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

Count me in! I'll fire these up today.

I will probably join in as well.

I'll wait till the next round. Blitzkrieg Pop is one of the few songs that makes my fret hand cramp up so bad that it's useless for anything else afterwards.

ranalin wrote:

I'll wait till the next round. Blitzkrieg Pop is one of the few songs that makes my fret hand cramp up so bad that it's useless for anything else afterwards.

It's the power chord version, not the barre chord version if that matters. The barre chord version does terrible things to me, but I can power chord all day.

So, Blitzkrieg bop I get about 98 on full bar chords, a clean 100 on powerchords. Moving on.

So, I will admit, I had never heard this My Chemical Romance song in my life, so I just figured "WTF" and cranked the difficulty to max and plowed through as best I could. I did reasonably well through all the early leadlines and completely lost the fast powerchords WAY up the neck. Got a 28%.

I can see getting it, the lead lines are really straightforward, but accurately getting those chuggy powerchords so tight on the 19th fret and stuff will be a challenge. I hate (hate) the song, so I'd like my $3 back now (grin).

rabbit, you can buy the RS1 DLC for RS2014? Or do you have to buy it in RS1 and import it? How does that work?

rabbit wrote:

So, Blitzkrieg bop I get about 98 on full bar chords, a clean 100 on powerchords. Moving on.

So, I will admit, I had never heard this My Chemical Romance song in my life, so I just figured "WTF" and cranked the difficulty to max and plowed through as best I could. I did reasonably well through all the early leadlines and completely lost the fast powerchords WAY up the neck. Got a 28%.

I can see getting it, the lead lines are really straightforward, but accurately getting those chuggy powerchords so tight on the 19th fret and stuff will be a challenge. I hate (hate) the song, so I'd like my $3 back now (grin).

Like I said, Blitzkrieg Bop will likely not pose much of a challenge for the initiated, but it's a good starter for the newbies and still poses chances to improve rhythm and strumming technique. I'm sure will get to the tricky stuff as time goes on.

...And your refund is in the mail.

tboon wrote:

rabbit, you can buy the RS1 DLC for RS2014? Or do you have to buy it in RS1 and import it? How does that work?

Any Rocksmith DLC (regardless of when it was released) is supposed to be fully compatible with RS2014. If you buy it in the Steam interface, it is supposed to import automatically into RS2014.

Boudreaux wrote:
tboon wrote:

rabbit, you can buy the RS1 DLC for RS2014? Or do you have to buy it in RS1 and import it? How does that work?

Any Rocksmith DLC (regardless of when it was released) is supposed to be fully compatible with RS2014. If you buy it in the Steam interface, it is supposed to import automatically into RS2014.

I did this exactly last night. Purchased the My Chemical Romance pack in steam and then fired up 2014: All the songs showed up right away.

yeah, no issues. Other than, you know, the song itself.

Thanks everyone. Will get the song tonight and give it a whirl.

rabbit wrote:

yeah, no issues. Other than, you know, the song itself.

You know, in this day and age you'd think some massive tech company would have some sort of website where all sorts of music could be listened to for free. But I guess we're all out of luck in that regard.

I just watched YouTube of the My Chemical Brothers song. Yuck. Also, want to punch singer's dumb face.

But, it sounds like it would be fun to play on the bass. I will be way, way beyond my skill on the guitar though.

oh im gonna learn it. To spite you.

I'm in! I'm playing on 360 if anyone wants to friend.

What's with all the Chemical Romance hate? We sound like a bunch of grumpy old men on here.

And on topic...Black Parade is murdering me. I had a lot of fun on the first few plays, and then all the high fret parts leveled up from single notes to power chords. I'm determined to love them, though, if only because Rabbit hates them.

I'm struggling with the high fret stuff too. Mainly it's a problem of not really knowing how far to move between frets since I don't spend a lot of time up there.

Heck I don't even like them even though I picked the song. There are lots of songs on rocksmith that I don't care for but find some enjoyment in playing. This particular song is pretty tolerable compared to the other ones on there :p

I didn't see this thread early enough, but I'm in for the next round.

