One of the neat features of Xbox 360 games is achievements — you get a certain number of “gamerpoints” and a special icon attached to your account when you do specific things in the game. I’ll admit I didn’t understand the appeal, until I bought an Xbox 360 myself earlier this year. I was surprised how addictive these achievements really are!

Hello, my name is Will, and I’m addicted to achievements. Not the real-life kind, mind you, as I’ve pretty much given up on those (just getting out of bed in the morning feels like an achievement). No, I’m talking about the kind of achievements that you can only get by playing Xbox 360 games. At first, I didn’t really pay much attention to them, although I did feel a slight sense of accomplishment every time I was informed that I had received one. Lately, however, I’m finding that I can’t stop trying to get them. It’s gotten to the point that I’ll stay up late into the night just to get an extra 10 points added to my gamerscore. I … I think I need help.

Achievements aren’t just for show. Comparing a game list from one player to another isn’t helpful; just because I own a game doesn’t mean I’m playing it, necessarily. With achievements, I can browse another player’s GamerCard and see, how “serious” they are about it. If they have 800+ gamerpoints and a slew of achievements in that game, they’ve really been playing it!

So if, like me, you’re wondering how to get all the achievements in fake plastic rock games — namely, Rock Band, Guitar Hero II, and Guitar Hero III — I’ve summarized everything below. Handy tips for unlocking each achievement are in italics under the name and description.

Rock Band

	10	Breakthrough Act Unlock a Big Club in Solo Tour on Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert. finish the 2nd tier of songs in any solo career
	10	Hot Artist Unlock a Theater in Solo Tour on Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert. finish the 4th tier of songs in any solo career
	10	Top Artist Unlock an Arena in Solo Tour on Medium, Hard or Expert. finish the 6th tier of songs in any solo career
	20	String Shredder Finish Guitar Solo Tour on Easy.
	30	Fret Ripper Finish Guitar Solo Tour on Medium.
	40	Axe Assassin Finish Guitar Solo Tour on Hard.
	50	Lord of the Strings Finish Guitar Solo Tour on Expert.
	20	Rhythm Rocker Finish Drum Solo Tour on Easy.
	30	Groove Technician Finish Drum Solo Tour on Medium.
	40	Heavy Hitter Finish Drum Solo Tour on Hard.
	50	AN-I-MAL!!! Finish Drum Solo Tour on Expert.
	20	Howler Finish Vocal Solo Tour on Easy.
	30	Screamer Finish Vocal Solo Tour on Medium.
	40	Crooner Finish Vocal Solo Tour on Hard.
	50	Virtuoso Finish Vocal Solo Tour on Expert.
	20	Got Wheels Unlock the Van in Band World Tour.
	20	Open Road Unlock the Bus in Band World Tour.
	20	Jet Setter Unlock the Jet in Band World Tour.
	10	One Million Fans Reach 1 million fans in Band World Tour. every band member must be on at least Hard; post-patch the Hard fan cap is 1 million fans.
	100	Hall of Fame Inductee Finish the Hall of Fame Induction in Band World Tour. requires 450 stars; final song set in Moscow is (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, Highway Star, Tom Sawyer, Flirtin’ With Disaster, Enter Sandman, Foreplay/Long Time, Run to the Hills, and Won’t Get Fooled Again.
	10	Vinyl Artist Finish the Endless Setlist in Band World Tour on Medium. requires 600 stars; play all 58 set songs, and the game cannot be saved, only paused thus “endless”
	20	Gold Artist Finish the Endless Setlist in Band World Tour on Hard.
	25	Platinum Artist Finish the Endless Setlist in Band World Tour on Expert.
	10	Big In London Finish the last remaining gig in London (Band World Tour). make sure every gig in the city has a check mark next to it indicating completion; gigs can be finished on any difficulty, but larger venues do have skill cutoffs for some gigs
	10	Big In Paris Finish the last remaining gig in Paris (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Amsterdam Finish the last remaining gig in Amsterdam (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Berlin Finish the last remaining gig in Berlin (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Stockholm Finish the last remaining gig in Stockholm (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Rome Finish the last remaining gig in Rome (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Boston Finish the last remaining gig in Boston (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In NYC Finish the last remaining gig in New York (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Chicago Finish the last remaining gig in Chicago (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In LA Finish the last remaining gig in Los Angeles (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Seattle Finish the last remaining gig in Seattle (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In San Francisco Finish the last remaining gig in San Francisco (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Japan Finish the last remaining gig in Tokyo (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Sydney Finish the last remaining gig in Sydney (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Reykjavik Finish the last remaining gig in Reykjavik (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Rio de Janeiro Finish the last remaining gig in Rio de Janeiro (Band World Tour).
	10	Big In Moscow Finish the last remaining gig in Moscow (Band World Tour).
	30	Tug of War Champ Win 20 Tug of War ranked matches.
	20	Tug of War Streak Win 5 Tug of War ranked matches in a row.
	30	Score Duel Champ Win 20 Score Duel ranked matches.
	20	Score Duel Streak Win 5 Score Duel ranked matches in a row.
	10	Killer Performance Five Star a song on Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert.
	10	Flawless Groove Score 100% notes hit as bassist, up-strums only, on Expert. Roxanne or Should I Stay or Should I Go ; remember, up strums only
	10	Flawless Drumming Score 100% notes hit as a drummer on Expert. 29 Fingers or I Think I’m Paranoid
	10	Flawless Fretwork Score 100% notes hit as a guitarist on Expert. any song in the first tier
	10	Flawless Singing Score a 100% rating as a vocalist on Expert. Paranoid or Blitzkrieg Bop
	5	Riding on Coattails Play with a “Platinum Artist”. can be obtained in any online mode including quickplay

