Overview
- 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.

[x360a would like to thank Neverender for this Road Map]

Guitar Hero: Van Halen Achievement Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed achievements
Show secret achievements

There are 46 achievements with a total of 1000 points

  • Complete a tutorial level.

    (2)  
    All you have to do is choose “career” from the main menu, from there choose the option “tutorials”. Once you are in the tutorials, choose and instrument of your liking and complete the entire level. There are multiple lessons within a level, so just finish the level until the achievement pops.
  • Unlock Eddie's Frankenstein guitar.

      
    Simply earn stars in the guitar career until you unlock this instrument. You do not actually have to purchase it, you only have to unlock it.
  • Create a custom tattoo.

    From the main menu choose “backstage”. From here go to the option “rock star creator”. If you haven’t created a custom character yet your going to have to do that first. Just go to “create new” from the menu you are currently at, specify your gender and genre. After this, select the “body” option and choose “tattoos”. Select a body part (it really doesn’t matter), then select “edit”. From here your going to choose “new layer”, pick a graphic you desire, it doesn’t matter which, scale it how you see fit, then go back to the options where it has edit, save, load, and clear. From here you are going to save the tattoo. Once you save the achievement will unlock.
  • Complete the career intro.

      
    From the main menu, choose “career”. From here choose “single” and then pick your preferred difficulty. As soon as you pick a difficulty it will make you play two songs as van halen. After the songs are both over, the achievement will unlock.
  • Complete a career on Beginner. (Band or Solo)

    (4)   
    See “Diver Down”
  • Complete a song with the full band. (4 player band)

    (13)   
    All you have to do is perform and pass a song with a player on every instrument (Difficulty doesn’t matter). I recommend playing with friends on XBL or Locally, you can still unlock this by playing “band quickplay” on XBL, but its rather difficult to find a full band. You can also get this by playing “band vs. band” as long as both teams have four members and everyone completes the song.
  • All band members get a 50 note streak at the same time. (4 player band)

       
    This achievement requires you to have a full band of four players, this can be done on XBL or Locally. For this achievement to unlock, you must get a band streak of 50 notes or higher. Just play the song on any difficulty and maintain a note streak for as long as you can without missing, if one member misses, the whole band’s streak will restart. Your band streak is located on the score meter. The achievement won’t unlock until the song is over so don’t get frustrated and quit or something like that.
  • Hit 100% of the notes in a song as a band. (4 player band)

       
    You need a full band of four players for this one. This achievement isn’t as hard as it sounds (so long as you have friends to play with). The achievement doesn’t specify a difficulty, so I would recommend you have everyone play on beginner. You also don’t have to maintain a perfect streak, so if someone overstrums don’t worry. As long as every band member hits every single note in the song you’ll be ok. This achievement will unlock once you’ve completed the song. I would recommend you put the mic in front of a fan on beginner, it’s a guaranteed 100%. Also, I would recommend the song “Master Exploder” by Tenacious D because the song is short and the drums and bass don’t play half the song.
  • All band members activate Star Power at the same time. (4 player band)

       
    This will require a full band of four players. All you have to do is get everyone to activate star power at the same time. Communication if key here, or you can just hope everyone is going for the same achievement. This can be done on XBL or Locally. If your doing the fan trick with the mic, make sure you turn the “star power clap” off from the personal preferences menu so the vocals aren’t activating star power randomly. Another thing, everyone doesn’t have to activate star power in perfect unison, as long as everyone’s star power is going at the same time the achievement will unlock (after the song).
  • All band members earn an 8x multiplier at the same time. (4 player band)

       
    This is pretty much the same as the “atomic power punk” achievement, only this time everyone has to have a 4x multiplier when they activate star power.
  • EVH

     

    10

    Unlock all of the Van Halen instruments.

      
    This can be done by earning stars in multiple instrument careers, there are six to unlock in the guitar career, three to unlock in the bass career, one to unlock in the vocal career, and three to unlock in the band career. If your looking to unlock these quickly, play on a difficulty that you can easily get five stars on all the songs. Also, you don’t have to purchase the instruments, just unlock them.
  • Complete a gig in West Hollywood.

      
    This achievement is unlocked by progressing through the career. Simply complete every song in the city or cities specified and the achievement will unlock.
  • Complete a gig in Dallas.

      
    This achievement is unlocked by progressing through the career. Simply complete every song in the city or cities specified and the achievement will unlock.
  • Complete gigs in London and The Netherlands.

