Rock Band 3

This achievement is not easy by any means. I have been playing guitar since 2005.

Anyway - exercise 1-3 are the tough ones, 5 is by far the easiest, 4 is pretty close.

**REAL STRATEGIES**
My method was to start every one at 60% speed and to just listen to it to start with. What should it sound like? Once that was in my brain, I would simply practice making the chord shapes in time, once I had got my head around that, I'd just keep playing it at 60%speed until I could 100% it twice in a row. Then I'd do the same thing at 70%, then 80%, 90%, and finally full speed. I would not advance until I could do it twice in a row. Don't advance on a single 100%, you might have fluked it.

Something I found helped was when I was getting frustrated, I would sit down on my real guitar and play the same exercise very slowly, eventually building speed. This was VERY useful with an actual guitar because you truly learn the piece and no longer require the visual cue. I passed 3/5 of these exercises without looking at the screen, instead I was looking at my picking hand (the weakest part of my playing). Frankly if you're looking at the screen while doing these exercises you are making extra work for yourself.

If you don't have a real guitar you could practice it on the guitar controller however - you'll have no audio feedback (unless you plug it into a midi port or something).

**EASY STRATEGIES**
I suggest the easiest way to get this achievement is to invite someone over who knows how to play the guitar and have them do it for you - HOWEVER DISHONEST THIS MAY BE!

Make sure that 'chord numbers' is turned on for them. Even if they say they're a crap guitarist I would recommend inviting them to do it. Most guitarists are pretty modest. Furthermore I think that even a non-guitarist would be pretty excited to have a go at these exercises!

**********************************
I hope that this helps. Please ask any questions at all - I love helping people to learn the guitar.

The way I got this achievement is by using the 'pause exploit.' This means pausing before notes to figure them out and then unpausing when you're ready to hit them... This is very easy, just don't use a pick, strum with your thumb, and keep your pinky touching the pause button at all times, so you can quickly pause. When you unpause, the note highway will rewind, giving you time to get ready and play. Yes, it's a little time consuming, having to pause for every note and even restarting when you mess up, but it's much, much easier than learning how to do this the proper way.

The most complicated part if you're using the pause exploit is figuring out how to get the chords. Well since these are "arpeggios" you don't have to strum multiple strings at once. An arpeggio is a chord where the notes are strummed in quick succession, rather than simultaneously. So you don't even have to thumb strum awkward chords... Just one string at a time.

I've found that for these arpeggios, the first strum (on the note that looks like a complicated chord) is always for the note that is farthest to the left. You can tell what note this is by the number or the shape of the note relative to the number in another part of the chord. After the chord will be a string of simple single notes that you can easily hit by pausing and playing.

If you're doing it this way you can definitely get the achievement in a couple hours or better. Here's a list of the notes in the beginning of each arpeggio, as strummed:

Strings are labeled E, A, D, G, B, and e, E being highest string.
Frets are labeled 0-17, 0 being open and 17 being the closest fret.

First note of each arpeggio:

Fancy A Chord Arpeggio:
1 arpeggio: A0

Romantic Arpeggio:
4 arpeggios: A3, A0, E1, E3

More than an Arpeggio:
4 arpeggios: D0, E3, D0, E3

Dramatic Arpeggio:
1 arpeggio: D0

Wistful Arpeggio:
3 arpeggios: E3, A3, A5

Hope this helps everyone get this achievement. It's a tough one but if you do it this way, you can get it with no skill whatsoever; it's just a little time consuming. You can also use this advice to get the achievement legit, in case you simply needed an explanation for the arpeggios.

EDIT: If you leave negative feedback, please leave a comment so I can know why. I tried to explain my solution as thoroughly as possible but I'd be glad to improve if anyone has problems.

You must have the MadCatz Fender Mustang Guitar or Fender Squier to be able to do this!
The goal is in Pro Guitar - Mastering Pro Guitar - More Chord Holding and Apreggiation.
It can also be more usefully found in Training - Learn An Instrument - Pro Guitar- Expert Lesson.

Make sure you are comforatble playing the guitar! If you have to strain, try holding it a different way, adjusting the strap, change seating or standing position, whatever. Just make sure you can play it.

It is the third "Expert Lesson", try getting good practice on the "Holding a Chord and Arpeggiation" Hard Lesson. I will refer to fingers as (from first to fourth) index, middle, ring, pinky and the strings as (from sixth to first) E, A, D, G, B, e. The sixth string "E" is the one that is closest to you and plays the lowest notes. You do not have to use the finger I tell you to, it is a guidline given by the game, as I tend to use my middle finger. You do not have to use the pick supplied as you can strum with your fingernail, or "pad" like a bassist, I used fingerpicking for this lesson. And to you musicians, you must put the fingers where it tells you, playing the exact same notes on a different string does not work in this game. To make it easier to read and follow, I refer to the frets by numbers (1) rather than by placements (1st).

