Rocksmith

[Dartful Dodger]

Rocksmith

It's a guitar "game". You plug in a real electric guitar to your console and it teaches you to play guitar.

I’ve spend about $250 on guitar lessons and they’ve more or less been a bust. A $60 game/teacher sounds like a great deal.

What worries about this is it might not have enough gimmicks to keep it interesting. It might end up being something that gets me to practice playing guitar for a while but after a month I'll lose interest in it.

if this had a way to make custom songs (or program in tabs for songs I really want to learn) and/or if it was more like a game, with customizable features that can be bought with points/cash so I feel like I'm playing, I’d by this without regret.

This still sound great, but if I had the patience to practice playing guitar on my own I wouldn't need this game.

Rocksmith2(if they make it) could be an awesome game and I'm worried if I buy this simple version I'll regret it.

Does anyone have this?

[stu33]

I have it, and it's pretty damn cool.  The closest thing that it really has to what you're talking about is the amp mode, where you can go in and play with all the different settings.  They really did limit themselves with their song choices, as it's pretty heavy into 90s-2000s rock-modern rock-grunge, but being as that's really my favorite music, it's a great fit for me.  I can see how other people would be disappointed, though.

If I had time to play it more, I'd probably have everything mastered and be moving on to real serious guitar lessons, but my 5-10 minutes every other day I get to it really limit me.  I'm really good with In Bloom and Higher Ground, though.  It's method of intelligently altering the difficulty of the notes it presents based on how you're doing is REALLY impressive.  Keeps you learning at a decent clip without overwhelming you.  The 'career' mode is really just a thin layer...not much to it.  But I've really enjoyed it as a tutor.

[Dartful Dodger]

Cool,

Like I said I've paid over $250 for classes and all I learned from those classes is you can learn guitar on your own with time and practice.

I can't find the time to sit and strum "twist and shout" for 20 minutes every day, but I can always find an hour for Battlefield2.

I think I could learn a lot with this, but it if it were more of a game, I wouldn't be forcing myself to play it.

We'll see how much cash I have after Christmas. Maybe Santa will come through with it.

[versapak]

Someone really needs to crack the dongle open and find out what's inside those things...

I imagine they are just your standard USB guitar cables.

The magic is in the software itself.

[spoot]

I own it but don't play it much as I'm pretty damn bad at it.     There are quite a few mini-games to learn the different techniques which is pretty neat though.

[Howard_Casto]

Someone really needs to crack the dongle open and find out what's inside those things...

I imagine they are just your standard USB guitar cables.

The magic is in the software itself.

They make USB guitar cables now? 

(Howard somehow manages to submit this post on his 1942 typewriter.)

[versapak]

Someone really needs to crack the dongle open and find out what's inside those things...

I imagine they are just your standard USB guitar cables.

The magic is in the software itself.

They make USB guitar cables now? 

(Howard somehow manages to submit this post on his 1942 typewriter.)

heheh

Yes indeed. Basically the same in operation as a USB mic. In fact that is how the Rocksmith cable shows up on the PC (as a microphone).

[Howard_Casto]

Well then you should be able to use it as a midi device on the pc right?

That should add a bit of value to the bundle. 

[versapak]

Well then you should be able to use it as a midi device on the pc right?

That should add a bit of value to the bundle. 

Well, not as a midi device, but yeah it does work great on the PC, so you can record directly to there.

There is a PC version of the game coming out some time next year.

[lilshawn]

a guitar pickup behaves exactly like a microphone, you need only amplify the tiny voltage to a bigger one.

[versapak]

a guitar pickup behaves exactly like a microphone, you need only amplify the tiny voltage to a bigger one.

...and convert it to digital, but yeah...

[shmokes]

I'm interested in this but I only have an acoustic guitar. I assume it would work fine with one of those electric pickups you can mount in the hole of an acoustic. I should look into that. I bought my wife a guitar years ago when she decided she wanted to learn to play. She never learned. But we have a nice guitar.

Speaking of guitar pickups behaving like a microphone, I discovered Modest Mouse by accident about ten years before they were famous when they opened for another band (The Halo Benders) I went to see at a bar for a $5 cover. The other band was totally forgettable but I fell in love with Modest Mouse. In that show he sang a portion of a song into his guitar pickups, and through the effects pedals. It was amazing. I've never heard anything like it before or since.

[lilshawn]

a guitar pickup behaves exactly like a microphone, you need only amplify the tiny voltage to a bigger one.

