I've been trying to get my gold stars on Kansas' Carry On Wayward Son since... well, since forever. It has just enough 'oh, shit' spots in it to have kept it in 5-star territory for well over a year. Last week I finally got 'em. Yay, me.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Mental Hopscotch
Dunno why I picked that title - though I do love me some Missing Persons. Terry Bozzio would be tough to keep up with.
Haven't posted for a while. I guess writing to myself is starting to lose its charm. Now that Tax season is over I'm getting ready for the next RB-centered party - this Saturday night - and that usually means downloading some new songs in the hope of finding a few new party favorites. Today I finally picked up two of the Night Ranger tracks - (You Can Still) Rock in America, and Don't Tell Me You Love Me - and gave then each a quick run, even though I was already worn out. I'm here to tell you they are both seriously fun - lots of movement, fairly fast tempo. I just love me some '80's crap rock, I do. Haven't tried either of 'em on guitar yet, as one or both of them are tier 7, and I'm a pretty crappy plastic guitar player.
Also, since my last post, I've found my new favorite warm up song: Meant To Live by Switchfoot. I'm no Jesus-freak, but it's got everything you want in a warm up track - mid-tempo, lots of movement, varied beats, fun and easy fills, and it's short. I bought it just because I remembered hearing it on the radio back in '03 (or thereabouts), and I'm a sucker for songs that I recognize. Now I play it every day. Wierd, huh?
I've also downloaded a metric shitload of $1 RBN songs, and though I haven't drummed them all yet, there are some gems in there. There are a few dogs too, but that's to be expected. I have played most of them on Guitar & Bass, and that seems to be where most of them shine. Someday I'll make a list of the RBN I've bought, but it's easiest to just say that I have just about every $1 track that was listed as "indie rock", and quite a few of the overall top-rated picks that were $1, too. No metal for me, thank you. Also, unless it's something I know already (JoCo and 3EB), I've been avoiding the $2-3 RBN tracks until someone I trust rates them.
That's it - just a little RB rambling today.
Haven't posted for a while. I guess writing to myself is starting to lose its charm. Now that Tax season is over I'm getting ready for the next RB-centered party - this Saturday night - and that usually means downloading some new songs in the hope of finding a few new party favorites. Today I finally picked up two of the Night Ranger tracks - (You Can Still) Rock in America, and Don't Tell Me You Love Me - and gave then each a quick run, even though I was already worn out. I'm here to tell you they are both seriously fun - lots of movement, fairly fast tempo. I just love me some '80's crap rock, I do. Haven't tried either of 'em on guitar yet, as one or both of them are tier 7, and I'm a pretty crappy plastic guitar player.
Also, since my last post, I've found my new favorite warm up song: Meant To Live by Switchfoot. I'm no Jesus-freak, but it's got everything you want in a warm up track - mid-tempo, lots of movement, varied beats, fun and easy fills, and it's short. I bought it just because I remembered hearing it on the radio back in '03 (or thereabouts), and I'm a sucker for songs that I recognize. Now I play it every day. Wierd, huh?
I've also downloaded a metric shitload of $1 RBN songs, and though I haven't drummed them all yet, there are some gems in there. There are a few dogs too, but that's to be expected. I have played most of them on Guitar & Bass, and that seems to be where most of them shine. Someday I'll make a list of the RBN I've bought, but it's easiest to just say that I have just about every $1 track that was listed as "indie rock", and quite a few of the overall top-rated picks that were $1, too. No metal for me, thank you. Also, unless it's something I know already (JoCo and 3EB), I've been avoiding the $2-3 RBN tracks until someone I trust rates them.
That's it - just a little RB rambling today.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Low Hanging Fruit
I'll admit that I'm addicted to getting solo gold stars. Sadly, I get a boost from any new ones that I can get. Up until recently, almost all of my shiny, precious stars have come on drums, as I'm a pretty crummy guitar player and a truly lousy vocalist. It hadn't occurred to me that I might be good enough to nab a few on bass. Turns out there are at least a few songs that are easy enough for me to beat, and yesterday I managed to get 4 or 5. Since I only have official bass scores on 30-40 (out of over 600) songs, maybe I'll make that my next ongoing project. A guy needs goals, right?