Guitar Hero III

	30	Enlightened Guitarist Gold Star 20 songs on Expert. gold star means 100% perfect — pick the easier songs and work your way up; note that downloaded songs count towards this total too
	10	Hendrix Reborn Complete Career Lefty and Righty. complete lefty flip on easy career; you can use a mirror to reverse the screen if necessary
	15	Who Needs the Power 200k on Cult of Personality without Star Power. must be done on hard (nearly perfect) or expert difficulty. If star power is on at the end of the song, it doesn’t count as an activation.
	15	Whammy Mania Use the Whammy Bar on every held note on Number of the Beast. can be done on easy difficulty; tape your whammy bar down so it appears “held” all the time
	15	Star Mania Activate Star Power 3 times on Through the Fire and Flames on Expert. only obtainable in quick play. Practice, practice, practice!
	10	Life of the Party Host Ranked Online matches and win 15 consecutive songs. if you don’t win, quit to the dashboard (your opponent still gets the win) until you get a 15 win streak
	10	Search and Destroy Join Ranked Online matches and win 15 consecutive songs. if you don’t win, quit to the dashboard (your opponent still gets the win) until you get a 15 win streak
	25	Too Many to Count Hit 250,000 notes in Career. equivalent to 500 easy songs, 300-350 medium songs, 250 hard songs, and 200 expert songs.
	10	Never Gonna Spend It All Earn $350,000 in career lifetime earnings. will have to complete most of the game on each difficulty
	25	That’s What Friends Are For Complete Co-op Career. finish the co-op setlist; only the primary account gets the achievement
	10	Back Up Hero Complete all songs as the back-up guitar player. beat the entire co-op setlist and the 14 bonus songs as bass/rhythm guitarist — always use the same controller and login
	10	Guitar Wizard Complete all Co-op as the lead guitarist. beat the entire co-op setlist and the 14 bonus songs as lead guitarist — always use the same controller and login
	30	100 Million!?! Gulp!?! Earn 100,000,000 total in Career. cumulative in a single career across all songs, including the same songs played repeatedly
	10	Streaker Earn a 150 note streak in a Ranked Online Battle mode match. pick a song you know well, and hope you don’t get socked with difficult battle power-up attacks
	5	Tone Deaf Beat any song on the expert difficulty with the games sound options turned down to zero. can be done by pausing a song, going to options and turning off the sound, then completing the song
	5	Easy Rider Complete a Career on the Easy Difficulty.
	10	Medium Rare Complete Career Mode on the Medium difficulty.
	15	Always Hard Complete Career on the Hard difficulty.
	25	Solo Career Complete all Career difficulties.
	5	Button Masher Win 15 consecutive Ranked songs online using a standard controller. same advice as “Life of the Party”
	15	Buy a Guitar Already Play through a career on the Hard or Expert difficulty using a standard controller. glitch: complete the hard career, then reset your Xbox with only a controller attached. Start to play a song and this achievement will unlock in the setlist.
	20	Big ‘Ol Pile of Wins Win 500 Online Ranked matches. play a lot, and try to knock out opponents early
	100	The Long Road Ahead Complete all difficulties in Career, buy everything from the shop and complete 100 online matches. you must achieve “Burnin’ a Hole in Your Pocket” and “Solo Career” first
	20	Meet Your Maker Beat one of the creators of Guitar Hero 3 at their own game. beat anyone with this token and you get it.
	20	Right Hand of God Complete Career Mode on the Expert difficulty. Practice, practice, practice!
	5	Bronze Streaker Earn a 100 note Streak in Career or Quick Play. any song, any difficulty
	10	Silver Streaker Earn a 250 note streak in Career or Quick Play. any song, any difficulty
