Rock Band 3 - Screen Layout & Controls

Figure 1: Lesson Screen

The photo above in figure 1 shows what the Rock Band 3 lessons look like.  Sorry for the picture quality, but projection TVs aren't exactly photogenic.

During lessons (and game play) numbers flow down the screen on strings representing the fret button you should be holding down on each string as you pick/strum it at the precise moment it reaches the bottom of the screen.  So, in the example above you should be holding down the 7th fret on the low E string.  And if you look closely you can see that the next note should be playing on the D string using the 9th fret button and the note should be held for a moment (indicated by the trailing orange line) followed by shortly by fret 7 on the A string.

Figure 2: Chord/Note Help

You may notice at the top of the screen underneath the "0%" there is a line of text that says "Chord/Note Help" (figure 2).  When this mode is enabled the game will pause any time you miss enough notes for your lesson percentage to fall to 0% (lessons only).

While the game is paused it will give you help on what fret/string you should be playing and give you a chance to get your fingers in position before moving on.  When you need help on single strings/notes the most you'll generally get is a picture of the fret board at the top of the screen (figure 3) with blue fingerprints over the fret/string you should be holding down.

Figure 3: Note/Chord Help - Fret Board

Of course this only tells you what string should be pressed down.  Not what finger(s) you should be using.  That is one of the areas where Rock Band 3 tries, but falls short of success.

There are times when it will instruct you on what fingers to use, but this is mostly limited to chords (see figure 5 below for an example).  And in general that's sufficient.  Single notes can often be played with any finger you choose.  It's only when you're trying to move quickly between different notes or pick single notes while transitioning between chords when it's really an issue.  But when it is an issue it's a BIG issue.  You're left feeling like your teacher just walked in, handed you some sheet music, and then left with no further instruction.

For those of you as new to this guitar thing as I am I'll take a moment to explain what a chord is.  A chord is pretty munch the foundation for a lot of the rock music you listen to today.  Rather than a note composed of a single string strummed with a specific fret held down, a chord requires you to fret and strum multiple strings at once.

Figure 4: Chord

Figure 3 actually depicts a chord as displayed in the note/chord help screen.  However, as you can imagine it would be difficult to read all those fret positions coming down the screen at once.  Much less get your fingers into the correct position before it's too late.

To overcome this issue Harmonix has done three things.  First they've added the name for the chord.  In this case "G" as you can see to the left of the chord in figure 4.  I'm sure this would be useful if you already know how to play guitar, but I don't.  For me this is just an arbitrary name.  It might as well be named "Bob".

Figure 5: Note/Chord Help - Finger Placement

So, for people like me they eliminated most of the fret numbers and only give you the number for the string your index finger should be on.  Next they got rid of the standard fret number flags for the rest of the chord and replaced them with a blue bar stretching across all the strings you're supposed to fret (figure 4).  The blue bar will be thin on the index finger position and get incrementally thicker depending on where you're supposed to fret the string at that position.

So, in the example shown in figure 4 you can (with practice) tell that you fret the A string with your index finger and then drop one fret down for both the low E and high E strings.  As far as what fingers to use, generally having the index finger on the indicated fret will steer you in the right direction, but in a lesson the chord help will actually tell you precisely which finger goes where (see figure 5).

Figure 5: Speed Control

Another feature you'll find helpful in lessons is the speed control found on the left side of the screen underneath the overall progress (figure 5).  Using this control you can slow down the stream of notes (and the music) by up to 40% so that your fingers can learn the positions and then gradually increase the tempo until you're at 100%.

It also introduces a metronome sound when you slow the music down.  Some people may find this useful, but to me it was just irritating.

In my next entry I'll go over lesson presentation and effectiveness in more detail.