Rocksmith

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I've only played this on the PS3, as that's the only console I have. I'm in my mid-40s, and have tried to learn guitar off and on for the last 4 years. I've bought books, and courses, and downloaded tabs from the web, and watched videos, and while I've learned some scales and lots of chords and even memorized some guitar solos, the mechanics of playing have just never come to me. It's always frustrated me to know that despite all the chords and scales and tabs I've learned, if I were in a group around a campfire and the group asked for someone to strum guitar, I wouldn't volunteer because I just don't sound good when I play. I know that mechanically, it's just not there, and having 100 chords memorized doesn't help when you're constantly fighting with the guitar because your fingers are never in the right place and you never seem to land on the right fret. I think my big problem is that I never really learned how to play without looking down at the fretboard, and if I don't look, I'm lost. Books and videos can be read or viewed slowly, or paused, and they don't force you to learn without looking down.

I've now been playing Rocksmith for 4-5 days, and already I can tell that I've improved in this area, and the reason is so simple: you're forced to keep your eyes on the video screen, so you can't look down, and your hands have to learn how to find the 5th position (5th fret) without looking, and how to find the D string without looking, and how to slide from the 17th fret down to the 10th fret without looking. The challenge games, like shooting the cartoon birds, or practicing slides from all over the fretboard, actually work because they repeatedly force you to play without looking down. That may sound like such a simple thing, not looking down, but for me (and maybe lots of other people?) it means the difference between just noodling with the guitar and actually playing the guitar.

The song selection had me hesitant at first many of the songs I'd never even heard of but the reviews are right....it's easy to enjoy all the songs because each of them is catchy in their own way, and each poses a particular playing challenge.

It's is a challenging game, at least for me, and I still have plenty of moments where I reach for the controller to hit pause just to give my hands a rest, or to get mad at myself because I messed up a progression I think I should have nailed, so my advice to beginners is to take your time and just relax and let it come very slowly. Forget about how all those instruction videos make playing guitar look so easy I don't think it is easy, and it takes work, and hundreds (or thousands) of hours of practice over time to truly learn guitar. So you're probably not going to be playing the solo to "Sweet Child O' Mine" by week 2. But you will be playing, and making actual music, and for someone like me who has never gotten over the hump and never gone from a tinkerer to a player, this game might be the best $80 I've spent on any video game, and it may be the best learning tool I've ever come across. I wish I'd had it 4 years ago, but I'm glad I have it now, and I can't wait to see how much better I'll be playing in a few months. It's very exciting to feel like I'm finally getting over the hump, and that learning guitar may not be impossible after all.

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I've been picking up (and putting down) the guitar for over 25 years now. I've tried everything: human instructors, online video lessons, self-practice using downloaded tablature...nothing has gotten me "over the hump" to the point I stuck with it and became proficient. After only about 3 hours of play, I can tell that Rocksmith is going to change all of that. It's a blast (while challenging) and I'm confident this really will keep me playing. Tired of your kids spending countless hours doing mindless button mashing? This is the "game" for you. While I've really enjoyed mashing buttons in Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I always wished I had actually been learning to play actual instruments. The drums come the closest, but the guitar is ultimately silly. Fun yes, but completely non-educational.

The ability of Rocksmith to adjust the difficulty of the song "on the fly" as you play is a revolution. I never feel completely overwhelmed, just always at the edge of my ability. It keeps you motivated without getting discouraging.

My only regret about Rocksmith is that it wasn't available 25 years ago. A crying shame, really.

Kudos to Ubisoft for a fantastic tool, and may it find all the commercial success it needs to provide DLC for many years to come. Thanks Ubisoft for creating the guitar game I've always wished for.

Worth every penny and more.

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Before getting into my review, here is an important tip:

AUDIO LAG!!! If you are experiencing audio lag, the problem is the HDMI cable. You need to run the audio from the RCA (red and white) cables through the tv, headphones, or an external stereo/surround sound system. Doing so will fix the annoying audio lag problem I'm sure most people will experience. So if you buy the game, don't forget about this tip!

UPDATE:

FROM MY EXPERIENCE, THE HDMI CABLE WASN'T THE ISSUE, THE TV WAS! I have played the game on two tvs and I have used two different cables. The first tv I played on has bad lag, and I can't seem to find any settings to fix it. However, on my tv at home, I can play with an HDMI cable without any problems. If you have lag on your tv, try turning off any special features in your tv settings. If that doesn't work, use the RCA cables as described earlier in my review.