	15	Gold Streaker Earn a 500 note streak in Career or Quick Play. try the more challenging songs on easy difficulty
	20	Streak Master Earn a 1000 note streak in Career or Quick Play. Through the Fire and Flames on easy (1100 notes), or One on medium (1200 notes)
	5	First Big Score Score 250,000 on a song. Story of My Life on hard difficulty
	10	Half a Mill’ Score 500,000 on a song. only possible on expert difficulty for Holiday in Cambodia, Cherub Rock, Before I forget, Stricken, Knights of Cydonia, Number of the Beast, One, Take This Life, The Way It Ends, Through the Fire and Flames
	20	Now That’s Impressive Score 750,000 on a song. only possible on expert difficulty for Through the Fire and Flames. Good luck.
	10	Axe Grinder Earn 5 stars on all songs on the Easy difficulty. see the five-star easy cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	20	Rock Guru Earn 5 stars on all songs on the Medium difficulty. see the five-star medium cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	30	Shredder Earn 5 stars on all songs on the Hard difficulty. see the five-star hard cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	75	Guitar Hero Earn 5 stars on all songs on the Expert difficulty. see the five-star expert cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	10	Perfectionist 100% a song. any song on easy
	5	Ready to Rock Complete the tutorial. the tutorial is available from the main menu
	5	Axe Collector Buy all the Guitars from the shop. includes the unlockable guitars, making this a nearly impossible task
	5	Track Master Buy all songs from the shop. 26 songs total to buy at $500 each, so you’ll need $13,000
	5	Got ‘em All Buy all characters from the shop. complete the game to unlock all 5 characters, it’ll cost you $65,000
	5	A Couple of Streakers Earn a 200 note streak in a Co-op match. any song, any difficulty
	10	Two Timer Earn a 500 note streak in a Co-op match. any song, any difficulty
	15	Dynamic Duo Earn a 1000 note streak in a Co-op match. Story of My Life on medium or When We Were Young on medium
	20	Streak Masters Earn a 2000 note streak in a Co-op match. Through the Fire and Flames on easy, One on medium, or Story of My Life on expert
	20	Millionaire Club Score 1,000,000 on any song in a Co-op match. only possible on expert difficulty for Through the Fire and Flames, One, or Number of the Beast
	20	Higher Than Most Score 700,000 on any song in a Co-op match. One or Number of the Beast on hard, or Through the Fire and Flames on medium
	10	Easy Duo Earn 5 stars on all Co-op songs for the Easy difficulty. includes all songs + bonus tracks; five-star cutoff is 2x easy solo
	20	Medium Duo Earn 5 stars on all Co-op songs for the Medium difficulty. includes all songs + bonus tracks; five-star cutoff is 2x medium solo
	30	Hard Duo Earn 5 stars on all Co-op songs on the Hard difficulty. includes all songs + bonus tracks; five-star cutoff is 2x hard solo
	75	Living Legends 5 Star all Co-op songs on Expert. includes all songs + bonus tracks; five-star cutoff is 2x expert solo
	10	Leaders of the Pack 100% a song in a Co-op match. When you Were Young on medium or easy
	5	Two by Four Get an 8X multiplier in a Co-op game. get a 4x multiplier and activate star power
	10	Half Mill’ Club Score 500,000 on any song in a Co-op match. One on medium difficulty
	10	Burnin’ a Hole in Your Pocket Buy everything from the store. does not include unlockable items
	15	The Inhuman Achievement Complete Through the Fire and Flames on Expert. Practice, practice, practice. Good luck.
	0	Tail Between Your Legs Refuse a Boss Battle. decline any boss battle in career mode; all are skippable except the final boss, Lou
	5	Almost Got It Fail a song past 90% completion. pick a song you know on easy or medium, and intentionally fail at the right time
	5	Blowin’ It Fail any song 10 times fail as fast as possible until you get it

