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Guitar Hero Download Low-Down: Guitar Virtuoso Pack
Whenever Guitar Hero releases fresh tracks via Xbox Live, we'll run out onto our website stage like roadies and review the latest downloadable content. Check back often!
The Guitar Virtuoso Track Pack contains three songs for 500 Microsoft Points ($6.25). The tracks are not available for individual sale.
WHAT ROCKS: “Surfing with the Alien” put Joe Satriani on the instrumental guitar map; it’s an uptempo boogie with outbursts of obscene amounts of notes, but a groove that will definitely make you smile. “For the Love of God” by Steve Vai (who was once a student of Satch’s) is quite a bit more somber; as the legend goes, he fasted for three days, and recording the track was a spiritual experience. For you it will simply be brutal, but approach it with the right reverence and you’ll be able to dig into the song’s sweeping note runs. You make it through and you’ll really feel the sense of accomplishment. Buckethead’s “Soothsayer” is even longer (nine minutes plus), and completely kicks your ass around halfway through. All three tracks have three-, four-, and in some cases five-note cascades loaded with double-back, zig-zag patterns – just the stuff that Expert-level players love to eat for breakfast.
WHAT SUCKS: Two of these tracks are slow-burn epics – the shreddy-guitar equivalents of “Stairway to Heaven.” They’re long, they start out deceptively mellow, but then blossom into high-octane musical explosions. People who already know them love them as classics of the genre, but if they’re new to you, you’re gonna be bored then suddenly overwhelmed. Bassists will likely be bored (their clean lines are designed to give the guitarists room to wail and flail), but the low-end line for “Soothsayer” is oddly counterintuitive, featuring a three-note riff that’s two pull-offs followed by a picked note. Shouldn’t it be the other way around, like all the similar passages in the guitar lines? It’s frustrating and awkward to play.
FINAL VERDICT: If you read Guitar World on a regular basis, you’ve already bought this pack; if not, you can probably make it through on Hard without prep work, but Expert will keep your fingers twisted for a while. It’s good to see these tracks in Guitar Hero III, because once the franchise goes full-band, there may be no room for instrumental DLC any more. Grab these and enjoy; they’re really spectacular examples of the genre and constructive challenges for gamers as well.
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zacattack5000
September 29, 2008 at 9:06pm
You can get a bucket head song on GH3?!! Time to get some points. And my game back from my friend.
BigDaddyNigel
August 07, 2008 at 12:09pm
I read who was included with this pack and bought it without a second thought, 2 well knows guitar legends, and one underground legend, what more could we ask for. I notice typically in a track pack there is 2 good songs, and one that is incredibly boring. Not so with this pack, all three songs are amazing, and extremely challenging. "For the love of God" has become my favorite track to play, as you get into it; it feels like a spiritual experience. I can't say enough how pleased I am with this track pack. Especially after some of the other recent packs, (Modern Metal?? I wish I could have bought 'Almost Easy' on it's own; Coldplay? Pass altogther) The buckethead song here "Soothsayer" is from the album Crime Slunk Scene.
DelishusSeagull
August 03, 2008 at 7:36pm
a truly sick pack, and probably the last good DLC we'll see for GH3
ill_sue_ya
July 27, 2008 at 10:56am
love the song soothsayer but theres something strange about the song time and the album its on, you see, sail on soothsayer is on decoding the tomb of bansheebot, but soothsayer is on crime slunk scene, and on top of that soothsayer is roughly 9 minutes while sail on soothsayer is roughly 6 minutes. and to make it more confusing both sons are dedicated to "aunt suzie". is the one on crime slunk scene a retake? plz tell me.
lakai
July 26, 2008 at 10:28pm
YES!!! Finally more Buckethead! Soothsayer is my favorite song of all time!
ill_sue_ya
July 26, 2008 at 11:01am
its a good day to be a guitar hero player. it might be a good day to be a metallica fan, i hope death magnetic dosent suck like st. anger or load/reload.
ill_sue_ya
July 26, 2008 at 11:01am
its a good day to be a guitar hero player. it might be a good day to be a metallica fan, i hope death magnetic dosent suck like st. anger or load/reload.
ill_sue_ya
July 26, 2008 at 11:01am
its a good day to be a guitar hero player. it might be a good day to be a metallica fan, i hope death magnetic dosent suck like st. anger or load/reload.
sneaky77
July 26, 2008 at 7:48am
the full metallica album will be for both GH3 and GH:WT but they have not said if you have to buy it twice or it will be compatible
ill_sue_ya
July 25, 2008 at 11:20pm
new dragonforce album!?!?!!?!??! holy crap.. im buying that track pack and that album in a heart beat and a half. also i read that a single off the new metallica album (which i will be buying both versions ;)) will be available for download for rock band and the FULL ALBUM available for guitar hero 3, im phsyched.
AVanillaChild
July 25, 2008 at 9:44pm
They need to put body breakdown into the track pack, because it has KILLER bass!
sneaky77
July 25, 2008 at 9:32pm
ill sue ya, here ya go man http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=101481 it has Operation Ground And Pound, revolution deathsquad and heroes of our time
InvertedSine
July 25, 2008 at 7:42pm
I sooo wish we could have some Buckethead in Rock Band. But I know that will never happen and I won't spend the $$ to get GH and a new guitar.
ill_sue_ya
July 25, 2008 at 1:40pm
their is?! holy crap, i think i'll faint... i hope the songs are operation ground and pound fury of the storm my spirit will go on if this is true then that track pack will definitely take my MS Points.
ill_sue_ya
July 24, 2008 at 10:56pm
holy crap... MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!! BUCKETHEAD YES!!!! JOE SATRIANI YES!!! STEVE VAI... maybe... id prefer dragonfoprce to replace steve vai. its not that i hate vai its that im just not a big fan.
BGG001
July 24, 2008 at 6:56pm
About time Guitar Hero put some respectable artists in their game. Perhaps Neversoft has grown up past the GH3 popularity image.
sneaky77
July 24, 2008 at 5:38pm
The songs are very fun to play. As a fairly average hard player I am glad to see that Neversoft has improved their hard charting a lot between Aerosmith and this pack. I had not heard any of the songs before today, but they are great pieces.
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