Rocksmith Catch All

Here is a very useful tip that I read on a Rocksmith message board:

Someone mentioned this in a comment to an Amazon review. It's so simple that I didn't even think about it but it's essential considering how long it takes to restart a technique or riff. Simply pause and click restart before all your "lives" are lost or before the end of the technique challenge.

Fired this up after work tonight, coming at it as someone who has never picked up a guitar before, but has always wanted to learn. Will say that so far, it seems to be doing a good job of pacing me on what I can and cannot do, when I start missing notes from moving my hands too far one way or the other it goes really downhill with alot of missed notes as I try to catch up, and then all of a sudden it gives me a big break to calm myself and get settled in again, thats really cool.

Also, my fingers hurt...

As a lapsed player I must say that this is looking appealing. Will keep an eye out for the PC release.

Jonman wrote:

I'm right in thinking that my RB3 Squier will be compatible with this, right? Just hook up the 1/4 inch jack, and I'm good to go?

Yes, I'm using the RB3 Squier, and it's working very well. It sounds good. You don't need to turn the Squier 'on' for it to work, by the way. (Obvious, but I figured I'd mention it.)

By the way, when do you unlock an amp? I've unlocked a few pedals, but I seem unable to assign and equip them in the Amp menu.

I have been playing 'I can't get no satisfaction' in single note mode. I finally have 'leveled up' to the point where I need to do pull offs. It would be nice if the software gave me a little bit more feed back on appropriate fingerings. It is like a puzzle because my old fretting pattern will not allow for the pull off and now I have to find a new pattern that will allow for the pull off.

My conclusion is that there needs to be a hint book...

I was using my first finger for the second fret for the first 3 notes of the rift.

Placed my third finger on the 4th fret for 1 note.

Slid my third finger to the 5th fret for the two notes.

Now, it wants me to pull off from the 5th fret to the 4th fret....Um, I do not have a finger on the 4th fret. In the pattern before this one, I was able to move my finger from the 5th fret to 4th fret with ease which allowed my first finger to easily get onto the second fret to repeat the pattern.

Anyone know the best solution to this rift?

Greg wrote:

Now, it wants me to pull off from the 5th fret to the 4th fret....Um, I do not have a finger on the 4th fret. In the pattern before this one, I was able to move my finger from the 5th fret to 4th fret with ease which allowed my first finger to easily get onto the second fret to repeat the pattern.

Anyone know the best solution to this rift?

Use your pinky.

Index finger on the 2nd fret, middle on the 3rd, ring on the 4th and pinky on the 5th. You can play that entire pattern (if I'm remembering it correctly) with all four fingers and never have to move your hand.

Eventually, you'll find that you start playing notes up and down the strings in set patterns, and the patterns fall into "boxes", like 1st/3rd frets on 3 different strings. You typically want to only slide or reposition your hand when you're moving to a new "box". Otherwise, keep your hand still and use all four fingers.

Boudreaux wrote:

Use your pinky.

Damn, I was afraid you were going to say that. I can barely move my pinky and third finger. I can't imagine pulling off with my pinky and keeping my third finger still at this point.

Thanks for the insight!

You could always put your third finger on the 5th and middle finger on the 4th and pull off that way, then shift your index down to the 2nd. It would work, but it's actually more difficult.

When you first start playing guitar, using your pinky finger is tough. It will hurt, it will get sore, and it will be uncomfortable. Eventually, though, your fingers will get stronger and it'll get easier. Just takes practice. You might as well start using it, because there are chords you'll want to play (pretty much any minor barre chord) that you'll need to use all four fingers to fret.

Greg wrote:

I was using my first finger for the second fret for the first 3 notes of the rift.

Anyone know the best solution to this rift?

"Riff"

That was bugging me, I felt like everyone was letting you walk around with food on your face and not telling you about it.

Edited to add that I thought I had read it used wrongly earlier in the thread but I was mistaken it was just that one post, carry on.

When you first start playing guitar, using your pinky finger is tough. It will hurt, it will get sore, and it will be uncomfortable. Eventually, though, your fingers will get stronger and it'll get easier. Just takes practice. You might as well start using it, because there are chords you'll want to play (pretty much any minor barre chord) that you'll need to use all four fingers to fret.

And here is where this will be different that regular lessons or practice. You should really, really try to do this slowly and get to the point to where you can use your fingers without building up tension elsewhere. Most bad habits develop when people ignore the tension they're building up.

NauticaLNaughT wrote:
Greg wrote:

"Riff"

Thanks!

Guys, thanks for your advice.

This game presents an interesting learning system. It encourages you to master a song for a score while at the same time demanding more advanced skills and faster play.

With this first song, I have hit my physical ceiling. I do believe that I will gain enough dexterity to come back at a later date and finish mastering this riff. I have looked up some dexterity exercises that I will practice along the way. It seems that I should continue to new songs and challenges and play as much as I can up to my level and then return.

The more that I think about this 'game', I really think they should release a 'strategy' guide. It appears that there is a learning theory behind this software and it would be helpful have guidance from the designers on how they envision a novice player to approach this 'game'. This game kind of reminds me of simulation software I used to teach a learning class. There was a small book that could be paired with the software that helped the students through the software. Essentially, it was a teaching guide. I would buy a copy of a teaching guide for this 'game' immediately.

If I stick with this 'game' through the new year, I think I will spring for lessons.

Greg wrote:

Guys, thanks for your advice.

This game presents an interesting learning system. It encourages you to master a song for a score while at the same time demanding more advanced skills and faster play.

It really does beg for a "lock the difficulty here" so you can play and get really comfortable with a segment before increasing the difficulty, doesn't it?

