, and essential if you want that precious activation for the outro. Watch your strumming and keep it steady, and also do your best to time when and how long to hold the yellow fret so that you can snag this SP. Good luck hitting the second guitar break, by the way..

SP Phrase 9
Piece of cake, just don't get excited and activate prematurely.

Statistics

Unusual section huh? Yeah I know. But it's probably good to look over.

The goal is 201,197. That reminds me when I hit 200k but fell 348 points short of the 5* cut-off. Anyway, one thing I definitely noticed is that when you reach the second Guitar Break, the higher your score is over 150k the more likely you are going to 5* this. That's because, as mentioned above, you get over 40k or so from the outro with 8x multiplier. So if you are past 150k when you hit Guitar Break 2, you will lose the 5* only if you make a grave error. Being a little under 150k, it's a touch call. Being far below, like below 140k, you are probably screwed unless you pull an FC out of your ass until the song is over, but that's not likely.

Don't restart the song because you see yourself coming up to Guitar Break 2 with like 130k. Okay you are pretty much screwed but at the very least you are getting another practice run at the ending and outro sections. That is always a good thing, so always finish the song. You can always hit restart when you get to the last green sustain anyway.

For fun I will list what kind of barriers you are hitting based on score ranges:

Less than 150k: Far too many combo breaks. Probably overstrumming, try slowing down in the fast-picking sections. Work on the other parts of the song so you can FC all or most of them. Also remember, there are nine SP phrases. The more SP phrases you hit, the better!! Two of them appear in the beginning of each Guitar Break. If you can never hit them, learn how to hit them at least some of the time.

150k-160k: Not too much improvement from above. I got these scores when losing out on an activation, such as having only 1/4 SP at the end meaning no big bonus. And/or it means you sucked at keeping combo, you got a lot of work to do.

160k-170k: It's kinda nice when you first get here, isn't it? The plateau effect happens in Misirlou a lot, you can reach a new range of scores then you kinda get stuck there and have trouble breaking out. I noticed I was pushing 170k when I started to get a hang of the strumming speed and keeping streaks longer.

170k-180k: Not counting a fluke run, if you can get here at least half of the time on a decent day, well then good news, you're learning something! Hopefully this is a sign of effective usage of SP and a sign that you are getting streaks here and there with the occasional combo break. With more practice and a bit of luck, you're almost there!

180k-190k: Again this reflects on the previous score range, but this time you did better, but still inches away from the goal. I hit 182k once and it took me over two weeks to do it again so hitting over 180k consistently means the strumming has gotten pretty good. Be happy, hard work is paying off!

190k-200k: Bad luck, sorry, try again. When I reached this area, I knew I was set, I had enough skill in Misirlou to finally beat it. Have patience...

200k-201,196: DON'T THROW THE GUITAR OUT THE WINDOW! You'll get your Log really soon! Maybe next run, maybe tomorrow, but you'll get your wooden instrument soon. Really, you will!!

Now, thanks to bjw yet again, this new piece is a 3rd Ed. bump. If you are inclined to know the mathematics behind the points you're trying to get, this ought to be intriguing.

Keep in mind that the 5* cut-off is 201,197, one note is worth 50 points, a 2-note chord is worth 100 points, and a 3-note chord is worth 150 points.

A 3-note chord under 4x multiplier gets you 600 points, and under SP that's 8x multiplier, so 1200 points. That's just one 3-note chord!! The outro has 20 chords; FC'ing that with 8x multiplier is worth 24,000 points, proving to be quite beneficial!

Backtrack slightly before those 3-note chords, back to the last set of chords in measure 63 (See SP path above.) There are 10 chords and 21 notes. Under 8x, these amount to 16,400 in addition to 24,000 for all the 3-note chords. FC'ing under the final SP activaton is worth 40,000 points; clearly it is worth being able to FC this part of the song.