...and convert it to digital, but yeah...

if by "digital" you mean "usb sound card with only a microphone input" then yes, digital.

[versapak]

a guitar pickup behaves exactly like a microphone, you need only amplify the tiny voltage to a bigger one.

...and convert it to digital, but yeah...

if by "digital" you mean "usb sound card with only a microphone input" then yes, digital.

Yep.

Like I said before... Works like a USB mic.

I'm interested in this but I only have an acoustic guitar. I assume it would work fine with one of those electric pickups you can mount in the hole of an acoustic. I should look into that. I bought my wife a guitar years ago when she decided she wanted to learn to play. She never learned. But we have a nice guitar. 

It would work with one of those sound hole pickups, but you would need a female coupler since the USB guitar cable has a male 1/4" as would the pickup.

[stu33]

It'll work with an acoustic-electric, I've used mine with it.  Supposedly there's DLC coming that will include Bass stuff too.

[Howard_Casto]

I got this one for Xmas.  All of those sites and magazines that gave it a bad review should be shot!  Is it fun?  Eh...  Is it super flashy?  Not Really.  Are the Amps impressive... no....

But the crucial thing is does it help you learn how to play the guitar?  Yes, hell yes!   Is it a compelling enough teaching tool that you'll actually stick with it?  Again yes!

Don't think that it's the lame guitar hero style of learning either (eg playing the whole damn song over and over.)  It has looping tools, tutorials for every type of guitar strumming and the adaptive learning is very impressive.  As you are playing a song you start out only having to manage a single string on the guitar.  Do a little better and you graduate to two instantly as the song is playing.  Do even better and you are thrown three until you are playing the whole six strings.  If you screw up it instantly reduces the difficulty.  In other words it only throws at you what you can handle and as soon as that becomes easy for you, it teaches you harder stuff.

Also the arcade section is pretty cool.  As  nod to classic arcade nuts like us many of the games are themed after classic arcade games.  The first game you unlock "Ducks"  Has a marquee ripped straight from a Galaga machine.  The little ducks you fire upon have the same color scheme as galaga ships.

[lilshawn]

iv'e always wanted to play an instrument, but alas, i know no one who plays.

Judged by your impromptu review Howard, this might just be what I need. Thanks! I'll have to seriously look into this.

[shmokes]

Is it a compelling enough teaching tool that you'll actually stick with it?  Again yes!

A premature assessment on this point. Check in again in a couple months.   

[drventure]

Sounds like they have a PC version as well as a Bass extension pack in the works.

I might have a go of it then...

[SavannahLion]

Is it a compelling enough teaching tool that you'll actually stick with it?  Again yes!

A premature assessment on this point. Check in again in a couple months.   

 

Sorry I couldn't resist.

[shmokes]

Sounds like they have a PC version as well as a Bass extension pack in the works.

I might have a go of it then...

Btw, the PC version is already released, I think.

[Nephasth]

For anyone learning to play guitar or bass, I highly recommend the GuitarPro program. It will play tablature (you can find most of your favorite song tabs in GuitarPro format) and allows you to easily write your own stuff. I haven't used it since version 3 or 4 (about 5 years ago), but it was definitely one of my favorites when I was playing bass. It's a great tool to have.

[Dartful Dodger]

Is it a compelling enough teaching tool that you'll actually stick with it?  Again yes!

A premature assessment on this point. Check in again in a couple months.   

As of now I think this is great and I agree with everything Howard said.

Unfortunately shmokes might also be right.

I played Rocksmith when I got it and unlocked Ducks right away. I played a few rounds of Ducks and then I had to put my guitar away to do holiday stuff and family obligations.

That was on the 23th, today is the 3rd of January and I haven't had time to play it.  The really sad thing is that I was able to find time to play Battlefield 2.

I haven't given up on it, I'm hoping it's just because of the busy holidays.

I felt the same way Howard did, reading his post has me itching to play(practice).

[Dartful Dodger]

I'm interested in this but I only have an acoustic guitar. I assume it would work fine with one of those electric pickups you can mount in the hole of an acoustic.

When I was tuning my electric guitar I broke one of the strings.

My acoustic guitar has a pickup, so I tuned it and played the game.

The game has a tuner in it. The game even tells you which way the string needs to be twisted. I might not have broken the string if I used the game's tuner.

Playing with an acoustic is a little frustrating/confusing.

The two sounds don’t match up, and it’s not a lag thing. The sound from the acoustic guitar sounds bad. I turned up the volume of the TV to be louder than my guitar and the sound from the game sounds good.

