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Guide to Using Practice Mode Effectively
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zsjostrom35  





Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 2130
Location: Columbus, Ohio

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:08 am    Post subject: Guide to Using Practice Mode Effectively Reply with quote

Introduction:

I learned in school that one of the best ways to start off a paper is with a quote from a famous person:
bjwdestroyer wrote:
Practice Mode is made of Win.

While this is certainly true, even more correct would be the statement "Practice Mode, used effectively, is made of Win." Let me share a personal anecdote on this topic (another great way to start off a paper!):

A few months ago, I decided that I was going to learn how to play the chorus of Nothing for Me Here, so I spent upwards of an hour simply playing through it on lower speeds. This did not really help me at all, as I was never able to hit the evil chord change more than about 75% of the time on SLOWEST. So I gave up. About three weeks ago, however, I finally decided that I was going to get my 69th five-star, so I set about working on it again. This time, however, I used Practice Mode intelligently, which made all the difference.

This idea of practicing intelligently is most important when you're dealing with a goofy pattern that really should be easy to hit, but for some reason your hands won't play what your eyes are seeing. That is mainly what this guide will address—the best methods of tackling a section where your problem is more mental than physical. There may be some applications to learning sections that are just plain hard, but that's not what I'm going to focus on.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. Terminology
    1. Guitar Hero Terms
    2. Rhythmic Terms

  3. The Method
    1. Step 1—Identifying the Problem
    2. Step 2—Splitting it Up
    3. Step 3—Actually Practicing Something
    4. Step 4—When You Get Stuck (Advanced Techniques)
      1. Look at Your Hands
      2. Jack Up the Hyperspeed
      3. Find a Similar Section in Another Song
      4. Try a Different Fingering
      5. Try a Different Rhythm
      6. Strum some Hammer-Ons
    5. Step 5—Taking a Real Run

  4. Sample Practice Session: Cliffs of Dover Chorus (Expert)
    1. Practice Runs Part 1
    2. Theoretical Work Part 1
    3. Practice Runs Part 2
    4. Theoretical Work Part 2
    5. Practice Runs Part 3
    6. The Real Run!

  5. Conclusion
    1. Thanks

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Terminology:

Since this guide could be used at all levels of the game (unlike my others, which were targeted solely at Expert players), I will not assume the reader's familiarity with some of the more advanced terms. Here's a quick rundown:

Guitar Hero Terms:

  • First Position: Refers to the placing of the fretting hand on the guitar with index finger on the green fret, middle on the red, ring on yellow, and pinky on blue.
  • Second Position: Same as above, but with index on the red fret leading up to pinky on the orange.
  • Third/Fourth Position: Same as above, but with index on the yellow/blue fret, respectively. Generally used only for fast passages high on the fretboard.
  • HO/PO: Abbreviation for hammer-on/pull-off. Both terms designate a note that does not need to be strummed.
  • Alt-Strumming: Abbreviation for alternate strumming, which involves alternately pushing and pulling the strum bar down and up. Used to strum faster than would be possible with unidirectional strumming.
  • Flailing: Wildly pushing down random frets and strumming in the hope that you'll hit some notes by accident.


Rhythmic Terms:

  • Straight rhythm: Indicates notes that appear in groups of powers of two (i.e. 2, 4, 8, etc.). The most common is groups of four.
  • Triplet rhythm: Indicates notes that appear in groups of multiples of three.
  • Gallops: Notes that appear in a straight rhythm (in groups of four), but have either the second or last note in each group taken out. This produces consecutive bursts of three notes each that have a very distinctive sound. Listen to Barracuda's verses and Raining Blood's Hard Rain for the best GHIII examples of gallops.
  • Swing Rhythm: Similar to gallops except it involves the deletion of the middle note in a group of three rather than in a group of four. The resulting set of two-note bursts also have a distinctive sound. Listen to the Cliffs of Dover verses and choruses for good GHIII examples of swing rhythm.
Back to Table of Contents
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Method:

This guide assumes that you will be starting from the very beginning; namely, from the point at which you realize that you've recognized a section that's been messing you up for a while and are ready to take it into practice. Like I said in my introduction, this guide is tailored to deal with mistakes that seem to be more mental than physical. Usually these will involve awkward fingerings or uncomfortable transitions (probably both) at lower speeds. For example, consider the 3's & 7's verse chord changes or the uncomfortable in Raining Blood's Mosh 2. If that seems to be the problem, then let's move on and hopefully this will help:

Step 1—Identifying the Problem:

The first thing you need to do in practice is pinpoint the exact location where you're screwing up. You'll see why this is so important in a bit. This is usually very simple to do; just start by playing the section on Slowest and see if you keep having the same problems you were in real runs (the slower you go, the easier it is to see what notes are not being hit). A miss on Slowest is actually a very good indication that you're dealing with a mental problem, since a physical mistake is easily corrected at half speed. Even if you don't miss, however, you may still be able to pinpoint the problem notes because the fingering could feel extremely awkward, or you could feel like you were flailing and hit it by accident.

If you consistently hit it on Slowest, move up to Slower, and so on. On the off-chance that the problem works itself out by the time you get to Full Speed, congratulations. You don't need this guide anymore!

On the other hand, if you're having trouble figuring out the miss point because it's too fast to see on some speeds and too slow to miss on the other speeds, you may wish to try AlderDragon's method of solving the problem if you have video recording equipment:
AlderDragon wrote:
I've found an excellent way of doing this is to record your gameplay for about 4 or 5 minutes on slow and full speeds. Then, play it back on the computer but slow it down to about half speed, or slower. You'll be able to see if you strummed too early, didn't hammer on fast enough, or missed the note entirely. Recording my hands and playing it back as also helped me out.


Step 2—Splitting it Up:

In my experience, mistakes in seemingly easy sections are rarely caused by the notes that you missed themselves; rather, they're due to paying too much attention to the notes around them (incidentally, this is one of the reasons why hyperspeed can be so helpful). This was the main problem I was having in the Nothing for Me Here story I told in the introduction: the only note I was actually missing in the chorus was the YO chord, but it was the combination of being in a first-position mentality coming off the preceding GR sustain and trying to make sure I hit the next BO chord that essentially reduced my attempt at the YO to a flail.

The solution? Break the section into pieces. This actually serves two valuable purposes: isolating difficult transitions so that you can deal with them one at a time and breaking the mental habit of missing the notes. This second part is actually more important than you might think. I'm sure you've noticed that the more you play a section correctly, the more the fingering becomes ingrained in your mind until your muscle memory is such that you can hit it without thinking. The same thing happens if you miss the same part of a section every time; eventually your fingers will start to miss those notes automatically. To break this pattern, you need to change the way you look at the section in order to trick your fingers into thinking that it's not the same thing. This enables you to relearn it, correctly this time.

The actual breaks you put into a section are often very specific to the section in question, but here are some general guidelines for how to split it:

  1. Any notes that you tend to miss need to appear in two different pieces. This will enable you to work on transitions from both sides separately.
  2. The chunks should generally be pretty small, or at least should contain only one hard part.
  3. There needs to be at least one note of overlap between any two consecutive sections. This will help you greatly when you start putting the sections back together after practicing them separately.

To illustrate these points, let me show you how I split up the Nothing for Me Here chorus, the first part of which goes like this:
------------------

First of all, note that the two generally accepted hard parts are the and the ------. I mentioned before that I was always missing the YO chord, so right off the bat I knew I needed to have at least three sections. I did end up going with three; here's how I split it:

Part A:
------
This got the fast strumming bit all in one section and didn't include anything else (guideline #2 above)

Part B:
------
Note that I included the preceding sustain in this section and cut it off at the YO chord, which was the first miss point (guidelines #1 and #3).

Part C:
------------
Included the YO chord from the preceding section and the easy stuff at the end. When I actually practiced this, I would usually ignore the part following the first BO sustain, because I knew I could hit it and doing so simplified the practice session.