Continuing to be busy with numbers, bjw points out the section in measures 46 through 50 (see Misirlou SP path above) contains 113 notes. Should these be FC'ed under SP, it is worth 45,200. Unfortunately most people won't FC this, but you will still notice a big chunk of points added on under SP even if you make (very) few combo breaks.

At the very least, this proves why the chords in the ending and outro are so valuable and why it's necessary to have some tremolo picked areas of the song under SP. (If you attempt to use an SP path that avoids tremolo picked section as much as possible, consider the 5* unobtainable unless you have very high note accuracy.)

Outro

Hopefully this covered every freakin' aspect there is to this song. Credits and thanks to the maker of the note chart, that is so convenient to have, and to Priest for posting his remarkable FC on Youtube for all to see. And bjwdestroyer for a few tid-bits as well as a corrected SP path. Thanks to FretsOnFireGh2 for mentioning the tricky second SP phrase, inspiring the new SP review section I added. And thanks to strikebowler585 for pointing out the one-note change for the 360 version of the song. Thanks to f4phantom2500 for PMing me about using Six in practice to further enhance strumming skills; I had unknowingly done that myself!

I beat Misirlou before needing to play it for the one thousandth time, hopefully the shittiest Misirlou players won't need to go past even 200 runs with this guide.

If anything is missing, if anything should be added, removed, revised, edited, or otherwise, post or PM me and I will polish this guide so it shines in its usefullness.

Enjoy Misirlou, you'll be hearing it hundreds of times!

...and enjoy the Log.

[eman2101]

Your SP path's last activation is a measure too early. You have to activate at the next set of R-Bs to get the triple chords under SP.
_________________

[eman2101]

Your SP path's last activation is a measure too early. You have to activate at the next set of R-Bs to get the triple chords under SP.
_________________

[FoxNtd]

[FoxNtd]

[bjwdestroyer]

Nice topic Fox, might as well add my own input.

Firstly, my SP Chart. It is similar to yours (albeit fixed), and I'm sure it is for nearly everyone trying to 5* this damn song. (Red = activations, Green = SP phrases)

Secondly, you have to know when to change frets during the tremelo picking. Unfortunately, finding the correct speed of alt-strumming is only half the game when it comes to Misirlou: you have to watch that screen closely and switch frets when appropriate. Too early and your multiplier is gone. Too late, and your multiplier is gone. This may seem very obvious, but you would be surprised to see how many players don't do this well. I noticed that as I began to get better at Misirlou, I began concentrating more on these note changes, which in turn helped my score drastically (at least, once you get the strumming speed down.)

Thirdly, you must be able to get all of the SP phrases. They are imperative. Less SP = you better hope you can keep a 4x multiplier for a lot of the song, and if you could, you wouldn't be reading this topic like hell the way you probably are to find out how the &$#! you are going to 5* this.

Fourthly, becoming good at everything up to the break is fairly important. Of course, this isn't required to 5* Misirlou, but if you can FC the tremelo picking and than transition into the slower paced parts of the song consistently in the intro, you could very well easily see a sweet score before the break, a score that might just earn you that precious (and stupid unforgiving) Log. Similarly, FC the outro. Fox said it, and I'll say it too. Learn it. Love it. 5* it.

Fifthly, for the break, do not play it according to how it looks. The break looks like this:

etc.

For this entire sequence, you always want to hold down the green fret, while consistently strumming to the Misirlou speed. In other words, you will be playing it like this:

etc.


Lastly, don't give up. Improvement will most likely come slow, and scores will more than likely be all over the place and random (back when I was shooting for my Log, I've had days where I hit as low as 130k, and as high as 200k). No matter what, the more you play, the more you will get better. Treat Misirlou as an exercise; most likely, your wrist won't be able to suffice to the endurance that Misirlou requires, however, playing every day will strengthen your wrist, ultimately bringing you closer to the 5*.

Well, that's all from me. Feel free to integrate this crap into the first post Fox, or you can just let it sit here.

[bjwdestroyer]

Nice topic Fox, might as well add my own input.

