-= Building a Guitar from Scratch with Absolutely No Woodworking Experience =-

I'm slowly playing rocksmith to learn guitar, I didn't actually expect it to work (I've had teachers in the past and I always disliked them) I met a guy recently who said I can go up to his and he'll teach me, he's 20 years older but has a lot of experience and can play a LOT.

 

My girlfriend is learning Bass and my cousin is a drummer.. we're hoping to form a band sometime next year, I know it's highly unlikely but I was curious, I'm so excited and love playing so much.. If I play rocksmith and get some lessons on the side from this dude (maybe once a week) do you think I'll be able to write my own music within 1 - 2 years?

 

not sure if this is predominantly rocksmith but I'm sure the majority of you didn't just learn it to get high scores on rocksmith, anyone join a band or do any solo-music work thanks to this game? It's really motivated me a long with this band. 

Well if you have the opportunity to use RS and have a personal teacher at the same time you mustn't doubt it and go for it. RS alone not suffice if you aiming for learning guitar as a pretty serious goal but it's a good complement for it. About a year or 2 to write music ,well maybe is too early but it's a pretty good beginning to introduce you in the music world.And beside your friends are into music, you don't have any excuse to not learn guitar, you are completely blessed alone. Don't worry about composing music right away but just focus to have constancy about it, that's all I can say.

Well if you have the opportunity to use RS and have a personal teacher at the same time you mustn't doubt it and go for it. RS alone not suffice if you aiming for learning guitar as a pretty serious goal but it's a good complement for it. About a year or 2 to write music ,well maybe is too early but it's a pretty good beginning to introduce you in the music world.And beside your friends are into music, you don't have any excuse to not learn guitar, you are completely blessed alone. Don't worry about composing music right away but just focus to have constancy about it, that's all I can say.

Thanks man! I appreciate you taken the time to reply. I feel like so far Rocksmith has helped me adjust my fingers and get used to some songs, surprisingly I can pretty much memorize Blitzkrieg Bop and I've only been playing it for 3 days. I appreciate you calling me blessed though, music is genuinely a main factor in my life and I'm surrounded by it with the people that are close to me, I've been brought up with bands that most people used to laugh at. I'll focus on the learning, my mind will tell me when I'm ready! I hope all is going well for you too man! Keep on playing :) 

Welcome to CustomsForge!

 

RS will definitely help you in your learning process, no bout adoubt it. :) But I agree that it is much better to supplement your RS playing with other sources of instruction, and having one on one sessions with

a good teacher is also important.

Keep in mind to that youtube can also be a great source of info/instruction. I wish that the internet would have existed back in the old days when I was trying to learn.

 

The key to whether or not you'll be able to play in a band, and/or compose music, within a couple of years is entirely dependent on how dedicated you are and how much time you put it to it. All those guitar players that we look up to and admire had one thing in common....lots of hard work and practice, practice, practice. There's no way around that.

 

Immerse yourself in it, practice for hours every day, and you'll be amazed at where you are in 2 years.

 

Good luck and drop by once in a while and tell us of your progress!

Having played on off for over 20 years, yes and no. It will teach you songs and some technique which is applicable in other areas, but not completely.

 

Nephew can play many songs, I can play a few, he can't create a piece of music, I can as well as improvise during a song that's slack in a guitar part.

 

The quick answer is, if it get's you playing and you are enjoying it keep doing it because it surely won't hurt or hinder your learning.

 

Over the years, I've tried many methods, and learn quick techniques and most are snake oil, Rocksmith is not snake oil. It is a genuine learning aid. I've actually added it to my practice regimine to further my playing and I could see results in my playing in the first week of using it.

@@deansmayhem Got it right, practice, practice, practice.

 

You can learn only with Rocksmith, that's basically my story, but also some other people I met here. Though using RS alone requires your honesty. While in Rocksmith you need to carefully listen to what you play, as on screen information is not sufficient and may be misleading, but at least it points you what to work on.

 

There are also some people who like to get pushed in order to progress. That's why we made Rocksmith Championship, and we've got some participants to really make a huge leaps. Besides, it makes you to try something different and maybe find your new favorite band (Metric :wub: ).

