Rocksmith - 3 Years On

Lyuuki on 22/11/2014 - 08:41

So it's been three long years since the original Rocksmith was released. That's more than enough time to decide if their claim was right, that "Rocksmith is the fastest way to learn guitar."

I'm genuinely curious here; how many of you who played Rocksmith (original or 2014 version) to learn guitar are still playing to this day? How many of you have given up? Do you feel that you've 'learnt' guitar over the time you've had Rocksmith? Have you since stopped Rocksmith, but kept on with guitar?

If you've previously played guitar, what are your thoughts on RS? Would you recommend it to others to learn with?

I myself actually purchased a copy of Rocksmith 2014 for my band and I to muck around with, and it's proven to be hours of good fun despite being pushed as a tool to learn guitar.

Really interested in how it's worked out for you guys who've learnt from scratch.

Got a buddy who learnt guitar himself via Rocksmith; ended up learning to play Pantera and A7X on a steel acoustic. Crazy stuff.

Gaming Ubisoft Video Game

Comments

  • Adz81 on 22/11/2014 - 09:39
    +1

    I bought myself a RS and a guitar, but haven't had the time to put it to a proper test yet :/ Interested to hear the feedback on it too…

  • Ramrunner on 22/11/2014 - 10:56
    +2

    I personally love it and even though I'm very busy and hardly get time to get the XB360 to myself, I make a point of still playing an hour once or twice a week. I know 7 sessions of 15 minutes would be far better but that's just not the way my life works.

    I basically play the recommended song and try to improve my previous mastery. If I can't I play one of the recommended sections on riff repeater to try and improve that section.

    My only complaint in the "learning" part is that it seems in quite a few songs it levels up bloody quick. One minute I'm playing single strings for a section, the next I'm a contortionist breaking my fingers to get them in position suggested for this extremely complex looking chord and it comes up so quick especially when it's chord after chord. So I still find myself looking down at the neck when these come up trying to position my fingers correctly, making an unsatisfying pling about half a second too late, rinse and repeat for the next chord.

    I would really like RS to sense I have troubles with that section and maybe ask if I would like to break that section down into a lesson, basically maybe slowing it down (not just keep repeating at 75% speed) and make it very clear how to position the fingers. Hell maybe even wait till I've played the note before continuing.

    I just find the lesson part could be a lot smarter.

    Yes I know there are arcade games to help me with these but for some reason the games I've tried I can't get a score on even though I'm hitting the right notes as far as I can tell. The games have been no good for me.

    As far as I'm concerned they can drop the stupid "guitarcade" all together and make their learning process a lot smarter. Concentrate their efforts on that.

    Other complaint is even though I've installed the game to the XB360 hard disk, it still uses the disk for everything making the thing so incredibly slow to load at start up and between sections.

    My last complaint is a licensing thing. I just really want to see Metallica and more effort to get more popular songs by Ubi soft licensed. Not just the kind of stuff by more obscure artists. More mainstream stuff. Nickelback, Live, Disturbed. I don't mind some of their artists they do have, but then the songs seem to be B side stuff, not the chart toppers.

    This is not a problem on PC I know there's a bucket load of custom DLC being made by people. Maybe at least find a way to "open up" the XB360 to allow us to get the custom content on.

    I did originally buy the PC version (both RS and 2014) but both constantly crashed (immediately, every song or on a very lucky day every three songs) and were very slow and stuttery. I have the most stable notebook I've ever owned (UX31A) and it's not particularly a slouch (i7, 4Gb, SSD). Never crashes on anything else and it's my workhorse. So Ubi's coding skill leave a lot to be desired on PC. Maybe drop all the flashy effect and JUST have the notes coming down the neck of the guitar might help. I really don't get the flashy graphics anyway.

    There you go. My impressions. I still play it a lot. I still love playing it. In general out of the songs I play on any given day there may be 1 or 2 I don't improve on but generally every time I play a song there tends to be an improvement.

  • PurpleHippo on 22/11/2014 - 11:28
    +1

    I bought it a year ago to help with my Bass playing. I had just started playing at church. I think it has helped, in terms of catching a beat and following along. I still wouldn't say that I know what I am doing though… However playing along to The Kinks and Alice Cooper is a lot more fun than the christian stuff ;)

    I have put it down for a while though. Really should pick it up again.

  • ozhunter on 22/11/2014 - 15:21

    Reviews looks great. Anyone know the cheapest place to get it(PC) with the cable?