Step 3—Actually Practicing Something:

At this point, you are probably wishing I would just let you hit moar notez already. Well, now is the time to do it. Fire up Practice Mode and find a section containing your trouble spot (if you don't still have it up from Step 1). If the pattern that's giving you problems repeats throughout the song, try to select an area that contains a lot of repetitions of that pattern to give yourself the most chances to practice without having to restart (Chorus 2 of Nothing for Me Here, for example, is longer than either Chorus 1 or Chorus 3).

Now, begin working on each of the individual pieces you formed in Step 2. Choose one and run through the section on Slowest, hitting ONLY the instances of that piece when they come. Once you can hit it consistently, move up to Slower, and so on; only when you feel very comfortable with it on Full Speed should you move on to the next piece. This last bit is especially important; with a timing window as loose as GH3's it's very possible to fluke an FC of a section several time in a row without having a solid method of hitting it. What matters is not just that you hit it; but also that you feel comfortable doing so and confident that you can do it again.

After you've finished working each of the separate bits up to Full Speed, you can start putting it back together. I would recommend starting with the most troublesome transition first (when I was working on Nothing for Me Here, I combined Section B with Section C first, because the YO was the hardest part for me) because that will enable you to get it down while you're still working with smallish pieces. Go back to Slowest and work your way up to Full Speed again, hitting the two consecutive sections surrounding that transition this time. Remeber, don't move on until the method feels solid.

Note that this is the part where you may start having trouble again (after all, you were struggling with this transition on Full Speed originally; you can't always expect a magic fix). What may help is to keep thinking of the section in two separate bits (each of which you can hit) with a note or two in common. Use those common notes to change gears mentally between the two pieces. If you still can't get it, though, try to figure out exactly what you're doing wrong (such as putting down an extra finger, strumming too late, or whatever). This knowledge can help you a lot once we get to Step 4.

When (if) you get that transition down, you have two options. You can work on another transition separately, or you can get ambitious and string a third piece onto the first two you were already practicing. Choose the second if you wish, but be prepared to go back to the first if you run into trouble. No matter how you do it, keep working through the various transitions one at a time until eventually you have the entire section put back together.

Step 4—When You Get Stuck (Advanced Techniques):

In an ideal world, this guide would stop after Step 3. You put the effort into practicing the section, this effort is rewarded with an FC, and everybody goes home happy. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that well, which means you may need to try something else. Again, this is under the assumption that your problem is mental rather than physical. With that thought in mind, I've come up with some additional ways to trick/coerce your fingers into doing what you want them to do. Generally these are techniques that you'll only want/be able to apply during practice, but some of them can be used effectively in real runs:

Look at Your Hands:

This is the number one piece of advice when you're dealing with tricky chord changes, especially three-note chord changes. Most sections involving three-note chords are fairly repetitive, which means that it's not too much trouble to memorize them in order to look away from the screen without missing. At the very least, utilizing this method will allow you to see exactly what you're doing wrong. In the best cases, it can actually solve your problems without your even needing to change anything else. I went from four stars to a -9 six stars in a single run after looking at my hands for that crazy RYO to RBO in Minus Celsius, and I am by no means alone in this respect. I've now FCed the song, and I still can't hit the verse reliably while looking at the screen.

Jack Up the Hyperspeed:

This technique (suggested by Macles007) can be very helpful when you’re still struggling to hit a section on slower speeds. Increasing your hyperspeed by one or two levels isn’t going to make the scroll speed any faster than you’re used to on those speeds, and the extra spacing can definitely help you see through the clutter of the surrounding notes.

