Monday, April 7, 2008

Go strum sand

My friend Solstice has a Rock Band set now, and since he got his game room set up again, we've been meaning to get together and play. I finally had the opportunity over the weekend. He played drums, and I borrowed his Rock Band Stratocaster.

Wow, what a difference. I didn't realize how bad mine really was. I always felt like I had to put a lot of effort into strumming to hit the notes, but compared to Solstice's, mine is like trying to drive your hand into wet sand. Triggering overdrive as well, on his guitar, worked when you tipped the guitar, and only when you did so; whereas mine doesn't easily when you want it and does occasionally on its own.

The real test came on those long sequences of rapid, evenly-spaced notes that I almost always miss. I've tried strumming up and down, and I've tried shoving the strum bar down (pounding sand, as it were), and I just couldn't do it. On Solstice's? It wasn't perfect, but holy cow, it was a a vast improvement. I hit a lot of sequences with a very light touch, and even five-starred the Police songs (on medium).

Although I vowed to start the replacement process that very night, we ended up playing rather late, so I got some sleep first. Then I started the replacement process. The new guitar is on its way...

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