Rocksmith

[toblix]

I'm pretty excited about this. I've always wanted to be able to play the guitar, but I can never motivate myself to stick to even the most trivial of challenges. Maybe a context like this will make it easier or more fun? Only time and lots of money will tell.

[miffy495]

Hey wow, a topic for this actually exists.

So I picked up the guitar again for the first time in over five years this summer. I've been really enjoying myself, but between my last year of school and working a bunch, I've only been able to teach myself some chord progression-y stuff and have learned no theory at all. I definitely don't have the kind of schedule that I could work formal lessons into, so seeing that this game came out on PC and figuring it'd be worth a chance, I ordered a copy off of Amazon. Ubi's customer support people told me that the code would be redeemable on Steam, and ordering the bundle ended up cheaper than buying it on Steam and buying the quarter-inch-jack-to-USB cable separately. Hopefully it'll be worth it since I already have an electric guitar. If I didn't have one, I think the price for the giant bundle may be a bit much, but when they deliver the game, I'll report back on how it actually plays. Did any other thumbs try this out on any of the platforms it had already come out on? 'blix, did you ever follow through and try it?

[Jimmithy]

I actually picked up the quater-inch-to-usb cable last year when the game was released for consoles, for recording purposes. Aaaaaand because it was just cool and fun. When the demo became available on Steam I went ahead and downloaded it right away, because I might as well. I've already done the hard part by getting the peripheral. I only played around with it a little bit before Borderlands 2 started taking over my life, but it was very responsive and set really easy to obtain goals. I know this whole game reeks of the gamification of learning guitar, and honestly I'm not a huge advocate of gamification in general, but for some reason this really started to click for me. I'll probably end up picking up the full copy soon so I can really play around with it and see what kind of music it can really handle.

[miffy495]

See, in my case, I don't really need to gamify it to motivate myself to practice or anything like that. I already play my guitar for an hour or more a night. I'm just at a point where I'm ready to step up complexity but have no time in my schedule in which I could actually fit proper lessons and have no idea how to even start teaching myself. I'm just hoping that, in with all the songs and such, they've got some tutorial stuff that'll help me either get more acquainted with theory or get some more technical skill. I'm happy to look up tabs on my own, but that's not doing it for me as much any more and I'm interested in seeing what Rocksmith may be able to do to improve my playing.

[toblix]

Okay so: I don't know anything about guitars. I don't know how to hold it, which end is up, which thing does what, how to act around it, etc., but if, and only if, I buy a regular electric guitar like a ERIC CLAPTON AND MARK KNOPFLER DUAL-SIGNATURE MEXICO EDITION FENDER STRATOCASTER, and this adapter you're talking about:

• Will I be able to play the guitar?
  

[miffy495]

Well, first thing's first: the thinnest string goes at the bottom. Also, don't feed it after midnight.

In all seriousness though, there's a hard physical barrier to entry, and that is that for the first little while your fingers will be in fucking agony as you develop the callouses from the strings. Learning to play the guitar hurts like hell until your fingers toughen up. From that point on, it's up to your dedication to actually keeping up with practice. Tabs are pretty easy to read, so if you're just looking to learn certain songs you'll be able to figure out songs that you want to play fairly quickly. I've found that if I'm looking for something specific, I can usually rely on www.ultimate-guitar.com to get me a playable tab quickly. Also, that site has a check box to show the fingerings for different chords, so if you don't have the muscle memory for playing the different chords yet, you can get started learning to recognize them. That's what I've been doing for the last couple of months, and also what has now become a bit too simplistic for me, which is why I decided to try out Rocksmith. What doing what I've described won't tell you at all though is theory, which is what I'm hoping to learn a bit of. I know how to play a bunch of songs, but if you asked me what key any of them were in I'd have no clue. If you asked me to play my scales, I'd just shrug. I know what all that stuff is from learning piano back in the day, but I never extended it to guitar. If that's the kind of thing you're interested in learning, you're best off taking formal lessons if you have time. I'd love to do that, but I don't have a schedule for it. If Rocksmith delivers the goods in helping me learn some of that stuff, I'll be a very happy person. My hopes aren't too high for much of that, but a guy can dream, right?