I'm really interested in working on bass as well- I've played guitar for a long time (since I was 8 or 9, about 20 years now), but I've just recently (as in within the last month) bought a bass and started learning to play it. Not that big of a difference fretting-hand wise except for the string gauge but there's a lot of fun to be had challenging myself to not grab a pick and trying out different techniques with my right hand. Anyone else interested in going for the challenge on both instruments (or on a virtual bass)?

Landshrk83 wrote:

I didn't see this thread early enough, but I'm in for the next round.

I'm really interested in working on bass as well- I've played guitar for a long time (since I was 8 or 9, about 20 years now), but I've just recently (as in within the last month) bought a bass and started learning to play it. Not that big of a difference fretting-hand wise except for the string gauge but there's a lot of fun to be had challenging myself to not grab a pick and trying out different techniques with my right hand. Anyone else interested in going for the challenge on both instruments (or on a virtual bass)?

you still have a whole weekend to get some practice in. As far as instruments there are a couple bass players here as well. My goal with this is to get a group working on the same things so we can bounce ideas and questions off each other and have some common ground... so for the bassists the more the merrier

ThingumBob wrote:

What's with all the Chemical Romance hate? We sound like a bunch of grumpy old men on here.

Dude, I *am* a grumpy old man.

Edit:

OK, that was pretty fun. Second time through, after getting the game to level up:

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/281072/Rocksmith%E2%84%A2%2020142013-11-7-21-13-12.jpg)

I messed up on the slide, I hit the wrong fret and slid to the wrong fret. :/ Probably some other minor mess ups along the way too.

tboon's Bass Tips:
- This song shows the importance of maintaining good position; it is not that hard if you stay in III and V (after the intro) and pick your changes with care.
- Also, being in position means that the modulation sections are pretty easy to do as well, since the modulation is just a whole tone up, pretty easily played in III or V.
- The upper part is hard just because it is probably unfamiliar territory. This just takes some practice but essentially you are just playing a descending A scale.
- Use the pick, Luke. Pick makes this so much easier to play for me, you barely have to move your right wrist to keep up.

Going to practice this a little more and see if I can get to (or over) 100%. Like I said, it is pretty fun to play.

I'm about this close ][ to buying a bass, given that Rocksmith has full bass support. It feels like a whole half of the experience I'm missing out on.

So I've only ever bought guitars new. What's the consensus on buying guitars/basses used off Craigslist or eBay vs. new retail? There are a couple of basses on Craigslist around here that appear to be Fender Squier models for about $100. Vs. about $180-$200 new.

im going to have to try my bass on this song. The idea of hitting 99% on lead seems a LONG way off.

Listen Tboon I specifically didn't enable you on the My Chemical Romance crap. Then you go ahead and get it anyways. Now I'm feeling left out

As for picking. When I pick on the bass it grates on my ears and nerves. I can barely hear the music over the sound of the pick scraping against the E string. Am I doing something wrong here (aside from not having the volume loud enough)?

Boudreaux wrote:

I'm about this close ][ to buying a bass, given that Rocksmith has full bass support. It feels like a whole half of the experience I'm missing out on.

So I've only ever bought guitars new. What's the consensus on buying guitars/basses used off Craigslist or eBay vs. new retail? There are a couple of basses on Craigslist around here that appear to be Fender Squier models for about $100. Vs. about $180-$200 new.

I know a lot more about guitars vs basses, so take it with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't have a problem buying used as long as I could play the instrument before I took it home with me. Especially in the lower price range a lot of what you're buying is probably an instrument that was someone else's starter that they've either outgrown or just didn't have the interest to continue playing.

Another thing you might want to check out is Guitar Center- they have instruments on clearance routinely. I was planning on going in and checking out their used basses or lower end Squier bass models, but I ended up walking out with a good deal on an Ibanez SR-250 (basically a SR-300 with black hardware instead of chrome, active pickups) that they clearanced for $160, normally a $300 instrument.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:

As for picking. When I pick on the bass it grates on my ears and nerves. I can barely hear the music over the sound of the pick scraping against the E string. Am I doing something wrong here (aside from not having the volume loud enough)?

