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Are you addicted like me?


abteen

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Hi

I've been practicing Electric Guitar for 3 years now and I've been practicing seriously.

Just practicing, I mean just patterns and techniques and stuff. a little songs practiced. Until I met rocksmith. now the whole time I am using rocksmith and I've Improved big time.very big time.

I've got a problem now. I don't practice techniques and patterns and stuff.It makes me feel guilty cuz all I do is I play songs now.That's not bad but Improvement needs something more than playing favorite songs.

and playing with my amplifier, effects has become history.

what's your opinion? :)

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Depends on what you're hoping to do with the guitar and the kind of music you want to play. But it doesn't take much to make great music. Some of the best songs out there are only two chords and a drum beat.

 

I feel the best way to improve at an instrument is to play with others, find a band. That's when it all makes sense.

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I'm no expert, and I'm sure that opinions will vary, however I think you'll get more 'musical' benefit from learning songs..

 

The more you're exposed to riffs/rhythms will just build your guitar vocabulary. And if you think of guitar playing like a language, the better your vocabulary, the better you'll be able to express yourself.

 

I don't know where I heard it, but I remember one thing mentioned by an instructor once; He said, never practice scales/techniques outside of a musical context. His argument was, scales aren't MUSIC - No one is going to pay $50 to come and watch you play scales, let alone enjoy it!

So practice them within some form of musical context; backing track, Session mode etc... Give them musical meaning. Apply the scale with musicality, as opposed to playing a scale with a metronome.

 

My recent personal experience - I've had RS2014 for 4 weeks, and in that time I haven't touched my amp/effects :sad:

Last night I had a jam with friends and quickly had to adjust to play with a much lighter touch than I was used to in RS...

 

I think the big produced sound of RS (although cool) can hide some articulation flaws in technique that you aren't going to hear till you get back on your amp. There are some guides around of how to run a split set up (RS & Amp at the same time) if that idea appeals to you.

Good luck!!

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Sounds like you're really going to benefit from Session Mode. You also may find it useful to do the techniques lessons for techniques that you haven't learnt yet and practice those techniques, and the techniques you've mastered, using Session Mode.

 

Keep on playing and learning songs but once you get into Session Mode you'll find it difficult to stop.

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If you want to improve, play Buckethead :) :)

this way you can learn how to play better as well as enjoy great music :)

(not only my opinion, but few friends too)

 

You will find very fast parts as well as slow songs with many bends and other techniques too :) and in the rhythm parts you will learn nice chords too :)

 

For very fast parts I use Riff Repeater and it works very well :) Just 1 year and 6 months ago I did not know how to play guitar and now thanks to Buckethead I learned a lot, I can play most of the songs in RS2014 with 80%-90% accuracy, sometimes close to 100% even :) For bass I get 95%-100% accuracy for most of the songs in RS2014.

 

I even could not dream about it about 2 years ago when I started to think about playing guitar, I still can not believe that after so short time I could improve so much...

 

Still much to learn, I am just starting the way :)

Have to learn more chords as this is my main problem to be fast playing strange chords :)

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Just 1 year and 6 months ago I did not know how to play guitar and now thanks to Buckethead I learned a lot, I can play most of the songs in RS2014 with 80%-90% accuracy, sometimes close to 100% even :)

 

My nephew (14 years old, started playing guitar with rocksmith 2012) learned and improved his guitar skills with your buckethead customs. He is playing lot of the buckethead customs with 95%-100% accuracy. :mrgreen:

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My nephew (14 years old, started playing guitar with rocksmith 2012) learned and improved his guitar skills with your buckethead customs. He is playing lot of the buckethead customs with 95%-100% accuracy.

If you talk about Lead arrangements, he must be Genius :D :D
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and must work hard

just like Buckethead said in "Jump Man" song:

 

I can't never stop workin' hard

each day I feel I have to improve

Hard work, determanation

I've got to keep pushing myself

 

I can't never stop workin' hard

 

I've got to keep pushing myself

 

 

:lol: :lol:

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 If you talk about Lead arrangements, he must be Genius :D :D

 

He always playing  lead (he likes the solo part)  and is incredible fast in the memorization process so he is actually able to play by memory an entire song (Frozen Brains Tell No Tales for example) and  every time  he always ask to me: there is a new buckethead custom?! :mrgreen: Just discovered that he made  82 studio album. :shock:

Today, he enjoyed so much playing  The Robot who lost its head.

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All your words are right. It is not bad to play rocksmith all the time. At least it is far better than not playing.

But goals are different. I don't want to play couple of songs to impress ppl.

I want to become a real guitarist. Someone that knows music theory, technique and the art of performing.

By music theory I mean chord progressions, scales, keys, making melodies and how to mix all these. In all the fields above rocksmith has something to say. But the problem I meant is: I feel like it makes me lazy somehow or addicted whatever the word is and then I won't feel the joy outside rocksmith. Only hitting scores and etc.

I say again rocksmith is a revolution in learning and it helped me a lot. More than any thing

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

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I'm no expert, and I'm sure that opinions will vary, however I think you'll get more 'musical' benefit from learning songs..

 

The more you're exposed to riffs/rhythms will just build your guitar vocabulary. And if you think of guitar playing like a language, the better your vocabulary, the better you'll be able to express yourself.

 

I don't know where I heard it, but I remember one thing mentioned by an instructor once; He said, never practice scales/techniques outside of a musical context. His argument was, scales aren't MUSIC - No one is going to pay $50 to come and watch you play scales, let alone enjoy it!

