Hey, wanna-be! You still stuck on Medium? You've seen YouTube videos of people shredding in Rock Band and Guitar Hero and thought, "Wow...I could never do that." Wrong! You can break through to Hard and quickly move on to Expert in your fake six-string shredding once you know a few next-level tricks and techniques. It doesn't even matter what game you play -- it's all about how you play it. So grab your axe and start cuttin'! We're gonna make you a star...

The Lesson Plan

In all these lessons, you should practice the suggested songs on Hard, if not Expert. We’ve tried to point out the tracks that offer the most helpful amount of repetition — in most cases, you’ll find the technique in question in the main riff or in a recurring segment of the song. Other times, the tempo or relative difficulty of the song make it the best way to drill a specific technique. And while some of the downloadable songs for Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III, and Rock Band offer fantastic examples, we didn’t use any DLC for these lessons. Everything you need to dominate is right there on the game disc.

Grip and Finger Placement

The first thing to come to grips with is…your grip. For one, keep it light: you might clench up just from anxiety, but try to keep your fingers and wrist loose. You don’t need to press too hard.

Most gamers naturally place their index finger on the green (first) button, as in Figure A, and that works on Medium — four buttons, four fingers. But the only way you’re going to feel comfortable with pressing the orange button is to move your default starting position. More often than not, you want your index finger over the red (second) button, and your pinky hovering over the dangerous orange button — like Figure B. This is a good mental way to center yourself on the guitar because you’ll be able to feel the middle button’s ridge or nubs (depending on which guitar controller you prefer) with your middle finger. When you get a riff that “anchors” itself around the green button, just shift back. It’s also easier to stretch back to reach the green button with your index finger (as seen in Figure C) than it is to stretch ahead to reach the orange button with your pinky — the main riff in “I Think I’m Paranoid” in Rock Band is a good time to try it.

Songs that use a lot of shifting power chords (two-button chords with a button in-between, like green-yellow) are prime benefactors of this technique. Of all the advice we can offer, this is probably the single biggest change to adopt — and by far the most important.

Guitar Hero II: "Surrender"
Guitar Hero III: "My Name is Jonas"; "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
Rock Band: "Here It Goes Again"; "Gimme Shelter"

The Pinky

Your least-developed finger is the scourge of so many guitarists, and it’s probably a huge stumbling block for you, too. But using your tiniest finger is key at the higher skill levels, so you really do need to start training it now.

What you want to remember here is that just because your pinky can reach a button doesn’t mean it should. Power chords are a good example — some are better handled with your index and ring fingers, even though you could switch to your middle and pinky and play them. Always try it with your pinky first, of course, but if it’s just too awkward, try switching. Chords that span four buttons, such as green-blue and red-orange, should nearly always be played with the pinky.

You will encounter some riffs that were simply designed for you to span all five buttons, and that means the pinky gets put into service. The only thing that will make you comfortable is building it up, so don’t neglect your littlest finger — the designers know you have it, so the games really do expect you to use it.

Guitar Hero II: "Sweet Child O' Mine"
Guitar Hero III: "Talk Dirty to Me"
Rock Band: "Wanted Dead or Alive"; "Enter Sandman"

Alternate Picking and Strumming

The only way to survive passages like these is with alternate picking.

We love the Ramones, but every song is not designed for punk-style downstrums. Watch any acoustic guitarist and you’ll see they strum in both directions, up and down; same with any soloist, like Slash or Eddie Van Halen — those fast bits can be achieved only by picking the strings from both above and below. You should do the same. This should be pretty obvious when you’re faced with a monster line of notes on the same button, but many players try to kill these riffs with brute force and blind ambition. Neither works.

Your timing will be a little off when you start strumming up; there’s a good chance all your up-strums will be late for a little while, as you adjust. Plan to practice a few times before busting this move in public.

Guitar Hero II: "Miserlou"
Guitar Hero III: "Knights of Cydonia"
Rock Band: "Creep"; "Ballroom Blitz"

Slides

When do you slide chords? "War Pigs" provides a perfect opportunity.

