Little known fact; I play the drums. Another little know fact: I play the drums poorly.

As sure as I am that playing Rock Band as often as I can won’t help improve my drum skills, Harmonix intends to prove me wrong by adding a new ‘Drum Trainer’ mode to Rock Band 2, for those of you who are sick of hearing “GO PLAY REAL DRUMS” and not being able to do so.

The mode in Rock Band 2 is intended to help you improve your actual drumming skills by introducing you to basic drumming vernacular, intermediate drumming skills, and some of the more complicated repetitions of beats you’d be playing in an actual band. Hit the jump for the full details on Rock Band 2’s Drum Trainer mode, as well as some videos of the mode in action.

Though the Rock Band 2 Drum Trainer is a mode in itself, Harmonix decided to go all Matryoshka doll on us and have several modes inside of the mode itself. The modes are  Beat Trainer, Fill Trainer, and Freestyle Mode, and they each have a different intention.

The first mode is Beat Trainer, which will offer up 75 different beats for you to learn, ranging from easy beats such as “Surfin’ on 2 Hands”, which only uses the red & yellow pads, to Fast Punk, which varies in use from the pads to the bass pedal. So you’re not just jumping in head first to a difficult beat, you can select your rhythm from a section on the right using the kit’s D-Pad, and you can preview your selection as well. On the left side of the screen is a secion where you can adjust the speed of the beats using the up & down arrows. The Beat Trainer will also let you know when you’ve mastered a section of the trainer by flashing 100% on the screen. At that point, the beat will just loop until you quit the mode.

If you don’t enjoy the sound that the Beat Trainer gives you, pressing the Select/Back button will allow you to change the sound between 6 different kits: Standard, Roomy, Electric, Trashy, Vintage, and Rock Band 1.

The second mode in the Drum Trainer is the Fill Trainer, which focuses on the multicolored sections that you’d bash nonsensically to activate Overdrive in Rock Band. Fill Trainer gives you 45 different fills, as well as the ability to change the sound and tempo, just like Beat Trainer. For the most part, the fills are pretty easy, but it also requires you to master the beats you’re given before you complete fills.

The very last mode in the Drum Trainer is the Freestyle Mode, which I think has the most potential. Like the actual trainers, you will be given 6 different kits to choose from, as well as a metronome, though you can opt out of that if you want to. Freestyle Mode gives the player the ability to do what they’ve always wanted and to play their own music as they want, but it comes with a catch.

To do so, you have to open up the custom soundtrack option via the Xbox 360’s dashboard and choose an MP3 to play along with. The catch in this case is that the game doesn’t create notes for you, you just wail on the pads as you want. Though I’m sure that this will prove to be fun for most people, it will seem a bit confusing to most. You’d also have to time it well to start the song as you start drumming, which could be a hassle. According to Harmonix, its likely that the PS3 will also support the custom soundtrack option in RB2, but its not confirmed as of yet.

Though nothing has been confirmed for the Wii and PS2 versions of the game, the Drum Trainer in all of its glory will be hitting the PS3 and 360 versions on launch day when the game hits this fall.

Tags: drum kit, Rock Band 2, trainer

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8 Comments » KidKobun on August 22, 2008 12:45 pm OMG!!!! Awesome! No, the drums are probably gonna’ suck just like they did in the first installment. My advice just go buy yourself a cheap Epiphone electric guitar and a V-Cast electronic drum set and you’ll have way more fun than you ever will with Rock Band, period. Addg on August 24, 2008 7:55 pm WHAT!! The Drums Were Awesome You Must Have Just Completely Sucked At Them KidKobun on August 25, 2008 1:48 pm Nope. Go play a set of real drums and then come back and tell me that the Rock Band kit is even remotely fun to play. It is a total picec of plastic s**t! Harmonix should consider picking up and playing some real instruments again. Seeing as how they are supposed to be acclaimed musicians….pffft. Giant Robot on August 26, 2008 3:02 am wow, MELT BANANA, hahah Soy Bob on September 5, 2008 8:37 am “Maps” at 1:24 of the Freestyle video was kinda impressive. Bob on December 27, 2008 5:25 am KidKobun, how about you go suck a dick and quit being such an elitist. KidKobun on December 28, 2008 3:54 pm @ Bob Ooooh internet tough guy. I’m intimidated. Paaahahaha. dcs2000 on April 28, 2009 5:20 am I think the drums on Rock Band are awesome, and the Drum Trainer on Rock Band 2 makes it even easier to learn how to play. Check out How Rock Band Improved My Drumming. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.