Here is a little background about myself to support my experience playing the game:

I am a musician and I've played guitar for a number of years. However, I've always played basic rhythm guitar. I never got around to learning scales, solos, power chords, ect... only regular chords for rhythm.

Now for the game. I have only played it for about 2 hours so far, and I am really enjoying the experience. I'm a pretty busy person, and I often feel guilty when playing video games because even though I do enjoy playing, I feel like it eats up time I could use for more productive activities. Finally, I have a game that I don't have to feel bad about playing for hours on end! I am a worship leader at a church, so guitar is part of my job. Not only is this game fun to play, but I can see how it is going to help my abilities on guitar grow tremendously! The interface is similar to Rockband or Guitar Hero, but the developers did a superb job at modifying the familier interface to work well with a real guitar. It may feel awkward at first, but stick with it, and you will get it. After a few songs, I felt like I was playing Guitar Hero, and it was mind boggling to think I was playing a real guitar. Considering I already have experience playing, the game felt oversimplified starting out, but it was still worth playing to get a feel for the interface. It didn't take long for the game to start getting a little challenging. The game adjusts on the fly to how well you are playing, so don't worry what level player you are. If you have never played guitar before, it will keep things simple for you. If you are an expert on guitar, it may take a little longer, but it will adjust to your skill level. There is so much to say about the game, but I'm limited on time. I just wanted to get a quick review out for anyone considering the game so that you can know this is a game worth buying. If you have any desire to learn or improve on guitar, BUY THIS GAME!! If you have a hard time getting motivated to practice your guitar, BUY THIS GAME!!! If you loved the Rockband and Guitar Hero games, then BUY THIS GAME and quit waisting your time on a plastic toy!!!

UPDATE: Safety Concern

Something to be careful about that the game doesn't monitor is correct technique. You can easily get sloppy when trying to sightread the game interface, and doing so can damage your hand/wrist. If your hand starts hurting, take a break, and make sure your technique is good. I pushed myself to extended periods playing bar-chords incorrectly, and I started getting sharp pains in my wrist and hands. I'd find it hurting later in the day simply driving my car, and I was concerned of getting carpel tunnel. Now I do a couple scale warmups before playing, and I try to stop if my hand starts hurting.

UPDATE: 5-1-2012

I haven't played this game in a while, and I decided to pull it back out. I downloaded the latest patch, and I'm really happy for the updates!

So far what I've noticed:

1) The Sony wireless headset now works! Part of the reason I quit playing the game is because I now use a monitor without speakers, and a headset is my only audio source. For a while, the Sony headset and the guitar cable could not work together. This is no longer an issue!

2)I hated that you could not set the difficulty level of the game in riff repeater mode. It would make you practice at an easier level, and when you passed it, it would bump up a level. The problem with this is that you had to relearn the riff every time. Now, you have the option to jump the difficulty all the way up. Doing this in the mode that slows down the music allows you to memorize the actual guitar part (rather than relearning dumb down versions).

3) Another thing I didn't like about riff mode was that you only got 5 tries. Now, if I'm remembering correctly, you get 30 tries. These additions to riff mode make this game just about perfect for practicing guitar.

4) Precision Tuning The basic tuning will say the guitar is in tune even if it's slightly out. Although it's not perfect, choosing to use the precision tuning option makes it easier to get perfect pitch.

I'm excited to see that the company is listening to feedback and improving the game without charging money for a new version. There are plenty of songs to build my skills, they have a decent amount of dlc out if I get bored, and I'm sure I'll get Rocksmith 2 if they ever release one!

UPDATE 8-22-2012

The game now supports bass for all of the songs! If you buy this edition (or already have it), you have to pay $30 for the bass DLC. If you don't already have this game, you might want to consider buying the new edition that includes both guitar and bass. Depending on when you read this review, Aamazon says the new version comes out (or came out) October 16th, 2012. I purchased the DLC, and I think they did a great job with it. Most songs are pretty easy compared to guitar, but that's not the game's fault. The bass parts just tend to be easy for a lot of songs! If you have any interest in playing bass (or know someone who does) it should be a no brainer! You can also plug a guitar and bass in at the same time and play with a friend if you have an additional USB to 1/4 cable.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I own a Fender Washburn Stratocaster. I threw this disc in, hooked up the guitar, and held my breath. Would the nay-sayers of "latency / too many A/V setups" win out the day?

The answer is a resounding NO. I play a note and there is no noticeable delay whatsoever. My A/V system has become my amp (and oh, what an amp with a Pioneer Elite to back it up).