Also: for god's sake get a cheap guitar for your first one. I have an ancient Ibanez Roadstar II that I got used when I was 12. It's still in good shape, and it does all I need to to. I also have an old Mansfield folk acoustic guitar which I love a lot. I don't think either one of my guitars cost more than $200 14 years ago when I got them. As a final note, if you want to go a bit easier on your fingers, you could always start with a classical guitar as those tend to have nylon strings. Folk and electric have metal strings (my folk has steel and my electric nickel, I think) and those will beat the shit out of your fingertips if you're starting out.

[ThunderPeel2001]

A band friend of mine always told me: Never get a cheap guitar for learning on. You'll just be making things harder for yourself: It will be horrible to play, and it won't sound good, either. You already have enough barriers to overcome, if you're going to keep trying to play guitar and not quit in six months, so don't make it harder/worse for yourself.

That doesn't mean buy the best guitar in the world, of course, but don't just go for the crappiest because you think you're an amateur. Get something decent.

[Jimmithy]

My dad was a serious guitar player when he was in college. He's mentioned a couple of times that he basically paid his way through school being a tech guitar some bands while they toured. The famous family tale is that he met my mom the summer he declined to tour with Bob Seger because he thought Seger didn't have the chops to make it.

So, I was fortunate enough to learn guitar with an acoustic Guild that my dad got for himself back in the 80s. That is a very cool guitar, but my short and stump-y "Irish potato shovel" hands didn't work too well with the wide neck. I moved over to the skinnier necks for my first guitar and never look back.

I currently have Fender Squire Bullet and a Yamaha F-310 for my acoustic. Both work great for my very tiny aspirations.

[toblix]

I ordered the magical cable. Now only a guitar remains. And I guess the software. So, Guitars come with strings, right?

[ThunderPeel2001]

I ordered the magical cable. Now only a guitar remains. And I guess the software. So, Guitars come with strings, right?

You should go to a music store and pick out something you like!

[toblix]

I will! The trick is getting one without having to say why. Maybe I'll steal one.

[ThunderPeel2001]

You don't want to say that you want to learn guitar? you don't have to mention HOW

[toblix]

Good point.

So, how do I know what to look for? An electric guitar is like a small cello that you hold with both hands and there are wires coming out of it?

[TheLastBaron]

So, Guitars come with strings, right?

Yes, though strings are also cheap, you can get a good set for anywhere between $3-10 USD and it's worth having an extra set around in case a string breaks at some point.

Good point.

So, how do I know what to look for? An electric guitar is like a small cello that you hold with both hands and there are wires coming out of it?

An electric guitar can look like a lot of things, it can be thin and solid like your typical Fender strat, or it can be big and hollow like an acoustic, but with pickups. There are also acoustic guitars that have pickups installed in the sound hole (they're referred to as acoustic-electric guitars). It all depends on what you want. The bigger guitars and the hollow guitars will be louder, so for example I have a solid body guitar and a semi-hollow guitar which isn't as big as a full hollow-body guitar, but part of it is hollow and there's an f-hole on it like a violin would have. If I'm playing the solid body guitar by myself not plugged it I can hear it fine, but it sounds really thin and plain and if I was playing with someone else it would probably be inaudible. The semi-hollow guitar is closer to an acoustic guitar in terms of tone and volume, and a hollow-body guitar like a Gretsch would basically be like a regular acoustic guitar.

[toblix]

Yes, though strings are also cheap, you can get a good set for anywhere between $3-10 USD and it's worth having an extra set around in case a string breaks at some point.

Don't worry, I'm going to buy a quality guitar; I doubt the strings will break.

[TheLastBaron]

Don't worry, I'm going to buy a quality guitar; I doubt the strings will break.