It's not the acoustic guitar it's the game. Like I said I had the guitar tuned before playing. The in game tuner had me tuning my guitar so it was a little off.


Since I’m using an acoustic I turned the in game guitar sound off.

The annoyance isn’t a deal breaker. Until I get the electric fixed I’ll keep playing/practicing with the acoustic.

[shmokes]

Hmm . . . Would you recommend the game to someone who would most likely never have an electric guitar to use with the game? I mean, I don't see myself going out and buying a guitar any time soon. Maybe if I played the crap out of Rocksmith and learned to play reasonably well, but by then I'd probably be buying a guitar toplay with Rocksmith 2.

[Howard_Casto]

Hmm . . . Would you recommend the game to someone who would most likely never have an electric guitar to use with the game? I mean, I don't see myself going out and buying a guitar any time soon. Maybe if I played the crap out of Rocksmith and learned to play reasonably well, but by then I'd probably be buying a guitar toplay with Rocksmith 2.

There is enough visual feedback to where the actual sound coming out of your guitar is irrelevant.  Once you learn to play I would assume you'd play without the game.  That being said, you can get a crappy electric for around 100 bucks or less.  There is a rocksmith rip-off that comes with a real guitar called "the gig"  you can find it at big lots for well under 100 bucks.  I can't vouch for the quality, but for learning all you need is a working pickup and 6 strings.

My guitar is a piece of crap electric from my youth.  I got it for xmas years ago and never learned how to play.  I can't justify buying better equiptment until I know that I'm making some progress.

[Dartful Dodger]

The big problem I had with learning to play is practicing. I took lessons and the one thing I learned from those lessons is practice is the only way to learn to play guitar.

I loved RockBand when it first came out. I must have played it for over a 100 hours. So far, Rocksmith is a lot more fun and it doesn’t require a group of friends to be enjoyed. If I can put half as much time into this I might actually learn to play something.

I’m replacing my strings on the electric today, I plan on practicing the rest of this week and through the weekend.

On Monday I’ll let you know if the game keeps my attention and actually starts to pan out. Right now it’s hard to tell if it’s the newness of the game or the game itself that’s motivating me.

Hmm . . . Would you recommend the game to someone who would most likely never have an electric guitar to use with the game?

The sound coming out of the acoustic guitar isn't bad enough to turn me off the game. Right now the game isn't teaching me to play any songs, sure I'm picking a cord with a song playing and I feel like I'm really playing, but all I'm doing is picking every fifth or sixth cord of a song.

I'm assuming an electric would be even that much better to play with.  It's smaller and I can wear my headset so I won’t be disturbing anyone.

That being said, you can get a crappy electric for around 100 bucks or less.  There is a rocksmith rip-off that comes with a real guitar called "the gig"  you can find it at big lots for well under 100 bucks.  I can't vouch for the quality, but for learning all you need is a working pickup and 6 strings.

I don’t know how much it will cost to put a pickup in an acoustic guitar, the guitar I have came with one. Like Howard said you can use a crappy guitar for $100 or look on Craig’s List you might find a good guitar even cheaper.

I spent over $250 on guitar lessons and got nothing out of them. As of now I think this game and a cheap guitar is well worth it.

[shmokes]

A pickup for the accoustic can be had for a song. They've got 'em on Amazon for as low as $13, though they can go much higher. Honestly, I think I'll likely just not do this. Getting a hold of a guitar wouldn't be too terribly expensive, but it'd be one more thing in an apartment that isn't all that big. I've already got a violin I can't play and I've just started taking my daughter to violin lessons. Maybe I'll try to take that back up.

[Howard_Casto]

A pickup for the accoustic can be had for a song. They've got 'em on Amazon for as low as $13, though they can go much higher. Honestly, I think I'll likely just not do this. Getting a hold of a guitar wouldn't be too terribly expensive, but it'd be one more thing in an apartment that isn't all that big. I've already got a violin I can't play and I've just started taking my daughter to violin lessons. Maybe I'll try to take that back up.

You mean to say "fiddle."  Don't get the poor girl violin lessons, get her fiddle lessons.  Tell her that uncle Howie said fiddle players are way cooler. 

[Dartful Dodger]

I haven't touched this in a month and played it last night.

I was actually better than I was a month ago. It felt good, like I actually learned somthing a month ago.

I still need more motivation to play.

Has anyone being playing/practicing RockSmith consistently since they got it, how much better are you?