About

I am a drummer that loves playing Rock Band. I started this site after my post about modding my Rock Band drum pedal landed on the front page of Digg, then Engadget, and StumbleUpon. Many people left me comments and sent me links to other drum mods, which inspired me to look around for more Rock Band drummer content. Given the amount of content I found and interaction that came from it, I decided to start a new site dedicated to Rock Band drummers. On this site, I’ll cover:

  • News from the Rock Band drum scene
  • Rock Band drum mods, of course :)
  • Tutorials and tips for improving your drum performance
  • Cheat codes
  • I’ll review products aimed at Rock Band drummers
  • I’m managing a video channel of performances and news
  • And, in the future, I plan to add classifieds, calendars for publicly open gigs, and a store

My goal is to make this site the number 1 destination for all things drums for Rock Band. If you know of anything that should be on here, such as links, photos, videos, products, or whatever; drop me a comment on the bottom of this page.

About Rock Band

Rock Band is a video game developed by Harmonix and made available on Xbox 360 and PS 3. Rock Band is similar in playing style to Guitar Hero, also made by Harmonix, with one notable advantage‐the ability to play as a 4 member band with guitar, bass, vocals, and drums. Players can create band profiles and personalize their musician avatar. Bands can play a tour scenario that unlocks additional songs, as well as earn revenue to buy clothes and tattoos for their character. Hundreds of additional songs are also available through Xbox live; some for free, some for pay (approx. $1 or 2 each). According to Wikipedia, “The game has received universal critical acclaim and [Rock Band] has sold over 1.1 million units over all platforms.”

The makers of Rock Band, Harmonix, became a lucrative commodity from their development of the Guitar Hero series. They became popular enough that MTV purchased them, which their first release was Rock Band. Also from Wikipedia, “Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said in [an] announcement that Rock Band ‘takes the core premise of Guitar Hero and expands it tenfold. It lets you create a complete collaborative band.’”

Why focus your site on the drums portion of Rock Band?

First, I am a drummer, so I am personally interested the most in the drums on Rock Band. Also, I feel like the drums on Rock Band most directly translate to the “real drums”. As a result, many traditional drummers, such as myself, have been strongly drawn to the game. Many of us drummers have already modded the kits that came with Rock Band, and some have already converted full drums sets to work with Rock band. This kind of eager ingenuity leads me to believe that it will be the drums that will set the pace for social music gaming. It is my sincere hope that this site can help focus a push to develop the social music gaming scene, community, and market.

Will playing drums on Rock Band teach me to play “real drums”?

I can’t say whether or not learning to play drums on Rock Band will make someone a good drummer on a traditional kit, but I am confident a person’s timing would be solid. I imagine it wouldn’t take much time for a talented Rock Band drummer to get a feel for how “real drums” sound. If you plan on playing electronic drums, there would be virtually no difference in feel.