Rocksmith 2014 | Learn guitar in 60 days! Or can you?

[XTankSlayerX]

Rock who? (what is it?)

the fastest way to learn guitar, at least that's what Ubisoft claims.

Rocksmith is a learning tool disguised as a game. A very powerful tool in fact as it covers all of the basics of playing a guitar to more advanced stuff like pinch harmonics and tapping.

Rocksmith 2014 comes (If you buy the bundle) with Ubisoft's own 'Real Tone Cable' which will be required to play Rocksmith 2014. It's a simple 1/4" jack to USB.

Rocksmith isn't just about your normal 6 string guitars, but you can also play bass guitar and sing along too.

Now that you have a rough idea of what Rocksmith 2014 is for, its time to find out if it’s worth investing your precious hours into.

THE GOOD

INTERACTIVE LESSONS
These lessons are going to be were beginners will spend most of their time and gather the most knowledge from.

These lessons will teach you: how to hold your guitar, how to put a strap on it, play notes, navigate the fretboard, hold and use a pick, power chords among other things.

These lessons are delivered in a video format, they're clear, in depth, and very useful to anyone who might need them.

Intermediate to advanced lessons include: bending, hammer ons and hammer offs, tremolo picking, slides, muting notes, barre chords, harmonics, and some hard stuff like tapping and pinch harmonics.

There are also lessons that teach you how to: play outside of Rocksmith, restring your guitar, tune your guitar to your low E string, use a capo and other things.

All very useful. Most of these lessons will have you perform what you've learned in it at the end before giving you a percentage of accuracy.

GUITARCADE

Training games disguised as mini games.

These are actually really cool. They're games but use your guitar as a controller, pretty straightforward right?
These prove to be fun and very helpful to refine your skills.

Some of these games will train your ability to play chords, jump from string to string, master your slides, or teach you scales.

Below is a brief explanation of what every game is like and what it helps you practice.

Gone Wailin’! | Volume Dynamics

This will teach you to be able to control your volume when playing.
The goal of the game is to have a little character collect coins while on top of a whale. You control the whales water output from its spout to control the height so you can collect coins and avoid obstacles.

String Skip Saloon | String Skipping

Defend the Saloon from bandits by playing the indicated string to fire your pistol.

Ducks ReDux | Fretting

Duck Hunt meets Rocksmith. Play the right notes to shoot the duck. Shoot the moving duck to score more points.

Ninja Slide N | Slides

Help the ninja jump from pillar to pillar by sliding notes!

Scale Warriors | Scales

Defeat ultimate evil by playing notes in the required scale.

Return to Castle Chordead | Chords

Left4Dead meets Rocksmith. Practice your chords to take out zombies and get back your kidnapped co worker.

Hurtlin’ Hurdles | Tremolo

Practice your Tremolo by playing as fast as you can on the indicated string to not get crushed!

Temple of Bends | Bends

Bend your notes to help the explorer navigate the temple!

Scale Racer | Scales

Play the notes in the set scale to swerve around traffic.

Star Chords | Chords

Play the shown chord to shoot down enemy space ships.

Harmonic Heist | Harmonics

Play the shown harmonics to steal treasure from the art gallery. Play the wrong harmonic and security will be triggered.
SCORE ATTACK

A arcade style "highest score wins" type of game mode. This mode allows you to choose your favourite song and a difficulty to play.

You play normally but at the end you're given a score which is then uploaded to the leader boards.

This isn't too useful for learning guitar, it's more of a tool to show how good you've become. You can also unlock rewards too by playing this mode.

Most of the rewards are Amp Skins, and fret inlays (which include a Dragon.)

LEARN A SONG MODE

Self explanatory, This is where you learn your favourite song.

In this mode you'll be able to edit difficulty, Speed of the song, Difficulty Repetitions, Level up, Speed repetitions, Accelerate, Auto-continue, set your Error Tolerance, View Previous Mistakes, and Master Mode.. Master mode is where you'll test your hours of practice, the notes will fade away as you're playing; this means you'll be playing from memory with no visual reference.

SESSION MODE

Here you'll be able to play along with your own band. You'll be able to set up your rig as you like (Rig is guitarist language for setup) You start playing and the band will follow you, even throwing in some changes, just like a real band would.

