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''Rock Band 2'' was released a year later (2008), with significant upgrades to the often-criticized instruments - including the $300 Ion Drum Kit, which can also be used as a regular MIDI drumkit. Not to mention drum tutorials, a World Tour playable alone (or without needing to sing while you do), the ability to port over songs from Rock Band 1 for a small fee (on the 360 and [[Play Station 3]]), and more. Both games are supported by a large pool of downloadable songs (the same large pool, in fact--official DLC is compatible with both), including some by artists and genres further flung from what most consider "rock," like Country, Funk, and electronic dance, as well as a number of independent and international artists. Whereas the first game had less than 60 songs, this one had 84, with all songs available on every instrument.
Two years after the release of ''[[Rock Band]] 2'', the third game, ''[[Rock Band]] 3'', is now available as of October 2010, with a great deal of new features. The game introduces an all-new keyboard controller, with its own notecharts for the 60+ songs that have a real-life keyboard (or substitute) part. Also new is the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100918092204/http://www.rockband.com/zine/rb3-features-pro-guitar "Pro" guitar mode] with two new controllers: the Mustang controller aims to simulate a six-string with a fret board of over a hundred buttons that costs about $130, and another one that was recently discontinued that ''is'' a six-string that can be used both in and out of the game ([http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Squier%26%23174%3B+-+Rock+Band+3+Game+Guitar+-+Black/1601028.p;jsessionid=CB38FE7B975952C4D39F81377270AFA9.bbolsp-app02-25?id=1218272665437&skuId=1601028&st=Rock_Band_3_Fender_Midi_Guitar_Items_20101215&cp=1&lp=1 costs $280]). The Pro Drum mode forces players to hit cymbals appropriately, and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100821093823/http://www.rockband.com/zine/rb3-features-pro-keys Pro Keyboard mode] uses all 25 keys on the new peripheral. A MIDI-to-game adapter is available that allows certain real life e-drums and keyboards to hook into the game. The pro guitar is also made to an open standard, so third-party instruments such as the You Rock Midi Guitar work with the game as well. Harmony support like in the Beatles and Green Day games is also present, as well as a much-improved drop-in\drop-out system, similar to the Party Mode in ''Guitar Hero 5'' which allows players to drop in and drop out any time, even in the middle of a song. The game allows up to 7 players to play at once, provided one has [[Gotta Catch Em All|all seven controllers]] (two guitars, a set of drums, a keyboard, and three microphones). This time there are 83 songs, which all have guitar, pro guitar, bass, pro bass, (pro) drums, keys, pro keys, and up to 3 vocals charts except in cases where the appropriate instrument doesn't exist in the original song.
An expansion disc featuring the set-list from the ''AC/DC - Live at Donington'' concert DVD was also released (a must because AC/DC didn't want their songs online, or available outside of Wal-Mart, one of their sponsors). Track Packs containing otherwise downloadable songs alongside, more recently, timed exclusive songs included as an incentive to purchase are also available.
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*** Similarly, any song you're playing will rewind itself a bit after you exit the Pause menu, which means you can continue without [[Serious Business|disrupting your score]] and [[Rage Quit|flipping out]].
* [[April Fools' Day]]: In 2012, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueS7rbHqo_k&feature=player_embedded Rock Band Board Game].
** If one wants to try and play it, the game board can be found [https://web.archive.org/web/20120906140923/http://www.rockband.com/content-assets/2012/03/boardgamePrintable.jpg here].
* [[Artifact Title]]: Arguably, now that the series is focusing on so many different genres of music, although the devs have claimed the title refers to the common lead-bass-drums-vocals ensemble that most rock bands use and not rock music in particular. And, for what it's worth, the vast majority of the series' music library is made up of rock songs.
* [[Audience Participation Song]]: On most of the on-disc songs, as well as a few DLC (such as the Best of The Who pack, George Thorogood's seminal Bad to the Bone, and The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary, as well as others), there's an additional audio track of a crowd singing along with key parts of the song.
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*** [[Funny Moments|And it's got]] [[My Real Daddy|a higher rating]].
** Special mention to the original game's "Train Kept a Rollin'" which is specifically noted as a cover of Aerosmith's cover of the song.
