Rock Band 2 Achievement Guide & Road Map

Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 Achievement Guide

Overview
- Achievement difficulty: 6/10
- Offline Achievements: 47
- Online Achievements: 3
- Approximate time to reach 1000 : 30-40 Hours
- Minimum Number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Glitched Achievements: No
- Cheats Disable Achievements: Yes
- Difficulty affects achievements: Yes

Introduction
Rock Band 2 is much easier than Rock Band, but it does require some practice. There is absolutely no way of getting all achievements without playing on EXPERT. Choose an instrument that you're good at and practice with it. Also, some achievements you can’t do by yourself. The good news is that you don’t need to have an “Expert” Co-op partner, A decent partner is fine. Rock Band 2 has taken a step-up in difficulty. The people at Harmonix have chosen many more songs with great guitar solos and drum solos. If you haven’t experienced this game, the difficulty is about the same in Guitar Hero: World Tour. If you have beaten either GH: World Tour, Guitar Hero 3, or Rock Band 1, you should be fine.

What you need:
If you want to the full 1000 , you will first need all three instruments. You will need a microphone (XBOX 360 headset and the LIPS mics are fine), drums, and a guitar (not the XBOX 360 controller). The Guitar Hero: World Tour instruments will work for the game.

Next, you will need a decent co-op player to help you tackle the BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE, STAGE IGNITERS, OVERDRIVE OVERDOSE (4 players overall), and the MILLION POINT CLUB achievements. You can also find a player to help boost the VICTORY! and the COMBACK KID achievements. That’s 120 right there. Last, you need skill. For whatever instrument you are playing on, if you can’t EXPERT all the songs in the game, you can’t get all 1000 . All I can say is practice.

Playthrough 1:
Go into Band World Tour and start a new band. Unlike Rock Band, Band World Tour can be done solo instead of co-op. Start by getting the easy achievement. This is the NEEDS MORE UMLAUTS achievement. Almost all achievements can be achieved from Band World Tour. The achievements you will receive, if you play through it till the end on EXPERT, are ALL “PREFORM IN THIS CITY” ACHIEVEMENTS (60 ), WORLDWIDE SENSATION, YOU’RE HIRED, YOU KILLED THE RADIO STAR, ROAD DOG, ONE MILLION FANS, OPEN ROAD, GOT WHEELS, JET SETTER, ROCK IMMORTAL INDUCTEE, VINYL ARTIST, GOLD ARTIST, PLATINUM ARTIST, BLADDER OF STEEL - if you want to go the whole endless setlist without pausing. That is 380 for all. This will take around 20 hours to complete.

After that, you can do the challenges. There is a number of challenges for every instrument, including BAND. Challenges take about 8 hours to complete for all instruments. Buying DLC also unlocks new challenges. This can contribute to achieving the CHALLENGE SAVANT achievement. Remember, these challenges can all be done on easy. You don’t have to do them on EXPERT. 215 for all challenges

Cleaning Up:
There are still a number of achievements left in this game for you to unlock. The good news is that you have gotten through the hard part. You should have achieved 715 by now. Besides the BEATS and FILLS achievements, all the rest can be done in Quickplay. The rest of the achievements will come to you if you play for 5 more hours

Things to remember:
1. DLC can help with achievements. (Charlene is easy to Gold Star on guitar)
2. PRACTICE. This will defiantly pay off in the future.
3. Find decent co-op partners. EXPERT partners are not necessary.
4. Familiarize yourself with all the instruments. You will need them to get the full 1000 .
5. Do World Tour by yourself (unless you need help).
6. For the BLADDER OF STEEL achievement, NO PAUSING. Even the hitting the dashboard button is pausing.

x360a would like to thank colmotoole2 for this Road Map

Solid Gold, Baby!

25
Gold Star a song
(17)
To gold star a song, you need to be playing on expert and get around 1.4X the five star score(it has been made easier since RB1). When you're playing you should see a star meter under your score, a circle goes around the star as you get more points. As you fill up the circle, the star becomes whole and it moves onto the next one. Once you get 5 stars, and you hit the Gold Star score, your stars turn gold. Do it on Expert vocals with the same technique you did to get Flawless Singing, the Beastie Boys song, just use starpower whenever you get it.
The Bachman-Turner Award

25
Maintain deployed Overdrive for 90 seconds
(15)
This has been confirmed that it can be done with a band as long as one of you has overdrive at one point. Just make sure that when one of you is about to run out of overdrive, the other one deploys it. Unison bonuses are your friend. Also remember that you can hit overdrive phases while you still have overdrive deployed and keep it longer. If you have an overdrive phase with a long note, whammy if for more. Here's a video of it being done, thanks to Inhale3xhale for the vid.
Flawless Fretwork