Find a Similar Section in Another Song:

Sometimes when you're working on an isolated piece of a section, the surrounding notes can screw you up even though you're not trying to play them. One way to deal with this problem is to find that pattern of notes in a different song and work on it there (tricking your fingers via a "change of scenery," so to speak). If you can't think of a good section off-hand, ask about it in the ScoreHero forums; chances are somebody there will be able to (on a site this obsessed with Guitar Hero, there are a lot of people with a freakish memory for charts). Actually, before it got locked you could have done this in the Official Freticon Quiz (under the guise of an legitimate quiz question), but your best bet now is to start a thread in the Technique, Style, and Gameplay forum asking about it.
Sometimes a section will show up in a really unlikely place (for example, who'd have thought that the in Nothing for Me Here would also appear in Uncle Salty?), or not at all. Don't spend too much time looking if you can't find one right away; chances are that another method will be able to help you just as well (if not better).

Try a Different Fingering:

While it's true that a different fingering can make a certain section easier, chances are you've already tried that and are using the best one you've found. The main reason I'm listing this technique here is that attempting to play a section differently than you're used to is actually a very useful technique for breaking your fingers out of a muscle-memory rut. Doing something crazy like shifting up to fourth position for BO chords or pinky sliding all over the place forces you to pay very close attention to where your hand is and what your fingers are doing. The more you do this, the more you'll start to break whatever bad habits you had previously, which gives you a chance to relearn it correctly.

Quick story about this: I used to be able to hit the HO/PO line in the Welcome to the Jungle intro () without too much trouble from second position. A few months ago, however, I developed something of a mental block about it and could not play it at all, even on Slowest. In desperation, I tried third position (yes, even using ring and index for the OGO mini-trill). This was uncomfortable, but I eventually learned the whole thing that way and could hit it most of the time. More recently, though, I tried second position again and discovered that I could once more play it from there if I concentrated. I practiced that for a bit, and now I almost never miss it.

Try a Different Rhythm:

This can serve two purposes. The first is that it is another very effective way of breaking bad fingering habits by forcing yourself to play it differently. You definitely want to strum everything if you're doing it for this reason, since it's very hard to impose a rhythmic shift on yourself using hammer-ons without getting really sloppy. The other reason is that certain specific changes in rhythm can actually help you play a section quite a bit. Let's look at some of them:

Gallops-->Straight Triplets: Many players struggle with galloping until they gain a fair amount of Expert experience; this is one of the most common ways of dealing with that. Strumming in straight triplets through a galloping section will almost never hurt you. An excellent example of where this can help is in the Hard Rain section of Raining Blood (Hard or Expert).
Straight Triplets-->Gallops: This is generally used for sections that involve fret changes on every third note (or at least on an odd number of notes that is a multiple of three). Playing gallops allows you a tiny break between the third note of one set of three notes and the first note of the next set; this break can make the transitions much easier. Places where this can help include Bridge 1 of The Seeker and the last part of Impulse's Most Psychotic Breakdown Ever [/shameless plug].
Swing Rhythm-->Straight Rhythm: The structure of swing rhythm (the middle note deleted from each group of three in a straight triplet rhythm) means that you are given less time to execute some transitions between notes than for others. Playing it as a straight rhythm (as two evenly-spaced notes per beat rather than as two quick notes followed by a short rest) evens out this disparity in transition time, which can be a great help if all the tough fingering changes occur between the fast notes rather than during the break *cough*Mauvais Garçon*cough cough*.

Strum some Hammer-Ons:

This might be a problem that only I experience, but I've found that my fingers often get lazy when playing HO/POs. If I have a strummed note followed by a quick hammer-on, my finger will frequently get to the second note late or not at all in extreme cases. Like most experienced Guitar Hero players, however, I have an almost hardwired reflex that says "when you're about to strum, get your finger on the note." Strumming the hammer-ons, therefore is a great way for me to tighten up my timing. Note that you probably shouldn't do this in real runs, however; the potential for overstrums on GHIII's engine is too great. In practice, though, it's a very effective tool since overstrums don't matter there.

If you find that you don't have that reflex yet, practice (imagine that!) a lot of Reptilia and F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. Black Sunshine is also a good choice if you play on Expert. You'll get there.

