# Guitarists, I've just discovered Rocksmith - wow!



## mac (Feb 25, 2018)

Why has it took me so many years to find out what rocksmith is all about? I'd always thought it was another guitar hero type of game. I've logged about 30 hours in the last 3 days on this thing, it's amazing!

Is anyone else a rocksmith'er? I'm using it on PS4, so what with Sony never holding sales on DLC plus the fact they like to charge 30% + more than microsoft and steam, I've spent quit a bit of money on song packs. Don't care though, well worth it


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## R. Soul (Feb 25, 2018)

I totally forgot about that game. 

Is the whole thing based upon learning famous songs? It looks like it from the videos I saw on YouTube.
I think I'm more interested in various strumming techniques and things like that, that I can use for my own songs, instead of playing other people's music. Does it provide that?


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## mac (Feb 25, 2018)

It is based primarily on learning existing songs, yeah. There's also other things like interactive lessons, and an arcade game section which drills different techniques (scales, picking, chords etc) in a really fun way. I don't think there's anything specifically strumming technique based, but the songs are so varied that you do pick new things up all the time. You choose whether to play rhythm, lead, or bass, and the rhythm versions have chord strumming which you have to follow.

It's just really well done. It picks up the notes flawlessly, and if you're like me and are guilty of not quite fingering as cleanly as you could, it'll call you out on it.

I miss playing in a live band and haven't done so in years, so this hits the spot.


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## mac (Feb 25, 2018)

Oh, forgot to mention, there's also a session mode where you choose the backing band type, and they play along with you, dynamics and all. It blows my mind.


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## R. Soul (Feb 25, 2018)

Thanks.
It does seem rather good and for the price of what's basically 2 guitar lessons it's worth a shot I think.


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## ghobii (Feb 26, 2018)

I had fun with it when it came out. Definitely a good way to practice.


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## chillbot (Feb 26, 2018)

Interesting. Thanks for the tip I just ordered it for PC. Wish I could get it for Wii...


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## mac (Feb 26, 2018)

chillbot said:


> Interesting. Thanks for the tip I just ordered it for PC. Wish I could get it for Wii...



Here's another pro tip for ya - to get another 50 odd songs really cheap, buy an old copy of the original rocksmith off ebay or amazon. I bought mine for £3. Then, you can purchase a disc export (I think its called that) within the game for £10 or so, which allows you to import those songs into the new version of the game.


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## JC_ (Feb 26, 2018)

Pretty great game. I played for a while a few years ago. I'm thinking of getting bass guitar and starting up again.


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## JT3_Jon (Mar 5, 2018)

If you want to open the doors off this game, check out http://customsforge.com Users here are taking songs that are not in rocksmith (like all the pink floyd stuff for example) and making their own rocksmith versions for free! Of course not all are not as good as official releases (especially in the tone department) but still they are great fun and open you up to TONS of music. 

My personal biggest gripe about rocksmith is that it can potentially teach you really bad habits. By default it makes you play every song, even when sight-reading it for the first time, at performance tempo, which potentially can cause you to get tense and learn bad habits. So make sure you use the riff repeater to slow down the songs, even on first time play through, so you dont learn wrong and have to work at forgetting your bad mistakes. Also I personally find the auto leveling up very annoying, as it will suddenly turn single notes or "power chords" into different full chords, which can completely change how you finger the part - so all the previous practice becomes worthless. Again to solve this I will work out songs in riff repeater mode and set it at around 88% from the get go, and play it at 50% speed. 

Overall though I enjoy the game and its one more "motivation" to pick up the guitar and play, which is never a bad thing.


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## JT3_Jon (Mar 5, 2018)

R. Soul said:


> I totally forgot about that game.
> 
> Is the whole thing based upon learning famous songs? It looks like it from the videos I saw on YouTube.
> I think I'm more interested in various strumming techniques and things like that, that I can use for my own songs, instead of playing other people's music. Does it provide that?



this brings up another good point. First off there are many "lessons" in different guitar techniques, so its not all "learn this famous song." they also have a whole "guitar arcade" section which makes boring things like learning scales, chords, bends, etc a little more fun by "gamifying" it.

But even so, playing other peoples music can be a great learning tool. I'm an amature guitar player at best, and playing through the different songs in different styles has opened me up to different playing techniques that I have then used in my own songs. In fact, I dont use it to master 100% on the latest Rush or Muse song, but I use it mainly to discover how other bands and guitarists use the instrument, which can be frustratingly inspiring.


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## ken c (Mar 5, 2018)

mac said:


> Oh, forgot to mention, there's also a session mode where you choose the backing band type, and they play along with you, dynamics and all. It blows my mind.



I had the pleasure of working on Rocksmith 2014 as one of the composers for session mode. It's a great game and was a cool challenging project, I hope that they can continue to make more of them, it seems that the genre may be dying out though...


