Rocksmith 2014 Practice Group - By request updated 2/2 get your Stones out!

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Back when Rocksmith 1 came out we did a "weekly challenge" sort of setup where a group of us played the same song for a week and posted our progress. The problem was that it sort of devolved into a high-score contest. With the better tools in RS2014 and the elimination of a pure score mechanic I'd like to set up something a little more constructive that can help us all improve, especially the newer players.

As an experiment I'd like to choose a couple of songs, focus on them as a group and spend a week or two practicing them and as a group post our questions, tips and progress. If you're interested in doing this, post here and I'll add your name to the group. Once we have some members I'll probably just randomly select someone to choose some new songs to work on. We've been updating approximately weekly, and choosing one "base" RS2014 and a bonus DLC/Rocksmith 1 track for those that have it.

If you want to talk about a song, preface the post with Band : Song : Arrangement so it's easy to track. Hopefully as time goes by we can compile a 'library' of tips and experiences that can help us all be better players.

mr_n00b was kind enough to put together this Google Doc to track prior songs and help everyone record progress. It's very helpful if you want to go back to a prior track to see where you are. Hooray for mr_n00b! May the seed of your loins be fruitful in the belly of your woman. /Neil

[color=blue]Current Songs Updated 1/15[/color]
Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones

Google Doc of all songs Here

The Band
imbiginjapan
LiquidMantis
ColdForged
B Dog
Moggy
tboon
Boudreaux
AmazingZoidberg
mr_n00b
rabbit
LibrarianX
Elysium
Mr Green
Runestalker
Gorilla
Wembley
NSMike

In. What I'd like to see is people posting their initial results with the final results and maybe a Score Attack result at the end at a skill level they feel is appropriate. I feel that will make this more about self improvement to see how much you can improve your own performance, and still have a dash of peer rivalry for motivation with the advantage of the ranked tiers in Score Attack. NO SANDBAGGERS!

I guess you have to be UPlay friends for the leaderboards to work?

Yes, I'm in. Should be fun!

Count me in, as well. I like that this will give me a reason to focus on a song or two at a time.

I'd be interested. As a complete newbie to the guitar, I'd be especially interested in advice on which in game lessons to concentrate on for the song as well as any out-of-game resources that would help. I'm on the rhythm track but would like to move over to lead eventually.

Yeah, I am down with this idea. Although on the bass for all those thunderers out there.

I think we have enough interest to make a go of this. I'd love to see more folks jump in of course.

Tboon, since most of us are in this for all the hawt ladies/mans that a six string attracts, I'm not sure what the bass-only population is around here but I'll certainly give any bass stuff a go. It's good to branch out.

I like LM's idea of posting "first-run" progress then our results after a week or so of practice. What I'd really like to see though is some constructive input over the week as to what people are struggling with and suggestions to tackle them. RS now has tons of flexibility with Riff Repeater, Session Mode and the guitarcade games that we can use to our advantage, but with that variety it's sometimes tough to focus on stuff that's legitimately *helpful*.

Moggy, as probably the least experienced player, do you want to make the first picks? That way you feel comfortable with the level.
Like I said, maybe we can start with one on-disc song so everyone can participate and one DLC/Rocksmith 1 track as an optional item for those that have access. Also whoever chooses feel free to set a practice "deadline" you are comfortable with. I really want the less experienced people feel they have the time they need to work without feeling rushed.

I'll try to do the guitar side too, really need to get some hawt ladies/mans.

I'm in, absolutely.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Moggy, as probably the least experienced player, do you want to make the first picks? That way you feel comfortable with the level.
Like I said, maybe we can start with one on-disc song so everyone can participate and one DLC/Rocksmith 1 track as an optional item for those that have access. Also whoever chooses feel free to set a practice "deadline" you are comfortable with. I really want the less experienced people feel they have the time they need to work without feeling rushed.