Step 5—Taking a Real Run

Once you feel fairly confident in your ability to play the section, go ahead and play the song for real; the worst that can happen is that you'll decide it needs more work. If, however, you feel yourself reverting back to bad habits during the run, stop and go back to practice. You don't want to undo all the work you've just done. Hopefully, though, you'll actually be able to see some real progress, bringing with it a better score. Good luck!

Back to Table of Contents
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sample Practice Session: Cliffs of Dover Chorus (Expert)

Over the course of that explanation of my general method, I alluded to Nothing for Me Here's chorus a lot. This made sense because that was the place where I originally developed this way of practicing. However, the allusions were somewhat fragmented, so it may have been a little difficult for you to get an idea of how to apply this method to a specific song section from start to finish. That's what this part of the guide is for; I'm going to work through learning the Cliffs of Dover chorus on Expert. If you are unfamiliar with the chart, this is a swing rhythm section that is not too fast but has some goofy fingerings—in other words, ideal for our purposes here. Here's what it looks like (all of the notes marked with an X are strummed, the rest are hammer-ons):

X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X___X_X__X
I'll start the analysis at the point where I realize there's a hard part somewhere around the

Practice Runs Part 1:

The first step in the process is to determine exactly where the misses are occurring. I bring up Chorus 1a in Practice Mode and run through it a couple times on Slowest. No dice; it's too easy on that speed. Ditto for Slower, but once I get to Slow, I start to have some trouble with that first blue note in the sequence. I can still hit it most of the time, but now that I know what to look for, it's easy to spot that that's where the miss is occurring when I move up to Full Speed. I'm also having a little trouble with the first GR doublet, but that could just be residual flailing from the first blue. Note that at this point, I know that I'm dealing with a problem that is primarily mental. This particular OB sequence is not unique to this song, nor is it faster than anything else in this chorus. I'm figuring that it's the expectation of the shift down to first position for the GR that's making it hard, which means that the method of this guide should be able to deal with it.


Theoretical Work Part 1:

The next step takes place outside of Practice Mode itself; I need to figure out exactly how I want to split up this section so as to work on the hard parts one at a time. First of all, I decide that there's no point in splitting up any of the doublets; they're too quick for that to be of any use. This means that there will be two notes of overlap between consecutive pieces. Based on the two hard parts that I found in the first set of practice runs, I figure three different parts will be enough. Here's how I split it using the guidelines I described earlier:

Part A:

This mainly consists of easy stuff up to the first difficult part, the OB doublet.

Part B:

While this section technically contains both hard parts, there's no good way to split it any smaller. I'm hoping that it will be short enough that I can learn it anyway.

Part C:

This part includes the last hard bit and everything else. I'm not expecting too much trouble here, since I wasn't even sure if the GR doublet was a real miss point in the first place and everything else is easy.

Practice Runs Part 2:

Back to Practice Mode. This time, I select the joint section Chorus 1a-Chorus 1b, which gives me more opportunities to practice the trouble spots between restarts. Starting on Slow (I determined in my first set of practice runs that Slowest and Slower were no trouble, so I can skip those), I work on Part A until I can hit it every time. This doesn't take long. Moving up to full speed, though, I am met with a surprise: even without the subsequent transition down to first position for the GR, this part is still giving me trouble. I decide to split it even further (you should not be afraid to do this) and hit the OB doublet on its own for a while. This is easy, but (unsurprisingly) it doesn't help very much when I try to put it back into the full section. Rather than keep practicing it fruitlessly, I decide to put Part A away for a while and come back to it later with some different techniques.

Working Part B and Part C through Slow up to Full speed works better. I am pleasantly surprised to note that the transition from OB down to the GR doesn't give me a whole lot of trouble, and soon I can hit Parts B and C together on Full Speed. I'm still at a loss with Part A, though, so it's back to the drawing board for that.

