Whenever I talk with my friends about Rockband 2, or even Guitar Hero 3 for that matter, one of the most common gripes I hear is that there is such a huge jump between the medium and hard modes in the game. I have to agree with that for sure. That jump was the single most difficult part of either of these games. I will let you in on some of the tips I used:

- Rockband 2 is easier than Guitar Hero 3. If you have both games, this may be helpful for you to know. If you have completely mastered all the medium songs on RB, try jumping to GH and try those medium, as you may get a slightly tougher workout.

- Use practice mode. When I first started the jump from medium to hard, I stated with Hungry Like the Wolf. I jumped into practice mode and set it at about 70%. After once through the entire song I jumped it to 80%, then again at 90%. After this I was good to go on that particular song.

- Other fairly easy songs to play on hard are So What’cha Want and if you have any downloaded songs, Losing my Religion is also fairly decent.

- Jump to Bass for awhile. Bass is noticeably easier than guitar and some people recommend that once you get medium mastered, if you can’t make it to hard, jump to bass first to get used to it.

- Make sure you have mastered medium mode. You should be able to score 95% or more in the warmup songs without much trouble, and should be able to survive basically any songs at medium mode. I have seen people try to jump too early, and I think the game actually recommends people to jump to hard mode a littler earlier than they should.

- Build up your warmup hard mode songs. Once you have been able to consistently clear your chosen practice song on hard, switch to a different warmup song and start on that. All the Small Things is a good song to try as your second or third, but just experiment a bit and you’ll find one.

Once you consistently get 3-4 songs at hard mode under your belt by practicing at different speeds, or any other methods that work for you, something will click and you will start being able to survive the other warmup and apprentice songs at hard mode. Just keep at it and you will be a master soon enough. Expert mode jump from hard mode is much easier once you have made it.