 

Nothing more to say - Rocksmith is a great tool and this community is a perfect example of that :)

I think I'm going to try the RS Championship, looks like fun and a good push in the right direction for advancing my abilities, or showing me where I need improvement.

I've been playing 13 months with RS and yes it can teach you how to play. But they key is you have to play the guitar. I play an hour a day and more on the weekend because it is fun. It does not feel like practice although it is practice. Supplementing RS with a teacher is also helpful. I have used online teachers but I think a 1 on 1 with a human is what I need to get to the next level. 

 

True story I played - or tried to play and actually butchered  - Knockin' on Heaven's Door last year after 1 month of play time. My nephew was polite but I'm sure I ruined his ears that day. This year I nailed the lead for Satisfaction (100%!) , Gasoline and Show me How to Live using a splitter to play through RS and thru an amp. By the look on my nephews face he was impressed. I sounded fairly good although I still consider myself a beginner.  So you you can learn to play with RS and online you tube helps too. But you have to invest the time, no way around that. 

 

Writing music after 2 years? I can't answer that one but I suppose if you have the gift maybe.

The beauty of Rocksmith as a teaching tool is that it takes the most "tedious" and important mechanical aspect of guitar playing - the practice - and turns it into a video game with points, progression, and all the engaging reward systems games offer.

 

Rocksmith's strength is in developing and honing what's called "automaticity" through practice.  Muscle memory is part of this system, and it's where you do a motor sequence so often that the brain develops a unique map for that sequence and it no longer requires conscious awareness, it becomes automatic.

 

Easy, obvious examples: most of us can walk or drive a car without having to think about it, gamers can "press x to not die" reflexively without thinking or looking at the controller, and we can type quickly without looking at the keyboard.  The same is true for instruments, after doing it enough times your hand can instinctively make an Am chord or F chord, you just "know" where the frets are and where the strings are, and the more you play the less you have to think about the mechanics of what you're doing.

 

While Rocksmith excels at building the mechanical/motor skills of playing guitar, it doesn't teach you the underlying concepts of music theory, scales, etc..  Rocksmith teaches the "how" but not the "Why."  To play in a band and write your own songs you need both, you need the innate "sense" and muscle memory of the guitar, but you also need to know how music works.  A good one on one teacher is irreplaceable there. 

Can't read music or or even tabs.   The big reason is I never actually tried.   As for learning to play, I can say yes, I can as long as I have Rocksmith or at least one of the videos running.    Never had a reason to really memorize a song, but I guess if I had a need or most like the desire to memorize and nail a song, I could.   I play for enjoyment sake.  It gives me something to do and its a nice icebreaker.   

 

My brother-in-law has played in bar bands and does work behind the scenes on the boards at a recording studio.   He is thinking of getting it because it would be a nice cheap and easy way to have the background music when he is practicing without band members. 

2yrs on @45yrs

and yes I've managed to get a decent foundation from RS (but having said that i've 1k+ hours in)

Ytube has helped a bit

 

and i've noted the a few long term players I know, seem to be stuck only using the first 3 frets an won't go near bar chords, which fortunately mixing up styles and rhythm and lead  has prevented me from falling into this trap.

 

My intention is get my first few paid lessons in this year to get me out my bad habits and force me to learn / memorise  a few more songs completely.

 

ultimately it's a good tool, it could be better, but you'll get out what you put in, in regards to rhythm patterns get those under your belt ASAP (y/tube is your friend on that one).

 

also grab a lounge electro acoustic for practising on the sofa or when your waiting to head out the door etc.

 

EDIT: in regards to writing music within 2yrs definitely

as my RS has been offline for while

I sat down and wrote 5mins of music for partner

recorded it with a Boss RC-30 loop, she was suitably flattered and seemed to genuinely appreciate the effort. 

Did rocksmith teach anyone here how to play guitar?

 

 

No. People teached themselves to play guitar, using tools, like Rocksmith. But the game doesn't teach you much, in my opinion. It gives you some guidance for practice tough, but it is a bad teacher, if you consider it one (but it's really not a teacher). 

 

Be critical of your own playing, turn the song volume down so you can actually hear yourself playing and the mistakes you make, look up additional info on internet when you need it. Don't expect RS to teach you everything and try to keep a distance from RS. (keep playing/practicing without it)

Thought I'd bump this to the top for anyone wondering if Rocksmith is true to it's word.