Guitar Hero II

	10	100K Club Get 100,000 in a song. pick any song, any difficulty
	10	200K Club Get 200,000 in a song. pick any song, medium difficulty
	30	300K Club Get 300,000 in a song. possible on hard for some songs (Freebird), but expert is recommended
	30	400K Club Get 400,000 in a song. expert only; Freebird, Monkey Wrench, and Killing in the Name
	30	Champagne Room V.I.P. Get 500,000 in a song. only possible on Freebird, Killing in the Name, Fall of Pangea, and X-Stream
	10	Roadie Unlock Rat Cellar. unlocked after 1st tier of songs in career mode
	10	New Kid Unlock Blackout Bar. unlocked after 2nd tier of songs in career mode
	10	Young Gun Unlock RedOctane Club. unlocked after 3rd tier of songs in career mode
	10	Axe Grinder Unlock Rock City Theater. unlocked after 4th tier of songs in career mode
	10	Shredder Unlock Vans Warped Tour. unlocked after 5th tier of songs in career mode
	10	Rock Star Unlock Harmonix Arena. unlocked after 6th tier of songs in career mode
	10	Guitar Hero Unlock Stonehenge. unlocked after 7th tier of songs in career mode
	10	Dimebag Darrell Award Get a 100 note streak. any song, any difficulty
	30	Eddie Van Halen Award Get a 500 note streak. Heart Shaped box on Easy, but you must nearly perfect the song
	30	Yngwie Malmsteen Award Get a 1000 note streak. easiest to achive via Freebird on Medium difficulty
	10	Easy Tour Champ Beat the Easy tour.
	30	Medium Tour Champ Beat the Medium tour.
	30	Hard Tour Champ Beat the Hard tour.
	30	Expert Tour Champ Beat the Expert tour.
	30	Sandbox Hero Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Easy tour. see the five-star easy cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	30	Most Likely to Succeed Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Medium tour. see the five-star medium cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	30	Guitarmaggedon Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Hard tour. see the five-star hard cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	30	Start a Real Band Already Award Earn five stars on all songs in the Expert tour. see the five-star hard cutoff scores on scorehero.com
	10	Rock School Grad Complete all tutorials. complete the tutorials available from the main menu
	10	Scoremonger Award Get an 8x multiplier. get a 4x multiplier and activate star power
	30	Perfectionist Award Get 100% notes hit on a song. perfect any of the first tier songs on easy
	10	Rock Snob Award Refuse to play an encore. in career mode, refuse an encore after completing a song tier
	10	Long Road Ahead Award Fail a song on Easy. remember you can only fail in the second half of a song on easy
	10	Hendrix Award Beat a song with lefty flip on. turn on left-handed guitar in options, and complete any easy song
	10	Teacher’s Pet Award Practice three different songs. use the practice mode for about one minute on three different songs
	10	Saturday Morning Award Beat Trogdor and Thunder Horse. can be done on easy difficulty
	30	Kick the Bucket Award Beat Jordan on Expert. good luck — you’re gonna need it; remember practice mode
	30	Gear Head Award Buy all guitars. does not include unlockable guitars; just the regular guitars in the store
	30	Fanatical Completionist Award Buy all guitar finishes. purchase all the standard guitars first, then get all the finishes
	10	Record Collector Award Buy all songs. buy all the bonus songs in the shop
	10	Life of the Party Award Buy all characters. buy all the characters in the shop
	10	Fashion Plate Award Buy all outfits. buy all the characters first, then buy their outfits
	10	Extra Credit Award View the credits. finish a career, then view credits can be viewed under Options
	10	Big Spender Award Spend $10,000 at the store. hard to avoid getting this one
	10	Scenester Award Beat all the unlock songs. can be completed on easy difficulty
	30	Joan & Lita Award Get a 100 note streak in Cooperative. any song, any difficulty
	30	Joe & Steven Award Get a 500 note streak in Cooperative. any song, any difficulty
	30	Keef & Mick Award Get a 1000 note streak in Cooperative. try the higher tier songs on medium
	10	Lennon & McCartney Award Get an 8x streak in Cooperative. activate star power with a 4x multiplier
	30	Page & Plant Award Get 100% notes hit on a song in Cooperative. any song on easy
	30	200K Pair Get 200,000 on a song in Cooperative. Freebird on medium
	30	400K Pair Get 400,000 on a song in Cooperative. Freebird on medium
	30	600K Pair Get 600,000 on a song in Cooperative. Freebird on hard
	30	800K Pair Get 800,000 on a song in Cooperative. only possible on Expert difficulty for Killing in the Name, Jessica, Institutionalized, Freebird
	30	Millionaire Pair Get 1,000,000 on a song in Cooperative. only possible on Expert difficulty for Jessica and Freebird. Good luck.

If you have any other tips I’ve missed, feel free to leave them in the comments!