      
    This achievement is unlocked by progressing through the career. Simply complete every song in the city or cities specified and the achievement will unlock.
  • Complete gigs in Los Angeles and Rome.

      
    This achievement is unlocked by progressing through the career. Simply complete every song in the city or cities specified and the achievement will unlock.
  • Complete a career on Easy. (Band or Solo)

       
    See “Diver Down”
  • Jump

     

    15

    Complete all Van Halen songs. (Band or Solo Career)

      
    Just play every song that Van Halen performs. There are 25 Van Halen songs total. If you are going to complete the entire career you’ll unlock this one along the way.
  • Complete gigs in Berlin and New York City.

      
    This achievement is unlocked by progressing through the career. Simply complete a song in the city or cities specified and the achievement will unlock.
  • Unlock all Van Halen characters.

      
    This can be done by earning at least 200 stars in every career (except band). Difficulty doesn’t matter, so play on one where you know you can get at least 200 stars.
  • Complete a career on Medium. (Band or Solo)

       
    See “Diver Down”
  • Complete a career on Hard. (Band or Solo)

       
    See “Diver Down”
  • Complete a majority of the gigs. (Band or Solo)

      
    Just continue to play the career until you complete the majority of the songs. If you complete the entire career you’ll pick this one up along the way.
  • Complete a career on Expert. (Band or Solo)

       
    This achievement requires you to play and pass every single song in a career on expert. This can be difficult depending on what instrument you choose. If you are not very familiar with the game, I would recommend going on bass, it being the easiest out of the four. You can do this in a band, but everyone has to be on expert. You don’t have to 5 star anything, just pass. Also, these achievements stack, so if you beat in on expert, you get the one for hard, medium, easy, and beginner.
  • 1984

     

    55

    Complete a career on Expert+. (Solo Drum)

    This may be another challenging achievement to some. This requires you to complete an entire career on the expert plus difficulty on drums, which will add another bass pedal note where needed to match the song. You obviously will need a drum set with two kick pedals (unless you have an extremely fast foot and can do it with one). It doesn’t matter which drum set you use, whether it be the guitar hero one or the rockband one, both are excepted.
  • 5 star guitar for 'Little Guitars', 'Cathedral', 'Spanish Fly', and 'Eruption'. (expert)

    (9)  
    This achievement is another challenge for most. This requires you to get 5 stars on expert guitar for all the songs listed. Little Guitars and Cathedral are the easier ones out of the four. You shouldn’t have too much difficulty with these, but Spanish Fly and Eruption are gonna take a little practice. The only way you are going to get 5 stars on these two songs is if you learn to tap on your guitar. Tapping isn’t as hard as it seems, all you have to do is hold down the low note and the top of the neck (left hand), hit the next higher note with another finger (left hand), then tap the highest note with your preferred finger on your right hand. It may be difficult to get at first, but once you get it down, it’ll make your life a whole lot easier. Just continue practicing the song and you’ll get it eventually. Also make very good use of your star power, make sure you use it on a part where you can get a good streak with the most points.
  • 316

     

    65

    5 star all Van Halen songs on Bass Career. (expert)

    Earn this achievement by getting 5 stars on all the Van Halen songs on expert bass. This is the easiest out of the four. If your new to the game, the hardest part will be getting down the open notes, in which case you strum without holding down any buttons (it’ll be a long purple note). But other than that this is not a hard achievement. Also you don’t have to play every song, only the Van Halen ones.
  • 5 star all Van Halen songs on Vocal Career. (expert)

     
    From what I’m hearing, this seems to be the hardest achievement in the game. Guitar Hero vocals from my understanding are very hard to match and maintain a correct pitch. Personally I have yet to 5 star a Van Halen song on Expert Vocals. If your one of the five really good expert vocalists out there this will be easy for you, but for everyone else all I can recommend is that you learn how to match and maintain a good pitch. Also, the best part to use star power is during the freeforms (where the yellow wavy lines come across the screen). Activate star power at the ends of these and you’ll usually get a large some of points (as long as you sing during them, don’t just sit there and activate star power without saying anything).
  • 5 star all Van Halen songs on Drum Career. (expert)

    This requires you to get 5 stars on every Van Halen song on expert drums. This career isn’t actually that hard with the exception of “Loss of Control” and “Hot for Teacher”. Just practice the songs you can’t get 5 stars on. Also, I’ve been hearing a lot of people saying that they are having their friend do the kick pedal while they do the notes up top or vice versa.
  • 5 star all Van Halen songs on Guitar Career. (expert)