FYI, under the Options menu, under Game Settings, there is a Difficulty Settings option. This will let you either set all phrases to Hardest Difficulty, or Easiest Difficulty. It's not a difficulty setting per se, but you could practice a song until it's leveled up further than you really want, and then reset it back to the beginning. Not ideal, but better than frustration.

Man, my fingers hurt. I haven't played this much in months.

Here is an tip:

If you like the tone of a particular song, but do not have the necessary tones unlocked for the amp, just free play in the song by pausing the game (hit start).

Boudreaux wrote:

It really does beg for a "lock the difficulty here" so you can play and get really comfortable with a segment before increasing the difficulty, doesn't it?

I don't know. On one hand, I miss the RB3 approach because I would just sit at a particular difficulty level and have fun. I kind of got in a bad habit of not challenging myself but for a few minutes per session. I fell into this when I was learning from a beginner book.

The RS system forces me to learn. It clearly points out my flaws to me, and to play the song correctly I have to overcome. The adaptive difficulty will not let me coast. Fortunately, I know that when I master a part at 90%, I am pretty darn close to unlocking the final note pattern and that is the end of the learning curve for that particular part of a song.

I have actually been keeping a spreadsheet of my progress in the game. Mostly, so I can look back in a month and hopefully see how far that I have come.

I love the fact that I am playing a real guitar and learning contemporary songs.

Dammit. I just grabbed this today with some Best Buy vouchers and apparently mine has a bad cable. The Xbox detects it fine, but it won't register any guitar sound. Guess I'm off to exchange it.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Dammit. I just grabbed this today with some Best Buy vouchers and apparently mine has a bad cable. The Xbox detects it fine, but it won't register any guitar sound. Guess I'm off to exchange it.

Make sure the volume knob on your guitar is up. I noticed that if you crank the volume knob all the way down, it won't register anything. Also cleans up your tone a bit to take it down to maybe 6 or 7.

Boudreaux wrote:

Make sure the volume knob on your guitar is up. I noticed that if you crank the volume knob all the way down, it won't register anything. Also cleans up your tone a bit to take it down to maybe 6 or 7.

Yeah, it's plugged in too. New cable works great. The issue I'm dealing with now is that the latency with HDMI audio is horrible. I can't force analog audio on my receiver if there's an HDMI audio signal so I'm not sure what the best route is going to be to get better input response. Looks like I'm just going to switch between HDMI and analog/component connections on the 360 for now until something else comes to mind.

[Edit] Huzzah! I finally figured how to make my receiver use the analog audio and HDMI video. For some unknown reason it wasn't an option on the Game1 input. Without any cabling change I just set HDMI4 to be the BluRay input and then it lets me select analog audio. Bizarre limitation, but it's working.

This dynamic difficulty is pretty awesome. First set I got a double encore so it starts throwing chords at me out of the blue. Glad I flipped the display to tab mode. Nice how it says, "Hey, this guy has played a little guitar. TAKE IT TO 11!"

It's sooooo much nicer to be playing my AmDlx Strat compared to the RB3 Squier.

So who else is playing on 360? I need some leaderboard action.

I'ma gonna Strangeblades this thread. I can't believe how giddy I am about this game. Loading times haven't bothered me at all. I immediately installed to the 360 and haven't had any issues. The pre-song tuning doesn't bother me either. You can rip through the strings almost as slow strum. God, I'm out of practice, I can't think of what that chord technique is called. The song collection is amazing. What 2 or 3 three Black Keys AND Dan Auerbach? I just hope they keep on the DLC front.

I've probably played more today than I have in the last 6 months.

StrangeBlades a thread?

Threadwhoring.

That was my guess.

I hope the DLC songs become available. A quick google search did not turn up much information.

Greg wrote:

That was my guess.

I hope the DLC songs become available. A quick google search did not turn up much information.

I got two songs by preordering at gamestop. "Free Bird" and a song from Radiohead. I think best buy had same deal.
Im still very, VERY new to guitar and the game is both fun and challenging. Right now Im using the game as a tool to strengthen the fingers and learn some techniques along the way.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Loading times haven't bothered me at all. I immediately installed to the 360 and haven't had any issues. The pre-song tuning doesn't bother me either. You can rip through the strings almost as slow strum.

Oooh, 360 install. That's a good idea. I still have the original 20GB hard drive so I don't do that much.

And yeah, the pre-song tuning doesn't bother me much any more. In thinking about it, getting used to hearing all 6 open strings in tune is good ear-training anyway.

Oh man, my neglect is showing. NO callouses left. I wanted to play today, picked up the guitar and my fingers screamed. Forced my way through a couple of songs but couldn't manage any more than that. The mind is willing but the flesh is spongy and bruised.

European release isn't until 2012.

I AM DISAPPOINT.

For the last 3 days, my pinky feels kind of numb from the workout that it has received. I have hit a plateau on 'Satisfaction' of about 50,000 points. I can play the riff without the pull offs most of the time without looking at the guitar. I can feel incremental progress, but my hand just won't do what my mind wants it to do fast enough.

My attempt (15,000 points) playing 'Higher Ground' makes me laugh...

The following pattern kills me.

open low E
open low E
low E, 3rd fret
low E, 3rd fret
low E, 3rd fret
low E, 5th fret
low E, 5th fret
low E, 5th fret
repeat.

I just can't play it fast enough! I can't wait until I can because little things like that feel like major progress at this point.

Concave wrote:

European release isn't until 2012.

I AM DISAPPOINT.

I think they are litigation with a band over there that has the trademark to Rocksmith and won't let them use it.