25
Score 100% notes hit as a guitarist on Expert
(2)
If you've gotten this achievement on Rock Band 1, and have exported your songs or DLC, just do it on that one. If not, try it on Today by Smashing Pumpkins, that one is pretty easy, just watch out for the chords to hammer ons. Or do it on Nine in the Afternoon by Panic! at the Disco. A little more advanced, but should be manageable. It's pretty short and has a simple guitar part. DLC-wise, Charlene is probably the easiest. It's free, so no worries.
Also, another note, you can over strum for the 100% achievements, just hit all the notes. All the 100% achievements can be done in local tug of war, which is easier because you get less notes then you usually would.
Flawless Guitar Solo

20
100% a guitar solo on Expert, using only the solo buttons
(4)
Here's an achievement alot of people were upset about because you need to have the Rock Band Fender Stratocaster guitar. Not the new one, the old one works fine too. You have to 100% a solo on Expert only tapping on the solo butons, no strumming. A solo is when you are playing lead guitar, and your screen goes blue and a percentage comes up, saying what percent of notes you have hit in that solo. The easiest song I've found is Give it Away by RHCP. The rest of the song is mildly difficult, but the starting solo only has 25 notes, all sustained notes, and only one hammer on. You can also try The Kids in America by The Muffs, very easy solo. Another easy one is Go Your Own Way's first solo. It mostly just has ascending notes, then goes back down. If not, try Today by the Smashing Pumpkins. It's mostly just the blue note then hammer on to orange and back to blue. Just watch the ending and you should be fine. The easiest from Rock band 1 is Wave of Mutilation. -Thanks to FAFUNLEASHED for the vid.
Flawless Drumming

25
Score 100% notes hit as a drummer on Expert
(11)
Again, if you've done it on Rock Band 1, use that same song. You can use Silver by the Pixies which is by far the easiest song. Also, Charlene is easy too, it is only 90 seconds long. Any of the songs in the first Drum Challenge are easy, so try Livin' On a Prayer by Bon Jovi, Float On by Modest Mouse, Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill or Today by The Smashing Pumpkins. Another tip, once you get overdrive, don't use it. Just take a break during the fills, it will give you less notes.
Flawless Singing

25
Score a 100% rating as a vocalist on Expert
(7)
For this one, you don't have to go into your Rock Band archive. Just pick the song by the Beastie Boys, So Watcha Want and go on expert. It's all talking and Harmonix have made the talking parts super easy for this game. As long as you are making some sort of sound into your mic, you will get 100%. I put the mic upto my radio, playing a completely different song, and I still got 100%.
Flawless Groove

25
Score 100% notes hit as bassist, up-strums only, on Expert
(1)
Again, So Watcha Want is by far the easiest to do this on. Theres only green notes the whole song and you will have a maximum of two notes on your screen at a time. If you're having trouble with the upstrums, change it to lefty flip (or vice versa if you're lefty) and keep the green fret held down and just strum down whenever the notes cross the line.
Comeback Kid

15
Defeat the last player that defeated you over Xbox LIVE in either Score Duel or Tug of War.
(24)
For this one, you need to lose to someone online, and then play them again in the next match and beat them. The easiest way to do this is if you are able to play at a harder difficulty like Hard or Expert, go down to medium. If you want some challenge to this achievement, go into a ranked match and purposely lose. After the match is over, go to their gamercard and make them a preferred player. Most likely, they will be going back to find another match, and you should too. If all goes as planned, you should be in the same match as them, and since it is on medium, you should be able to beat them. May take a couple of tries. This can also be done in a Player Match, so get a friend, or use the Achievement Trading Thread, to lose one song then win the next. You will go back to picking a song after the first round, and will be against the same person unless they quit out. You can both get the achievement in the span of 3 songs, you just need to lose the first song, win the second and lose the third so the other person can get the achievement too.
Victory!