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## mac (Mar 6, 2018)

JT3_Jon said:


> If you want to open the doors off this game, check out http://customsforge.com Users here are taking songs that are not in rocksmith (like all the pink floyd stuff for example) and making their own rocksmith versions for free! Of course not all are not as good as official releases (especially in the tone department) but still they are great fun and open you up to TONS of music.
> 
> My personal biggest gripe about rocksmith is that it can potentially teach you really bad habits. By default it makes you play every song, even when sight-reading it for the first time, at performance tempo, which potentially can cause you to get tense and learn bad habits. So make sure you use the riff repeater to slow down the songs, even on first time play through, so you dont learn wrong and have to work at forgetting your bad mistakes. Also I personally find the auto leveling up very annoying, as it will suddenly turn single notes or "power chords" into different full chords, which can completely change how you finger the part - so all the previous practice becomes worthless. Again to solve this I will work out songs in riff repeater mode and set it at around 88% from the get go, and play it at 50% speed.
> 
> Overall though I enjoy the game and its one more "motivation" to pick up the guitar and play, which is never a bad thing.



No CDLC option for me unfortunately, I'm on PS4. I might pick it up for the mac too though, for that reason.

Yeah, sometimes it's harder to play along with rocksmiths beginner level in songs as they'll remove a lot of notes and you end up with some strange syncopation! It soon ramps up though and after a second pass through a track, you're usually up to full on tab. I think they've struck a really good balance for on-boarding beginners and seasoned guitarists alike.


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## mac (Mar 6, 2018)

ken c said:


> I had the pleasure of working on Rocksmith 2014 as one of the composers for session mode. It's a great game and was a cool challenging project, I hope that they can continue to make more of them, it seems that the genre may be dying out though...



Great job! New DLC every week is a good sign at least, and they sent out a questionnaire recently which hints at a new version in the works.

I do wish they'd iron out the bugs in the PS4 version though, I'm getting a lot of freezing in game.


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## JT3_Jon (Mar 6, 2018)

mac said:


> No CDLC option for me unfortunately, I'm on PS4. I might pick it up for the mac too though, for that reason.
> 
> Yeah, sometimes it's harder to play along with rocksmiths beginner level in songs as they'll remove a lot of notes and you end up with some strange syncopation! It soon ramps up though and after a second pass through a track, you're usually up to full on tab. I think they've struck a really good balance for on-boarding beginners and seasoned guitarists alike.



If you do, the game goes on sale quite often via steam. Seen Rocksmith 2014 as low as $12.99, and apparently its been as low as $9.99 if you search price histories.


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## Welldone (Mar 6, 2018)

I would like to try out Rocksmith to practise bass-guitar on a beginner level. Are there also lessons for bass or can you just play the songs on bass instead of guitar?


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## mac (Mar 6, 2018)

Welldone said:


> I would like to try out Rocksmith to practise bass-guitar on a beginner level. Are there also lessons for bass or can you just play the songs on bass instead of guitar?



Each track has a specific bass part, same as guitar.


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## JT3_Jon (Mar 6, 2018)

Welldone said:


> I would like to try out Rocksmith to practise bass-guitar on a beginner level. Are there also lessons for bass or can you just play the songs on bass instead of guitar?



Here is a video showing you some of the bass lessons:


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## Welldone (Mar 6, 2018)

JT3_Jon said:


> Here is a video showing you some of the bass lessons:



Thank you very much! I missed this information when I did my research.


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Mar 6, 2018)

I bought it recently, with the intention of doing some daily practice. It seems pretty cool, but I got bogged down with lots of work, so I kinda forgot about it. 
The only thing I wish for (that will never happen) - is a bunch of Django Reinhardt tracks and some gypsy jazz specific scale lessons


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## Mike Fox (Mar 7, 2018)

Seems like a fun way to learn guitar, or even new songs If you've been playing for a while. Out of curiosity, what are the most challenging songs to learn in Rocksmith? They all seem pretty basic.


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## mac (Mar 8, 2018)

Mike Fox said:


> Seems like a fun way to learn guitar, or even new songs If you've been playing for a while. Out of curiosity, what are the most challenging songs to learn in Rocksmith? They all seem pretty basic.



There are a lot of challenging songs in there, but you could be Steve Vai for all I know, so it's all relative. Off the top of my head, the Joe Satriana, Dragonforce, Eric Johnston, Dream Theatre, and SRV tracks should be a challenge to pretty much anyone.


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## R. Soul (Mar 11, 2018)

mac said:


> Here's another pro tip for ya - to get another 50 odd songs really cheap, buy an old copy of the original rocksmith off ebay or amazon. I bought mine for £3. Then, you can purchase a disc export (I think its called that) within the game for £10 or so, which allows you to import those songs into the new version of the game.


This is a good tip. I just ordered the original on PS3, while I've got 2014 version on PS4. Should bring the full amount of tracks up to around 100.
Unfortunately (for me), this being quite interactive and game like, my daughter has grown quite fond of it, so I end up watching her practice, rather than me. But hey, it's all good fun.


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