I'm probably the least qualified to pick a track. I started with Paint it Black. It was going OK, hitting 9% mastery with two nights of play. Then it threw me a 4-finger chord. Yeah, that sh*t 'aint gonna be conquered so easily

I bought and imported RS 1's track list as well - there's some nice stuff in there - but no DLC as yet.

As I said, I'm on the rhythm track and have noticed quite a lot of the content doesn't have a rhythm arrangement, so bear that in mind when picking something.

Moggy wrote:
imbiginjapan wrote:

Moggy, as probably the least experienced player, do you want to make the first picks? That way you feel comfortable with the level.
Like I said, maybe we can start with one on-disc song so everyone can participate and one DLC/Rocksmith 1 track as an optional item for those that have access. Also whoever chooses feel free to set a practice "deadline" you are comfortable with. I really want the less experienced people feel they have the time they need to work without feeling rushed.

I'm probably the least qualified to pick a track. I started with Paint it Black. It was going OK, hitting 9% mastery with two nights of play. Then it threw me a 4-finger chord. Yeah, that sh*t 'aint gonna be conquered so easily

I bought and imported RS 1's track list as well - there's some nice stuff in there - but no DLC as yet.

As I said, I'm on the rhythm track and have noticed quite a lot of the content doesn't have a rhythm arrangement, so bear that in mind when picking something.

Don't forget you can change path at any time from the song select menu. You're never locked down to one path or another , and the lead arrangements have plenty of chord action.

As an example of a lead that is basically chords let's start with something simple - a good power chord intro... I know some of you will blow through it but it's a decent warmup, and getting the hang of power chords opens things up immensely.

The Ramones : Blitzkrieg Bop : Lead

and something more complex from the original game that I've been working on.

My Chemical Romance: Welcome to the Black Parade: Lead

I'll post my starting points tonight.

For Blitzkrieg Bop my level is at 92.3% so my main goal is to get it to full master in a few days. The tricky part will just be getting the quick changes at the right time. I also need to work on committing songs to memory, as I tend to get them to master and then forget. So I hope to come back next week and still be able to play from memory.

Welcome to the Black Parade is trickier. I'm at 50.1% but am actually a bit better than that because I played this in RS1 and haven't leveled up. The worst parts for me are fretting properly at the high frets (16+) and nailing those harmonics. I am going to have to take that part very slowly.

Fook. I've skipped Blitzkrieg so far since it annoys the piss out of me as a song... but I guess I'll suffer through at least once ;).

The Ramones : Blitzkrieg Bop : Lead

OK, I'm in.

I'm sitting at 61.7% on Blitzkrieg Bop right now, and now I have an excuse to go buy Black Parade. Time to start shredding.

EDIT: OK, 61.7% probably counts as sandbagging since it was my first run through the song without leveling anything up.

After a few more plays, I can already tell that the problem is not going to be hitting all the notes. Instead, I'm going to struggle to not play a bunch of extra or wrong notes on top of the right ones. I have a hard time laying off of the strings when the rhythm switches up; I just plow right through the rests.

So...quick question: Are you guys playing all the notes strumming down, or is it better to use a little down-up action?

Just spent an hour on Blitzkrieg Bop, which is all I'm going to get today.

My first run through was at 13.3%, my second 20.2%

Then things got hairy. As soon as the D string slide came in (from fret 5 to fret 7) I was a goner. I spent the next half hour in the Guitarcade playing the cowboy game (to practice string picking) and Ninja Slide to practice fret sliding followed by some practice in the riff repeater. The slide came in at difficulty 41. That got me squared away and I was able to up my level to 30%

So, progress!

and now my fifth finger is matching my second finger in the "can't feel the tip" category

Power chords can be challenging when you're first getting started, but once you've mastered them, you're basically ready for anything. Heck, the Ramones are a perfect example of a band that based an entire career on power chords.

Here's my Blitzkrieg Bop run:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/74xbzYyl.jpg?1)

Nice! I played a couple times and got it up to 98.5%. There are a few of those A5 chords that I'm missing when I jump down from the E5 chord.