What kind of pick are you using? When I use a pick on my bass I never notice a problem but I'm a fairly straight plucker- I don't hold my pick at much of an angle and I pick in a fairly straight motion. I use heavy weight picks (I don't have one in front of me but they're the black Gator Grip picks, something like 2.15 mm) exclusively.

I was using a Fender Medium weight pick.

They make big felt picks too.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:

Listen Tboon I specifically didn't enable you on the My Chemical Romance crap. Then you go ahead and get it anyways. Now I'm feeling left out :(

Sorry man. The song is crap (and so so so long) but the bass line is kind of fun.

Landshrk83 wrote:
AmazingZoidberg wrote:

As for picking. When I pick on the bass it grates on my ears and nerves. I can barely hear the music over the sound of the pick scraping against the E string. Am I doing something wrong here (aside from not having the volume loud enough)?

What kind of pick are you using? When I use a pick on my bass I never notice a problem but I'm a fairly straight plucker- I don't hold my pick at much of an angle and I pick in a fairly straight motion. I use heavy weight picks (I don't have one in front of me but they're the black Gator Grip picks, something like 2.15 mm) exclusively.

Yeah, use the heaviest pick you can find, right now I am using "Local Guitar Shop Special" heavy picks, they are slightly thicker than the Fender Heavy pick, which would probably work OK too. But I would recommend not using a pick you would use on a guitar, they are too flimsy, at least to my way of playing.

And like Landshrk83 said, you have to play with a straight angle of attack; you want to pluck the string not scrape it. Big ol' bass strings will amplify the effect and it will not sound so good. I usually put my hand in plucking position on the body and angle my hand slightly up so the pick is square to the strings. Also, play with your wrist more than you would on a guitar; guitarists tend to pick using their finger muscles more but this does not work so well on the bass, it is more tiring and you tend not to stay as square to the strings.

Once you get used to playing with one, all those chug-a-chug songs (like B-Bop and Black Parade) will be a lot easier to play and sound closer to the way the bassists on those cuts play as they are going for a more percussive bass sound than plucking can give.

LiquidMantis wrote:

They make big felt picks too.

Those are usually used when you want to *not* have a percussive sound (hence the felt), even from plucking, on the attack. Like when playing a slower song with sustained notes where you want the bass to sound more like a bowed double bass. I've played with those, they are weird and I cannot imagine anyone using them on anything with any speed.

tboon wrote:

But I would recommend not using a pick you would use on a guitar, they are too flimsy, at least to my way of playing.

I agree completely. I usually play with Tortex 1.14mm picks (Purple) on guitar, which give a fairly heavy feel, and they feel like nothing on the bass. I really like the texture of the Gator Grip picks on the bass too, I found that when I pick on the bass I've got a tendency to slip my pick a lot more often and the rough finish helps with that.

I just threw my pick into my dining room from the living room. Sooo frustrating. I just nailed the song with a 200+ note streak by plucking only to follow it up with a less than 100 note streak using a pick.

I tried a few repetitions and I feel like it's just moving the hand cramp from my fingers to my wrist and forearm. I took your advice to try to square up but I found I was getting a lot of extra hand movement. I found myself unconsciously adopting a hand position that involved hooking my pinkie under the D string so as to keep my self from jerking all over the place. I'm sure this is a terrible habit to get into, but it sure improved my consistency.

I think my main hurdle is that I'm not coming from a guitar background so I don't have the affinity for the pick that others might. I started doing a two finger rest stroke and I'll probably die doing the same. The picks I have were given to me by a guitarist friend. I might have to stop by the local music shop and pick up some heavier picks, just to say that I gave it the ol' college try.

On the plus side, while taking a break from picking I managed to platinum the Master Score Attack on Gobildygook. Can we do that one next? Can we, can we?