Theoretical Work Part 2:

My next step is to take a look at the advanced techniques I discussed in Step 4 above and see if I can apply any of them to Part A. Looking at my hands is probably not going to be very helpful since there are no chords involved here, nor is increasing my hyperspeed (I can hit it on everything but full speed). Finding a different song with the same pattern may be worth looking into, however, and after a little thought I remember that there's a in Mosh 2 of Raining Blood. I make a mental note to give that a try later. Using a different fingering doesn't seem like it will do too much good; I can hit it on slower speeds, so it's not a problem of bad muscle memory. Using a different rhythm and strumming the HO/POs both look promising, though, so I decide to try those as well. Armed with this information, it's back to Practice Mode with me.

Practice Runs Part 3:

I take Raining Blood's Mosh 2 into Practice Mode, and after a little work I'm hitting the sequence of notes in question without much trouble. This suggests that I was right in my initial assessment that altering the rhythm and strumming the hammer-ons will be a good idea; the Most 2 line consists of four strummed notes in a straight rhythm. Going back to Cliffs of Dover, I discover that playing a straight rhythm and strumming everything actually works very well for Part A, but it's a little difficult to maintain for the entire chorus when I string it all together. I therefore decide to do it only for the one trouble spot. What I'm playing now looks like this:

X__X__X X X X X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X__X___X_X__X

I work on this method for a while, and discover that it actually works well enough to use in a real run. In fact, playing the swing rhythm straight even seems to nullify the problem of overstrums that normally comes with strumming hammer-ons. This is not unusual when experimenting with different methods; sometimes something you tried for psychological purposes actually becomes a legitimate way of playing the section (hence my experience with the Welcome to the Jungle intro). At some point I'll probably be able to go back and learn to play the section correctly, but for now this will do just fine.

The Real Run!

Getting a new method to work in Practice Mode is one thing, but hitting a tough section when the lights are bright, when the crowd is loud, and when the star power is flowing is the acid test of the technique you just spent your valuable time perfecting. I give Cliffs of Dover a try for real, and I'm fairly satisfied. I actually manage to improve my score by a thousand points or so despite botching the path and missing in a few places that I don't normally. It looks like all that effort paid off.

Back to Table of Contents
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

You get less (fewer?) props for reading this guide than I'd have been willing to give you for any of my last three because I actually managed to keep this one under 5,000 words. However, I still appreciate it if you took the time to read the whole thing; I hope you are rewarded with more successful practice sessions and consequently better scores. If you see any places I could improve this guide, please post suggestions and criticisms, as well as any other questions or comments you may have about the guide. I will also be happy to help you design a practice session for a specific song section that you have in mind. In conclusion, I'd like to leave you with an ancient ScoreHero blessing (which I just made up):

ScoreHero lore wrote:
May your star power abound, may your streaks be long, and may your Rock Meter be ever in the green.

Thanks:

  • Thanks to -Magnum- for guide-ninja'ing me on Cliffs of Dover, which resulted in the expansion of my idea for practicing the chorus into an entire guide.
  • Thanks to Macles007 for the suggestion of increasing hyperspeed for practicing on slower speeds.
  • Thanks to AlderDragon for the method of using video recording to troubleshoot misses
  • Thanks to FretsOnFireGh2 for the suggestion of emphasizing comfortability with a section before moving to another speed or section
  • Thanks to Harmonix for including Practice Mode with Guitar Hero II, without which this guide would never have existed.
  • Thanks to you, my loyal readers, whose never-ending support and eloquent praise never cease to amaze me. I'm a guy who helps people get better at video games, yet your comments give me a magnificent feeling of accomplishment
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inkjt510  





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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Win.

Just win.
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ShadowDude27  





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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Holy shit dude, that must have taken at LEAST 6 hours to type up. I remember you saying some stuff like this in your NFMH guide, but this is in crazy detail. I've been working on the Raining Blood Flood! (and the 5-star) so this should really help me. IMO, you're best guide yet

EDIT: What a wonderful place to get my 600th post!
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ortiz1193  





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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There's a pattern I notice in most guides. Alot of people just freticon a section out and put fingerings and say, "Play it this way." What makes your guides so amazing is that you actually have depth in them. You actually know what you're talking about, instead of just making the guide to get it done with, it looks like you actually put time in and..dare I say it...care. Great read, another topic we can link people to when they say "oMg hwoz can i get ebtter at gitaur her0"
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Bravo  





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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent guide.