15
Defeat a player in either Score Duel or Tug of War.
(1)
Way easier than Rock Band 1's online achievements. Just go online and play a Score Duel or Tug of War game and win. Score Duel is you and your opponent play a song and the person with the most points wins, so use your overdrive wisely. Tug of War you each play like a duet, alternating parts, there is a crowd meter and the person that is doing better will have the crowd meter on their side. Overdrive will help you get the crowd on your side. This can also be done in local play, so just set it up so your playing by yourself with another controller. This and the achievement below can be done in a Live player or ranked match.
Band Savior

20
Be a savior three times during a single song
(2)
You need at least 3 people in your band for this. Just get your overdrive halfway, tell one member to fail, save them. Have on member fail twice, then the other one fail once. Since if you fail three times, you can't be saved. If you have no one to do it with, you can plug in drums, the guitar and vocals at the same time on one box. Load up quickplay on Blitzkrieg Bop [or Hello There if you have not exported songs]. Play hard guitar and leave your drums and microphone to sit there, both on easy. You will be able to save your band mates twice each if you can get all the phases and you wont fail out. You dont need other this way. -Thanks to Maka.
Overdrive Overdose

25
Achieve an 8x Band Multiplier

You need a full four member band and have all of you activate overdrive at the same time.
Hello Cleveland!

20
Deploy Vocal Overdrive 4 times in a single song
(2)
Pretty easy, just sing a song you know is easy (the Beastie Boys song doesn't have 4 times where you can activate overdrive) so just go on an a vocal song on easy and deploy star power whenever you can, I did it on Wonderwall by Oasis on easy.
Million Point Club

25
Earn more than 1,000,000 points in a single song.
(10)
This obviously has to be done with more than one person, probably a whole band. Just find a good song to do it on, and find good people to play with. You should pick a song where, if you are in a four man band, you get at least 250K each. Use your starpower together, you can get a 4X multiplier for each person, 6X for the bassist and 8X for the band multiplier. Some song suggestions are Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran, So Watcha Want by the Beastie Boys and Green Grass and High Tides by the Outlaws from RB1.
You're Hired!

10
Hire a staff member

Later in the game you will get opportunities to hire staff members. Some will get you more fans, others more money. You first get the option to hire an intern, who will get you money or a street crew, who will get you fans. Just pick one and you will get the achievement. Your mom does not count as a staff member. To check out who you can hire, hit the yellow button on the venue or city select screen.
Needs more Umlauts!

10
Make a band logo
From your practice space, go to Band profile, then edit your logo. Just make it whatever you want and save it.
The San Dimas 4th Annual Award

15
Compete in a Battle of the Bands event
(5)
Harmonix has been nice enough to set up daily and weekly challenges to do in a band. From your band's practice space, go to "Battle of the Bands" and pick one and compete in it.
You Killed the Radio Star

15
Make a music video in World Tour

Sadly, you won't actually get to make a music video. Instead of your band just playing on stage, they will be in a funky music video. Before you are able to unlock a plane, you will get an offer from a film student to make a video for you. You will get no money, but you will get more fans. Just play through the chosen song and you get the achievement. You will get multiple opportunities to play in videos, so don't worry if you skip it the first time.
Clothes to the Edge

20
Buy over $100,000 worth of items from the Rock Shop
(9)
This may take a while. This counts as anything from the rock shop, like instruments, accessories, clothes etc. The best way to get this is to use the same technique to 5 star songs in the "One Million Fans" achievement, because the more stars you get, the more money you get. If you ever get an offer to "Quadruple or Nothing" or "Double or Nothing" for five starring a song, and you know you can five star it, always take it. Even if you can only 5 star one of them, you will get 4 times the cash for that one, but nothing for the other one.
Along for the Ride

10
Beat an instrument-specific challenge while playing another instrument
(1)
For this one, you have to beat an instrument-specific challenge (ie vocal apprentice challenge) while playing another instrument (ie guitar). To do a challenge for a certain instrument, you have to have that instrument in your band. You can either get a friend to play with you, or sing and play bass at the same time, and go to a vocal or bass challenge. This can be done on any difficulty.
Challenge Novice

10
Complete either 25 challenges on Medium, 10 challenges on Hard, or 5 challenges on Expert

-See "Challenge Savant"
Challenge Master

15
Complete 25 Challenges on Hard Difficulty or 10 Challenges on Expert Difficulty

-See "Challenge Savant"
Challenge Savant

25
Complete 25 Challenges on Expert Difficulty

For these achievements, you just have to beat the amount of challenges listed on the said difficulty. Keep in mind that you are binded by the lowest difficulty, so if one person is on easy, and the rest are on expert, you only get credit for easy. On top of a completed challenge, you will see an E for easy, M for medium, H for hard and X for expert.
The Final Countdown

15
Unlock an Impossible Challenge
(2)
You just have to play through the challenges of a certain instrument until you unlock the last challenge, the Impossible Challenge. This is comprised of the hardest songs for that instrument.
Groove Assassin