 

It is, after 6 months of Rocksmith I brushed away from it and learned more and more.. I've progressed more than I expected. 

Rocksmith helped me fine-tune techniques and to read tabs faster. I already can read music but as I am not originally a Strings player I have issues transposing the music I am reading into notes on the strings.

 

My wife has also been a great help; she is a strings player from the start. She owns and plays multiple strings including 5 violins, cello, mandolin, banjo, and banjo-yuke. This was my inspiration to learn how to play Guitar (already was playing woodwinds, oboe, bassoon, variety of clarinets [mostly bass or contra-bass]).

 

TL:DR if you know nothing of music it can teach you how to play some, but without a proper teacher some is not enough. Either get lessons along side Rocksmith or try finding some people to jam with and have fun.

I found that i had come to a standstill with my guitar playing. Got so far but couldn't progress any further. What Rocksmith did for me was give me back the fire to start learning new songs that i could play along to/Break down. The first track i learned was the rhythm to Judas Priest Painkiller. After a day of slowing down and learning it i felt a huge sense of achievement when i managed to get to the end of the song at full speed with all notes added.

Was just about to write the same as @@Mortalo

 

1) Join the Championship - it makes you play! and it makes you play and practice songs you would have never without the competition.

And you get them exactly on your skill level every week.

Besides we try to keep the standard of the selected songs very high, so only well made customs here.

 

2) Rocksmith is way too forgiving - trying to aim for the higher score is the wrong way. You gotta listen extremely carefull esp. regarding rhythm and accenting and while you improve you get the higher score. It is just simply the most optimal way to read tabs, the way i see it.

 

Rock on!

I've been playing for a few years now with no outside instruction. Thought I was getting pretty good until I tried playing along and using an external VOX amp with a Zoom G3 for tones (some accurate some not). Ever heard cats make love in the night? That's about how it went. So many inconsistencies with DLC songs. In-game music hides a lot of mistakes even though you might hit the note accurately. You think you're doing good in-game and then when you play for real you find out differently. I need to take actual lessons. I hope by doing that I improve. My two cents :)

 

Uncle

I play through an external amp so I can hear myself without RS hiding bad playing. I have been playing for about two years and can hit over 90 percent on bass for Sweet Home Chicago, which to me is a pretty tough song. I have noticed that when I take a few days off or a week my scores actually improve, so I guess my brain is slowly wiring in the lessons. I cant afford or have time for lessons right now but have a lot of pride in what I have been able to do with RS!

@@unclemiller - yes! I highly recommend playing over an external amp all the time. I personally use a passive ABY splitter box with a guitar cable on input, output A) guitar cable to my line6 spider15 amp (with floorboard) and output B ) Rocksmith Cable to PC.

In Game Guitar is muted. The Rec Output from the Spider goes into line-in from the PC´s Soundcard so i get absolutely 0-lag and real amp audio over the PC´s Audio Output that can also be used to record for RS videos etc., and the guitar tones and volume is controlled over the floorboard.

I only use 4 tones (A good acoustic one / ACDC (crunch) / a Metallica Rhythm / a Megadeth Lead) from the line6 library, but they sound tons better than most of the ingame ones and it feels much more like really covering a song. One very important thing is that you have to set your guitar volume high so you can hear what you are playing. When using ingame sound i set mixer "music" to max 75% and "guitar" to 100%.

That's a hard question, I'ven playing Rocksmith for almost 2 year and I cal tell I can do songs very well. but I still can't play guitar, Rocksmith makes you learn how to react to what it shows you in the screen but in my case I don't remember how to play songs.

I have been trying to decide whether to purchase RS as a way to share my enjoyment of guitar with my 10 year-old son, so this is a timely question. I see a distinction between learning to play the guitar and learning to play the guitar parts in songs. The former, taken seriously, requires heavy lifting with scales, modes, and rhythmic practice against a metronome, etc and is not an appropriate path for me as a 49 year-old guy. Being able to approximate the guitar parts to songs I love is what moves me and what I want to share with my son, so I have been buying multitrack song cover versions from a karaoke-type site, re-compiling the stems back into an mp3 file in Audacity (minus the guitar part or parts we want to play), loading those into a Digitech GNX4 floor pedal and using the pedal for guitar tones and as a foot-operated backing track player. Just 2 inexpensive Squier bullet strats and two used Digitech GNX4 pedals ,so my son and I are using identical equipment and he doesn't get the idea that Dad sounds better because Dad is using an expensive guitar or a high end guitar effects unit. My son is almost making it all the way through 'Teenage Kicks' by The Undertones and his face lights up when he realizes he is 100% responsible for the guitar sound that he hears when his recorded part is played back to him along with the backing track.    

