(Day 4, Slot 1’s announcement has been delayed, but is still on the way! Keep your eyes peeled!)

This is the season for giving thanks, this is the time for remembering friends and loved ones, and this is the place for celebrating music and video games. For this release, we’re going to do all three. This is not a typical Chart-a-thon release, actually. If there is anything here you like, it’s probably because you already own it. You see, this is a collection of fresh updates for the Rock Band Harmonies Project!

Giving Thanks

The Rock Band Harmonies Project was originally the brain child of espher, who discovered how Rock Band 3‘s support for adding optional or premium parts to a song — support that enabled pro guitar and bass charts to be sold separately from the rest of the game’s official DLC — could also be used to add harmony parts to older, pre-RB3 DLC. Thus began espher’s quest to add harmonies to every song in the official Rock Band catalog that needed them. As espher worked, he learned just how versatile RB3’s upgrade process truly was. Not only could older songs get new charts (something Harmonix themselves took advantage of, offering pro-guitar charts for a handful of legacy DLC tracks), but even the existing charts in those songs could be tweaked. This meant early Rock Band Network songs, notorious for not having the same standards as most pre-RB3 songs, could finally have proper support for pro drums! And then, the seemingly impossible was discovered: older songs could even get whole new instruments, not just pro additions. That meant, once someone charted them all, RB3’s keyboard could finally be used on just as many songs as those other instruments!

And so, espher deserves a big, “Thank you!” for starting this Project. Harmonix gets gratitude as well, not only for leaving open the door that made the Project possible, but also for knowing a good thing when they saw one. They took the Project and made it official for the next game in the series, and now Rock Band 4 has harmony support for the entire legacy catalog!

Remembering Friends

While espher lead the Project and made all of these updates possible, he didn’t work alone. Like the best products of the original C3, the RBHP became a community project, with people making contributions big and small. Not everyone is still in the customs community today, but they are all to be remembered and appreciated for what they added. Shout-outs to farottone, thomeval, JIManji, Nightmare Lyra, Drihscol, sageamagoo, non_zero and StackOverflow0x, and my humblest apologies to anyone I missed!

Now as you can tell, the Project is still going on. espher’s life has taken him elsewhere, but he graciously left his work on GitHub, where it could be continued by anyone willing to pick up the mantle. I decided I would make a fork of the Project simply so I could add some keys now and then. Little did I know there were others also eager to see the Project continue, and ready to help fill in the gaps. This particular update wouldn’t have been possible, certainly not at the size it became, were it not for some of these other dedicated people. Shout-outs and thank-yous to PikedPike, Linos Melindi, TheSheepQueen, i0Brendan0, Ruggy, Shroud and JohnSmith. Each of these collaborators contributed charts or helped play-test, and in some cases both! I am grateful to these folks and to everyone who made the Project what it is today, as well as what it will be in the days to come. We’re not done yet!

Celebrating Music

And now, the goodies!