You can choose a few basses, guitars with different effects, synths, percussion, and a few other things

TONE DESIGNER

Ever wanted to sound like Jack White without the price tag? Well, this can help that out. You'll be able to choose from a bunch of different pedals (I want to say more than 50) and Amps, Cabs, sound boards and other stuff

Once you're done with your tone, you'll be able to to assign it to a button these Buttons are 1, 2, 3, 4.

Once your tone is assigned you'll be able to switch to this tone any time you want, even in a song. It's a nice way to make a song yours and possibly use it as a buyer's guide to buy a pedal that suits you the most

Most of these aren't licensed unfortunately, so you won't get popular pedals like Big Muff or a Cry Baby.

MULTIPLAYER

I'll start off by saying: There's no Online multiplayer.

BUT what there is, is a rather well thought out Local multiplayer. Naturally you'll need 2 Real Tone Cables, 2 guitars and a buddy.

Once you're in you'll be able to choose what roll you would like to have.
You could be playing lead while your buddy backs you up with Rhythm or a bass guitar.

If you're a total pro and your buddy is not as cool as you are you can set your own difficulties.

It can be really fun to learn together with a buddy or simply jam out with a long time band partner.

THE BAD

1. I can play guitar! Sweet! but i never really did show me how to play guitar... With a band. This isn't something the game doesn't teach unfortunately (As far as i know)

2. It doesn't teach you the parts of a guitar, types, or styles.

Which can make shopping a little more tricky if you're wanting to pick up Rocksmith with a new guitar.

3. Another thing Rocksmith doesn't teach you is some really cool tricks like pushing down on the string behind the bridge of a Tune-o-matic configuration and pushing down on the strings behind the nut to get a different sound (Intro of Black Sabbath's Iron Man uses this)

4. There's no Whammy bar support (Even though it isn't a good idea for a beginner)

5. Must use their own 35 dollar cable. This is just an attempt to reduce piracy. Even then there are ways of getting around this. I haven't tried the proper way but my own way. It was okay. It wasn't the best as there was a lot of audio interference introduced and it just sounded kind of bad... But it still did work. Although now that i own the cable it's a lot better and a lot more hassle free.

6. Sometimes, notes won’t be picked up because you didn't play it loud enough. Which can get very annoying but this doesn’t happen too often.

The UGLY

1. DLC. Holy Linus.

There are a LOT of songs to choose from, but you will pay for it.
A song pack can be bought for 8.79 for a 3 pack, 12.99 for a 5 pack, and 17.99 for a 7 pack and individual songs can be bought for 3.29 There's no season pass so you won't be getting a nice discount either.
This hurts new players IMO. Since you can't try before you buy you don't know if you'll be able to play that song well at all. It may be too hard for you or it may be fine.

2.
The Guitarcade games are cheesy and full of (IMO) subpar voice acting.

3.
You need a 35 dollar cable to play this game at all. These can be hard to find sometimes.
Soooo...

THE AWESOME

MODS!?
FU*K YEAH!

Yes! Mods.

Or better described as CDLC (Custom Downloadable Content) is a great thing for Rocksmith 2014.
Is it official? No. But it does work.

How big is this CLDC list?
Over 12,000 CDLC songs available. All for FREE.

Made by the community, for the community.

You can submit requests to the makers for songs you'd like to be ported to Rocksmith 2014

YOU WANT MUSE?! YOU GET MUSE.

YOU WANT BLACK SABBATH?YOU GET BLACK SABBATH.

Does it work?

Yes. It does. You will need to work hard (Obviously) but everything you need to learn to play a guitar is there. Ubisoft claims you can learn guitar in 60 days. You may learn everything you need but you will need to practice to get comfortable with your guitar and the game.

I'd say the biggest challenge is gaining enough experience to be able to play really quickly and not get demotivated.

It’s an interesting (And rough until you get some calluses on your fingertips) journey. Full of anger, hate, uncertainty, laughter and amazement.

Only you can decide if it's worth it for you.

I can say it was very worth the time and money i invested into the game.

I can now say i play guitar and mean it.

