Rocksmith

[Lucy Diamond]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I'm getting this for Christmas too. The only thing that concerns me is the selection of songs out of the box. Most of them are meh. I sure hope UBISoft releases some expansion packs soon!

There's a small collection of Megadeth songs on the PStore.

If they dumb them down enough in the beginning, you'd be VERY good by the time you were playing them for real.

The only downside is not really understanding what you are doing when you are playing it this way.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Lucy Diamond

There's a small collection of Megadeth songs on the PStore.

If they dumb them down enough in the beginning, you'd be VERY good by the time you were playing them for real.

The only downside is not really understanding what you are doing when you are playing it this way.

Not a huge fan of Megadeth. I would like to see more classic rock stuff like ACDC, KISS, Led Zepplin, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Stones, etc.

[andyman1970]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Not a huge fan of Megadeth. I would like to see more classic rock stuff like ACDC, KISS, Led Zepplin, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Stones, etc.

Well then you will appreciate some of the previous downloads that include Free Bird by Lynard Skynard, More Than a Feeling from Boston, Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple and Jessica by The Allman Brothers. Like you I would love to see some Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin and Queen. Maybe in time it will happen.

If you're really serious about learning or playing guitar you'll love this game. I have trouble putting it down.

[ariakon]

Sweet, in four or five years, I'll be able to buy those Megadeth songs and get past the beginner notes...maybe.

[Lucy Diamond]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Not a huge fan of Megadeth. I would like to see more classic rock stuff like ACDC, KISS, Led Zepplin, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Stones, etc.

Originally Posted by ariakon

Sweet, in four or five years, I'll be able to buy those Megadeth songs and get past the beginner notes...maybe.

Cool man.

Yeah...the reason why I suggest Megadeth songs to new guitar players (regardless of their taste or desired genre) is because their songs require some thought and some study, but are still accessible. The concepts are very musical in nature. Take a world famous band like Metallica...their songs are classic beyond belief...however, the majority of them won't actually make you a better guitar player. Unless of course you are specifically trying to improve your downpicking...in which case, learning the Master of Puppets album will make you a right handed freak.


Whatever you new guys are into...just make sure you are enjoying it and you stick with it. When playing the guitar becomes work...you are not learning the right way. Pleeeeeeeeease feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I am always happy to help the new generations.

[ariakon]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Megadeth fan (saw them for the Rust in Peace tour in DC last year) but for an absolute beginner (yo), Hangar 18 is a little intimidating. I can't believe how little my brain grasps the instrument so far. My fingers are less dumb but my skill level is precisely non-existent.

[Lucy Diamond]

Originally Posted by ariakon

Don't get me wrong, I'm a Megadeth fan (saw them for the Rust in Peace tour in DC last year) but for an absolute beginner (yo), Hangar 18 is a little intimidating. I can't believe how little my brain grasps the instrument so far. My fingers are less dumb but my skill level is precisely non-existent.

Start at the bottom. People always say "you have to walk before you can run."

The problem is...as guitar players, we aren't trying to run...we are trying to fly.

First...you must be born into this new world...then you must crawl...then you have to spend months just flopping around and falling on your face before you get crawling down...THEN...one day you start walking...at that point...once you have mastered playing slowly....running comes automatically and one day you won't be able to see the ground anymore.

Make no bones about it...no matter what nameless faceless internet troll tells you how they picked it up in a few hours.....learning to play a stringed instrument is very difficult. Before she becomes a part of your anatomy, it will be you VS. her for a while.

People LOVE to talk about how the greats were self taught.

Jimi Hendrix was self taught....AFTER he had years of Jazz instruction.

Eddie Van Halen was self taught....AFTER 7 years of classical violin instruction.

And so on.

Just stick with it.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Lucy Diamond

Start at the bottom. People always say "you have to walk before you can run."

The problem is...as guitar players, we aren't trying to run...we are trying to fly.

First...you must be born into this new world...then you must crawl...then you have to spend months just flopping around and falling on your face before you get crawling down...THEN...one day you start walking...at that point...once you have mastered playing slowly....running comes automatically and one day you won't be able to see the ground anymore.

Make no bones about it...no matter what nameless faceless internet troll tells you how they picked it up in a few hours.....learning to play a stringed instrument is very difficult. Before she becomes a part of your anatomy, it will be you VS. her for a while.

People LOVE to talk about how the greats were self taught.

Jimi Hendrix was self taught....AFTER he had years of Jazz instruction.