** Mostly averted by the Rock Band Network, where covers of public domain songs are allowed, but only if it's not a cover of an existing arrangement. This allows for classical pieces [https://web.archive.org/web/20100612143250/http://www.rockband.com/music/artists/Paul_Henry_Smith_%26_The_Fauxharmonic_Orchestra as done by Paul Henry Smith & The Fauxharmonic Orchestra], [https://web.archive.org/web/20121021090651/http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5002361 The Itsy-Bitsy Spider], and more. One exception to this arrangement--sort of--is Jerry Naylor, who covered Buddy Holly & The Crickets' [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020165943/http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5009067 Not Fade Away], since Jerry Naylor was a vocalist for The Crickets. His cover of [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020151235/http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5008456 Real Wild Child] is also available, although technically the Crickets' version was also a cover. (Further adding to the confusion: Everlife's cover of Real Wild Child is also available on Lego Rock Band.)
* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: Sight-reading [[Megadeth]]'s ''Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?'' album on Rock Band 2 on Guitar-Expert. You will end up conditioning yourself to use overdrive the second blue comes down the highway. Then you'll hit "Bad Omen"'s second solo and full-combo it. And then you'll hit "Bad Omen"'s ''[[That One Attack|Third Solo]]'' and fail because you wasted your overdrive on the laughably easy second solo.
** This also screwed up a lot of Guitar Hero 2 players when "Hangar 18" came out for Rock Band; the RB chart is quite different from the [[GH 2]] version.
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** At least one person has [[Flawless Victory|Full Comboed]] Rock Band 2 (considered the hardest game in the series) playing guitar and singing at the same time.
* [[Downloadable Content]]: If each song is a pound, there's over a ton of it.
** Just to provide perspective, Harmonix fully expected there to be well over '''one thousand''' songs playable in the ''Rock Band'' franchise by 2009's end, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100211164455/http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174116 they met that goal on Nov. 25.] ''The Beatles'' has its own store, too, making it the first band-centric game with DLC.
*** With Rock Band 3's release, combined with all previous games and DLC and the RB Network, Harmonix expects 2000 songs by the end of 2010 to be available. They're meeting '''that''' goal on October 12th!
** Not to mention with Rock Band Network, more and more [[Downloadable Content]] is available on a daily basis. Day One of RBN provided over a hundred new songs for people to download. And the RBN has updated with more songs ''every day since''.
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*** Songs with reversed red and yellow are actually charted like that to AVERT [[Fake Difficulty]]. A real kit has the hi-hat to the left (if you're right handed) of the snare, and doing a pattern like Run to the Hills or Everlong with a constant roll on the hi-hat means that both hands are usually to the left of the snare, with one going to the right to hit the snare. If the red and yellow weren't reversed, you'd have to lead with your weak hand, making any song with that kind of pattern stupidly difficult and awkward.
**** And yet this makes it much more evident on songs that place similar hi-hat runs on the yellow pad. Additionally, anyone with an ION Rocker more likely than not has the yellow cymbal positioned to the left or above the red snare pad so that they can do such patterns on a whim. Rock Band 3's Pro Mode ignores the so-called "Disco Flip" if a yellow cymbal is present, keeping the hi-hat (and hi tom) on yellow instead of allowing it to be on red.
** You are penalized more for missing a Kick Bass note or a snare note than any other note (including when the hi-hat and snare are flipped like Run to the Hills and Everlong). "Miss" includes [[Captain Obvious|actually missing the note]] in addition to playing a non-existent note. (incidentally enough, knowledge of this actually makes [[That One Boss/Rhythm Game|Visions]] [[Subverted Trope|a lot easier to manage]].)
*** Additionally, if you accidentally hit one note out of order in a pair of quick non-simultaneous notes on different surfaces, you get penalized for missing the first of the two. This does get carried over to [[Guitar Hero]] when they implement drums, too.
*** On this tangent, Solo Tapping on Guitar also has this bit of fake difficulty. It's probably easier to illustrate the point than to explain it, so let's assume you have a yellow note in a solo. If you tap blue or orange on the shredboard (or have a shredboard fret held down when you press blue or orange on the lower frets), it counts as a miss and combo break. Fair enough. If you tap Green or Red, which are BELOW Yellow, it ALSO counts as a miss and combo break, even if there is a smaller (HOPO) green or red note immediately after the yellow note. Upside? you don't HAVE to release higher frets for single-fret notes during solos when tapping them. [[Guide Dang It|Oh, and neither the game nor the manual ever tells you any of this]], making some songs much harder than they should be (Especially those with fast multi-fret solos - Constant Motion and Satch Boogie stand out in this respect, as neither one's fast solo runs can be Overdrive-bluffed)
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** [[Play Station 3]] owners who tried to export Rock band 2 at Rock Band 3's launch ended up with the wrong export key, hope you left your email with them to get a fixed key.