Firstly, my SP Chart. It is similar to yours (albeit fixed), and I'm sure it is for nearly everyone trying to 5* this damn song. (Red = activations, Green = SP phrases)

Secondly, you have to know when to change frets during the tremelo picking. Unfortunately, finding the correct speed of alt-strumming is only half the game when it comes to Misirlou: you have to watch that screen closely and switch frets when appropriate. Too early and your multiplier is gone. Too late, and your multiplier is gone. This may seem very obvious, but you would be surprised to see how many players don't do this well. I noticed that as I began to get better at Misirlou, I began concentrating more on these note changes, which in turn helped my score drastically (at least, once you get the strumming speed down.)

Thirdly, you must be able to get all of the SP phrases. They are imperative. Less SP = you better hope you can keep a 4x multiplier for a lot of the song, and if you could, you wouldn't be reading this topic like hell the way you probably are to find out how the &$#! you are going to 5* this.

Fourthly, becoming good at everything up to the break is fairly important. Of course, this isn't required to 5* Misirlou, but if you can FC the tremelo picking and than transition into the slower paced parts of the song consistently in the intro, you could very well easily see a sweet score before the break, a score that might just earn you that precious (and stupid unforgiving) Log. Similarly, FC the outro. Fox said it, and I'll say it too. Learn it. Love it. 5* it.

Fifthly, for the break, do not play it according to how it looks. The break looks like this:

etc.

For this entire sequence, you always want to hold down the green fret, while consistently strumming to the Misirlou speed. In other words, you will be playing it like this:

etc.


Lastly, don't give up. Improvement will most likely come slow, and scores will more than likely be all over the place and random (back when I was shooting for my Log, I've had days where I hit as low as 130k, and as high as 200k). No matter what, the more you play, the more you will get better. Treat Misirlou as an exercise; most likely, your wrist won't be able to suffice to the endurance that Misirlou requires, however, playing every day will strengthen your wrist, ultimately bringing you closer to the 5*.

Well, that's all from me. Feel free to integrate this crap into the first post Fox, or you can just let it sit here.

[FoxNtd]

[FoxNtd]

[bjwdestroyer]

Here's some extra stats you can use:

As for the last activation, assuming you have an 8x multiplier coming into the triple-note chords, you will receive 24k from those alone, assuming you FC it.

1 note = 50
3 note chord = 150
4x 3 note chord = 600
8x 3 note chord = 1200
There are 20 3 note chords at the end
1200 * 20 = 24k

Just a proof to help show where the 24k comes from.

Now, as for a best case scenario in the outro, if you can FC the tremelo picks before the final activation, and continue to combo, you can then get 43,200 points from the final SP activation alone. That isn't even taking into consideration all the other points you will get in the outro! As you can see, the outro is extremely important in terms of 5*ing this song.

Proof:

24k from 3 note chords (above)
13 2 note chords * 800 = 10400
22 notes * 400 = 8800

Now, what exactly does all this mean? Simple: if you can come into the second guitar break with 150k, 140k, perhaps even 130k, you can still 5* this song. Every run is worth it to the end, even for simple practice.

Similar to the outro, the third activation is also incredibly important. It's simpler than most of Misirlou, because fret changes are more rare, so it comes down to pure endurance. Let's do more math!

Assuming the best case scenario of entering this activation with a 4x (thus, 8x) multiplier...

Measures 46 - 50 (not counting the red hold or the orange note at the end) has 113 notes.

400 * 113 = 45,200 points.

Yeah, that's a hell of a lot.

It's important to remember that those points alone are simply from the long streak of notes and do not include anything else in the activation.

In conclusion, if you can FC these 2 appropriate spots, you can easily secure yourself a high score and possibly a 5*. However, this is easier said than done. Expect at the very least to mess up your combo every now and then during these activations, but even with these errors, you will still nab yourself a lot of points. And isn't that the point of this?