Well strings will break, it's normal, and doesn't have to do with the quality of the guitar. It isn't something that happens all the time, but as the strings wear over time chances are that at some point one of them might break. A lot of the times its the high e string which is the thinnest string, but I've had the E string on my bass break a few times over the years (it's about as thick as the 1/8" jack on a pair of headphones). It's not something that I'd worry about, it's just that I find it a lot easier to spend $4-5 on an extra set of strings and have them handy in case something happens rather than having to play with only 5 strings until I have time to go to the store or order a new set. Also over time the strings will lose their tone and after a while it's good to change them anyways (they'll sound really bad and if you look they'll have flat spots where they make contact with the frets).

[TheLastBaron]

Also, would anyone be interested if we made a thread on music, as in playing instruments and theory and such? I'm no expert, but I've been playing guitar and bass for maybe 10 years and am majoring in music in college so have a few years of theory so I (as well as other people) could help people with any questions they have or explain stuff.

[miffy495]

Make one! If nothing else, it'll exist as a resource.

[darthbator]

I second a music thread. I've drummed a bit in my day. I've thought about taking up the guitar but I haven't because I'm lazy.

[Spwn]

Bought Rocksmith last week and really enjoying it. I've had an Epiphone Les Paul Custom lying around for years and I think it's finally time to learn how to actually play that thing. I've been playing bass guitar for ten years now and studied a little bit of music a few years ago so I'm not a total beginner. I second not getting a cheap guitar - cheap instruments a such a hassle that they want you to stop playing music altogether.

Playing through Sony's own stereo headset and experiencing a little bit of latency, but not enough to not being able to adjust to it. The bass expansion (which was included in the PAL version and... is free dl in NA?) is also pretty good. I especially liked how my Warwick Corvette STD sounded through all the digital filters. You can also use a regular guitar to emulate bass, but I think doing that is just silly. Overall Rocksmith is great if you're starting to learn an instrument and want some training motivation.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Noice!

Toblix, don't forget that different guitars sound different, too! When you're in the store and you embarrassingly strum with the whole shop listening, keep an ear out to what it sounds like. You may find you really like the sound of one particular guitar, but not another.

[toblix]

Oh, I'm not going to strum anything in the shop.

[ThunderPeel2001]

You'll need to in order make sure it feels comfortable for you!

[toblix]

I won't.

[TurboPubx-16]

Hey all, I'm a music teacher so I thought I'd weigh in. The advice given that cheaper instruments will hinder your growth is true for most people. A bad guitar can give you bad technique, bad ears, and problems with your wrist.

I'm about to recommend some inexpensive guitars and trash some other ones, but please keep in mind that in order for me to fairly evaluate a guitar I would have to put my hands on it. Like ThunderPeel says, you really need to put your hands on the guitar you ultimately buy. This is an incredibly important piece of advice for a beginner guitar player, second only to "practice makes perfect."

This is because no two guitars are alike, not even two made in the same factory with identical specifications. Any guitar that costs less than $1000 new is made in Asia, and a lot of music shops these days are no longer checking their imports to make sure they're not totally warped from the trip. You can demand a free adjustment but they will probably tell you that they already did it. This is where is it is crucial to bring a friend who can look it over and see if they're lying or not.

The Yamaha PAC-10 (also called the Pacfica) and the Peavey Raptor are great guitars for their price. They are easy to adjust and sound great when plugged into a decent amp.

Stay away far from anything from First Act and in particular don't get an Epiphone Les Paul II Special. I have a perfectly justified personal vendetta against them due to the problems they have given me.

For those interested on getting your guitar to be the best it can be, here's a link to my guitar tech's Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/davey4557. Here's a

of him fixing one of my guitars, and here's a

of me demoing it afterwards. As you can see, a decent guitar with a great setup makes a ton of noise with almost no effort. On that guitar I just have to touch the strings to get a sound out of it; most cheap guitars require you to press down with effort and that's where finger pain comes from.