 Rihanna first performed " Rockstar 101 " on American Idol on April 7 , 2010 . She wore a black PVC catsuit and was accompanied on stage by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt ; the set design included flame throwers and a video screen which showed guitars , lightning bolts and skulls . At one point , the singer picked and played up a black Gibson Flying V guitar . Larry Carroll for MTV wrote that the extent of Rihanna 's ability to play the guitar was limited to playing it with one finger on one of the strings . However , he complimented Rihanna 's overall performance , writing that her shoulder pads were " nearly as huge as her presence " . He went on to write that she " half @-@ sung , half @-@ spoke " the song . A reviewer for MTV UK agreed with Carroll , writing that " halfway through the performance [ Rihanna ] donned a ' black flying v guitar ' although we 're not sure you could say she ' played ' it ! " Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone praised Rihanna 's performance , writing " if the introductory rules of rock stardom are ' teach thyself to pick slide , ' ' tight clothes ' and ' pyro ! ' then Rihanna has been paying attention in her ' Rockstar 101 ' classes after all " . 
 Rihanna first performed " Rockstar 101 " on American Idol on April 7 , 2010 . She wore a black PVC catsuit and was accompanied on stage by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt ; the set design included flame throwers and a video screen which showed guitars , lightning bolts and skulls . At one point , the singer picked and played up a black Gibson Flying V guitar . Larry Carroll for MTV wrote that the extent of Rihanna <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>ability to play the guitar was limited to playing it with one finger on one of the strings . However , he complimented Rihanna <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'s</mark></a>overall performance , writing that her shoulder pads <a href='uninflect' title='3'><mark>were</mark></a> " nearly as huge as her presence " . He went on to write that she " half @-@ sung , half @-@ spoke " the song . A reviewer for MTV UK agreed with Carroll , writing that " halfway through the performance [ Rihanna ] donned a ' black flying v guitar ' although we <a href='negative_concord' title='4'><mark>'re</mark></a> <a href='negative_concord' title='5'><mark>not</mark></a>sure you could say she ' played ' it ! " Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone praised Rihanna <a href='null_genetive' title='6'><mark>'s</mark></a>performance , writing " if the introductory rules of rock stardom are ' teach thyself to pick slide , ' ' tight clothes <a href='null_genetive' title='7'><mark>'</mark></a>and ' pyro ! ' then Rihanna <a href='uninflect' title='8'><mark>has</mark></a> been paying attention in her ' Rockstar 101 <a href='null_genetive' title='9'><mark>'</mark></a>classes after all " . 
Rihanna first performed " Rockstar 101 " on American Idol on April 7 , 2010 . She wore a black PVC catsuit and was accompanied on stage by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt ; the set design included flame throwers and a video screen which showed guitars , lightning bolts and skulls . At one point , the singer picked and played up a black Gibson flyin V guitar . Larry Carroll fa MTV wrote dat the extent of Rihanna  ability to play the guitar was limited to playing it with one finger on one of the strings . However , he complimented Rihanna  overall performance , writing that her shoulder pads was " nearly as huge as her presence " . He went on to write tdatshe " half @-@ sung , half @-@ spoke " the song . A reviewer for MTV UK agreed with Carroll , writing thdat halfway thru the performance [ Rihanna ] donned a ' black fflyinv guitar ' although we ain't sure yu could say she ' played ' it ! " Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone praised Rihanna  performance , writing " if the introductory rules of rock stardom are ' teach thyself to pick slide , ' ' tight clothes  and ' pyro ! ' then Rihanna have been paying attention in her ' Rockstar 101  classes after alll " .