So practice them within some form of musical context; backing track, Session mode etc... Give them musical meaning. Apply the scale with musicality, as opposed to playing a scale with a metronome.

 

My recent personal experience - I've had RS2014 for 4 weeks, and in that time I haven't touched my amp/effects :sad:

Last night I had a jam with friends and quickly had to adjust to play with a much lighter touch than I was used to in RS...

 

I think the big produced sound of RS (although cool) can hide some articulation flaws in technique that you aren't going to hear till you get back on your amp. There are some guides around of how to run a split set up (RS & Amp at the same time) if that idea appeals to you.

Good luck!!

@@abteen --I have had much the same guitar learning experience. For me its been on and off 5 years of trying to learn to play music, but you also have to have chops. So of course, we think scales, modes and exercise regimens will get you there.  It doesn't.

 

I've tried Lick Library dvd's and Utube instructors.  Up until I got Rocksmith 2014 on release day, I still couldn't play worth a crap. Not even one song.  Just a few parts and licks.

 

The genius of RS2014, at least for me, is it puts all the things I needed to learn in the proper context for me to learn.  I've gotten better in the last 4 1/2 months, than I did in 5 1/2 years of struggling alone, without a mentor.

 

I am most definitely addicted to Rocksmith, and plan on rocking out as long as my hands can play a guitar. 

 

@@mrmaton --- I've played through my guitar rack and cab maybe once since getting RS 2014. The sound and touch is very different back through the live gear.  Takes getting used to again. 

 

It would be great if we could play RS2014 through the live gear with high quality stereo sound though.

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All your words are right. It is not bad to play rocksmith all the time. At least it is far better than not playing.But goals are different. I don't want to play couple of songs to impress ppl.I want to become a real guitarist. Someone that knows music theory, technique and the art of performing.By music theory I mean chord progressions, scales, keys, making melodies and how to mix all these. In all the fields above rocksmith has something to say. But the problem I meant is: I feel like it makes me lazy somehow or addicted whatever the word is and then I won't feel the joy outside rocksmith. Only hitting scores and etc.I say again rocksmith is a revolution in learning and it helped me a lot. More than any thingSent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

Congrats on the "real guitarist" goal!! It may be worth sourcing a good instructor.. i.e. someone who can do all the things you aspire to do - They may be able to help carve out the path for you....

Other than that, you sound like you've done enough research to know what you need to learn, you could probably make up your own practice routine which includes it all;

Fretboard knowledge - know every fret on every string by name,

Chord shape drills - go through scale tone chords in every key, or play the same chord in every position up the neck

Scale drills - pick a scale and a string at random, then start from there - Once you have mastered the vertical six string shape of all positions, start with one or two strings and play the scales horizontally - create melody lines - build muscle memory of how the shapes connect to one another..

Keys - find some common chord progressions, I-IV-V, III-Vi-II-V-I, II-V, etc.. and play them in a variety of keys and shapes

Improv. - record the above progression practice and play different scales over them, try a scale of the key, a scale of the chord you're playing over, develop your ear to what you like the sound of...

 

For me, playing guitar is part science and part art, it's up to you to define how much of each part signifies your playing (style).

You've probably seen or heard of everything I've mentioned above, it just sounds like you're looking for more structure behind your learning. My 2c - write everything you want to learn down on paper, then draw up your own schedule dividing your time between them. Test that for a month then re-access and modify as required.

Best wishes :smile:

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Yes, I think I'm addicted like you to RS2014, specially since I know this community and I spend a lot of time playing songs haha. I almost don't play outside of RS.

 

I'm having big eye strain for being at the computer monitor for hours, I think I might need a new monitor maybe a newer one is easier on the eyes and I'm also planning to buy an amp.

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Might be of use to someone - E standard tuning fretboard notes..

 

Most of the charts I've found on the internet are a bit fuzzy, so I did my own. It's high res, so good for a printout, desktop wallpaper etc..

 

Cheers,

 

H

 

Posted Image

edit.. v2 Corrected colour on 2 notes.

 

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thats great.so how can we integrate some material like these in rocksmith? like some ear training. fretboard memorization.scale shapes and uses and stuff. ???

 

For me personally, I think RS has limited learning appeal to the higher grade player.

For beginners, it's awesome, because there is probably 1-2 years worth of study/content that helps build technique and knowledge.

For Intermediate players (myself), it still offers a lot, but not in all areas - like Session mode, I would love to see more visual guidance, like chord shapes displayed with fingering and a Name of the chord to help with recognition. For me, the biggest impact RS has had is actually getting me engaged in playing. When you've played for years (not professionally) and have been complacent in what you know, you find yourself in a rut... RS has been a great tool for getting me engaged with guitar again, and that's a good thing :smile:

For advanced players, I can only assume it's just a bit of fun, something that's engaging and can fast-track learning songs for extra chops.

 

I, like you, have seen a lot of videos (Lick Library etc) with fantastic info like 'C-A-G-E-D' systems (seen in session mode scales), fretborad mastery classes filled with drills of chords/Arpeggios/scales etc... But in the end, it comes down to this:

"Knowledge is not enough, we must apply"  -  (I was told that was a Bruce Lee quote, unverified)

 

I came across this YouTube video recently and I liked what the instructor had to say, although a little monotone, the examples and theory is well explained and he seems to have a fair few videos on different soloing methods. I think this is the kind of stuff you need to do to get where you want to go.

Hope it helps. :smile:

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