This is also a decent song for practicing power chords with alternating picking. I find I have to really soften my grip on the pick or it gets hung up on the strings. I tend to play harder than I have to thanks to learning on an acoustic in my early days. Still have the tendency to really want to make the strings ring out instead of letting the pickups/amp do the work.

I've heard people suggest angling the pick somewhat in relation to the strings when playing a lot of repetitive 8th/16th notes like this, but I've never found anything that works really well. Any tips?

Are we allowed to max out the level first? I got 99.7% on Blitzkrieg Bop, which gave me 30 UPlay points for master modeing a song, so I guess I can unlock the extra arrangements now.

[Edit] Okay, 49% on my first run through Black Parade. I don't remember playing it in RS1.

Boudreaux wrote:

I've heard people suggest angling the pick somewhat in relation to the strings when playing a lot of repetitive 8th/16th notes like this, but I've never found anything that works really well. Any tips?

A lighter pick can help train you to not be too aggressive. I also try to hold the pick as loosely as possible without dropping it on songs like this. More conducive to strumming.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Are we allowed to max out the level first? I got 99.7% on Blitzkrieg Bop, which gave me 30 UPlay points for master modeing a song, so I guess I can unlock the extra arrangements now.

[Edit] Okay, 49% on my first run through Black Parade. I don't remember playing it in RS1.

Whatever floats your boat. The idea here is to improve yourself, not to impose restrictions.

ThingumBob wrote:

So...quick question: Are you guys playing all the notes strumming down, or is it better to use a little down-up action?

I'm actually playing with the same concept. I'm going all down on the 16th and then up when it's held longer. dddd dddd Up down... "blitzkrieg bop!"

ColdForged wrote:

Fook. I've skipped Blitzkrieg so far since it annoys the piss out of me as a song... but I guess I'll suffer through at least once ;).

Maybe we'll let you pick next week's song :p

imbiginjapan wrote:
ThingumBob wrote:

So...quick question: Are you guys playing all the notes strumming down, or is it better to use a little down-up action?

I'm actually playing with the same concept. I'm going all down on the 16th and then up when it's held longer. dddd dddd Up down... "blitzkrieg bop!"

This leads in to the question I posed above - I'm definitely trying to play with alternate picking - up/down, rather than all down strokes. I used to use mostly down, but I get so tired on songs like this. Relaxing the hand and fingers and strumming up/down is much easier from an effort standpoint, but then I start running into other issues like accidentally hitting other strings on the upstroke, or occasionally knocking the pick right out of my own hand. Plus, I think there's a limit on how fast you can do all downstrokes - with alternate picking, it's possible to go much faster. At least, that's what I've seen others do. My alternate picking speed is terrible.

Jesus. I forgot to switch paths and did the rhythm part first. That wore out my fretting hand with the major bar chords. Then I realized what I did and went to the lead path. Ahhh... just fifths. 98.7% score. I know what I missed and it's mostly laziness.

Here's a few take aways from a mediocre guitarist to the new guys:

  • You can go all downstrokes, but I think alternate will serve you better if you can. And you'll find it's a whole lot easier to keep the pace.
  • This is a good one for working on your neck position awareness. It will come into play far more demandingly in more challenging songs (I'm looking at you, Aces High).
  • One very subtle thing you can start working on with this song is fret hand muting of strings you're not playing. In this one, on the transition from the A5 on the E and A strings to the D5 chord on the A and D strings, work on using the tip of your pointer finger that's holding the 5th fret on the A string to mute the low E string that you're not playing. I know this might be hard to picture, but you essentially use more of the pad of that first finger (rather than press down vertically with the tip) to fret the note and keep the tip of your finger on the low E string such that it's not held down enough to fret it but enough to silence it. I'll try to make a short video of it later if people are interested. You're going to find that one of the marks of a intermediate guitarist is not necessarily what sounds they make but rather what they don't make. A good example is when I'm playing a single note line I can usually at any point strum the entire set of strings and you'll only here the note I'm holding. I'm muting the rest of the strings either with my fret hand or my pick hand in some way. Again, I can make a little video if people are interested.

