Music Gaming Goodness: Rock Band 2 Rocks The House

A Quick Detour: Setting Up The Drums

Playing the drums, and by extension, playing with the drum controller on Rock Band 2, can be quite a work out. This gets even more amplified when people make it harder on themselves than it needs to be. There are ways that you can set up your drums, your throne (that's what drummers call the seat they sit on to play), and hold yourself in order to minimize the work you do while playing the game.

Some of the hardest stuff to do, because practice is required, are rolls and fast kick drum work. With both of these techniques, proper strength and endurance are required no matter how much natural timing a person has. And there are some songs that people can just brute force their way through, but you'll have an easier time both learning how to do these things and playing for an extended period of time if you follow these suggestions.

First, you need to determine how high you should sit. If you are sitting too high or too low, you'll be wasting a lot of energy every time you lift your leg to play the kick drum. When you are resting with your foot on the kick pedal, you want you knee to be slightly below your hip. Your leg should be nearly parallel to the ground, but you'll have a little bit more endurance if you are just a bit higher (if the angle your knee makes is a little greater than 90 degrees). This will be true whether you play with your heel up or down. An adjustable drum throne is the way to go, but you can also get by with adjustable chairs. Stools and fixed chairs are kind of hit or miss, and if more than one person is planning on playing drums a lot, you'll really want to go with something that can be raised and lowered easily.

After getting your seat height set, you'll want to look at where to position the drums. Sitting on your throne with your arms relaxed at your sides, lift you hands (bending at the elbows) until your forearms are parallel with the ground. You'll want the vertical center of the red and green drums to be at the height of your finger tips. When actually playing the drums, you'll want to hold your arms at about this angle (you'll need to shift slightly when moving between drums obviously), but in order to conserve energy, you will want to do most of your playing with your wrists.

We could get a lot more into technique, but there are plenty of resources around for those who really want to dig this deep. Whether or not you decide to play Rock Band 2 like a drummer would play the drums, playing the game will be easier on you if you set the drums up as I've outlined and remember to sit up straight. Good posture and the positioning of your seat and the drums will go a very long way to helping improve your experience with the game.