Guitar Hero: Smash Hits

CLIFF NOTES:

-- You MUST complete all 48 songs in each career, INCLUDING Through the Fire and Flames.
-- The 47 songs prior to the final venue being unlocked (Quebec City) can be played on any difficulty, but the final song (Through The Fire and Flames) must be played on Expert on each instrument in order to unlock the achievement. (Thanks Furious Gunman!)

Ohhhh man.

While this wouldn't be too much of a hassle in GH:M due to its wonky career unlocking system, this achievement is a huge bitch.

Just in case you were wondering, yes, you will need to beat Through the Fire and Flames on all of the instruments on the Expert difficulty in order to get this achievement. You can play the other 47 songs in the game on any difficulty necessary, but Through The Fire and Flames must be completed on Expert to unlock the achievement.

Remember, hoard Star Power in songs where you are unsure of your ability to pass without Star Power. You don't have to make it look pretty passing these songs, you just have to make it.

A misguided description on this one. All you have to do is beat Through the Fire and the Flames on expert on all instruments. You can do the entire career on any difficulty you want but Through the Fire and the Flames MUST be on the expert difficulty if you want this achievement.

No, the entire career does not need to be beaten on expert, but beating Through the Fire and the Flames and guitar, bass, vocals and drums is worth 100 gamerscore alone because the song is insanely hard.

Since I've played the song on guitar over and over again on GH3 I had no trouble beating it on guitar. But for those who had trouble with it, turn on hyperspeed to you desired speed, practice and good luck is all I can say. Bass is by far the easiest instrument to beat the song on expert as it just alternates between the buttons, going really fast. I'm no vocalist but this song wasn't too complicated on expert. The one that gave me the most problems was beating it on drums, since I'm just a decent expert drummer, but with hours of practice I finally managed to squeeze past the song.

Good luck is about all I can say. If you get stuck on an instrument , just practice the part or parts that give you trouble until you beat the song.

A good thing to do if your not sure if you can grab this achievement is play it on expert bass in quickplay first, and if you cant beat it in more than 5 tries just give up, since you most likely won't be getting this achievement.

Good news and bad news about this one:

The good news is you do NOT have to do every song in the game on expert. This lets you bypass some of the bastard songs, like Raining Blood. You only have to do the last song.

The bad news, of course, is that the final song is none other than the infamous Through the Fire and Flames. You have to beat this on expert bass, guitar, drums, and vocals.

From easiest to hardest (in my opinion) are the instruments and tips:

Easiest: Bass.
As nickb2819 said, if you can't do this song on bass, just throw in the towel now. If you can't do it, you won't be able to do it on guitar, therefore just go home now.

Next: Vocals.
Dragonforce isn't about powerful vocals, there about badass guitar solos. Therefore, there isn't much singing in the song, and you can likely mumble your way through it, humming the pitch. I'm a ridiculously bad singer, but I beat this on my first try.

Next: Guitar.
If you could do this in Guitar Hero 3, you'll have NO trouble here. The intro and outro are all tap notes this time, making them a hell of a lot easier. For the intro, just have a rubber band holding down the green button and then tap the rest of the pattern. Beyond that, it's not so bad. Remember to go into practice mode if there's a part that's kicking you in the junk. But beyond the intro, it's pretty straightforward.

The HARDEST: Drums.
This song is, to be brief, an endurance on expert drums. No matter what you do, you'll need a hell of a lot of stamina to get through this one. Most of the song is the same pattern (Y+pedal, R+Y, etc...) with a lot of rolls, and the occasional constant bass kick (picture a lite Expert +). If you can't do expert drums, quit now.

But, if you have the stamina, I found a trick to this: overhitting the notes doesn't hurt your Rock Meter as much as missing does. If you have two bass pedals, you're perfect. Just keep going boom-boom-boom on the pedals, at a steady rhythm during the main parts. At the same time, consistently hit BOTH the yellow and red pads. This is VERY tiring, but it's great if you're like me and simply cannot get the fast pattern down.

Dont be afraid to pause too. I'm sure I came close to collapsing from exhaustion doing this, and my method is extremely tiring. However, it works.

If you are using the rock band or guitar hero drum sticks, throw that crap away and get some real sticks. For doing rolls, I found those are as useful as dog turds. Real sticks are heavier, and as a result, your rolls are more fluid AND you don't have to apply as much force to the pads while drumming, therefore reducing the amount of energy you use.

In closing, bass and vocals (and guitar to a degree) are fairly easy, but may require practice. Expert drums seems to be the one every stuggles with, and unless you are a professional drummer, you WILL get tired. My method WONT get you a good score, but it'll keep the rock meter in the green the whole song.

Good luck, you'll need it.