Bass - first time today
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/281072/Rocksmith%E2%84%A2%2020142013-11-6-21-14-9.jpg)

I missed an A-D-A sequence

tboon's Tips for the Bassist:
- Play with a pick and use up-down picking
- Stay in V position; even though the note chart says to go to A-2 in the chorus, play it as E-7, it is easier and you stay in position for the whole song

Guitar - pretty much the same as the bass and since all I know are power chords, not too bad for the first time ever.

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/281072/Rocksmith%E2%84%A2%2020142013-11-6-21-34-14.jpg)

I got out of sync at one point. Plus my fret hand got a little tired because I was playing full power chords for the whole song which shows how much I read the screen since it was clearly showing to play fifths - it is not used to holding a chord shape for that long. My next run-through got me 97.4% once I realized this and stayed in sync better.

For this one, going down to the second fret for the B chord in the chorus makes better sense than the bass line.

I don't have the My Chemical Romance song (that's sh*t my oldest listened to so by parental law I have to hate it, right? ). Is there any way to pick it up now?

Hey TBoon, You've got a bass buddy.

I'll crack into Blitzkrieg Bop tonight.

So after giving it one go on learn a song and completing it with 99% I tried the hard score attack to give myself a baseline (or bass line if you're feeling punny). Score was 678,440. The major screw ups at the start was me trying to play with a pick, which is something I never do. It sounded so bad to my ears (and the game apparently) that after the first strike I just dropped the pick and was able to keep pace with the song much better.

Tboon's advice about the E7 is spot on.

I've got all of the phrases down I just need to figure out how they fit together. If I want to nail this in master score attack. Right now I can play it if I can see it but as soon as master mode started to fade out the notes I started to struggle because I wasn't sure where the phrase changes were.

I also don't have the My Chemical Romance DLC and I don't intend to purchase any new DLC for a while so you don't have to worry about me enabling you on that front.

Here's my fret-hand muting video for those interested.

TBoon
So what are the highlighted notes on the tracking? I don't think I've run into that notation before. Is there a specific technique I should be working on to get a more authentic sound?

I hit it up a few more times, until you know, hand cramps.

I just made scored platinum on the hard score attack. It said all of my phrases were perfect but apparently RS14s idea of perfect is more forgiving than mine because I definitely dropped some notes (my longest streak was only 161 and there are more notes in the song than that).

ColdForged wrote:

Here's my fret-hand muting video for those interested.

Thanks for that - something for me to look at. I'm certainly struggling in picking out the D string (say) without hitting low-E.

One question for the peeps: What's a good pick technique? I'm working on alternate (down/up) but don't seem to be able to get comfortable holding it. Any suggestions? Pics appreciated!

Ooo, practice group! Count me in! Seems I already completed The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop - Lead, but I gave it another go.

IMAGE(http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/504695938630047243/4BD001002CE3370B02B63A8D42040CAC0FBD9769/1024x576.resizedimage)

I need to spend more time on the chorus rythm, I think I mucked that up a few times.

I find myself silencing the low-E with my mid digit, otherwise my hand tends to get strained from holding the power chord in position for too long. That's just me though.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:

TBoon
So what are the highlighted notes on the tracking? I don't think I've run into that notation before. Is there a specific technique I should be working on to get a more authentic sound?

Those are accented notes. Just play with a little extra emphasis on them.

To get a more "Ramones-like" sound, work on using the pick, that's what Dee Dee Ramone used.

Re. pick vs fingers: I think bassists should be familiar with both techniques. I find that pick is easier to play songs that have long, repetitive sequences (Blitzkreig Bop, Barracuda, Police stuff, as examples) although I find fingers better when you have more complex multi-string runs. Also depends on the tonal setting for the song: picking has harsher sound than fingers. This may be opposite of the "right" way of thinking about it, I have a lot of bad habits picked up over the years.

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