20
Beat the Impossible Bass Challenge

Probably the easiest out of all the Impossible Challenges. Play through the Bass Challenges until you get the Impossible Bass Challenge. Beat it on any difficulty for achievement. Will have tips for for all Impossible Challenges soon. Sit tight.
Lord of the Strings

25
Beat the Impossible Guitar Challenge

You have to keep playing through the Guitar Challenges until you unlock the last one, the Impossible Guitar challenge. This has the hardest songs on guitar in one setlist. You can have someone play with you, which helps because they can save you. The good thing this time around, is that you can save and exit in the middle of a challenge, so you will not have to beat all the hardest songs in one go. Will have a list of the hardest songs and tips soon. Can be done on any difficulty.
Stage Igniters

25
Beat the Impossible Band Challenge
(4)
As you keep playing through the Band Challenges, you will come to the Impossible Band Challenge which is the last and hardest one. You have to beat that challenge to unlock this achievement. This does NOT have to be done on expert. Just do it on whatever difficulty you feel comfortable.
AN-I-MAL!!!

25
Beat the Impossible Drum Challenge

Same as Lord of the Strings except with drums. Play through the Drum Challenges, until you unlock the Impossible Drum Challenge. Play through it and this will unlock. Someone can play along with you and save you if you fail. Does NOT have to be done on expert. Will get list of trouble songs.
Virtuoso

25
Beat the Impossible Vocal Challenge
(2)
Same as above two. Play through Vocal challenges until you unlock the Impossible Vocal Challenge, play through it and it will unlock. Will unlock on any difficulty.
West Coast Performer

10
Play a set on the West Coast of North America

I'm only going to write a description for one of these since they are pretty much all the same. In RB1 you had the "Big In" achievements where you had to play every setlist in a city to unlock it. These are way easier, you only have to play one setlist in the area specified. As you progress through the game, you will have the ability to play more sets in different places. For this one, play a set in San Francisco, Seattle or Los Angeles.
Heartland Performer

10
Play a set in Middle America

-See "West Coast Performer". Play in Texas or Chicago.
East Coast Performer

10
Play a set on the East Coast of North America

-See "West Coast Performer". Play in Boston, New York or Montreal.
God Save the Band

10
Play a set in the United Kingdom
(2)
-See "West Coast Performer". Play in London.
Western Europe Performer

10
Play a set in Western Europe.

-See "West Coast Performer". Play in Paris, Madrid or Rome.
Eastern European Performer

10
Play a set in Eastern Europe

-See "West Coast Performer". Play in Berlin, Dublin or Stockholm.
Worldwide Sensation

25
Gain access to every venue in the world

For this one, you just have to gain access to every venue in the world, not play in each one. You will gain access to each one when you get the World Promoter after a 5 song set. You will not be able to play in each one, but will have access.
Road Dog

30
Play in every venue in the world

You first have to unlock each venue, then just play at least one set in every venue. Each city has venues where you can play and at those venues you have a setlist of songs to play. One you get access to each venue, just go to each city and scroll over each venue. Make sure each venue has some stars at the bottom right of the screen, meaning you have played a song there.
One Million Fans

30
Reach 1 million fans in World Tour

Just like Rock Band 1's achievement, you need to get 1 million fans. The amount of fans you get increases with the amount of stars you get on a song. You must play on Hard or higher. The difficulty is tied down to the lowest person, so if everyone is expert, and one person is easy, you will only get to the limit of fans on easy. An easy way to do this is go to Make a Setlist in a venue, and pick any of the rapping songs on Expert Vocals. Again, use the same technique to "sing" these and you will most likely get 5 stars. Also, if you play charity events you get more fans but no money. Look at which staff member you have hired, some will get you more fans, others will get you more money.
Open Road

20
Win a Bus in World Tour

Same as above, you will be invited to win a bus once you get enough stars and fans. Just go play the setlist and you will get the bus.
Got Wheels

20
Win a Van in World Tour

Once you get enough stars and fans, you will get invited to play a setlist and get a van. The city and venue with it will have a bus icon in front of it. Just go play the setlist and you will get a van.
Jet Setter

20
Win a Jet in World Tour

Same as the above two, just play through the tour until you get invited to play for a jet. Beat the songs and you will get it.
Beat It!

