"I'm back!"

I just got Guitar Hero Aerosmith for my birthday (so the title of this post is also a reference to "Back in the Saddle", not just a declaration that I'm back - though it's that, too) and this morning was the first time I've gotten up early in quite awhile. I've decided to pick this up again, if only to trigger some endorphins to counteract life's recent stresses.

Mini Guitar Hero

$12.99 at KB Toys.

Back in Black

I woke up at 5:59 this morning - which was good since the only alarm I had set was on my cell and it was on silent - so I got up early enough to work out for the first time in a while. I've been fooling around with this thing long enough - it's time to get serious.

Hard Day's Night

After spending a few weeks stuck on level 7, I finally beat Guitar Hero II on hard last night. Once I got through "Carry Me Home" (with the help of the practice function), it seemed almost easier to make it through "Psychobilly Freakout" and all the level 8 songs. I had to start "Misirlou" over a few times, but other than that, I pretty much skated through the other songs (albeit with 3 stars on all of them, as my 6-year-old had to point out). Even "Freebird" didn't seem that difficult. One thing's for sure - there's no way I could've gotten this far without getting comfortable with hammer-ons. I still need practice on the pre-GHIII pull-offs.

Radio Update

And now, "Cult of Personality" (Living Colour) is playing. It can't be coincidence.

Guitar Hero on the Radio

Do you think the Guitar Hero phenomenon has impacted what's being played on the radio? In the last two days, I've had the radio on for less than a total of 30 minutes and I've heard 3 Guitar Hero songs (this was on WVNA, Florence, AL). "Barracuda" (Heart) is no surprise - that's always gotten a lot of airplay. But just now "Surrender" (Cheap Trick) came on the radio and I can't remember the last time I heard that. But the really odd one was yesterday when I heard "Them Bones" (Alice in Chains). I think that's the first time I ever heard that song outside GH.

I've been so slack in getting any workouts in. We've been on vacation and I've been working on several projects. But I guess now is always the best time to start again!

Can't Stop the Music

I've been on vacation, so it hasn't been as easy to get up and work out every day.

But at least I've been able to play every day - and judging by the way my wrists and forearms feel after playing some of the mid-level songs on hard on Guitar Hero III, I'm still getting a little bit of a workout. I'm still stuck on Level 7 on Guitar Hero II (as well as Level 3 on expert), but now I'm stuck on Level 7 on hard on GHIII, too. I don't know how I feel about those guitar battles. But, I was able to beat Slash after about 5 or 6 tries. And even when I couldn't beat him, I was at least making it to the end of the song and was getting beat when he used the Death Drain attack. It took a few minutes to figure out strategy (to attack only when he had a hard set of notes, or when he was about to hit the notes to get another attack), but when I did, I was finally able to beat him.

One of the things I'm really liking about GHIII is the improved hammer-ons and pull-offs. These take some getting used to, but when you get the hang of them, they sure are powerful. They're pretty tough on GHI - I hate having to put down all my fingers when doing the pull-offs - it's hard to coordinate my pinky and ring finger since they both try to pull off at the same time. I need to see if they changed that in GHII or GHIII. I just happened to take a look at the GHIII advanced tutorial and realized you now only use a single finger, making hammer-offs and pull-offs executed in basically the same way. It makes a huge difference for GHIII; and now that I think about it, I'm wondering if they made that change for II. If not, it's going to be pretty hard to move backwards and try to finish GHII.

But at least I can enjoy the process!

And since I'm working with both of these, I'll probably end up waiting for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I doubt I'll have the same restraint for Guitar Hero: World Tour. I'm looking forward to the drums and the microphone.

"I read the news today, oh boy..."

Life's in an uproar and it's sometimes hard to get up early to workout. The good thing is playing on some of the higher levels on hard and some of the lower levels on expert gives you nearly as good a workout as rocking out.

Heard some recent news about the upcoming Guitar Hero titles.

Several hours ago Nintendic reported more specific tracklist information for the Wii on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Among others, it includes Lenny Kravitz, The Clash, The Black Crowes, and Run-D.M.C. Personally, I can't wait to play "Dream On".

There's been more info out on Guitar Hero: World Tour in the last few days, too. I'm not sure who first reported this, but I saw on Games Are Fun, that the full set will set you back $190 (or $170 for PS2). They also price just the game ($60 or $50) and the game plus guitar ($100). It's out on October 27 - is that old news?

Also saw a video of Tony Hawk playing the new set with Paula Abdul there to judge (weird - article here). Anyway, I don't know if that's the new guitar, but it doesn't seem to be much different except for the directional pad in the corner. Not sure what the "secret new functionality" is. We'll see.

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Arrrgh.

A couple more days missing my workout. Start back tomorrow.

Have you seen the trailers for Guitar Hero: World Tour at GuitarHero.com? Go to the site, click on "Media" or "View the Trailer" and click on the second trailer to see Stuart Copeland (The Police) and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) play the new drum set. (Skip the first trailer with a bunch of dorky kids playing "battle of the bands".)

Also spin around the 3D image of the drums at the bottom of the screen.

And I haven't had a chance to talk about that Game Informer article, but it mentioned a completely new guitar shipping with GHIV (they're not releasing yet what the differences are). And looking at the shadows on the site, is that something lower on the neck? I imagine it'll be different that the double set of frets on Rock Band.

After Midnight

Or maybe it only feels after midnight...it's a bit before.

A good day 0ff - played a lot of Guitar Hero today. I was able to get my workout in every day this weekend, too. I didn't post yesterday, but I played. I've been eating a bit better, so let's hope it starts showing up on the scale...

Get Into the Groove

It's good to get back into the groove. Jumped into my set today like I never left.

Sometimes it seems like it takes forever to get past a certain point in the game - then it's easy for a while. As I mentioned earlier, I made it through the first level on expert (Guitar Hero II). It's taken me a while to do that - it seems like it took forever to get through "Mother" and "Woman". But then I tackled level 2 today, and made it through all 5 songs on the first try. Just barely, but I still made it through. I haven't gone to the 3rd level, yet, but was surprised that I was able to get through the entire second level so quickly. The same thing happened on hard - it took me a while to get through level 1, but when I was finally able to do it, it's like a switch was turned on and I was suddenly able to play at that level.

Maybe more practice on expert will help me finish the last two levels on hard.

Looks Like We Made It

Finally made it to level 2 on Expert tonight (Guitar Hero II). The practice mode in GHII sure does help...

Still halfway through level 7 on hard. Don't know if I'll ever get past "Psychobilly Freakout".

Home Sweet Home

Sorry for the hiatus, but I've been on holiday (actually a business trip) to London without my PS2, my Guitar Hero, or my trusty ax. But I'm home now (severely jet-lagged) and plan to get back in the swing of things tomorrow.

Plus, I read the GHIV Game Informer article, so if you haven't read it, I'll be talking about that.

"Saturday, in the park..."

What do ya know? I got up early on a Saturday and worked out. Which is good, because the day was filled with much running around, and I wouldn't have been able to fill it in otherwise.

I'm So Tired

Got up on time this morning.

Worked out.

It's all good.

Gotta get to bed.