Simeon, fine purveyor of electronic distractions, got me hooked on Guitar Here III last month. I went over to his house for a Saturday of Halo and then some Chang's for dinner. But unfortunately, his network wasn't cooperating, so we bailed on Halo and started playing Guitar Hero. I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical having seen it played by others, but oh how wrong I was. Eight hours later, with four aching hands, we decided we better go eat so we'd be able to type come Monday.
Of course, on Sunday I went an got my own copy (for the Wii), shelved Zelda again, and started rocking. Tonight, I finished Career mode on "medium" (having already done Easy), after getting at least four stars on every song. Now on to "hard", though I fear I have some unlearning to do. With medium, you can play a finger per button, but not so much with hard. Medium also didn't present any riffs that strumming only in one direction was too slow to accomplish. I did try a couple songs on medium with alternating strums, and I cannot for the life of me get the timing to be smooth. Between that and having to shift my hand up and down the neck, hard should present more than enough challenge, at least until I start memorizing some of the songs, so I can use my eyes to aid some of the left hand acrobatics.
"through the fires and the flames"
it's the only song in the game worth playing. even on medium is mind blowing.
You ARE a guitar hero! It was great fun watching you play, and enjoy playing, the guitar. Good luck with the next level.
If I could give you some unsolicited advice, having just made the transition from medium to hard myself: resist the temptation to keep your fingers in the same position they were in for medium and "just move your pinky to the orange when you need to". Although the orange notes come less frequently — especially in the early songs — your index finger is probably a lot more capable of handling two frets than your pinky, and you'll adjust faster to moving your hand around on the earlier songs than if you fudge it until the really hard songs.
Patrick,
Yep, the index finger is certainly more dexterous. I've been debating the relative merits of primarily using three fingers (omitting the pinky) for the better dexterity even with the cost of more sliding. I've also got bit hands, so a four-note stretch is quite reasonable for me to do with my index and ring fingers. But I think you're probably right that the best arrangement is to have the "home" position be at the bottom and shift up as needed, rather than starting at the top and shifting down. Time will tell.
I am impressed! We bought our Guitar Hero (and a PS2 to play it on) a few weeks ago and we are still getting through medium (granted, we only play a bit every few days).