The Rocksmith 60 day challenge.

I think it will be more like the 60 month challenge for me.

Just keep at it man. I can tell you, after playing guitar on and off for 20 years, and getting precisely nowhere, RS is the best thing there is for keeping you engaged.

 

I'm using it to learn bass, and after a year of playing, I can absolutely feel myself progressing. I can play songs I would not dream of trying when I was starting out.

60 days is nowhere near enough. It's just marketing. Just keep playing. Sometimes it's really hard to see your progress.

 

It helps to take a couple of days off every now and then, it gives your brain the chance to assimilate all the new information you're learning. The next time you pick up the guitar, you might just find yourself playing better.

 

And if you're really committed to learning guitar, find a teacher. Rocksmith is a great practice tool, but a teacher will be able to guide you.

Unfortunately, you'll need to put the work in too.. I swear by Justinguitar.com - it's fantastic (and free).

Was such a help, especially with chord changes in the beginning (give the '1 minute changes' a go for a month or two).

 

Rocksmith is great but it's certainly not a complete package for learning!

Unfortunately, you'll need to put the work in too.. I swear by Justinguitar.com - it's fantastic (and free).

Was such a help, especially with chord changes in the beginning (give the '1 minute changes' a go for a month or two).

 

Rocksmith is great but it's certainly not a complete package for learning!

I'm glad you posted this because I was embarrassed to ask about that.  When you say a "month or two" do you think that is realistic?  I hope so because I have been working on chord changes (I'm a beginner) for a couple weeks and feel as though I am getting nowhere.  Now, I am progressing because I couldn't do 15 when I started and can now to 30 a minute.  30 a minute is nowhere near fast enough to consider playing any song so I was concerned that I was really progressing at a snail's pace.

 

How long did it take folks here to fluently change cords, at least the ones you started with?

Engleg you'll be fine. Are you better than when you started? Are your fingers moving more easily? Are you better at understanding the relationship between strings and frets? Keep at it. 

It took me about 11 months before I felt that I had made proper progress, and all of a sudden something clicked and I was away. Don't get me wrong, I still can't "play" guitar, but for me to be able to get 100% on any song was my goal and in November last year I did it.

 

If you are getting frustrated or bored, step away for a couple of days as was suggested above, I took a week off and came back to play and it was as if my brain had suddenly kicked into gear.

 

There isn't a quick way to learn from my experience, but there is a way to learn and feel like you are never going to play properly. 

 

Playing guitar is far and away the best thing I have ever tried to learn and only wish that RS was about 20 years ago, when i was young enough to play in a band etc

I'm another justin guitar fan.  it took me a month or two to learn the D A and E chords and then switch between them quickly.  Justin guitar also gives you insights - such as when changing chords you may have an 'anchor' finger etc.  once the first couple months were done, things came pretty quickly after that.

Learning guitar is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I'm pretty good at things that I 'do'.  I've been playing for about three years now, about an hour a night of practice, sometimes more.

 

That first year was tough.  I felt the same way, so I sympathize.

 

My advice is this:  Perfect practice makes perfect.  Go slow and concentrate on not making mistakes.  You are developing muscle memory.  Go slow and perfect, and increase in small increments your speed, making sure you are staying perfect.  Eventually, you will get there.  It's why riff repeater is so awesome.  Good feedback, speed adjustable.  

 

And work hard.  It won't come without hard work, time, and effort.  The more time you put into it, the faster you will learn.  Petrucci, one of my favorite guitarists, devoted himself to practicing at least six hours a day to get where he is.  This isn't a challenge you measure in months.  It's a lifetime challenge.  Try not to worry about how long it's taking you and just work at it.  You'll get there.

 

And I agree.  Taking a break can help.

 

Rock on.

Chord changes if I know the chord are easy, like super easy. But it took me a long time to get there. Some chords I've been using for 10 years or so. And if you throw random jazz or other odd chords at me that I've never seen before in a song? I'll still struggle for a while. Eventually your fingers will just "know" where they need to go. Just takes time.

I wouldn't pay any attention to the 60 Day Challenge. It's been broken since the game launched. The only thing that registers time properly is LAS, and that's only since it recently went into its Beta stage. I personally think that lessons, Guitarcade use and especially Session Mode should all contribute to the 60 Day Challenge allotted time.

Thanks for all the good advice. I really started this post as more of a humorous topic than a serious gripe. Still after three months of RS I was hoping to be further along than I am.

I know one of my problems is I spend to much time on the forums. Seems like by the time I search all of the topics, download songs, then place each song in a new folder and add each song to my database list, it takes away from my practice time.

I do know that I am learning things faster now thanks to RS and online instructions, than any other earlier attempts at learning guitar.

