Welcome to the CF Rocksmith 2014 Championship!

-= Week 670 =-

=> How and Why join the Championships?
=> Rocksmith 2014 Championships rules

Previous' week Winners are:

Lead:
- Beginner: @EmbraceTheAbsurd (90)
- Beginner Bonus: LOST TROPHY
- Intermediate: @Vodka (96)
- Intermediate Bonus: @jimmy655 (98.15)
- Advanced: @jimbobmccecil (93.57)
- Advanced Bonus: @aNDESmASAMUNE (64)
- Masterclass: @shaggy_malagy (90)
- Masterclass Bonus: @LuZifeR (94)

Rhythm:
- Beginner: @FlatCap Jay (96)
- Intermediate: LOST TROPHY
- Advanced: @Vodka (96)
- Masterclass: @LuZifeR (86)
- Masterclass Bonus: @LuZifeR (98)

Bass:
- Beginner: LOST TROPHY
- Beginner Bonus: LOST TROPHY
- Intermediate: @MaltaSoron (99)
- Intermediate Bonus: @MaltaSoron (99)
- Advanced: @ALSRC (99)
- Advanced Bonus: @ALSRC (97)
- Masterclass: @Nomgoose (87)
- Masterclass Bonus: @Nomgoose (97.09)
- God of Bass: Leader after week 1 is @Nomgoose (87), 1 week left... KEEP ROCKING!!!

Congrats to all winners. Well done!

This week's songs are:

Lead Path:
Beginner: Phil Wickham - It Really Is Amazing Grace (2.5) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Intermediate: Ozzy Osbourne - Dreamer (4.5) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Advanced: Running Wild - Kiss Of Death (6.5) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Advanced Bonus: Sabaton - Panzerkampf (6.5) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Masterclass: Children Of Bodom - Lake Bodom (9*) (C# Standard) selected by @Vodka
Masterclass Bonus: Firehouse - Hold the Dream (8) (Eb Standard) selected by @Vodka

Rhythm Path:
Beginner: Phil Wickham - It Really Is Amazing Grace (3*) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Intermediate: Sabaton - Panzerkampf (4) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Intermediate Bonus: Children Of Bodom - Lake Bodom (5.5^) (C# Standard) selected by @Vodka
Advanced: Running Wild - Kiss Of Death (6.5) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Masterclass: Firehouse - Hold the Dream (8) (Eb Standard) selected by @Vodka
Masterclass Bonus: Ozzy Osbourne - Dreamer (8) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka

Bass Path:
Beginner: Phil Wickham - It Really Is Amazing Grace (3*) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Beginner Bonus: Sabaton - Panzerkampf (2) (B Standard) selected by @Vodka
Intermediate: Children Of Bodom - Lake Bodom (4.5) (C# Standard) selected by @Vodka
Intermediate Bonus: Running Wild - Kiss Of Death (4) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Advanced: Ozzy Osbourne - Dreamer (6) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
Advanced Bonus: Firehouse - Hold the Dream (4.5) (Eb Standard) selected by @Vodka
Masterclass: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Found God in a Tomato (8) (E Standard) selected by @Vodka
God of Bass: Dirty Loops - Old Armando Had A Farm (10) (E Standard) selected by Emmy-Dell [Week 2 of 2]

(N) - difficulty rating
(N*) - highest difficulty rating for the class (promotion to higher class possible)
(N^) - difficulty rating higher than the highest for the class (promotion possible)

Check current week Rocksmith Championship Leaderboard

You can submit your song suggestions for the championship here
NEW! - easly add songs even on your mobile!:
Add Song Suggestion

Song Suggestions List available to view here: Google Sheets Spreadsheet

Share with us your opinion on this weeks songs difficulty scores (1-10).

Do you want to host a week? Join the Championship organizing team!!!
The process is smooth and there is a tutorial as well. If you are interested, send a personal message to Rodman.

Small improvement on Henrik's bass line. I don't know how mad I want to make myself practicing more slap:

The 5 string bass is something I miss for this Sabaton song 😉. Wife wouldn't be so happy to hear this though 😅. But one day, it will happen I hope.

18 hours ago, jimmy655 said:

There should have been a poll selection: "I have a 5 string bass

Here is my go, need to go back and try this

Thanks for the new week! I put most of my time in Lake Bodom, but the other metal songs were a lot of fun too!

I meant to thank @Vodka for the thoughtful and touching song selection and commentary. I'm reminded of this each time I play one of the songs...