Meanwhile, even though I'm trying to rest up my leg, I keep playing drums. One of the songs I'd been working on was AFI's 'Miss Murder' - a favorite from GH3 - and yesterday I finally had a really good run and got my gold stars:
So I got that goin' for me. If I hadn't been so freakin' giddy with excitement over the gold appearing, I might have had an FC. Oh, well - shit happens.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
End of The Project
Did the last three songs this morning - "You Got Another Thing Coming", "Young", and "Young Man Blues (Live)". Already had a pretty good score on YGATC but I was lucky enough to get gold on my run anyway - I'm still worn out from yesterdays marathon session - then dropped down to Hard for the last two. So it's over. Now I can move on to something else. After I catch up on my latest round of RBN downloads, I think I'll work on my (pathetic) expert guitar skills, and let my poor right leg rest for a while.
I have to work on an outfit for the party, too - I'm thinking of going as Sib Hashian, since I love drumming to all the Boston songs, but where do I find a wig to recreate his hair?
I have to work on an outfit for the party, too - I'm thinking of going as Sib Hashian, since I love drumming to all the Boston songs, but where do I find a wig to recreate his hair?
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Smokin'
I'm down to the last 15 or so songs on the 'unplayed' list. Added a few new gold stars to the collection - in particular I'm proudest of "Smokin'" and "The Hellion/Electric Eye", which have always been a chore for me due to thier speed and length. This time through they were relatively easy, which tells me that in spite of my quick-kicking problems, my stamina and overall skill level is still improving.
Most of my runs show big score increases, too - some of them really big.
So the great play-the-unplayed-songs project is nearly over. Official RockBandScores.com GS count is at 177.
I've also been trying out some of the RBN demos, and they are almost always fun songs, if not always challenging. I'll try a few of the ones I've bought at the next party (invitations went out yesterday), and see if any of the gang agree with me.
Most of my runs show big score increases, too - some of them really big.
So the great play-the-unplayed-songs project is nearly over. Official RockBandScores.com GS count is at 177.
I've also been trying out some of the RBN demos, and they are almost always fun songs, if not always challenging. I'll try a few of the ones I've bought at the next party (invitations went out yesterday), and see if any of the gang agree with me.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Red Saturday Morning
Yesterday my personal trainer kicked my ass, and the day before I 'ran' close to 6 miles, so this morning I was hurting. Did some school work until Lisa left just before noon, then headed into the basement to continue with the current quest. The first five songs on the list were "Real Good Looking Boy", "Red Barchetta", "Red Tandy", "Release", and "Reptilia". Sort of daunting for a drummer of my abilities. I used RGLB as my warmup on Hard, kept it on Hard for the Rush song, then moved back to Expert for the last three. Soundly beat my old high scores on every song, adding "Reptilia" to my list of gold stars for the first time. So the weekend is already a success. 99 songs left on the 'unplayed' list.
Last night I stopped by to have dinner with my dad. Had 3 beers in the course of the evening (I give thumbs up to Two Brothers' Resistance IPA), so drumming was pretty much out of the question, but I still had time to kill so I sang a few songs then switched to guitar. I've been very comfortable with playing guitar on Hard for most songs - though my poor fingers can't handle any really fast solos, and alt-strumming is something that I'm just not very good at - but I'm trying to learn how to play on Expert. So I did a few tier 1 songs and surprised myself by upping a bunch of scores and even added a new gold star to my (really small) collection. I just wish that I could remember what it was. Came damn close on a couple of others, too. The session reminded me how much fun playing a 3/4-scale plastic Stratocaster can be.