  • RI4V4N on 23/11/2014 - 07:00

    I already knew how to play bass to some degree, but its been a great way of keeping practicing up, especially with new songs etc.

  • IdLikeToBeATree on 24/11/2014 - 10:01

    I've been playing guitar for about 7 years, and I love playing it for fun. I don't think it teaches me anything besides new songs in a fun way, but I find it's easier to just look at guitar tabs and learn a song that way (not as fun though)

    I like the fact that it gives you feedback as to whether or not you were playing as well as you think you were. And it's pretty accurate from what I've found. Also makes you feel like you are a king when you 100% master a song whereas just playing along with it on your guitar amp doesn't really

    The interface seems to take a while to get used to though, when musician friends come over I get them to play but even though they are quite capable on guitar, they can't even play basic stuff on rocksmith, so you have to make sure you put in the time up front to get used to how the notes scroll and such

  • marquise on 02/12/2014 - 00:32

    One year on since purchasing Rocksmith 2014, I play it weekly and have loved every moment of it. It is excellent for both learning and keeping you practising. I previously learnt guitar when I was a kid, but did not excel the way I have with RS (though, knowledge of chords helped).
    I'm patiently waiting for a similar product that can be used for piano/keyboards!

    "jumpo" hits on an interesting point about experienced guitarists who come over and have trouble playing the game - this is because it takes some time to learn the Rocksmith notation. Most guitarists would memorise the songs they've learnt. What is great is once you learn how to read the RS notation you can play any song on a whim (though funnily I cannot play it back from memory! - problem reversed)

    One tip I found to help is to reverse the default string layout, so that it more naturally fits with how tabs are drawn. I found this more natural and improved immediately, though ymmv.

    Make sure you all check out http://search.customsforge.com/ for custom dlcs! (loads of Metallica there)

    • frutter on 04/12/2015 - 22:45

      Hi marquise wanting to purchase the game, I believe theres 2 versions for PC, download via steam or a CD copy. Which rocksmith platform do you have, just wanting to purchase the right ones so I can add the custom DLCs

      • marquise on 10/12/2015 - 12:37
        +1

        If you don't have the cable, it might be cheaper to get a physical copy (discs) which includes it. If you get a digital copy, then you'll have to source the cable separately. Custom dlcs will work either way as you end up with the same software.

        On PC you'll have the widest choice of custom dlc, as community sometimes neglects the other platforms (mac, ps, xbox).

        • frutter on 10/12/2015 - 12:42

          very hard to find a PC version and the real tone cable in a physical store, but defifinitely will go with PC, thanks

  • samwyze on 10/12/2014 - 14:40

    Its my go to practise tool, I've had it about a year, I try to play 3 hours a week. Best with added custom songs, I have about 400 I like, easy to add on PC, or modded 360/PS4.

  • punkindrublic on 08/12/2015 - 09:07
    +1

    Bought the game about 6 months back, and while I enjoy the setup and large volume of songs to learn, the game absolutely struggles to recognise notes on the lower strings.

    The number of times I've (near perfectly) played the Foo Fighters' Everlong with Drop D tuning, only to have 'MISSED' pop up with every.single.freaking.chord is infuriating.

    While I can only assume it's got something to do with my guitar rather than the game or cables, you'd think that the developers could give just a little more leeway when it comes to note recognition.

    • IdLikeToBeATree on 11/12/2015 - 08:52
      +1

      Yeah the chords often don't get picked up properly, I generally just play clean lead stuff like Franz Ferdinand so doesn't bother me too much but if I was playing a lot of rock like foo fighters I can imagine it would get quite frustrating

    • Ramrunner on 13/12/2015 - 23:14
      +2

      Yeah I find some songs with drop D or any of the slightly flat/sharp E do not register the first string properly down in frets 1-4 particularly.

      Annoying as hell for a lot of songs that concentrate on those notes particularly.

      • punkindrublic on 14/12/2015 - 17:23
        +1

        I'm glad it's not just me then - the various help forums weren't very useful when it came to dealing with this issue.

        The good thing is that I managed to get the game for a pretty low price off Amazon, so if I don't get around to playing it again I'll flog it off on Gumtree or whatnot. It seems to be in high demand still!

  • The Value on 17/10/2023 - 12:20

    Delisting incoming. One week to go from the time of this post.

    https://www.ubisoft.com/en-au/game/rocksmith/plus/news-updat…

    It's now or never. With custom songs, it's a great game you can play for a long time.

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