Every technique Melodic shows you, in the order the Tour teaches them: what each one looks like on the note highway, how to play it step by step, and the mistake to watch out for. The pictures are drawn by the game itself.
Start here
The highway is the neck of your guitar, seen from where you sit. The strings run across the screen in their colours, with the thick low string on top. Notes fly toward you and land on the string you play them on, at the fret you press. No music reading and no tab needed.
Notes fly down the highway toward the neck at the bottom of the screen. The numbers under the neck are the frets, and the strings run across it in their colours.
Play each note at the moment it reaches the strings. Look a little ahead to see what is coming next.
Every string has its own colour, and each note travels at the height of its string: the same order as the strings on the neck below.
Match the colour to the string before you look at the fret number. Settings can flip the order so the thick string is at the bottom.
A gem in the string’s colour. The number on it is the fret; its stem shows where it will land on the floor.
Press the string just behind that fret with your fretting hand and pick the string once as the gem hits the neck.
A bar stretched across the lanes instead of a gem: no fret is pressed.
Pick the string without touching any fret.
The lit lanes on the floor show where your hand should be. As a note comes in, its lane and its stretch of string light up, and a bracket closes in on the spot, fitting it exactly when it’s time to play.
Keep your index finger on the first lit fret, one finger per fret. Play when the bracket closes around the note.
A glowing tail behind the gem: the note should keep ringing.
Keep the string pressed down and let it ring until the tail has passed. Don’t lift your finger early.
A gold frame standing around several gems, with the chord’s name on top.
Fret every note in the frame at once, then strum all those strings together in one stroke.
Just an outline, with no gems inside: the same chord shape as the one before.
Keep your fingers where they are and strum the chord again.
A note that turns grey went past without being played in time (only when Melodic is listening to your guitar).
Don’t stop to fix it: get ready for the next note. Section Loop in the pause menu lets you loop a tricky part slowly.
The techniques
On the Tour each one gets a song of its own that leans on it, and a lesson the first time you meet it. You’ll meet them all in the songs you import too, along with accents, the last one here.
Taught at The Garage in “Two Tin Cans”
Tonight you only need your picking hand. Six open strings, nothing pressed.
A bar stretched across the lanes instead of a gem: no fret is pressed.
Watch out Don’t rush ahead of the note: wait until it touches the strings, then pick.
Taught at The Garage in “Gravel Road”
Now your fretting hand joins in. One finger for each fret, and the notes will come to you.
A gem in the string’s colour. The number on it is the fret; its stem shows where it will land on the floor.
Watch out Press right next to the fret wire, not in the middle of the gap: it takes less force and doesn’t buzz.
Taught at The Garage in “Glitter & Gasoline”
Punk night. Two strings at once: the power chord, the loudest shape in rock.
A gold frame around two or three gems, with the chord’s name on top: play those strings together.
Watch out Strum only the strings in the frame: a stray open string makes the chord sound messy.
Taught at The Garage in “Whiskey Hammer”
A hammer-on is a note your fretting hand plays by itself. Blues players live on them.
A note marked H comes from the fretting hand alone, straight after the note before it on the same string.
Watch out Hammer from a little height, with the fingertip: a slow, soft hammer barely makes a sound.
Taught at The Garage in “Lanterns Down”
The pull-off is the hammer-on in reverse: the finger leaves the string and plucks it on the way.
A note marked P is sounded by lifting a finger off, to a lower fret (or the open string) on the same string.
Watch out Lifting straight up makes almost no sound: flick the string as you let go.
Taught at The Garage in “Driftwood”
Slides make a guitar sing. Pick once, and the note travels to another fret.
The tail bends across the lanes to another fret: the note glides there.
Watch out Don’t let go of the pressure while you move, or the note dies halfway.
Taught at Club Noir in “Graveyard Shift”
The side of your picking hand is an instrument too: rest it on the strings and everything goes chunky.
A gem with a darker lower half and PM under it: a short, chunky note.
Watch out Too far from the bridge and the note dies to a click; right on the bridge it’s not muted at all.
Taught at Club Noir in “Umbrella Weather”
A long note shouldn’t just sit there. Vibrato is how a guitarist makes one breathe.
A wavy tail: the held note should waver.
Watch out The pitch should waver around the note, not drift above it.
Taught at Club Noir in “Burnt Sugar”
Bending is the most human sound a guitar makes. You push the string until the note cries higher.
An arrow above the gem, and a tail that rises: push the pitch up. ½ means one fret higher, full means two frets higher.
Watch out Under-bending sounds sour: listen, and push until it matches.
Taught at Mirage Festival in “Sidewinder”
Festival campfire time. Full chords with open strings ringing: the sound of a thousand songs.
A frame around four, five or six gems, some of them open-string bars: a full chord.
Watch out Arch your fingers so they don’t touch the open strings next to them.
Taught at Mirage Festival in “Paper Lungs”
Funk lives between the notes. A muted strum is pure rhythm: a “chk” with no pitch.
A grey gem with a cross and no fret number: a percussive click with no pitch.
Watch out Press too hard and a note rings; too lightly and open strings ring through. Find the middle.
Taught at Mirage Festival in “Mirage Bells”
Touch a string in exactly the right spot and it chimes like a bell. Out here in the desert, it carries for miles.
A diamond-shaped gem: a chiming, bell-like note.
Watch out Right above the wire, not a millimetre off, or you get a dull thud.
Taught at The Foundry in “Chrome Horns”
What goes up comes back down. Bend, hold, and let it fall back while it rings.
A bend with a down arrow: the tail rises and then comes back down.
Watch out Keep the pressure on the string as you release, or the note stops.
Taught at The Foundry in “Scrap Iron Gospel”
The metal squeal. A pinch harmonic is a fretted note with a scream on top.
A diamond gem marked PH: a high squeal on top of the fretted note, mostly heard with distortion.
Watch out It needs distortion and a bit of luck at first: keep moving the picking spot.
Taught at Monolith Arena in “Riptide Radio”
Arena lights, a wall of sound. Tremolo picking turns one note into a storm.
A zig-zag tail: the note is repeated very fast for as long as the tail lasts.
Watch out Tension kills speed: loosen your grip and let the wrist do it.
Taught at Monolith Arena in “Wide Awake Wire”
The arena needs big chords anywhere on the neck. Your index finger becomes the nut.
A full chord with no open strings: one finger lies flat across every string at the lowest fret.
Watch out Roll the index finger slightly onto its bony side: it presses evenly with less effort.
Taught at Channel 9 Live in “Paper Satellites”
Live TV, big finish. Tapping puts your picking hand on the fretboard for impossible-sounding runs.
A note marked T is played by the picking hand on the fretboard.
Watch out Mute the other strings with your fretting hand, or tapping rings everything.
Comes up in the songs you import
Not every note is equal. An accent is a note you lean on.
A white outline around the gem: this note stands out.
Watch out Accents are about contrast: if every note is hard, none of them stands out.
Bass
Every song in Melodic has a bass part, drawn on a four-string highway with the same colours. Bass parts show two more techniques of their own.
A bass note marked S: a bright, percussive thump.
Strike the string with the bony side of your thumb, near the end of the neck, and let the thumb bounce straight off.
A bass note marked with a P and a hat: a sharp snap.
Hook your index or middle finger under the string, pull it away from the body and let go, so it snaps back against the frets.
Every technique on this page has a song on the Tour written to teach it, with a lesson that waits until you’ve got it.
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