Eddie Van Halen was self taught....AFTER 7 years of classical violin instruction.

And so on.

Just stick with it.

I've been playing on and off for quite a few years. My biggest problem is that my interest comes in spurts. I'll be all gung ho for a couple of months, practice like crazy learning songs, etc. Then I lose interest for a while. Sometimes a LONG while. I always come back to it eventually but I seem to lack consistency or stick-to-itiveness. What's wrong with me???

[andyman1970]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I've been playing on and off for quite a few years. My biggest problem is that my interest comes in spurts. I'll be all gung ho for a couple of months, practice like crazy learning songs, etc. Then I lose interest for a while. Sometimes a LONG while. I always come back to it eventually but I seem to lack consistency or stick-to-itiveness. What's wrong with me???

Sounds like you may have the same problem I have which is "Why am I not progressing as quickly as I want to?" I have always, and I mean ALWAYS wanted to learn to play but I always gave up and lost interest because I felt as though I should be able to pick it up and just play. It took me a long time to realize this isn't going to happen. Now that I've been playing Rocksmith for about 3 weeks I am farther along then I ever got in the past but I still have a long way to go. Being able to play, or should I say fumble along with the songs makes it a lot more fun and the mini games are great practice for learning the fret board and strings. I just love Super Ducks.

I think Lucy Diamond put a great prespective on it. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk and run. And learning to crawl can sometimes be the hardest part. I can't belive I've already made it to level 3 and I still get lost in the songs a lot of times.

[Steelmaker]

So far I'm enjoying the game but I do have a few nitpicks.

For one, why only offer standard E tuning and drop D tuning? There are so many other tunings that bands use. Why not tuning down half a step? Why not blues based tuning? Yeah I know I could tune outside of the game but I'm just sayin'.

My other gripe is with the interface. IMO they tried to be a little too clever with it graphically and as a result, it can be very confusing as to which fret and string you're supposed to be on with the angle changes. I think a much simpler, less dynamic interface would actually be more effective in learning the songs. Plus I dont really get the whole color system with the strings. To me instead of color coding the strings it would make more sense to label them EADGBE or simply 123456. And why only display fret numbers 3 5 7 9 12 15 etc? Wouldnt it make more sense to display the fret number(s) you are actually needing at that time during the song?

[BStecke]

This dropped in price rather quickly, so I had to pull the trigger. I've owned a guitar for about 15 years and have always picked it up and started fooling with it, but the instructional books, videos, etc never really got me to where I felt like I was actually learning how to play the guitar, so I would always get frustrated and end up leaving it for awhile, then coming back and basically starting over.

I've always been musically proficient, but I never had any sort of system with which to learn guitar like I did other things. With the reviews this is getting so far, I have high hopes that this is going to be the thing that gets me going and keeps me going to actually being able to say I play the guitar. Can't wait to get it!

[andyman1970]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

So far I'm enjoying the game but I do have a few nitpicks.

For one, why only offer standard E tuning and drop D tuning? There are so many other tunings that bands use. Why not tuning down half a step? Why not blues based tuning? Yeah I know I could tune outside of the game but I'm just sayin'.

My other gripe is with the interface. IMO they tried to be a little too clever with it graphically and as a result, it can be very confusing as to which fret and string you're supposed to be on with the angle changes. I think a much simpler, less dynamic interface would actually be more effective in learning the songs. Plus I dont really get the whole color system with the strings. To me instead of color coding the strings it would make more sense to label them EADGBE or simply 123456. And why only display fret numbers 3 5 7 9 12 15 etc? Wouldnt it make more sense to display the fret number(s) you are actually needing at that time during the song?

To answer some of you're questions;
1. Standard E and Drop D are the two most popular tunings for rock guitar. From what I understand the game developers are looking into adding more tunings as download content, but that could just be a rumor at another site.
2. The reason that only frets 3,5,7,9,12,15,17 are displayed on the screen is because they are the only frets marked with dots or other makers on the guitar fretboard. You may have noticed while playing the four highlighted areas on screen, these are your anchor zones and each highlighted area represents where to place each of your four fingers.
3. I agree that the developers should have at least put an option to replace the color coding of the 6 strings with the actual string name. the colors sometimes throw me off and I have to look down and end up falling behind.

One other change I wish was there is when the finger placement shows on screen I wish gave the actual note lettering (name.)