11 hours ago, MotivatedCF said:

The 5 string bass is something I miss for this Sabaton song 😉. Wife wouldn't be so happy to hear this though 😅. But one day, it will happen I hope.

For under $200 the Digitech Drop pedal makes your 4 string into a pretty decent substitute for a 5 string - and one that already feels familiar in your hands. You don't get the high G string, but that's rarely used in the songs we tend to play here (outside of the aforementioned Dream Theater songs of course. John Myung plays a 6 string - I had one once but couldn't wait to get rid of it.) And the Digitech works flawlessly for Eb standard, also with just the push of a button. And my wife doesn't even notice a new pedal, but she would sure notice a new bass or guitar....

Pitch Shift Code Updated

I had my developer, ChatGPT, dig into the pitch-shifting side of RSMods-Min and replace the previous RSModsPlus-derived shifter with a well-established algorithm from Stephan Bernsee.

I tested the new build tonight and the improvement is pretty dramatic. The shifted guitar sounds much cleaner, the artifacting is nearly gone, there are no more obvious clicking issues, and the latency still feels really solid.

I’m much happier with where this landed, and this is now the version I’d recommend using.

Download / release page:
https://github.com/RoboLechuga/RSMods-Min/releases

If you give it a run, let me know how it works out for you. Planning on updating with one or two more features to allow for some presets to adjust the pitch shifter, but the goal is to keep this lightweight and focused purpose.

At $0.00 it is cheaper than a pedal and you can tell your significant other about it.

9 hours ago, jimmy655 said:

For under $200 the Digitech Drop pedal makes your 4 string into a pretty decent substitute for a 5 string - and one that already feels familiar in your hands. You don't get the high G string, but that's rarely used in the songs we tend to play here (outside of the aforementioned Dream Theater songs of course. John Myung plays a 6 string - I had one once but couldn't wait to get rid of it.) And the Digitech works flawlessly for Eb standard, also with just the push of a button. And my wife doesn't even notice a new pedal, but she would sure notice a new bass or guitar....

I was about to say "I thought you were on my side @jimmy655 , and that we'd agree the problem isn't too many basses", but I'm keeping this reply for @robolechuga now that I see his post about RSModsPlus-Min 😅.

On a serious note, what do you do for Drop D (DADG) songs? You bite the bullet and retune, or you skip these songs altogether?

54 minutes ago, MotivatedCF said:

On a serious note, what do you do for Drop D (DADG) songs? You bite the bullet and retune, or you skip these songs altogether?

@MotivatedCF Yes, you bite the bullet and retune for Drop D (DADG). Most modern pitch shifters affect all the strings together because they receive the bass as a single mono signal; they are not receiving each string individually.

Once you are in Drop D, you can use the pitch shifter to explore other drop tunings. For example, tune physically to DADG, set the pitch shifter to Eb, and you end up in Eb Drop Db (Db Ab Db Gb). Then you can spend the evening exploring all the Rocksmith songs in that tuning variation and have a blast discovering new music.

For the 5-string example above, start from standard EADG and shift down 5 semitones. That gives you BEAD, which emulates the lower four strings of a standard 5-string bass.

Hope this helps.

1 hour ago, robolechuga said:

For the 5-string example above, start from standard EADG and shift down 5 semitones. That gives you BEAD, which emulates the lower four strings of a standard 5-string bass.

Hope this helps.

🤯 It does help, thank you!

Capo time...

TOP GAINS OF LAST WEEK

@cacahuate51 (A) gained 25.04% on "Nothing More - Jenny" (A) on Lead!

@Vodka (A) gained 4% on "Bullet For My Valentine - Fever" (A) on Rhythm!

@Rodman (M) gained 6% on "Between the Buried and Me - Autodidact" (M) on Bass!

Well done 👏 Keep shredding!!

RANKED SONGS MASTERED (99+%) LAST WEEK

@MaltaSoron mastered the Bass path for "Bullet For My Valentine - Fever" (I) with 99%!

@MaltaSoron mastered the Bass path for "Electric Callboy - The Way You Are" (I) with 99%!

@ALSRC mastered the Bass path for "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Marmalade March" (A) with 99%!

 

Well played!! 👏

LAST WEEK'S PLAY STREAK HIGHLIGHTS

@LuZifeR is on a 5-week active play streak (longest: 27 weeks). Their first week was Week 325 and they have played a total of 63 weeks!

@JobwanMojo is on a 5-week active play streak (longest: 21 weeks). Their first week was Week 570 and they have played a total of 79 weeks!