I'd actually done something similar when I was learning the Stricken solo. I first got the sweeps down, then got the yellow snake down, then worked on getting the transition down (Still kind of shaky, but the picture is gotten.).

While I hadn't read this guide yet for my own workings in practice (seeing as it didn't exist), I must say that the information he's presented is certainly accurate and valuable, and should be headed by anyone trying to master a difficult section because from personal experience this method certainly does work.

Good sir. .
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zsjostrom35  





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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ShadowDude27 wrote:
Holy shit dude, that must have taken at LEAST 6 hours to type up. I remember you saying some stuff like this in your NFMH guide, but this is in crazy detail. I've been working on the Raining Blood Flood! (and the 5-star) so this should really help me.


ortiz1193 wrote:
There's a pattern I notice in most guides. Alot of people just freticon a section out and put fingerings and say, "Play it this way." What makes your guides so amazing is that you actually have depth in them. You actually know what you're talking about, instead of just making the guide to get it done with, it looks like you actually put time in and..dare I say it...care. Great read, another topic we can link people to when they say "oMg hwoz can i get ebtter at gitaur her0"


No doubt I could get these up much faster if I didn't go into so much detail, but I feel like I owe it to you guys to present every scrap of information I can find or think up on a topic when I post it. I'm just glad to know it's appreciated.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see if I can find any threads asking "oMg hwoz can i get ebtter at gitaur her0" so I can link my guide

ShadowDude27 wrote:
IMO, you're best guide yet

EDIT: What a wonderful place to get my 600th post!


inkjt510 wrote:
Win.

Just win.


Thanks, guys. And congrats on the posts, ShadowDude
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TheThirdDay  





Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 4357
Location: Toms River, NJ

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:48 am    Post subject: Re: Guide to Using Practice Mode Effectively Reply with quote

First of all, rofl on ScoreHero Lore...

But more to the point, this is, well, how can I put this in a way I haven't already said on another one of your guides? The answer is I can't. I just can't. This is friggin' awesome, man. As always, really in depth, and, well I can't say anything I haven't already, so I'll shut up now. I'm just pissed I can't find a way to weasel myself into the credits on this one, as I can't find any errors.
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-Magnum-  





Joined: 07 Dec 2007
Posts: 631

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:14 am    Post subject: Re: Guide to Using Practice Mode Effectively Reply with quote

zsjostrom35 wrote:
<[*]Thanks to -Magnum- for guide-ninja'ing me on Cliffs of Dover, which resulted in the expansion of my idea for practicing the chorus into an entire guide.


Thanks for the thanks, man. And great guide too.

100th post!
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Psoshock  





Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Really nice guide. Im sure this is going to help me improving my scores alot in the future.. Thank you
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Scourse  





Joined: 09 Feb 2008
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Location: Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow this has to be the best Guide for practise that I have ever seen (and we needed one too). Now I'm going to go see if I can get The Metal Intro

15/10
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Parmesean97  





Joined: 28 May 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

this is an awesome guide. I know what you mean when you say "if there is a strummed note get your hand there". My problem, in strummed+ho/po'ed sections, is that i dont try to hit what is right in front of me- i instead try to hit what is right after that. And as a result i hit everything too early and mess up. So thanks im going to use this for 3d+3e in Institutionalized.
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Stona  





Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 682

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is a great guide! You have no idea how much I hate Midlle finger w/ pinky finger chords switching to a differnt chord or vica versa... it always screws with my head. I have started to get a lot better at it, but I think this will definately help me overcome the problem even more.
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zsjostrom35  





Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 2130
Location: Columbus, Ohio

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bravo wrote:
Excellent guide.