I know one of my bad habits is I mostly just play around a little with each song (I have hundreds) until it gets to tough, then I move on to the next song, instead of really trying to learn a few songs really well.

I need to start using riff repeater more and actually learn the whole song.

I started watching a few of the beginners videos on Justinguitar.com a couple months ago and need to revisit that site and continue.

I like to think of chords in terms of the shape my fingers make when I'm playing them -- like the heads of a typewriter key (if you've ever seen a typewriter!): each chord has a very distinct shape.

 

The trick comes in getting your fingers to learn how to get into the shape quickly -- and the best way to do that is to play the chord again and againg. Take a simple two-chord progression -- preferably from a song you're working on. Start off very slowly, of course. At the beginning you should be playing slowly enough to be able to watch your fingers get into position. And don't hesitate to slow the Riff Repeater down to 20 percent -- it's a great tool for this (it doesn't really go much slower than 20 percent, I think).

 

The idea is that you're building a muscle memory bank of the various chord shapes. Until you'll be able to "type" pretty much any chord progression very quickly.

Also, the best part of Rocksmith for me is this : it turns off the rest of the internet! When I'm playing Rocksmith, I'm disconnected, no surfing, no reading forums, no reading the news. Just playing the guitar. Before Rocksmith, for every hour I was 'playing' guitar, I probably only actually played 20 minutes...

 

I tend to be very focused when I play -- I'll only work on learning one arrangement at a time, and I won't start a new song until I've finished learning the entire arrangement (at which point, I'll continue practicing the song, along many of the other songs I've learned, while moving on to the next new song). This isn't a hard and fast rule -- there are a few songs I started but just abandoned because they didn't interest me.

 

I'm glad you posted this because I was embarrassed to ask about that.  When you say a "month or two" do you think that is realistic?  I hope so because I have been working on chord changes (I'm a beginner) for a couple weeks and feel as though I am getting nowhere.  Now, I am progressing because I couldn't do 15 when I started and can now to 30 a minute.  30 a minute is nowhere near fast enough to consider playing any song so I was concerned that I was really progressing at a snail's pace.

How long did it take folks here to fluently change cords, at least the ones you started with?

Atgame7..

I can tell you precisely (at least in my case). It was 6 months..

Started playing the guitar in September last year. Started off (still have the records, lol) with this - as an example.

D<>A - started at 16. By end of October I was up to 32, then slow progress until December. I tried it a couple of weeks ago (bear it in mind I've been mainly playing rocksmith over the last month or three) and was up to 55..

A<>E was similar, though I am up to 63 now.. I feel these have been 'nailed', so I am not practicing these changes (or D<>E @57) any more and am concentrating on newer (to me) and harder ones..

 

The thing is.. I took the attitude that learning the guitar was going to be tough as hell.

I knew that and said to myself that I wouldn't try to push it too hard and not get frustrated (well not too much). I also know when a song is out of my league and so say to myself 'maybe in a year for that one'! Other songs I can do quite well.. :)

Keep practicing, have fun and it WILL come...  :)

 

Remember when you started typing on a keyboard? Lots of mistakes at first, Im sure, but now you can probably do it by touch. I'm sure that took a long time too!  :)

Atgame7..

I can tell you precisely (at least in my case). It was 6 months..

Started playing the guitar in September last year. Started off (still have the records, lol) with this - as an example.

D<>A - started at 16. By end of October I was up to 32, then slow progress until December. I tried it a couple of weeks ago (bear it in mind I've been mainly playing rocksmith over the last month or three) and was up to 55..

A<>E was similar, though I am up to 63 now.. I feel these have been 'nailed', so I am not practicing these changes (or D<>E @57) any more and am concentrating on newer (to me) and harder ones..

 

The thing is.. I took the attitude that learning the guitar was going to be tough as hell.

I knew that and said to myself that I wouldn't try to push it too hard and not get frustrated (well not too much). I also know when a song is out of my league and so say to myself 'maybe in a year for that one'! Other songs I can do quite well.. :)

Keep practicing, have fun and it WILL come...  :)

 

Remember when you started typing on a keyboard? Lots of mistakes at first, Im sure, but now you can probably do it by touch. I'm sure that took a long time too!  :)

 

Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement.  Seems like it should come faster, but it doesn't.  My practice time will increase as I FINALLY found a guitar I liked that was in the price range I really wanted to stay in and brought it home last night.

 

Bought a very nice (IMO) black with yelowish trim Epiphone Les Paul in the $400 range so I actually stayed under my budget. Many thanks to the help of the very nice young lady at Guitar Center.

Nice.

Enjoy the guitar!  :)