Keep it up!! 👏

BACK THIS WEEK

Welcome back, @RaZrShReD ! It's been 49 weeks since your last (Week 620).

CHAMPIONSHIP W

Over 20 players have submitted scores for 5 weeks straight for the first time since Week 598!

On 8/22/2026 at 5:25 PM, Vodka said:

Welcome to the new week of our Championship!

At first glance, it's an ordinary week with a random selection of songs. But this is not entirely true. More precisely, it is not like that at all. Accidents are not accidental.

This week's song selection has a very brief backstory. There's a "schedule" in the backroms of the Champoioship organizers. And recently our wonderful @drand gave it a little redesign. In the schedule table has appeared a separate column "Holiday". Since I was not very smart and did not figure out what it meant, I asked about its purpose. Everything's simple - it marks if the week is "special". For example, with festivals, like Christmas, Halloween, Oktoberfest, Hot Dog Days, or week 666. Or @Rodman 's birthday.

And there's a little problem here. There are not so many holidays. Especially new ones and big. And they repeast from year to year. We're running out of ideas for new "special" weeks (by the way, you can join the organizers and suggest your own ideas and do your own weeks!).

BUT... I did an investigation.

Every day is special. All over the world. In every country in its own way. And a new week is "special" too. You'll see. Every day is some kind of holiday or memorable date. I didn't play last week to make a selection corresponding to upcomming days. So here are some holidays and dates for our upcoming week:

22th: International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief.

For this day I chose the song "It Really Is Amazing Grace".

The song "It Really Is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickham and Crowder is a vibrant, modern reimagining of the historic 1772 hymn "Amazing Grace". It is a high-energy worship anthem about redemption, spiritual freedom, and the overwhelming joy of being forgiven and transformed by God's love.

The track keeps the classic, untouched verses written by John Newton.

Newton was an 18th-century British slave trader who participated in horrific human trafficking. During a violent storm at sea that nearly destroyed his ship, he cried out to God for mercy. Newton survived and underwent a profound spiritual conversion. He left the slave trade, became a pastor, and fought alongside William Wilberforce to abolish slavery in Britain. When he wrote "that saved a wretch like me," he was reflecting on his deep remorse and the literal miracle of his changed heart.

So this song also somehow fits to 23rd: International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition.

23rd: The end of Battle of Kursk during World War II. Widely recognized as the largest tank battle in human history.

For this day I chose "Panzerkampf". The title translates from German to mean "Tank Battle".

The track serves as a musical history lesson, breaking down the strategy and sheer scale of the conflict:

- The German Pincer Trap: The opening lines ("Waiting for the Axis to march into the trap") reference how the Soviets anticipated Germany's "Operation Citadel". The Red Army built massive defensive lines, minefields, and anti-tank fortifications ahead of time to blunt the German onslaught.

- The Massive Scale: Sabaton captures the overwhelming size of the battle with lyrics like "Tanks line up in thousands as far the eye can see" and "One million men at war".

- The Turning of the Tide: The chorus marks Kursk as the absolute turning point of the war on the Eastern Front. Once the German offensive failed, the Soviets launched a massive counter-attack ("Soviet wrath unleashed!"), and the German army lost the strategic initiative for the remainder of WWII.

24th: International Strange Music Day and International Day Against Intolerance, Discrimination and Violence Based on Musical Preferences, Lifestyle and Dress Code.

So we don't blame you here if you're fan of Bieber or Nickelback. See also 26th.

The day is dedicated to eradicating intolerance, discrimination, and violence against anyone who is part of a subculture that may look different, listen to different music, or have other hobbies than what is seen as the "norm". On August 24, 2007, Sophie Lancaster died after previously being beaten in Rossendale, Lancashire, in England. Along with her boyfriend Rob, she had been beaten simply because of the way she looked, having been part of the "goth" subculture.

No song selected for the day.

25th: National Park Service Founders Day, National Whiskey Sour Day

Nothing was selected too.

26th: La Tomatina in Spain. And National Dog Day also @drand

Song for this day Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Found God in a Tomato (they're again yes).

La Tomatina is the world’s biggest food fight, held annually on the last Wednesday of August in the town of Buñol, Spain (located 40 km from Valencia). In 2026, the official festival takes place on August 26.

During this hour-long event, around 20,000 participants throw over 120 tons of overripe tomatoes at each other.

I think this band would also be a good fit for International Strange Music Day.

International Strange Music Day is celebrated every year on August 24. The main goal of this movement is to encourage people to step out of their musical comfort zones and listen to unfamiliar or bizarre genres without prejudice.