 

I just learned that RS does not use track stems so you cannot fully mute instrument parts and completely replace the song's guitar parts with your own. .The GNX4 pedal contains an 8-track recorder and I use it to record my guitar part to a track separate from the backing track. To me, the only way you know you are doing it 'right' or authentically is to listen to your recorded guitar part after you are done. So it seems with RS, you don't get much back in exchange for tethering yourself to  a computer other than point-scoring or watching graphics go by on the screen.

 

Also, even with there being over 900 official downloadable songs available, there is so much classic material missing it's not even funny. I understand this is principally about licensing, etc, and UBISOFT's hands are tied if a licensing deal can't be made, so I guess that's that. I guess RS isn't for me and my son. It took me quite a while to arrive at a 'system' that works for us involving creating my own backing tracks from multitrack stems I buy for a couple of bucks each and running them from a floor pedal. It's not perfect - everything is  a compromise - but I like it. Plus, if my son decides he wants to play guitar at school talent day, he won't feel naked without RS on a computer. He can just plug his guitar into his GNX4 and the GNX4 into the school's mixing board, step on the pedal to start the backing track and away he goes. Barring nervousness, the 'live' experience is not all that different from a technical point of view from his practice experience. Job done.

 

If I'm misunderstanding something or missing something reference RS, I'm happy to listen.      

@@Mystic368 i don't think you misunderstand much but i think you underestimate some aspect of RS outside of just playing along a song.

 

Session mode could be a very fun way to practice scales and improvisation with your son.

 

Guitarcade and lessons inside the game are a great way to practice specific technique in a more interactive way instead of just working along side a metronome, it's less boring and still offers a great way to practice specific stuff.

 

Note that even when playing inside Rocksmith, you could use the GNX4 (in between the guitar and the Rocksmith cable) to record yourself and listen back to what you did or mix it with stems/backing track that you can found online anyway.

 

In regards to the song available in RS officially, well that's an eternal issue, those artist that are consider classic/must have but aren't there because Ubisoft can't do anything legally, they've been contacted (multiple times probably) and are simply answering "no" or have crazy condition that can't be met by Ubisoft reasonnably. But you also have to keep in mind that we still get 3/5 DLC every week and the more Rocksmith have active user putting in request the easier it is for them to push toward some artist and the more power they have when discussing term. Also some artist are known to hate video games or had bad past relationship with different partners, things aren't easy. All that said, the variety in the DLC offers is interesting and can help you discover new stuff that might have never appreciated otherwise.

 

And of course there's always Customsforge to fill up the missing gap.

 

Regarding stems, RS don't use them because it makes getting artist even harder and more costly and that doesn't mean that you won't hear anything of what you are doing, putting the song volume down to 70/60% will make what you play stand out enough to really listen to what you do (and with the GNX4 you could always output to the amp at the same time anyway!).

 

 

he won't feel naked without RS on a computer.

That's a lot of BS, memorization has nothing to do with the support you use to read the partition from, you can learn lyrics by singing in a karaoke so you can learn riffs/songs by playing them from RS. It's just a question of effort, tab don't usually force you to memorize stuff to actually play it cause it's hard to sight read tab. RS makes sight reading a lot easier so memory is a lot less useful at first but that doesn't mean that you have to stare at the screen like a zombie. So yeah if you only look at the screen and don't make your memory work, a lot less will stick compare to tab but that's because you won't have made the effort to memorize it anyway but that's also a strength. You don't have to memorize everything down to the little variations to be able to play along songs which means that you can easily plays tons of songs back to back simply for fun and still have lot of space to memorize stuff that you really want to remember. And at one point, when you've played a riff thousand of times, it will stick anyway...