** The last two DLC released for ''Unplugged'', Sex Type Thing and Constant Motion, have the potential to delete the rest of your DLC if you download them. Buyer beware, indeed.
* [[Game Mod]]: Mostly hardware adjustments for the drums. Less necessary now that better instrument controllers are available, but sites like [https://web.archive.org/web/20111113211817/http://www.area51moto.com/mega/ MegaPedal] offer aluminum replacements, and then there is the more luxurious designs, like an actual kick pedal augmented with magnetic contacts...
** In a somewhat more traditional example, the Rock Band Network will allow users to submit their own songs for review to be made available for downloadable purchase. This requires a multitrack master of the recording and for the user to chart the song's notes himself. Oh, and the rights to do so, which can be harder than actually charting the song...
** "Jukebox" mode. Turn off the crowd sounds, enable no-fail and performance modes, and select vocals. Then just pick any song that you would like to listen to without fear of the game punting you out for losing.
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* [[I Know Mortal Kombat]]: The game guitar won't help much for real guitar. Also, even on Expert, one can be partially off-key with their vocals, and the octave doesn't matter at all.
** Quite possibly [[Averted]] with the drums, especially if you can play on expert. Don't expect it to help much beyond a primer for actual drums, but that's a start.
*** In a bizarre mix of real and fake, the game can be played [https://web.archive.org/web/20110408131953/http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56287
** Interestingly, the Rock Band website is starting a [https://web.archive.org/web/20100125164442/http://www.rockband.com/zine/category/berklee series of articles] intended to teach people how to play real life instruments. As well as [https://web.archive.org/web/20100211103010/http://www.rockband.com/zine/berklee a section] full of links to online music courses at the Berklee College of Music.
** What with the Pro mode to be introduced with RB3...
*** The biggest difference between playing Rock Band and a real instrument, is that while Pro Mode can help to teach you how to sightread like a boss, it won't teach you actual musical theory. It's the difference between being able to read and pronounce a word, and knowing what that word ''means.''
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** "Photograph" by [[Nickelback]] and "Photograph" by [[Def Leppard]] are both available as DLC.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Getting all the achievements\trophies in Lego Rock Band requires a great deal of skill, thanks mostly to The Final Countdown solo. The Beatles game has a few challenges to get [[Flawless Victory|100%]], on [[Harder Than Hard|Expert]], on ''some of the hardest charts of the game''. In the case of guitar, you also need to do the hammer-ons\pull-offs properly; one strum where you don't need to and it's all a waste. The Green Day game is also like this.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100815050203/http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/28566/rock-band-3/videos/e310_rb3_inv_061610.html Pro Guitar]. Hope you like numbers!
*** The "Obsessive Compulsive" goal in 3, which requires you to full-combo ''every song in the game on Expert''. Good luck.
** Beatles Rock Band has an achievement for a perfect playing of Ringo's only drum solo in the band's career, just after the beginning of "The End". As if that's not bad enough, there's one for finishing all the Beatle Beats training tracks, the last of which is... THE DRUM SOLO FROM "THE END".
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*** The filter seems to be a bit hit-and-miss, though - "Uncle John's Band" by [[The Grateful Dead]] was playable in LEGO Rock Band, lyrics with the word Goddamn in them and all.
* [[Take That/Video Games|Take That]]:
** When Harmonix was developing the Rock Band Network, they code-named it "Rock Band: [[Nickelback]]" specifically to divert press attention (both have the same acronym: RBN). [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|It became less funny]] when [https://web.archive.org/web/20120501054554/http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194216 they actually put Nickelback in the DLC store].
** Not so much a Take That as much as simply a cheeky move, [http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/09/17/psn-exclusive-rock-band-dlc-sale-next-week/ Harmonix announced a 50% off sale for the PS3] (hopefully to counter the arguments for their apparent 360 favoritism). Amusingly these were made-up entirely of albums and packs containing songs that had been announced for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock along with several singles<ref>[[REM]]'s "''Losing My Religion''", [[Flyleaf]]'s "''Again''", [[Avenged Sevenfold]]'s "''Bat Country''", [[Anberlin]]'s "''Feel Good Drag''", [[Stone Temple Pilots]]' "''Interstate Love Song''", and a cover of [[The Runaways]]' "''Cherry Bomb''" (the version on WoR is a re-recording) to name only the singles</ref> as though to say "Look at the size of our library". Some of these packs were purely in response to Warriors of Rock's setlist:
{{quote|They have "[[Jane's Addiction|Been Caught Stealing]]?" Well, we have that on-disc, and the ''Nothing’s Shocking'' album, too.
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