Anyone using Rocksmith as a teaching tool?

[emilierv]

Hi!

 

I am a student at the MA in Educational Technology and doing a bit of research on Rocksmith.

 

I was wondering if any of you are teaching students using Rocksmith, either official DLC or customs DLC? If so, how are you using it and how do you think it adds to what you would normally do? Also, how do you think Rocksmith could be further improved as a teaching tool?

 

Looking forward to your answers!

[kc_]

Just teaching myself. 

 

 

I don't know how it could be improved - but Rocksmith is lacking primarily in the way of feedback. You can easily hit the correct notes but do so in a way that forms terrible habits. On the flipside you can miss sections and have no idea how to correctly play it. There's also the lack of music theory but many people, myself included, don't care too much about that. Lack of direct feedback from someone with proper training is probably the biggest issue for me. Perhaps the next RS could feature some sort of in-game lesson system via skype. 

 

I've also noticed that RS can act as a crutch in learning songs - you really need to push yourself to play without the visual notes to learn a song. 

[Tysylio]

I would agree with @@kc_.  I find as soon as Rocksmith goes into Master Mode, I begin to make mistakes.  Except for a hand full of songs that I have really studied. So, yes the visual ques are a crutch, but on the flip side, I've never seen an orchestra without the music in front of each musician...  that said, if I was ever at a rock concert, and the band all had music in front of them, I'd probably point and laugh.

 

I do believe though, if I had the time (or maybe its the motivation) to get proper professional lessons, and supplement the exercises with the fun-ness of Rocksmith, I may be able to learn much faster.

[Lancezh]

I plan on giving lessons in the future, maybe 4-5 years ahead... but if i would be already where i wanted to be today, i definitely would use it as a teaching tool even for giving lessons with students, that's how i'm using it right now, i take RS with me to my teacher on a laptop, he never heard of it but loves with what kinda new stuff i always show up that needs explanation..

 

. It's nice to not have to "wait" that much for your body to catch up on what your brain already wants to put down...

[snowdog]

The best way to learn stuff (with or without Rocksmith) is to do it in small sections. Riff Repeater is perfect for this. But if you're using Rocksmith you must play your guitar in a variety of ways - un-amplified, with effects, without effects and at different volumes. This allows you to hear how your technique is coming along.

[andrake]

I was just recently offered a gig teaching guitar.  I am considering using RS as a tool to assist possible students.  If I do, I will be making customs to support the lessons that I am teaching.  Then find a song that goes along with the lessons.  As an instructor I would use it as another tool, not as a replacement for me.  Feedback from the instructor will still occurs.  Nice items with RS: gamifcation, functions as a metronome, different method of presenting notes/music.

[Rumrunner24]

I knew nothing about playing guitar before I got Rocksmith.So yes.It's helped me a bunch.

[hellohello]

I don't think RS can be improved a lot better to be the ultimate learning tool.lol. But could be a complementeary tool for learning guitar. Me in particular consider that the best way to learn guitar is having classes from a guitar pro musician.RS can interest begginers a little more deep into to the world of electric guitar.

[emilierv]

Thank you all for your answers!

 

I see a lot of ways in which it could be improved. More precise feedback is one of them but without a human or coach, there are limits to how that could be implemented (and I totally agree with what was said earlier about learning to play with a bad posture, that's a problem).

 

Being able to replay a song you just played and scroll through your mistakes... if we were able to film our playing without using 3rd party software we could compare mistakes with position. 

 

More scaffolding (meaning a more gradual removal of learning support) when transitioning to Master mode; like maybe removing colors from strings first or showing some of the first notes or key notes in a riff before removing everything. 

 

I think adventure mode in Rocksmith original was a good thing that is absent now. I know I've put a lot more time on some specific songs just to play the "show" then I now do in Rocksmith 2014.

 

I ended up building a bit of a survey for anyone who may be interested in sharing their background and opinions.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1v7tKSkNezzGsOReMDhycAeI_qZXLCVJn7vS_zSGk1Ss/viewform?usp=send_form

 

If you do, please make sure to write down your forum name so I can trace back to you if needed :-)

[hellohello]

I agre with you that the lack of adventure mode is a miss for this new RS. I liked that and resumes another issue for this new RS.The lacking of motivation for the user. The first one was more like a guitar hero experience but more fun.This time converted in something more sober, more like a plain learning tool. I don't think scores are enough for people. In fact there's already people posting in ubi forums are suffering from that. People who are begginers to learn guitar or know something but not much, can't find it interesting enough to keep going for a very long time with it. More if they depend on the game itself only and cannot afford for dlc. In fact the whole library isn't for everybody's taste. On the other side nothing replaces a good teacher. Perhaps you can learn something with RS, if people are serious about learning elec guitar will notice that learning tool software isn't enough. Rocksmith is a good learning tool maybe above of it's counterparts, but a learning tool isn't enough for people who are thinking serious learning guitar.