Just finished playing it again and have some more observations.
I can see that it’ll be a big help with speed but also with transitions. If I’m on a specific position, I can get some speed out of it, but if I need to jump to a different area (fret 3 on E vs fret 14 on D or G), it takes me too long to figure out where I need to be and I lose a couple of notes.
There’s a section on techniques with grades; Bronze, Silver, and Gold (“Go for the Gold!”). It starts with Sustain and finger position on up through double stops, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and more. You need to hit the techniques early even if you just get to Bronze so you’ll know what they’re throwing at you during the more advanced stages of the songs.
For instance, the double stop display is a blue square that encloses both notes vs a single note. An open string is indicated by a long colored line. The sustain display is a note with a streak behind it. You hold the note until the streak ends. Hammer on and Pull off are indicated by a note with a darker internal square and a V cutout or upside down V cutout for Hammer on and Pull off. A new one last night was an open string with a little box at the center with an X from corner to corner. No idea what that is yet.
And I haven’t been able to figure out how to go back to practice the earlier songs which is annoying. There’s a ‘Main Menu’ option at the bottom but it says to hit the ‘>’ (vs A for select, B for back). There is no ‘>’ on the wireless controller so I’m puzzled as to what to do.
But I am up over 300,000 points and I’ve unlocked another venue.