Fox, might as well rename this thread to "Third Edition"

[bjwdestroyer]

Here's some extra stats you can use:

As for the last activation, assuming you have an 8x multiplier coming into the triple-note chords, you will receive 24k from those alone, assuming you FC it.

1 note = 50
3 note chord = 150
4x 3 note chord = 600
8x 3 note chord = 1200
There are 20 3 note chords at the end
1200 * 20 = 24k

Just a proof to help show where the 24k comes from.

Now, as for a best case scenario in the outro, if you can FC the tremelo picks before the final activation, and continue to combo, you can then get 43,200 points from the final SP activation alone. That isn't even taking into consideration all the other points you will get in the outro! As you can see, the outro is extremely important in terms of 5*ing this song.

Proof:

24k from 3 note chords (above)
13 2 note chords * 800 = 10400
22 notes * 400 = 8800

Now, what exactly does all this mean? Simple: if you can come into the second guitar break with 150k, 140k, perhaps even 130k, you can still 5* this song. Every run is worth it to the end, even for simple practice.

Similar to the outro, the third activation is also incredibly important. It's simpler than most of Misirlou, because fret changes are more rare, so it comes down to pure endurance. Let's do more math!

Assuming the best case scenario of entering this activation with a 4x (thus, 8x) multiplier...

Measures 46 - 50 (not counting the red hold or the orange note at the end) has 113 notes.

400 * 113 = 45,200 points.

Yeah, that's a hell of a lot.

It's important to remember that those points alone are simply from the long streak of notes and do not include anything else in the activation.

In conclusion, if you can FC these 2 appropriate spots, you can easily secure yourself a high score and possibly a 5*. However, this is easier said than done. Expect at the very least to mess up your combo every now and then during these activations, but even with these errors, you will still nab yourself a lot of points. And isn't that the point of this?

Fox, might as well rename this thread to "Third Edition"

[Guitartrooper]

everytime i get around 165-170k at the end even with the 3 chord Sp activation im doomed to always having 4 stars aren't i ?
_________________

My Accomplishments Now giving away free cake!

Rockin' the strat since Jan. 08

[Guitartrooper]

everytime i get around 165-170k at the end even with the 3 chord Sp activation im doomed to always having 4 stars aren't i ?
_________________

My Accomplishments Now giving away free cake!

Rockin' the strat since Jan. 08

[FretsOnFireGh2]

Wow Fox! I love how you broke this song down so much and gave so much info. I've already gotten the log, but I've never been good at Misirlou. Too much reading for tonight, but I'll come home tomorrow after school and maybe I'll be in a reading mood for a 250k :P
I definitely think this deserves a sticky, especially with all that hard work you put into it.
_________________

My GH Videos

WarrenWebb wrote:

OMG I FCD JORDAN I RULE THE WORLD ITS OK FOR ME TO BE A DICK!!1! -FretsOnFireGh2

I belong to the ManOfMrE Fan Club.

[FretsOnFireGh2]

Wow Fox! I love how you broke this song down so much and gave so much info. I've already gotten the log, but I've never been good at Misirlou. Too much reading for tonight, but I'll come home tomorrow after school and maybe I'll be in a reading mood for a 250k :P
I definitely think this deserves a sticky, especially with all that hard work you put into it.
_________________

My GH Videos

WarrenWebb wrote:

OMG I FCD JORDAN I RULE THE WORLD ITS OK FOR ME TO BE A DICK!!1! -FretsOnFireGh2

I belong to the ManOfMrE Fan Club.

[skinnywhitecomic]

This is a great guide! Miserlou is the one song keeping me from getitng the log. This should definitely help boost my pitiful score!
_________________

XBox Gamertag: theimprovguy
Final Goals:
- Bass Full Series FC (WE)

[skinnywhitecomic]

This is a great guide! Miserlou is the one song keeping me from getitng the log. This should definitely help boost my pitiful score!
_________________

XBox Gamertag: theimprovguy
Final Goals:
- Bass Full Series FC (WE)

[bjwdestroyer]

Bump

[bjwdestroyer]

Bump

[FoxNtd]

[FoxNtd]

[dreamaddict]

I wanted to add a couple of things:

1. The first part before is triplets (24th notes I believe) The rest of the fast strumming in the song is 4/4 time (32nd notes? 16th notes?)