• AFI, “Beautiful Thieves”: keys by FujiSkunk
• All That Remains, “Forever in Your Hands”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• All That Remains, “Hold On”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• All-American Rejects, “Swing, Swing”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Anarchy Club, “Get Clean”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Anberlin, “Feel Good Drag”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Angels & Airwaves, “It Hurts”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Band of Horses, “No One’s Gonna Love You”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Bangles, “Walk like an Egyptian”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Black Keys, “I Got Mine”: keys by FujiSkunk
• blink-182, “Adam’s Song’: keys by PikedPike
• blink-182, “Always”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• blink-182, “Down”: keys by PikedPike
• blink-182, “First Date”: keys by PikedPike
• blink-182, “The Rock Show”: keys by PikedPike
• Blue Öyster Cult, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Blur, “There’s No Other Way”: keys by PikedPike
• Boston, “Foreplay / Long Time”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Breathe Carolina, “Hello Fascination”: keys and harmonies by i0Brendan0
• Coheed and Cambria, “Welcome Home”: keys by Linos Melindi
• Collective Soul, “Shine”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Damone, “Out Here All Night”: keys by FujiSkunk
• dc Talk, “Jesus Freak”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Deep Purple, “Highway Star”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Deftones, “Minerva”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Devil Wears Prada, “Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over”: keys and harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Family Force 5, “Love Addict”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Foo Fighters, “Wheels”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Foster the People, “Pumped Up Kicks”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Franz Ferdinand, “Take Me Out”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Fratellis, “Henrietta”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Freezepop, “Brainpower”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Garbage, “Why Do You Love Me”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Graveyard BBQ, “Cheat on the Church”: keys and harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Green Day, “Minority”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Green Day, “Wake Me Up When September Ends”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Guns n’ Roses, “Shackler’s Revenge”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Interpol, “PDA”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Iron Maiden, “The Clairvoyant”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Jackson 5, “ABC”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Jet, “She’s a Genius”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Little Wing”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Jimmy Eat World, “Futures”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Job for a Cowboy, “Unfurling a Darkened Gospel”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Kaiser Chiefs, “Ruby”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Kasabian, “Shoot the Runner”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Killers, “Mr. Bright Side”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• The Killers, “Smile like You Mean It”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Killers, “When You Were Young”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• KISS, “Detroit Rock City”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Kutless, “Strong Tower”: keys and harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Lacuna Coil, “Swamped”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Luscious Jackson, “Naked Eye”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Marilyn Manson, “The Dope Show”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Modest Mouse, “Float On”: keys by TheSheepQueen
• Morrissey, “Irish Blood, English Heart”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Mountain, “Mississippi Queen”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• MuteMath, “Typical”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Neon Trees, “1983”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Neon Trees, “Animal”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Nine Inch Nails, “The Hand That Feeds”: keys by FujiSkunk, pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Nirvana, “In Bloom”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• No Doubt, “Ex-Girlfriend”: keys by FujiSkunk
• OK Go, “Here It Goes Again”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Ozzy Osbourne, “Let Me Hear You Scream”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Panic! At the Disco, “Nine in the Afternoon”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Pantera, “Floods”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Paramore, “That’s What You Get”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Pearl Jam, “The Fixer”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Pearl Jam, “Jeremy”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Pixies, “Wave of Mutilation”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Plain White T’s, “Natural Disaster”: keys by FujiSkunk
• P.O.D., “Alive”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Queens of the Stone Age, “Go with the Flow”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Radiohead, “Creep”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Ramones, “Blitzkrieg Bop”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• REO Speedwagon, “Take It on the Run”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Replacements, “Alex Chilton”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Silverchair, “Tomorrow”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Silversun Pickups, “Panic Switch”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Silversun Pickups, “Well Thought Out Twinkles”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Skillet, “Monster”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Slipknot, “Duality”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Smashing Pumpkins, “Cherub Rock”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• The Smithereens, “A Girl like You”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Soundgarden, “Jesus Christ Pose”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Speck, “Grumpytown”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Speck, “VP of Booty Reports”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• Sunny Day Real Estate, “Seven”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• System of a Down, “B.Y.O.B.”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Tears for Fears, “Shout”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Thousand Foot Krutch, “Fire It Up”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Trace Adkins, “Swing”: keys by FujiSkunk
• TV on the Radio, “Wolf like Me”: keys by FujiSkunk
• Vampire Weekend, “A-Punk”: harmonies by FujiSkunk
• The Vines, “He’s a Rocker”: keys by FujiSkunk
• The Who, “Pinball Wizard”: pro guitar/bass by Ruggy
• Wolfmother, “Joker & the Thief”: keys by FujiSkunk

As contributor of most of the keys upgrades, I’ll warn you that many of these keys parts are rather sparse. You’re probably not going to feel like the next Billy Joel or Elton John as you play them. Even so, they are worthy inclusions that make the legacy catalog that much more complete!

For Chart-a-thon, we’ve asked that you donate $1 to charity for every custom you download. Here, I would encourage you to consider a $0.25 donation for every song you update with charts from this addition to the Rock Band Harmonies Project. That’s an excellent deal when you consider the 99 cents Harmonix charges for pro-guitar upgrades!

Additional Information about the Rock Band Harmonies Project

espher hosts the original Rock Band Harmonies Project on GitHub. My fork of the Project, which includes all of these newest updates and a whole lot more, is also on GitHub. If you’re new to the Project, you should watch espher’s tutorial, available on YouTube. The tool that bundles these upgrades with your existing Rock Band content is available here.

For those who have purchased official pro-guitar upgrades for legacy DLC, note that these cause conflicts with RBHP upgrades, and so you should not use the RBHP Custom Packager to add RBHP upgrades to tracks with official upgrades. In particular, “Little Wing” has an official upgrade, so be aware if you decide to update that song for keys.

Enjoy!