5Frets interviews top Guitar Hero player Lilirock to learn more about her unusual playing technique
Lilirock's extraordinary skill at Guitar Hero has earned her a #15 ranking for highest Guitar Hero 5 Expert Guitar Career score on the competitive ScoreHero.com leaderboard. But the kicker is her very unusual playing technique: she plays the guitar overhand like a piano, using all 5 fingers on her left hand in reverse order compared to normal. Her pinky handles the green fret and her thumb handles orange – even for trills!
To get a better idea, watch this video of Lilirock's 100% perfect FC run of Rush – "The Spirit of Radio" in GH5:
Lilirock talked technique with 5Frets recently in an interview:
5Frets: Tell us a bit about yourself for readers who aren't familiar with you.
It's official: the Expert Bass Drum glitch in Guitar Hero 5 will not be patched or fixed. Drummers will have to either play Hard skill or move up to the brutal Expert+ skill level if they want to avoid the game's bug.
An official post by Guitar Hero developers Neversoft on the GuitarHero.com support forum states:
by Neversoft » Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:12 pm
I have an official statement I can now post about the Expert+ drum glitch:
"Thanks for all the information on the expert+ issue. Unfortunately, it's not something that we will be patching for currently released products. However, we are currently working on solution for future Guitar Hero games."
Thanks,
Neversoft
In reality, Neversoft has actually fixed this problem several months ago, since Band Hero came out in late 2009 containing a fixed Expert skill level. Thanks to Band Hero's song importing feature, players were able to test the same songs on both GH5 and Band Hero for a back-to-back Expert drum comparison, and in every case, players agreed that songs glitched in GH5 were fixed when imported into Band Hero.
Unsurprisingly, the company's recent decision not to correct the game's malfunction has caused a furor to erupt among Expert Guitar Hero drummers.
This is not the first major Guitar Hero malfunction that Activision/Neversoft have refused to correct
Expert drummers discover a flaw in GH5 songs with Expert+ drum charts that causes players to completely fail songs they would normally ace. 5Frets.com investigates the details and talks with Expert players offering workarounds.
Shortly after Guitar Hero 5 was released, expert drummers found themselves failing songs during passages with heavy bass pedal action for no good reason. Even in DLC songs imported from Guitar Hero World Tour, players found themselves suddenly failing songs they were able to pass with no trouble in GHWT.
The Facts: something is broken in certain Guitar Hero 5 Expert Drum Charts, and the company fixed it in Band Hero
Here are the facts that nobody disputes:
The glitch happens only in Guitar Hero 5
The glitch happens only on songs that have the Expert+ drum skill level
The glitch happens only when the player is playing the Expert skill of a song that also features Expert+
The glitch happens to both GH5 on-disc songs (see link for list of the 9 Expert+ tracks), as well as DLC and disc imports like World Tour and Smash Hits (particularly the free Metal Track Pack DLC)
The glitch affects all platforms: Xbox 360, PS2 & PS3, and Nintendo Wii,
The company fixed this problem in Band Hero
UPDATE: January 16th, 2010: Official statement says the GH5 expert drum glitch will not be patched or corrected
Nintendo has evidently put an end to free DLC songs for Guitar Hero and Band Hero Wii players. 5Frets.com investigates why, by contacting Nintendo, Neversoft, and Steve Ouimette.
Over the last 5 months, 3 packs totaling 10 free DLC songs have been released. But one thing remains constant: None of them have been available free for Nintendo Wii players. Why is that?
Players who own both Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5 can import 69 of the 85 songs in Guitar Hero 5 into Band Hero. 5Frets.com has both song lists: which Guitar Hero 5 songs export to Band Hero, and which songs do not export.
The cost to export GH5 for PS3/360/Wii players is $6 / 480 MSP / 600 Wii Points.
For those who prefer to stick with the Guitar Hero 5 interface (and online players), you can export 61 of Band Hero's 65 songs into GH5 for $5 / 400 MSP / 500 Wii Points.
(Or if you're really a die-hard Guitar Hero fan, you can export both ways, giving you GH5's songs in Band Hero, and Band Hero's songs in GH5…)
Guitar Hero 5 Export to Band Hero Song List: 69 Tracks
Here's a full GH5 song list containing all 86 tracks for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PS2 & PS3. This handy table includes Guitar Intensity, Bass Intensity, Vocal Intensity, and Drum Intensity ratings, plus denotes which Drum tracks feature Expert+ skill level.
You've seen and laughed at the corny commercial for the Snuggie, followed by the Weezer Snuggie. Now, 5Frets.com introduces the Guitar Hero Snuggie:
From the price "ding" to the bonus offers, to the fast talking 800 guy, we hope you have as much fun watching this as we did making it. (If you haven't seen the original Snuggie and Weezer Snuggie commercials, you probably won't get the joke references.)
How & Why We Made the Guitar Hero Snuggie Commercial Video
The biggest and easiest improvement I ever made to my Guitar Hero drumming skills, was when I learned how to control my kicks better with this technique.
Maybe Guitar Hero and Rock Band drums are a little too realistic, because the natural instinct for anyone who sits down behind a kit, is to wail and hammer on them relentlessly. Sure it's fun at first, but if you want to become a better player and earn higher scores, you need to learn how to control your hits as accurately as possible.
Why Are You Pounding On Electronic Drums? They Sense Differently Than Real Drums
It's no secret the toughest part of learning drumming is becoming accustomed to the bass pedal kicks. But beginners make things much worse on themselves by STOMPING the pedal with every hit. Nobody can keep that up – and on time – through the end of a setlist!
The GH/RB drum kits are obviously not "real" percussion instruments, so striking the pads extra hard is pointless and counterproductive. They feature highly sensitive vibration sensors to detect the hits, and knowing the difference is your advantage here.
Want to get better? Here's a short look at how to improve:
Have your Guitar Hero World Tour DLC songs disappeared after playing Guitar Hero 5? Every time you play GH5, it breaks your GHWT SD Card DLC, so next time you load GHWT, you'll get the error message pictured above, which reads:
ERROR: Add-on Content on the SD Card cannot be listed due to a missing or out of date content catalog. To restore SD Card functionality, please redownload content in the music Store or restore content in the Archive.
It sounds bad, but it's really a 30 second fix.
Just open up the Music Store from the Guitar Hero World Tour main menu, and click the orange Archive button:
It's official: the 
Players who own both Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5 can import 69 of the 
