Quoted from Vespula:Still wish I knew what need to do during a song to try and ensure that I have the extra ball with cash out
Eskaybee just answered that question a few posts up. His info has helped me a lot, same with ZaphX and I'm sure I missed a few but those two seem to have a lot of regular and good info so I remember them easier.
Quoted from Eskaybee:During a song, lighting all 9 inlanes (AMP, GNR, JAM) will qualify the light extra ball IF you cash out. It progressively gets harder to light those inlanes the more songs you start.
If I could add to that, I think this is part of why it's imperative to try and not start a song at all unless you have all 6 balls locked, or as many as you can lock, whenever possible.
With more balls in play during a song, you're more likely to get those inlanes all lit up much faster, and then have the option to cash out early with the extra ball included. Jackpots also increase faster and end up higher with more balls in play.
Would I try and lock 6 balls, get my boosters, patches and try to go straight into November Rain or Estranged? Heck no. Neither of those has a song specific patch that improves their scoring that I know of either. I'd have to really be in the zone and not missing any shots to actually think I might make it the whole way through.
The shorter the song, the better your chances will be to complete the song, and hopefully with more than one ball in play.
Someone mentioned song value drops I believe 15 points when you choose the song yourself. So I generally try to take what it serves me to capitalize on the max value I can have at the time. If I'm near my last ball on the game, and if I have patches that are song specific I haven't gotten to take advantage of yet, then I'll go ahead and choose a song I have a patch for since it will most likely be my last song of the game, I want it to be as maxed out as possible (and likely from an album I already played a few songs off of.)
Appetite for Destruction is my favorite album to play because it's got plenty of short songs you can score big on early in the game. It's so Easy is one of my favorites, I can score pretty well with usually just Gun, Fender, Vader and Duff. Same with Out to Get Me.
After I complete one or two of those shorter songs, I'm back to getting the Rose to go with my Gun patch for Paradise City and Welcome to the Jungle, the train for Nighttrain or the condom for Rocket Queen. Because then I've already got a song or two done on Appetite, the album level will be higher, then going back in with the appropriate patches and cherry picking the next song I want on that same album usually yields great rewards.