This one’s pretty subtle and you won’t encounter it in every song. Some notes are designed to play by sliding your hand between them. For instance, “Surrender” can actually be played this way — with the buttons pressed, just slide your hand up to the next chord without softening your grip. You’ll find this on individual notes as well —watch out for quick green-to-red sequences that then continue up to orange, or the opposite of that, riffs that go all the way from orange down to green, such as “Story of My Life” in Guitar Hero III . Those little pickup notes are perfect for this. And on Rock Band’s “Wave of Mutilation,” if you’re sliding correctly, you won’t hear any gaps in the music when changing chords.

Guitar Hero II: "War Pigs"; "Surrender"
Guitar Hero III: "Reptilia"; "Story of My Life"
Rock Band: "Wave of Mutilation"

Triplets

Triplets are the musical equivalent of a horse race.

These “galloping” patterns require fast up-down-up or down-up-down strums. Not a ton of songs use things like this — Iron Maiden and Metallica are prime offenders, and “Raining Blood” on Hard in Guitar Hero III is probably the most infamous example — but if you’re not properly prepared for a song that uses triplets, you’ll literally never hear the end of it.

The best technique is to treat the strum lever with a light touch — flick it between your thumb and index finger, almost like you’re playing catch with it. A triplet is basically a three-hit combo strum.

Guitar Hero II: "The Trooper"
Guitar Hero III: "Barracuda"; "Raining Blood"
Rock Band: "Run to the Hills" on Expert

Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs

HOPOs show up as narrow rectangles in Rock Band. In GH III, they're glowing white caps.

In real guitar, a hammer-on is played when a note rings out just from the force of the fretting finger slamming down on the string — no strum necessary. A pull-off is the same move in reverse, where the note rings out from the movement of the finger leaving the string. In fake guitar, the concept is the same, but it’s easier to do — and it’s necessary.

Each of the three games gives you a small clue that a HO or PO opportunity is coming up. In the Guitar Hero games, it’s a ring around the top of the jewel — if there’s a black ring, you’ll need to pick that note, but if there’s no black ring, you can just move your fretting hand for those notes. (It’s there in Guitar Hero II but tough to see; Neversoft beefed up this indicator for GHIII.) In Rock Band, all note markers are rectangular, but the narrower rectangles are HOPOs.

Just because you can do a hammer-on doesn’t mean you need to. If you feel more confident picking the entire run, go for it. The HOPOs can be implemented later, after you have a command of the song’s phrasing. The entire main riff of “Vasoline” is one hammer-on, over and over again, so that’s a good drill.

Guitar Hero II: "Woman"; "Possum Kingdom"
Guitar Hero III: "The Metal"; "Cliffs of Dover"
Rock Band: "Vasoline"; "Flirtin' With Disaster"

Cascades and Zig-zags

A light touch will help you through zig-zag and cascade solo runs.

These are some of the nastiest segments to play — quick three- or fournote HOPO runs in succession, often going up and then returning back down, making a zig-zag pattern on the screen. You’ll usually find these patterns in solos, and the only way to slay these beasts is practice.

The problem is forcing your fingers to move smoothly in both directions. It’s easier to hit a run of hammer-ons going up — say, from your index to your ring finger — than it is to immediately reverse that process. On these speed runs, try not to raise your fingers off the buttons too much; lift each finger just enough to release the note.

Also, you may find that when you hammer-down with your pinky on the way up a zig-zag pattern, your middle finger may naturally pull itself up, complicating your return trip. Just be aware that you’re training your hand to do something it’s not used to doing, and it’s going to be a slow learner. Getting your fingers to work truly independently will simply take time and practice. Cascades and zig-zags are the most frustrating and overwhelming patterns, but they’re also the most satisfying when you nail them. Pump your fist in the air when you get this one down!

Guitar Hero II: "Who Was In My Room last Night?"; "Free Bird"
Guitar Hero III: "Cult of Personality"
Rock Band: "Green Grass and High Tides"; "Highway Star" on Expert