Q&A
Q. How long have you been playing?
A. A year

Q. What was your guitar knowledge like before buying Rocksmith?
A. Sounds cool.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have below

And lastly here’s a small selection of what i can play now (I was a tad nervous, I’m a tiny bit self conscious with my guitar playing (Not sure why). So pardon the tiny messups.)
https://youtu.be/jM_8s_tRxXw

Thanks for reading!

[ADZ_123_!"£]

Please change the font colour

[XTankSlayerX]

Please change the font colour

Done!

[ADZ_123_!"£]

I feel that if you actually wanted to be able to play the guitar there are much better cheaper options you would be able to learn how to play just from free guides on the net.

[MegaDave91]

One does not simply "learn" to play guitar. It's an ever progressing skill that matures as the years pass.

[Suffokation]

Severe lack of Extreme Metal and Progressive Metal songs.

It's why I played it for 3 hours and quit.

I own all 8 strings, which Rocksmith *barely* supports.

[Guest]

-snip-

I really want to get Rocksmith, Right after I get that Custom Les Paul on the cover :3

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007L58I2E/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p267_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-4&pf_rd_r=08AZZT6PHFEEEN9QQH65&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090149782&pf_rd_i=desktop

I mean, if your getting the game, get the guitar too man! 

Definately will take some practice once I get it, I was actually looking more into Rocksmith today

So let me guess, Red corresponds to E and so on, These are also how you play the actual songs too? I really cant wait to get my hands on that Les Paul and Rocksmith :3

[XTankSlayerX]

I really want to get Rocksmith, Right after I get that Custom Les Paul on the cover :3

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007L58I2E/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p267_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-4&pf_rd_r=08AZZT6PHFEEEN9QQH65&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090149782&pf_rd_i=desktop

I mean, if your getting the game, get the guitar too man! 

Definately will take some practice once I get it, I was actually looking more into Rocksmith today

So let me guess, Red corresponds to E and so on, These are also how you play the actual songs too? I really cant wait to get my hands on that Les Paul and Rocksmith :3

You sir are my brother from another mother!

I've always thought the same thing!

I'll be getting a Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro (In Alpine White) this month if all goes well

[CatCloud]

I feel that if you actually wanted to be able to play the guitar there are much better cheaper options you would be able to learn how to play just from free guides on the net.

But not as fun, and "cheaper"..maybe not as you would have to spend more on other equipment instead like an Amp.

 

Guitar is still a need, cable as well but a different one.

[Jambls]

You mention a 1/4" jack to USB adapter. Does that mean you need an electric or an acoustic electric to use it? This would be my biggest problem with getting the game. I am learning in a local guitar class so i got an acoustic because it is easier to use out of the house because you don't have to cart around an amp.

[Alurit]

You mention a 1/4" jack to USB adapter. Does that mean you need an electric or an acoustic electric to use it? This would be my biggest problem with getting the game. I am learning in a local guitar class so i got an acoustic because it is easier to use out of the house because you don't have to cart around an amp.

it would be really hard for a pc or console to detect the inputs of a acoustic guitar, wouldn't it?

[Jambls]

it would be really hard for a pc or console to detect the inputs of a acoustic guitar, wouldn't it?

Well, in the same way some electric acoustics work, this could work.

[dunk2001]

Very well written!  hope to see more content similar to this in the future 

[XTankSlayerX]

You mention a 1/4" jack to USB adapter. Does that mean you need an electric or an acoustic electric to use it? This would be my biggest problem with getting the game. I am learning in a local guitar class so i got an acoustic because it is easier to use out of the house because you don't have to cart around an amp.

You could buy a soundhole Pickup. It should work (don't quote me on that) but you'll end up getting a strong acoustic effect out of it haha

[Jambls]

You could buy a soundhole Pickup. It should work (don't quote me on that) but you'll end up getting a strong acoustic effect out of it haha

That's what i was thinking but I am not sure it would work.

[XTankSlayerX]

That's what i was thinking but I am not sure it would work.

I remember seeing someone play rather well with one on YouTube. Let me see if I can find the link.

[nuttysandwich]

I've been playing for about 5 years now and never considered rocksmith because although it looks interesting, it's quicker and easier to learn on your own.

[NeatSquidYT]

Isn't there a ton of custom songs that kind of get rid of the need for DLC?