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by andyman1970

To answer some of you're questions;
1. Standard E and Drop D are the two most popular tunings for rock guitar. From what I understand the game developers are looking into adding more tunings as download content, but that could just be a rumor at another site.
2. The reason that only frets 3,5,7,9,12,15,17 are displayed on the screen is because they are the only frets marked with dots or other makers on the guitar fretboard. You may have noticed while playing the four highlighted areas on screen, these are your anchor zones and each highlighted area represents where to place each of your four fingers.
3. I agree that the developers should have at least put an option to replace the color coding of the 6 strings with the actual string name. the colors sometimes throw me off and I have to look down and end up falling behind.

One other change I wish was there is when the finger placement shows on screen I wish gave the actual note lettering (name.)

A LOT of bands/artists tune down half a step. If UBI Soft is indeed considering updating this portion of the game, half step down tuning HAS to be added.

Also something else I've noticed with the game is that it has a severe lack of emphasis on arpeggios. SO many note sequences in songs depend on picking individual notes that make up chord formations. However the game doesn't make this clear. As a result you end up "chasing" notes all over the neck that wouldnt be nearly as elusive if the game were more clear about the correct chord formations for these note sequences. Experienced players can probably pick these out but I can see it being very frustrating for beginners.

And yes I agree with you 100% on about indicating what notes are being played. If this is truly supposed to be a learning tool then by all means the player needs to be made aware of the notes they are playng. Having played guitar for almost 20 years, I can definitely say that Rocksmith is more game than it is instructional. Its a fun game and hopefully will inspire others to pursue guitar more passionately. However it's certainly no substitute for lessions with a competent instructor and good ol' fashioned nose to the grindstone practice.

[BStecke]

Well, this sucks. I finally got this, along with the opportunity to check it out, and I'm having issues. I had a hell of a time even getting past the tuning part of the game, as the game wouldn't recognize B and high E without a lot of futzing with knobs and the cable. It finally got to the point where I couldn't even play the game because it stopped recognizing high E and thought it was out of tune, and I can't get past the tuning screen.

Upon researching this online, it appears to be a fairly common issue, which is typically fixed by a professional setup. I've never had this done, and my guitar is at least 15 years old, so I need to get it done anyway, but I was pretty disappointed since I was pretty excited to have some time to really get into it today Gonna have to check out some guitar stores over the next few days. I have a Best Buy with the musical instruments section, but I'm hesitant to take it there.

[Sane]

Curious what people's feedback of this game is now that it's been out for a while...? Were you all eventually able to work around any issues you had?

I had almost forgotten about Rocksmith (I always figured I would pick up the guitar+game combo if I ever see it on sale but haven't gone out of my way to look for it) until I checked out the PS store and saw both Jeremy and Black by Pearl Jam available as downloads!

[BStecke]

I'm still waiting to get my guitar setup . But I'm going to be all over those Pearl Jam songs.

[ratandjmt]

Originally Posted by BStecke

Well, this sucks. I finally got this, along with the opportunity to check it out, and I'm having issues. I had a hell of a time even getting past the tuning part of the game, as the game wouldn't recognize B and high E without a lot of futzing with knobs and the cable. It finally got to the point where I couldn't even play the game because it stopped recognizing high E and thought it was out of tune, and I can't get past the tuning screen.

Upon researching this online, it appears to be a fairly common issue, which is typically fixed by a professional setup. I've never had this done, and my guitar is at least 15 years old, so I need to get it done anyway, but I was pretty disappointed since I was pretty excited to have some time to really get into it today Gonna have to check out some guitar stores over the next few days. I have a Best Buy with the musical instruments section, but I'm hesitant to take it there.

Check out these 2 websites. I did mine just by following the directions but if you are not handy you may want to go to a music store. I would at least check the 12th fret to see if your guitar is actually tuned correctly. Hope this helps you out.

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/intonate.htm

How to set your guitar's Intonation - YouTube

[Steelmaker]

Any word on future songs or songpacks?? Geez I feel like support for this game is starting to fade.

[Greengoblin]

I have not heard of this game before, is it good, i don't think we have it in Australia that i have seen, I have played guitar for 6 years now and love to play anything with Richie Sambora solos or Santana anyway i was wondering is this just plug a usb cable into our guitar and play or is this crap like the rock band and guitar hero which is nothing like a real guitar.

[magnum4ce]

You'd be much better off checking out the forum section at the Rocksmith site. I purchased the game a couple of weeks ago. Was definitely a Great purchase! Sorry support is certainly Not Fading for this game. And calling it just a game, is really selling it short.