I'd actually done something similar when I was learning the Stricken solo. I first got the sweeps down, then got the yellow snake down, then worked on getting the transition down (Still kind of shaky, but the picture is gotten.).

While I hadn't read this guide yet for my own workings in practice (seeing as it didn't exist), I must say that the information he's presented is certainly accurate and valuable, and should be headed by anyone trying to master a difficult section because from personal experience this method certainly does work.

Good sir. .


It's always nice to receive some sort of validation when you post a method that you've never seen before; it helps take away some of the anxiety of "will this work for anybody else? Maybe I'm just crazy..." so thanks for that. And thanks for the compliments as well.

TheThirdDay wrote:
First of all, rofl on ScoreHero Lore...


Not sure what made me think of that, but I definitely thought it was funny.

TheThirdDay wrote:
But more to the point, this is, well, how can I put this in a way I haven't already said on another one of your guides? The answer is I can't. I just can't. This is friggin' awesome, man. As always, really in depth, and, well I can't say anything I haven't already, so I'll shut up now. I'm just pissed I can't find a way to weasel myself into the credits on this one, as I can't find any errors.


Thanks a lot. And I'm sorry I couldn't have posted more freticons or some fingerings so you could find the mistakes...

-Magnum- wrote:
zsjostrom35 wrote:
<[*]Thanks to -Magnum- for guide-ninja'ing me on Cliffs of Dover, which resulted in the expansion of my idea for practicing the chorus into an entire guide.



Thanks for the thanks, man. And great guide too.

100th post!


Psoshock wrote:
Really nice guide. Im sure this is going to help me improving my scores alot in the future.. Thank you


Scourse wrote:
Wow this has to be the best Guide for practise that I have ever seen (and we needed one too). Now I'm going to go see if I can get The Metal Intro

15/10


Parmesean97 wrote:
this is an awesome guide. I know what you mean when you say "if there is a strummed note get your hand there". My problem, in strummed+ho/po'ed sections, is that i dont try to hit what is right in front of me- i instead try to hit what is right after that. And as a result i hit everything too early and mess up. So thanks im going to use this for 3d+3e in Institutionalized.


Stona wrote:
This is a great guide! You have no idea how much I hate Midlle finger w/ pinky finger chords switching to a differnt chord or vica versa... it always screws with my head. I have started to get a lot better at it, but I think this will definately help me overcome the problem even more.


A big "GOOD LUCK" from me to everybody who's going to use this to try to better their scores. And thanks for the compliments
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Accomplishments Thread--GH80sX: Fifteen new FCs; OP updated with new 80s section and Best Of lists!
Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/zsjostrom35-s-GH-Show (will appear in green when online; red when offline)
Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series Quote of the Week wrote:
Téa: (Thinking) Look at him undressing me with his eyes! I wonder what he's thinking...
Yami: (Thinking) MAN, I hate milkshakes! (Squeezes milkshake cup) Die, milkshake, die! That's right, milkshake: you have been defeated! Now you go to milkshake prison!
My guides: BIF 5* | Most Impulsive Expert Guide Ever | Guide to Writing Guides | NfMH 5* | Practice Mode | My Curse FC | GH3 Co-op Squeezing
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GuitarGeek08  





Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 3213

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was wondering if a guide like this existed somewhere...
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Xpertlefty13 quoting me in his Acc Thread wrote:
Honestly, thank you

This is the first real, well thought-out explanation I've seen
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Peekay  





Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 258

PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I do personally have a question- In most of the examples you gave, it's about repetitive parts of songs (I.E Choruses and Verses)- which I do believe you should be able to 100% before moving up. My question, however, is what is a good percent to get before moving up for solos? I am talking about people who want to 5 star- not get FCs, would they want to get about 90% in the solos before moving up to the next speed or 95% or what? Personally I myself try to get consistent 90%'s for solos before moving up to the next speed. Some people don't want 100% in those spots, they just want to be good enough to pass/5 star it- so is there are any suggestion of a percent to get in really hard parts?

EDIT: Really great guide- well written and great information .
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