- Estimated achievement difficulty: 9/10
- Offline: 46 (1000 )
- Online: 0 (0 )
- Estimated time for 1000: 15-100+ (Very Highly Dependent Upon Skill)
- Minimum playthroughs: 5 (One per Instrument, One on Band for EVH)
- Missable achievements: None!
- Glitched achievements: None!
- Cheats disable achievements: Yes
Introduction:
Welcome to the Guitar Hero: Van Halen Road Map. First of all, I'd like to say that these achievements are only hard because they are very strongly based upon skill. To achieve the full 1000, you'll need to five star every song by Van Halen on every instrument on Expert. It may seem daunting now, but with enough practice, it's a very real possibility. All of the achievements are achievable offline, but for some of the band ones, it'll be much easier to find partners online.
Step 1: Miscellaneous (7 for 50)
Before anything else, you'll want to go to get Have You Seen His Grades? by completing a tutorial level, and if you're a beginner, it may be a good idea to do all the tutorials. After that, go to the Rock Star Creator, get Ouch!, Can I Borrow a Quarter?, and Bang your Gong, making your first 20.
Now you get to start the game. A few notes for easy achievements: When you're asked to input a band name, put in "Van Halen" (without quotes) to earn I Have a Sound System. After you beat the two song intro (which will also get you Intruder), go to one of the songs you beat and hit , watch the video, and you'll get No Brown M&M's!!, giving you another 30 between the 3.
Step 2: Career (12 for 260)
Now, play through the career. I recommend frequently switching between instruments to make the game less redundant.
If you have trouble moving from one difficulty to another, try the tutorials or ask for help on the forums. If you have trouble on a certain song, try practicing it until you can get at least 85% on 50% speed, then the next speed, and so on until you can get it on full speed.
With enough practice, you should be able to beat at least one instrument's career on Expert. Bass was the easiest for me, but Vocals might be easier for you if you're good at singing. From this, you should be able to get Van Halen, The Broken Combs, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Dallas, Far Away Lands, The Space Brothers, Van Halen II, Jump, Rock Out Big Cities, Women and Children First, Fair Warning, The Tour is Ending, and Diver Down.
Step 3: All Instruments (13 for 185)
Now that you've beaten one of the instruments on Expert, you'll want to focus on beating the other instruments' careers. Get It's Alive, Unchained, EVH, 5150, Brown Sound, Beaten, Born to Rock, The Ice Cream Man, Diamond Dave, King Arthur, Respect the Wind, Good Times, and Break that String using the guide below for 185.
Step 4: Multiplayer (7 for 70)
Now that you're fairly good at the game, try for Every Band Wants Some!!, They Ran with the Devil, Somebody Get Them a Doctor, Atomic Power Punk, Hung High, You Really Got Me, and Hot for High Scores. For all of them except Hot for High Scores, just put all instruments on beginner and focus on what the achievement says to do because difficulty doesn't matter and Beginner makes them insanely easy. For Hot for High Scores, the best combination I know of is Drums on Hard, Guitar on Hard, Bass on Expert, and Vocals on Beginner (preferably placed in front of a fan so it will hit all notes and feed you Star Power). After that, assuming you've followed this guide perfectly, you'll have 565.
Step 5: The Hard Part (7 for 435)
Now you get to try for the most difficult achievements in the game. The Woodshed and Guitar God for getting five stars on all Van Halen songs on Guitar, and 316, Diamond in the Rough, and Double Bass Master for doing the same on Bass, Vocals, and Drums respectively. You only have to do Van Halen songs for these, so don't worry about songs like "Painkiller" and "The Takedown". There are some tips in the guide below, but the best tip is to PRACTICE. It'll take a long time, a lot of patience, and possibly carpal tunnel to get these.
Once you're done with that, tackle the monster that is 1984. Beating all the songs on Expert+ is insanely hard and buying a Double Bass Pedal and practicing with it is necessary (unless you have an incredibly fast foot) to get the achievement.
Next, your last achievement will be I'm The One, for getting 225,000 or higher on the song "I'm the One". This is beyond a five star, and is an incredibly high score, but if you managed to five star "Eruption", then it's likely that you can do it.
Conclusion:
After a long, hard game with hours of undoubted frustration, you've finally reached 1000 in Guitar Hero: Van Halen.