I was just curious to see if the majority of people around here use alt-strumming when playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band or if the majority are down strummers.

I've been holding out for a long time, down strumming all songs, but have recently started to alt-strum...took a lot of practice to be any good but find it does make some sections a lot easier. So I'm curious if other people think it's essential or not.... and if you DO play that way, do you alt strum ALL SONGS or just certain ones/sections etc. I'm still new to it so some sections I revert back to down strumming because I can keep time a bit better if there is a weird off beat or something, but for long continuous sections or double/triple notes, I now use it a lot. So what is your preference?

If you want a perfect reason as to why alt-strumming is absolutely necessary, the Metallica Death Magnetic download is it. There's no way you can do some of the fast passages with any hope of hitting most of the notes in some songs, even in the regular list for GHIII, unless you do alt strumming.

I've played real guitar for about 20 years (1984-2004) and I never alt-picked that much then. We never played the ultra-heavy stuff so it wasn't really necessary but I could do it in a pinch if I had to. On GH & RB, alt-picking is almost a must but I just can't freakin do it. The only time I do it is when there are a zillion notes in a row, like Let There Be Rock. I'm pretty proud of myself for playing as well as I do, not that I'm that good or anything but I get through expert, using only downstrokes.

Depends on the song. I'm not very good at the guitar (primarily the drummer or singer), but when I get to a heavy bass song or something (The Strokes come to mind), I'll alt strum for the long, consistent parts.

= J

I downstrum and I'm not the greatest at these games. I play at Medium and it gets me by, but it is easier in the long term to learn alt strumming. I did run across a guy that is fantastic at this game and only downstrums, but he is the exception among good GH and Rockband players I have run into.

You pretty much have to alt-strum some of the passages on Hard and Expert in GHIII if you want to complete them. I down-strum most of the time, but alt-strum when it makes sense.

I can't even downstrum let alone alt-strum. upstrum for me all the way. And yeah it sucks for songs for pretty much any metallica song.

It depends on the song for me. Its natural to downstrum, and in faster sections to alt-it.

No, but maybe that's why I can only get 3/4 of the way through Hard on GH3.

I dont know how you'd get thru Hard downstrum only without either severe hand cramping or breaking the strum bar.

I only have one song left on Hard in GHIII (two tiers on Expert) left and only UP strum. Figure that one out. It is a hell of a workout though on the forearm on some of the more difficult songs.

I alt-strum and up strum, but I can't down strum.

I do when it's necessary.

Alt when I have to - same way I play real guitar and bass.

I alt strum only if I absolutely have to. I played through most of Guitar Hero II (through part of hard) without even trying to alt-strum, I can regular strum nearly any fast part (except a handful I can think of which are not possible), but I've started to more often, just because it's just a lot less strain on my wrist.

I do 100% of the time. I hold it like I would a pick, strum down and hold it until I strum up, until I have to strum down, etc. Works like a metronome too that way, and much more precise.

I went through GH1 on expert, downstrum only. Sometime while playing GH2 I switched to alt-strumming most of the time. It took a while to get used to it, but one day I just started alt-strumming without thinking about it. I don't think I could go back to only downstrumming.

How the heck did you get thru Holiday in Cambodia? And several bonus songs are almost impossible w/o alt-ing them.

I don't alt-strum because I just can't get the hang of it. The only song where I've done it "succesfully" is in the Deep Purple song in RB.

To be fair, I only play in Medium, with occasional explorations of Hard (on guitar) and Expert (on bass).

I'm getting better at alt-strumming and keeping a constant rhythm. However, I can really only alt-strum even numbers of notes. If it's a fast three note section, I always strum up-down-up-down, even though I know there's only three. I always have to end on down. If I could wrap my head around starting down on those, I could probably do them just fine. On gallops like RttH and others, I just alt-strum using a constant rhythm and can usually hold a 4/6x for a while.

It helps to do what flair does, and hold it in the position you're in (up or down) for the pause in gallops. That's what I do also.

Train yourself to stop thinking "up-down-up", and more of "strum-strum-strum".

The worst is with the "window" sometimes midway through a long series of chords, I'll have no idea how many times I strummed, or which note I'm "really" on.

I alt-strum in repetitive sections and fast sections. Otherwise it's the usual down.

I do both.. i never really thought about it.. easy parts down strum and fast parts alt strum.. i thought everybody did that.. i can't imagine playing some songs just using down strumming.

Nice. I beat Hard on GHIII with DOWNSTRUM's only, since that was my pre-alt strumming days... I only made it half way through expert that way though. I think UP strum is definitely WAY harder...