 

Note that RS will also likely make slowing part down and repeating a lot more practical/easy which is very important for intensive practice and memorization.

 

All that said, if you think it won't be worth it, you are free to not get it anyway. But it's not like it's that expensive for a good number of songs (especially if you count CDLC).

 

So i do think it would be worth a try, doesn't mean that you have to extensively use it anyway and note that steam has a refund system that you could always benefit from.

Firekorn, thank you for such a comprehensive response. I agree completely that UBISOFT can't twist an artist's arm to make even a stereo mix available, let alone track stems. I'm aware there are too many variables and legitimate concerns at play to 'blame' UBISOFT for that and you outlined some of those concerns in your response. Of course when it comes to early Beatles material, as an extreme example, one-instrument-per-track stems don't even exist anyhow. I must say, though, it is still tantalizing to fantasize about the availability of original studio tracks as stems (where they exist) when you listen to some of the more-or-less isolated track stems on YouTube for something like 'Layla,' for example.

 

When you think of the average cover song performance scenario, you're typically talking of a bar band / patio band type situation where you simply can't perfectly replicate the song in precise detail anyhow due to instrumentation among other factors. That's why I think using the track stems of cover versions of classic tracks doesn't compromise much and there is the benefit of knowing the only guitar you are hearing as you play along (and record) with the track is yours. It's just my opinion, but I think playing along with even a turned down song that contains the guitar part you are playing tends to mask your own playing and, psychologically, you might then credit yourself for playing better than you did, ha, ha. That's how I feel anyhow when I hit play on an original track in a media player and just play along with it. I realize RS provides visual training cues and learning tools, etc, and there is a fun game-play element but, at the end  of the day, you are playing along with a song that already contains the part you are (trying) to replace. That's how I feel about it, but I realize no-one else is obligated to feel the same.  

 

My comment about being tethered to RS on a computer wasn't a negative judgement on my part that RS has no value as a training tool or as a memorization aid. It was a comment about the potential psychological effect on a young learner, specifically, of being connected to a computer while they practiced and played. Would they subsequently feel naked trying to perform the song without the support of the visuals and a subdued but still present original guitar track? That's what I was alluding to there, but I didn't flesh it out.  

 

Session mode seems interesting, but it's a first generation feature isn't it? Well, RS is not a major outlay, so I think I'll get a copy and play around with it for a while before I decide whether to introduce my son to it. Maybe I'll get hooked on it, I don't know. I have to admit I'm curious about the custom downloadable content . I'll give it a shot and report back at some point. Thanks again, Firekorn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's why I think using the track stems of cover versions of classic tracks doesn't compromise much

 

And that's true but as you pointed out, stems aren't always available and what do you do then? That's one major issue regarding RB tracks nowadays, they sometimes kinda recreated stems by advanced filters and effect on the song but i didn't heard many good thing about the result or they go for covers which brings us back to the issue that it might not be 100% the song you know and love.

 

I do agree that stems can be nice but i gotta admit that i prefer to have access to more songs than to have stems available.

 

Note that there is multitrack CDLC but those won't be working "properly" if you do multiplayer.

 

 

the potential psychological effect on a young learner

Classical music is learned by being tethered to music sheet. It just requires effort to then detach yourself from the support but it's effort you would have put in anyways when you simply glance at a tab and try to figure out the rest as you go.

 

 

Session mode seems interesting, but it's a first generation feature isn't it?

It is but that doesn't mean it's not worth it and in your case i think it would be really nice and less expensive than a decent drum machine.

What I love the most about Rocksmith is that it gets you past the "Suck phase". Pretty much everyone sucks when they start playing. Rocksmith gives you the rest of the band where you can keep playing and it doesn't sound like cats being murdered. The game never gets old for me and I keep playing pretty much every day.

 

But, that can also be a crutch that is tough to get rid of as well. Make sure that you can hear yourself play like the others have mentioned. And just practice, practice, practice. I think Rocksmith has some decent tools that will help with music theory, like the scale games and session mode.

 

Just keep at it is really the only piece of advice..

Using a Y splitter to run your bass or guitar to a practise amp + Rocksmith at the same time is pretty good...

I dare say it helped allot with not trying to play Acoustically when it's meant to be electric :P