Rocksmith, first and foremost, is an INSTRUCTOR, not a social party. If you're looking for social party gaming like Rock Band, look elsewhere. Rocksmith is intended to have you learn how to play guitar, straight and simple. The game starts off with a sound check to calibrate the volume of your guitar and, more incredibly still, to TUNE YOUR GUITAR. And it's a surprisingly good tuner at that.

Once your guitar's in tune, the game eagerly throws you into the Rolling Stone's "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."

"What difficulty should I play?" you might ask. Ah, that's where the beauty of Rocksmith comes in. Rocksmith will ramp the difficulty up or down depending on how well you play. Are you nailing every single note coming down the strum highway? Well, here come a few more! Ooops, you're missing just about every single note? Rocksmith will ramp it down. There's no "failing" here...Rocksmith will rewards you with the points that you rightfully earn for playing notes correctly. If you play more notes correctly, you earn more currency to unlock more portions of the game. If not, then you're not really ready for some of the other challenges...so stop punishing yourself. : Rocksmith wisely uses the point system to ensure that you're ready to tackle the challenges that you're capable of taking on.

And it's just not about playing songs. Additional challenges come in the form of mini-games where you're playing notes to blow stuff up. It's a rather unique way to get people of all ages into the throes of learning to play guitar. I'm in my late 30s and I enjoy the variety.

What if you are actually proficient and just want to play your guitar? Well, there's an "Amp" mode for that, too. Just go over there and you're able to go through a variety of tone/pedal selects and play your guitar through your A/V system to your heart's content (for 5 dollars, you can unlock everything via DLC so you don't have to play the game).

Note of warning I did mention earlier that this is no Rock Band. It's a LONELY game-play experience. Don't expect to invite 3-4 friends and expect to make a night of Rocksmith...it'd be about as much fun as inviting your friends over to watch you play piano. Yeah, that doesn't work. But, as a primer, Rocksmith succeeds in spades and is going to be having me up many nights learning how to play a guitar.

Thank you, Ubisoft, for making a game that actually lets you use a real guitar. I'm hoping that the backlash of Activisions Rhythm Game saturation won't ultimately hurt sales, but I will be a dedicated follower to come.

Suggestions for Rocksmith II if it should ever happen include bass guitar!!!

Cheers and rock on!

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I recently bought this game for PS3. As someone who has been playing guitar for nearly 2 years and is a lower intermediate player I find the game has a lot of potential, but also a lot of things wrong with it that make it extremely frustrating and in the end unenjoyable to use. The developers need to spend some time with a similar iPad, iPhone (iOS) app/game called Rock Prodigy to get some ideas on how to majorly improve Rocksmith.

1. Adaptive Difficulty: adaptive difficulty might be okay for those who just want to play a game, but if you actually want to learn to play the song it is HORRIBLE! The constant adding a removing of notes makes it very hard and frustrating to actually learn a song. Adaptive difficulty should be optional. Like Rock Prodigy I should have the option to pick a difficulty level. Once I get the hang of a level I can move up until I am playing the full song.

2. Pre-Rehearsal: Add a pre-rehearsal or a option screen that presents all the chords and progression used in a song (like sheet music), maybe strumming patterns and other skills used in the song. Music tabs could also be available here.

3. Note Names: I should at least have the option to turn on note names like in Rock Prodigy. Colored strings/notes are useless outside this game.

4. Practice Mode: Kill the 5 lives idea, make endless if wanted.

4a. Auto Pause: Rock Prodigy has a very cool function called auto pause. In practice mode the song will automatically pause until you hit the correct note or chord. Very helpful when getting started with a new song. Can be turned off at any time.

4b. Speed: Let me pick the speed. Once I can play it slower I will speed it up at my own pace.

4c. Riff Repeater: Let me decide when to stop!

5. Rhythm: A better way to present rhythm or strumming patterns. The presentation on the note highway is confusing.

6. Retry: Let me retry whatever I am doing without having to go back to the main menu screen and reload. Gets annoying very fast.

7. Load Times: Install to hard drive option to speed up load times.

As I stated at the beginning I believe the game has a lot of potential, but as it is now I find it more aggravating than fun or educational and would have a hard time recommending it to other guitar players. I think I am done playing the game for now. Once the overdue PS3 patch/update is finally released I will revisit the game and see if it is greatly improved. I hope it is because I want the game to be hugely successful. It is a great idea to be able to use a real guitar to learn actual songs and have fun, but it currently falls short in to many ways in my opinion.