    This requires you to get 5 stars on every Van Halen song on expert guitar. Really the only hard songs to do this on are Spanish Fly and Eruption. Again, you’ll really need to learn how to tap if you want this achievement. See “The Woodshed” achievement for a better description on tapping. If you have a hard time on any of the songs, the best thing to do is head to practice mode, and keep trying.
  • 5150

     

    100

    Complete all Van Halen songs on every instrument. (Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Vocals)

        
    This is actually a very simple but time consuming achievement. All you have to do is complete every Van Halen song on every instrument career. Difficulty doesn’t matter on this achievement. I would recommend just completing every career on your preferred difficulty. It may take a while, but thats why they made it 100Gs. Also, you don’t have to 5 star anything so relax and take your time.
 

Secret achievements

  • You created a custom guitar.

    Just go to the rock star creator, choose your character, and pick “instrument”. Choose “guitar” and then select “workshop”. Edit the guitar however you want to and save it. Once you save, the achievement will unlock.
  • Created a custom drum set.

    Follow the same steps as “Can I Borrow A Quarter”. Except this time choose “drums”. Customize it and save it for the achievement to unlock.
  • You rocked out as classic Eddie.

       
    As you progress through the guitar career, you will eventually come to a venue titled “Van Halen in the Early Years”. Play any song in this venue and you will unlock this achievement.
  • You completed the song 'I Want It All' as Eddie playing guitar.

       
    In your guitar career, select “Eddie Van Halen” as your rocker. Now all you have to do is go and play the song “I Want it All” by Queen in your guitar career.
  • You won a guest artist song playing with Eddie.

       
    Simply choose Eddie Van Halen as your rocker in your career and play a guest song (any band except Van Halen) with him.
  • You rocked out as classic Wolfgang.

       
    Same as the “Brown Sound” achievement, only on your bass career instead.
  • You won a guest artist song playing with Dave.

       
    Same as the “Beaten” achievement, only choose David Lee Roth as your rocker instead.
  • You rocked out as classic Dave.

       
    Same as the “Brown Sound” achievement, only on your vocal career instead.
  • You rocked out as classic Alex.

       
    Same as the “Brown Sound” achievement, only on your drum career instead.
  • You created a band named 'Van Halen.'

    You can edit your band from the VIP Lounge, which contains the options: Play Show, Select/Edit Rocker, Band Info, and Rock Ranks. Choose “Band Info”. Hit Y or Yellow and change the name of your band to “Van Halen”. Accept the changes by hitting A or Green and the achievement will unlock.
  • You won a guest artist song playing with Alex.

       
    Same as the “Beaten” achievement, only choose Alex Van Halen as your rocker instead.
  • You performed on every instrument with a member of Van Halen.

    (2)   
    Simply play a song from all four careers and the achievement will unlock.
  • You scored 225,000 playing 'I’m the One' on expert guitar.

      
    This achievement may be difficult to some. This can be done on Career or in Quickplay. Just practice the song if your having problems. If you can maintain a good streak during the rhythms you should be good. Use star power wisely and practice the solos.
  • You won a song as a band with Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang.

    (6)   
    I strongly recommend finding some friends and playing on XBL. If you try this one locally it will be a pain. First things first, to get this achievement, you need to play and pass a song with you and two other band members all as a different member of the Van Halen family. If you do it on XBL just play with people that have unlocked the appropriate characters and complete a song as them. If you do this one locally, you’ll have to have 3 separate profiles logged in at the same time with the appropriate characters unlocked or you won’t get this one. You can’t use guests, or just hit random rocker until the correct character comes up. They all must be on different profiles. If you have three profiles with the characters unlocked, you can get this one by yourself. Put all the instruments on beginner use both hands for the strum bars on 2 guitars, and use your foot for the drum set. I recommend playing master exploder because it is short and you barely play bass or drums.
  • You scored 800,000 playing 'Hot for Teacher' with your band.

    (7)   
    This was actually a lot easier than expected. All you have to do is get a band (I recommend 4 members) and together earn a score of 800k. I got 650k with myself on expert guitar and a fan on beginner vocals, so just find some good players to join you and this achievement will be cake.
  • You are now like a Van Halen encyclopedia!

    All you have to do is watch a full “rock facts” performance from the song extras menu. To get to the song extras, you have to go to any career, go to a van halen song, and hit X or blue. From here choose “rock facts” and watch the entire performance.

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