One commonly known fact of life is that people like to hit shit. Gamers aren’t any different in this respect so when Harmonix and MTV Games put a drum kit in the first Rock Band people scrambled to get a chance at the skins only to find out they suck horribly and that drumming is actually pretty tough -- even in a video game.
Drumming is the one aspect of any rhythm game that actually takes a lot of time and a good amount of skill to master. So if you are sick of playing on easy mode, getting laughed at by your pals, or you just want to look like Keith Moon in your living room The Plastic Rockers have taken out the guess work.
Last time Plastic Rockers took a look at tips for vocalists that hopefully have you padding your leaderboard scores, or at the very least, keeping your dogs from howling during your rendition of “More Than a Feeling.” This week we’re going to take a closer look at drums. Once again we’ve reached out to a couple of 2old2play members for advice on getting your limbs flailing away in a semi-rhythmic manner for the betterment of your band. First up, Bama_fan has some basics, then Banjocut offers up some advanced tips to take your drumming up a notch.
Bama_fan
Practice, Practice, Practice. I won’t lie, I play all the freakin’ time. It should go without saying but don’t expect to pick up a pair of sticks and expect to pound out Battery the first time through. Keep playing though and make liberal use of the practice mode in the game.
Don’t forget to calibrate your system. I actually spent a little time getting my calibration perfect. This was a big problem for a while and I found out that I was actually playing better than my score showed.
I use noise canceling headphones when I play. I can really concentrate on the song without being distracted.
I currently have the ions with 4 cymbals. Playing with cymbals would be good advice. It has helped me to nail my timing and has made a huge improvement to my game.
Spend $10 on a decent set of drum sticks. A nice balanced set of sticks in your hands will pay off in the long run. Look for a 5A or 7B set depending on what feels more comfortable for you. I've recently heard that using nylon tipped sticks can cause excess wear to the surface of the Ion Drum heads. Take it for what it's worth.
Banjocut
Always try to keep your foot down when playing the bass pedal. Meaning that you only raise your foot up and drop it to play each beat. This can be done with the heal resting on the pedal, but I would recommend that if playing on hard/expert, to keep your heal slightly raised allowing a controlled bounce for faster note patterns. A good song to practice constant bass pedal are “Bounce” and “Go with the Flow.”
Try to think of the bass pedal and drum pads independently, this is the single most important thing to get used to. If not it will be hard to get beyond playing songs on medium. Any song that alternates bass pedal and drum pads is good practice for this, the faster the better.
I’ve heard many different approaches to how to sit over the peddle. Find what is comfortable to you, but remember to try and sit upright and not hunched over. I sit where my foot is slightly in front of my knee, and my knee is slightly lower than my hip when my foot is at rest.
Hold the sticks loose, not so loose that they fall out of your hands a lot, but enough that you feel a bounce with the sticks, not a thud without rebound each time you hit a pad.
Practice doing drum rolls early and often, playing with both hands will greatly improve your accuracy, especially on hard/expert. Good songs for this are “Orange Crush” and “Hand that Feeds” or “Young” especially on expert/hard.
Back to two handed drumming, if you have a song with triples, always roll them, it will help you in the long run and when you get to expert, some songs almost require it.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself in practice or no fail mode. Just as the screen says, the bass pedal is the key to learn first, next focus on the red and then the rest of the pads.
If you are interested in additional practice, then I would suggest doing paradiddles on a practice pad. Practice by alternating hands. The rolls and paradiddles will improve speed and accuracy if you put in the practice time. Start slow and work up your speed, you can use the metronome in the drum practice to help keep beats per minute (bpm) if you want.
(LRLRLRLR) basic roll
(LLRRLLRR) double stroke roll
(LRLLRLRR) single paradiddle
(LRLRLLRLRLRR) double paradiddle
(LRLRLRLLRLRLRLRR) triple paradiddle
In closing, I heard many of these ideas when I first started and as usual ignored them all, but I have since incorporated them. It will keep from having to relearning your playstyle later if you start incorporating them now.
Thanks for the tips guys. If you want your expertise highlighted in our column than cruise on over to the Plastic Rockers Forum Thread here.
One last tip, straight from us, that works well for the upper level songs (hard and expert) is a double kick drum pedal. Harmonix just came out with one and GHWT has one as well. Check out your local video game retailer to see if they have any in stock. They run about $25 plus tax. Keeping both your feet going in tandem takes a little while to get used to, but once you do you'll be running through Avenged Sevenfold's "Almost Easy" with little to no problem at all when it comes to hitting the kick pedal...using your sticks will take a little longer.
That's all for this week stay tuned next time we take on the instrument that started it all ... the plastic axe. We've got more great tips and tricks for you to better your score and beat up on your friends.
News
Rock Band
Pearl Jam's "Ten" hit the marketplace on 3/24, and you can purchase the album for 1440 MS points ($17.99) or you can purchase each song individually for 160 points ($1.99). PSN users can pick up the album on Thursday 3/26.
“Once”
“Even Flow”
“Why Go”
“Black”
“Jeremy”
“Oceans”
“Porch”
“Garden”
“Deep”
“Release”
“Master/Slave”
The song “Alive” is on the Rock Band 2 disc, which would complete the album. All tracks are masters.
GH:WT
Queen track pack released on Thursday 3/26 with three classic tracks. Also up for release is the new James Bond theme (we don't know what the actual name is as of yet, or if it's just called the James Bond theme....so suck it).
"Fat Bottom Girls"
"C-lebrity"
"We are the Champions"
Activision has also announced their full DLC packages for April. Look for DLC from The Pixies, Silversun Pickups, Steely Dan, Motorhead and Nirvana. Some of the content is already available for Rock Band owners, but there are a few unique offerings available as well.