First things first, you do not strum the entire chord shown to you. This is the chord you have to hold to play the arpeggiation. The track will be light blue and hit marker will have a ghost of the chord you are supposed to be holding and the colors of the notes to play will be light blue. If they are still in the light blue track but are not light blue, you will have to change your hand position on the fretboard to play it, I call these 'out-of-chord-notes'. Of course you can ignore it and play the notes one at a time without holding the chord, but I found that way personally a lot harder.

Practice all of these slowly and gradually build up speed as you get better.

Part 1 - Fancy A Chord Arpeggio

"Keep your hand in position to play the A chord, then simply move your ring the 3rd fret notes on open strings"

e|0
B|2
G|2
D|2
A|0
E|-

Shouldn't be too difficult, just keep your index and middle fingers held down on 2 entirely and get your ring finger ready to move. The ring finger plays 2, then 3, then 2 then 0. So it should go Hold, move up, move down, release. Everything else on your left hand (assuming you are playing righty) stays the same. once you've got movement down, get the picking pattern.
These are the order of the strings you have to play, if the name is in italics you have to move your finger to match the different note
A D G D B D G A B G D B G D B G A D G D B D G A B G D B G D B G.

Part 2 - Romantic Arpeggio

"Keep your fretting hand in position to play these chords and then pick the arpeggios"

C AmF G
e|0-0-1-3
B|1-1-1-0
G|0-2-2-0
D|2-2-3-0
A|3-0-3-2
E|-----1-3

I found this hard due to the rapid chord changes, but practice makes perfect. To get from C to A minor, move your ring finger from the A string to the G string. A minor to F takes a little more skill, as you have to barre the first fret while using the other fingers to get the rest of the strings. F to G is also difficult as it requires to basically 'reset' your entire hand. Once youve got the chords down try the picking pattern. While it doesn't contain any 'out-of-chord' notes, it does contain 16th notes, but these can be 'sweeped' if you're using the pick.
Picking pattern, the bold letter denotes a new chord, while grouped together notes show the 16th notes
A DGB e B G D A A DGB e B G D A E ADG e B G D A E ADG e B G D A

Part 3 - More than an Arepggio

"Keep your fretting hand in position to play these chords and then pick the arpeggios. Don't move your ring finger on this one!"

e|2-0-2-0-
B|3-3-3-3-
G|2-0-2-0-
D|0-0-0-0-
A|---2---2-
E|---3---3-

There are a couple of 'out-of-chord-notes' which you will need to watch out for. At least there are only two chords which you can move to easily, remember to keep you ring finger held down throughout the entire lesson!
Picking pattern
D G B G e e B G E G B A G B ]i
A B D G B G e e B G E G B A G B A B

Part 4 - Dramtic Arpeggio

"Keep your fretting hand in position to play these chords and then pick the arpeggios. Don't move your index or pinky finger on this one!"

e|1
B|3
G|2
D|0
A|--
E|--

Yes there is only one chord to hold, but what makes this difficult is the couple of 'out-of-chord' notes. You should move your middle and ring fingers to get them. However one of those notes are an open string A, so if you move too early you will overstrum. Take your time, you will know when to get this. Try to keep that F (the 1 fret on the e string) sustained as long as possible, heck that shouldn't be taken off for the entire lesson.
Picking pattern
D B G e- G B G D B G e- A A D D B G e- G B G D B G e- A A D

Part 5 - Wistful Arpeggio

"For this G chord, you don't have to barre all strings since you never play the top two."

G C D
e|------
B|--5-7
G|4-5-7
D|5-5-7
A|5-3-5
E|3-----

This is easier than it might look. The chord movement is easy. To get from G to C move your hand up one string and rearrange your middle, ring and index fingers to get the chord, then slide up the fretboard to get D. Remeber that the G chord lasts for two measures while C and D only last for one. There are no 'out-of-chord' notes here
The picking pattern is actually very easy as its the same all the way through, you are just moving your hand up the strings to play the last two chords.
If you are still having trouble, try this little tip: For the G chord, pretend your barreing^(spelling) the 3rd fret all the way, but you only need to press the bottom two strings (E and A) with it, so you don't have to stretch it so much. then use the other fingers to press the other frets. To get to C, just move your ring and little fingers down, and cover the three strings with them. That's pretty easy if you have big fingers (like me). Then just slide up to get D.
Picking pattern
E A D A G D A D E A D A G D A D A D G D B G D G A D G D B G D G

This will take PRACTICE and skill. And if you can't do this, don't worry. There are plenty of guitarists who will never be able to do this!