Last night I stopped by to have dinner with my dad. Had 3 beers in the course of the evening (I give thumbs up to Two Brothers' Resistance IPA), so drumming was pretty much out of the question, but I still had time to kill so I sang a few songs then switched to guitar. I've been very comfortable with playing guitar on Hard for most songs - though my poor fingers can't handle any really fast solos, and alt-strumming is something that I'm just not very good at - but I'm trying to learn how to play on Expert. So I did a few tier 1 songs and surprised myself by upping a bunch of scores and even added a new gold star to my (really small) collection. I just wish that I could remember what it was. Came damn close on a couple of others, too. The session reminded me how much fun playing a 3/4-scale plastic Stratocaster can be.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The 'P's
Since I'm basically talking to myself here, I'm going to continue treating this blog as my Rock Band-centered diary. RB2 is about the only thing that brings me any sort of sense of accomplishment in daily life right now, so that's what I'll tend to blather about.
Today I continued my quest to get all of my drum tracks off of the 'Unplayed' category in solo quickplay. I'm working my way through the 'O's & 'P's at the moment. After I finished with my chores, I went into The Cave for a session before lunch. I usually warm up with something easy, offbeat and upbeat - in today's case "The Best Day Ever" by Spongebob Squarepants. Yes it's silly and easy but I need some silly now and then. Wierd thing: I FC'ed it and didn't get gold stars. I must've skipped a star power activation somewhere along the line.
So I started to knock off a few songs - "Oceans", "On the Road Again", "One of THOSE Nights" - all of which give me some problems (so I was getting a little tense), and then I hit "Panic Attack". I'm not a prog/metal fan by any means, and I'm not very good at the song, but I set the difficulty on 'Hard' and gave it a shot. Everything was fine until the end when I completely lost the beat and failed out at 99%. Some loud profanity was involved. Ended up doing it on 'Medium' and almost beat my previous high score, but had a bad taste in my mouth. I hate "Panic Attack". Next up was "PDA", so it was back to 'Expert' - but lead leg struck and I just couldn't hit the triple kicks at all, which got me even more pissed off than I had been. Ran through it on 'Hard' and shut down for the morning.
After eating lunch, I went to the gym and came back for another go, and somehow things got better. Started off by knocking off a few tracks on vocals (RB2 on disk tracks that I've never even tried), and even though I really suck at vocals, it got me ready for drums again. Only did 3 tracks - "Peace of Mind", "People Got A Lotta Nerve", and "Pleasure (Pleasure)", but I soundly beat my previous high scores on all of them, including a new set of gold-stars for the Neko Case tune. So the day ended up okay. I have 113 more songs to go.
Don't know what my "project" will be after that.
Today I continued my quest to get all of my drum tracks off of the 'Unplayed' category in solo quickplay. I'm working my way through the 'O's & 'P's at the moment. After I finished with my chores, I went into The Cave for a session before lunch. I usually warm up with something easy, offbeat and upbeat - in today's case "The Best Day Ever" by Spongebob Squarepants. Yes it's silly and easy but I need some silly now and then. Wierd thing: I FC'ed it and didn't get gold stars. I must've skipped a star power activation somewhere along the line.
So I started to knock off a few songs - "Oceans", "On the Road Again", "One of THOSE Nights" - all of which give me some problems (so I was getting a little tense), and then I hit "Panic Attack". I'm not a prog/metal fan by any means, and I'm not very good at the song, but I set the difficulty on 'Hard' and gave it a shot. Everything was fine until the end when I completely lost the beat and failed out at 99%. Some loud profanity was involved. Ended up doing it on 'Medium' and almost beat my previous high score, but had a bad taste in my mouth. I hate "Panic Attack". Next up was "PDA", so it was back to 'Expert' - but lead leg struck and I just couldn't hit the triple kicks at all, which got me even more pissed off than I had been. Ran through it on 'Hard' and shut down for the morning.
After eating lunch, I went to the gym and came back for another go, and somehow things got better. Started off by knocking off a few tracks on vocals (RB2 on disk tracks that I've never even tried), and even though I really suck at vocals, it got me ready for drums again. Only did 3 tracks - "Peace of Mind", "People Got A Lotta Nerve", and "Pleasure (Pleasure)", but I soundly beat my previous high scores on all of them, including a new set of gold-stars for the Neko Case tune. So the day ended up okay. I have 113 more songs to go.
Don't know what my "project" will be after that.
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