10
Complete all beats at 60 BPM or higher or half of the beats at 140 BPM or higher

-See "The Beat Goes On"
The Beat Goes On

20
Complete all beats at 100 BPM or higher or half of the beats at 180 BPM or higher
(8)
For these two achievements, you need to beat half the beats on the higher speed, or all the beats on a lower speed. I recommend doing half on the higher difficulty, as some of the beats get pretty ridiculous to get 100% on. A tip is to have a friend do the tricky parts for you, as some of the snares and bass hits are off beat, while you focus on the regular cymbals. These two are stackable, so if you do half the beats at 180BPM, you get both beat achievements.
Fill Me In

10
Complete all fills at 60 BPM or higher or half of the fills at 140 BPM or higher
(6)
-See "Fill Legend"
Fill Legend

20
Complete all fills at 100 BPM or higher or half of the fills at 180 BPM or higher
(4)
For this one you have to beat half of the fills on the higher speed or all of the fills on the lower one. Again, half on the higher difficulty is easier. You have to complete a fill after doing a simple beat. Just focus on the fill, you don't have to do any of the beat to get 100%. To complete a fill, you must get 100% without overhitting a pad. These two are stackable also, so if you do half the beats at 180BPM, you will get both fill achievements.

Buy a Real Instrument Already!

35
Beat an "Impossible" Challenge with all players on Expert Difficulty

Can be done on any of the challenges in the "Impossible Challenges" tier. I got it on the 80's hits challenge on Expert bass that was actually really easy. Just do it on whatever challenge you feel comfortable and whatever instrument you are best at. Remember, this does not have to be done on THE impossible bass challenge or THE impossible drum challenge, just any impossible challenge.
Rock Immortal Inductee

20
Joined the Rolling Stone Rock Immortals list

This is just like the Hall of Fame Award in RB1. After you get all the staff members and vehicles (ie Roadies, Sound Guys and a plane etc), you have to keep playing sets and get more stars until you are invited to this set. Complete the 8 song set and get this achievement.
Vinyl Artist

20
Finished the Endless Setlist 2 in World Tour on Medium

Once you get inducted as a Rock Immortal, you will play more songs and sets to get the Endless Setlist 2. This is all 84 songs in Rock Band 2 (only on disc songs, no RB1 or DLC songs) in one setlist. Complete it on medium to get this achievement. It is only on medium so nothing to really worry about here.
Gold Artist

30
Finished the Endless Setlist 2 in World Tour on Hard

This is to beat the Endless Setlist 2 on Hard. A bit more difficult, as guitarists will have to worry about the orange button now, but nothing too hard. If you fail a song, you can retry it as many times as it takes, but you will keep losing fans. Keep in mind that this is also binded by the lowest difficulty, so everyone has to be on hard. Do a brief quickplay session going through the hardest songs to make sure you can beat them.
Platinum Artist

50
Finished the Endless Setlist 2 in World Tour on Expert
(7)
Here we go. With 84 songs, this will take around 7 hours of playing on expert. Remember that if you are NOT going for The Bladder of Steel Award, you can pause and take a break. Just make sure that none of you accidentally quits out, disconnects the 360 etc. because you will have to start all over. First and foremost, don't hurt yourself doing this, especially the drummers and guitarists, even singers can hurt their vocal chords. So if you need to take a break, take a break. Each of you can fail twice, then be saved by a band member. The third time you fail, you will not be able to get saved. If two of you fail at the same time, someone can also save you at the same time, requiring only the overdrive for saving one person. When you fail, you will see a red bar on the crowd meter slowly go down. If that hits the bottom before you are saved, you will fail. The higher the other band mates are on the band meter, the higher that red bar will start. Watch that red bar, because if you fail near the end of a song, you might be able to complete it. Remember that this can be done in solo play, so quickplay through the toughest songs and make sure you are ready before you start it, obviously having someone with you will help.
The Bladder of Steel Award

25
Completed the Endless Setlist 2 without pausing or failing.
(41)
Thisis it. The big one. The one that will seperate the boys from the men (and women). You will have to play through the Endless Setlist 2 without pausing or failing a song. Firstly, people have come up with schemes of disconnecting their controller, hitting the guide button etc. Take warning that none of those work, Harmonix obviously knew what people were going to do. This does not have to be done on expert, so do it on medium so that pretty much gets rid of the no failing part. You can fail and be saved by someone, as long as you don't fail the whole song and have to restart. Make sure you have a wired controller, so your batteries don't die on you, also make sure no one unplugs the wire. When deploying overdrive, guitarists, tilt your guitar, don't press the back button, to make sure you don't accidentally press the Start or Guide button. One way you can do this is swap in and out with a friend, each doing a couple of songs. You will probably have to return the favour too. Make sure you have done everything you need to do before attempting this. I think the best way to do this is to wake up early on the weekend, and play that whole day. This can obviously be done with a band, but at least if you do it by yourself, there is less risk and nobody to blame.