2. The part that goes
At the point where it goes
or whatever it does
at that point the tempo changes slightly (slower?), and it desyncs slightly with the music. The most well-synced part of the song is the bridge, the part with all reds right after the recognizable riff the first time.

A few minor technical pointers that might be helpful to someone.
_________________

dreamaddict's tasty custom song list
-=ACTUALLY IN SYNC=-
-=NO POWER METAL=-


Sig picture brought to you by GuitarHailz™

[dreamaddict]

I wanted to add a couple of things:

1. The first part before is triplets (24th notes I believe) The rest of the fast strumming in the song is 4/4 time (32nd notes? 16th notes?)

2. The part that goes
At the point where it goes
or whatever it does
at that point the tempo changes slightly (slower?), and it desyncs slightly with the music. The most well-synced part of the song is the bridge, the part with all reds right after the recognizable riff the first time.

A few minor technical pointers that might be helpful to someone.
_________________

dreamaddict's tasty custom song list
-=ACTUALLY IN SYNC=-
-=NO POWER METAL=-


Sig picture brought to you by GuitarHailz™

[FoxNtd]

[FoxNtd]

[FretsOnFireGh2]

Very nice guide, I just read it and played Misirlou and my score shot up 15k points on the 5th try. Normally I could play 20 times to see a 1k improvement. Also I have something to add, whether or not it's already included I don't know, but I didn't see it anywhere.

People who play this song repetitively when going for the 5 star (from what I've seen) tend to sacrifice their combo in order to pick up the second SP phrase. The notes are off of the top of my head, correct me if I'm wrong. The last yellow of the alt. strummed part is the first note of the SP phrase. I found myself ignoring the last 2 notes or so before that, and then down strumming the yellow to insure that I picked up the phrase. THIS IS NOT the way to go. Just play it as if it were a normal Alt. Strummed part, if you combo it good, if not just play the song the rest of the way through for practice as Fox said and then try it again.

Thanks for the guide Fox.
_________________

My GH Videos

WarrenWebb wrote:

OMG I FCD JORDAN I RULE THE WORLD ITS OK FOR ME TO BE A DICK!!1! -FretsOnFireGh2

I belong to the ManOfMrE Fan Club.

[FretsOnFireGh2]

Very nice guide, I just read it and played Misirlou and my score shot up 15k points on the 5th try. Normally I could play 20 times to see a 1k improvement. Also I have something to add, whether or not it's already included I don't know, but I didn't see it anywhere.

People who play this song repetitively when going for the 5 star (from what I've seen) tend to sacrifice their combo in order to pick up the second SP phrase. The notes are off of the top of my head, correct me if I'm wrong. The last yellow of the alt. strummed part is the first note of the SP phrase. I found myself ignoring the last 2 notes or so before that, and then down strumming the yellow to insure that I picked up the phrase. THIS IS NOT the way to go. Just play it as if it were a normal Alt. Strummed part, if you combo it good, if not just play the song the rest of the way through for practice as Fox said and then try it again.

Thanks for the guide Fox.
_________________

My GH Videos

WarrenWebb wrote:

OMG I FCD JORDAN I RULE THE WORLD ITS OK FOR ME TO BE A DICK!!1! -FretsOnFireGh2

I belong to the ManOfMrE Fan Club.

[nightrain78]

Excellent, I am definitly going to try this after my philosophy class.

Thanks a lot Fox, I've been trying to get the log on the 360 version, and I just need to get this and the Trooper. Anyways, thanks again, this will help a lot.

[nightrain78]

Excellent, I am definitly going to try this after my philosophy class.

Thanks a lot Fox, I've been trying to get the log on the 360 version, and I just need to get this and the Trooper. Anyways, thanks again, this will help a lot.