27th: World Lake Day. One of the most famous metal lakes? Bodom!

So the song I chose "Lake Bodom" by Children of Bodom.

The song "Lake Bodom" by Children of Bodom is a melodic death metal track about the infamous, unsolved 1960 Lake Bodom murders in Finland.

"Lake Bodom" is a landmark track from the band's 1997 debut album, Something Wild. It perfectly established their signature sound: aggressive death metal vocals paired with neoclassical, lightning-fast guitar solos and atmospheric keyboards.

Written by the band's late frontman and guitarist, Alexi Laiho, the lyrics of "Lake Bodom" do not tell a strict historical documentary. Instead, they lean heavily into gothic horror, occult imagery, and the personification of death.

And another "holiday" of 27th is First Kiss Day. I decided to turn the table here a little. I think there are two truly first kisses in our lives. Our very "first" kiss. And another one – the first kiss of death. Rarely does anyone have a "chance" to get her second kiss. So for the 27th we have one more song - Kiss Of Death by Running Wild.

It is a classic heavy metal song about the ultimate downfall of the Devil (Satan) and the triumph of good over absolute evil. While the phrase "kiss of death" historically refers to Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus or a Mafia execution signal, Running Wild uses it as a metaphor for divine judgement and finality.

In the chorus, the band sings:

Here, "the elder" represents God, Time, or a divine judge. The "kiss of death" is the absolute, unyielding sentence that instantly strips the Devil of his power, breathes the life out of his empire, and sends him to eternal damnation so that "the good at heart will yearn".

28th is next to last day of our "special" week. World Day of Dreams.

Two songs here "Hold the Dream" by Firehouse and "Dreamer" by Ozzy Osbourne.

"Hold the Dream" by FireHouse is an uplifting power ballad about perseverance, self-belief, and maintaining hope during times of deep loneliness and failure.Released on their 1992 sophomore album, Hold Your Fire, the song serves as an emotional anthem of encouragement for anyone tempted to give up on their goals.

The central message is wrapped entirely in the title's metaphor. To "hold the dream" means to fiercely protect your vision of a better future, stay strong, and refuse to let outside forces or temporary setbacks destroy your ambition.

"Dreamer" by Ozzy Osbourne is a soulful power ballad about world peace, environmental protection, and a deep hope for a safer future for the next generation.

Released on his 2001 album Down to Earth, it stands out as one of the most vulnerable and gentle songs in the "Prince of Darkness's" solo career. Ozzy himself has frequently stated that this track is his personal version of John Lennon's iconic peace anthem, "Imagine".

There's nothing for 29th but we catched 22nd. So I think that's enough songs for us. I hope you'll appreciate this unusual "concept" for the week.

I apologize in advance to all the fingerstyle bassists. This week might be a bit challenging.

I also want to say thank you to @cacahuate51 for helping me rank the songs!

* all the songs descriptions are made by Google AI. I'm not so smart, sorry.
** all the things I wrote above are for our fun. If my words offended anyone, I apologize. I expressed my thoughts in English as best I could.

Thanks for the theme week @Vodka, happy DOG DAY! 🐶🚨 SABATON DETECTED 🚨!! 😏😏
is the right side of this text box cut off for anyone else? Actually when I quoted it I can read the whole thing but only in edit mode 🙃

Got a little better

I haven't done this in a long while but... RIP Dr. Frenk N. Furter

On 8/24/2026 at 4:26 AM, RaZrShReD said:

hello RSC friends, happy to post something here after a lont time. hope everyone had a good weekend!

Masterclass Lead

Oh who's back! I don't think I've seen you here in a year, but time flies, so maybe longer. Good to see you back 😉

Thanks for the week! @Vodka

First scores

Please always add information that the song requires a Capo as we did before.

Oh, a classic and I've never played this. Diff 4.5/5 because the solo is short but a bit fast.

This is fast, a bit too fast for me, I would give this a 7.

Oh, one of Sabaton songs that I've played many times before, but it was a different CDLC. Chart is mostly easy, but the solo is difficult, you get tapping immediately, so might be a 7.

Chaos chart, really hard, yes 9.

A nice song by a band I didn't know, but I see they're quite popular. 8 ok.

Rhythm

You need to have stamina to repeat these chords fast, I would give this a 3.5

4

6

Too fast... 7

Cool arpeggios (greetings to @Rodman 😄) 8 ok.

This one was significantly easier for me than the diff rating suggests. And definitely easier than the previous song, so I'd give this a 7 at most.