Rocksmith 2014 - Improve your guitar and bass playing

[BeardFaceMan]

And now the first customs for RS2014 are appearing. Sweet.

[phantom_power]

Do you have to use the proprietary cable to connect the guitar to the computer or can you use something like guitar port?

[Neil]

Pretty sure you have to use the official cable, as it acts as a dongle, unless you get a PC crack.

[phantom_power]

OK, thanks

[Neil]

Hooray, the Rocksmith 2014 Xboax patch just released in the last hour or so.  Can't find the patch notes yet, but hoping it solves the crashing (never once happened when I wasn't able to get online), and the problems people were having with mastery levels not saving.  Edit: just crashed. Bastards.

I'm working on Slither by Velvet Revolver from RS1.  It's quite challenging and fast, big monster riff and some nice lead work by Slash to get my fingers around.  Also trying to get set up on PC so I can, hopefully, start playing the custom songs, then making my own.  Not sure how effective it'll be on a 17-inch laptop screen, but if I stick it on a chair right in front of me, I figure it'll be fine.

[kngen]

Christ, it's addictive. Got a blister on my middle finger from playing the trooper and mastodon endlessly today. First time I think i've had a blister from playing guitar since I was 18 or something daft. was tempted to get baba oreilly on dlc but there's a few there that need mastered first.

[Neil]

Innit fucking great?  I can sit and play guitar quite happily for hours now, whereas, for the last 20 years or so, my hyperactive brain has rarely allowed me to sit still and do that.  It's great that you get the new tones to play about with each DLC, too, and I like buying it where I can to support this amazing software. 

[Neil]

And now the first customs for RS2014 are appearing. Sweet.

All set up for those now :-)  Fucking brilliant.  Can't wait to make a few of my own.  The Neutral Milk Hotel one I grabbed first doesn't seem to show up, which led to me wasting time reading FAQs and stuff (was worried you could only have one custom installed at a time) but the rest are all showing up, so I'll have a blast at Back In Black before bed.

Oh wow, they've got Roses Are Free by Ween! 

[BeardFaceMan]

I think the way it works is that when someone makes a custom song, they upload it to the Submitted forum and then people play it and test it, report back with any problems, suggestions etc and when it's good enough people will vote for it to go into the Approved forum. So I've found that the songs I've grabbed from the Approved forum generally work OK but I do tend to get some problems from ones I've got from the Submitted forum, songs not showing up in the game, no audio, not to mention some wildly inaccurate tab. No limit to the amount of customs as far as I'm aware, I've got 60 in my folder at the moment, although I couldn't add more than 4 at a time without the game crashing on start up.

Wow there's already been a shitload more submissions since I last looked. That's what I love about that place is that there is such a diverse choice of songs, stuff you would never expect to see.

[kngen]

I'm guessing these customs are for PC only? Ah man ...

Hopefully, someone will upload a Chrom-Tech track and drive you all to the brink of insanity, you lucky sods

[BeardFaceMan]

That Neutral Milk Hotel custom has been fixed now Neil. It's only 4 fucking open chords and I still can't nail it, seriously need to work on my chords. I can power chord and palm mute all fucking day but am still shit at open chords.

[Neil]

Ahh thanks, can never remember the chord progression, even though it's so simple, so I'll bang it through Rocksmith a load of times.

What's the problem with open chords?  Not switching fast enough?  Can you play barre chords?

[BeardFaceMan]

I just don't play open chords enough, the vast majority of stuff I like to play uses power chords. That's why I bought myself an acoustic a few weeks back to try and brush up on my open chords a bit. I don't have any problem doing the chords but switching between certain chords is a nightmare for me. And I just can't do barre chords at all, those top 2 thin strings are the fuckers I can't fret.

[An Actual Propeller]

Finally got a copy of this and one of those "guitars" (I think that they call it an axe to make you sound cool.)

Just doing the lessons at the minute.  I now know how to hold a pick properly!  Giant steps, motherfucker.

[Neil]

I just don't play open chords enough, the vast majority of stuff I like to play uses power chords. That's why I bought myself an acoustic a few weeks back to try and brush up on my open chords a bit. I don't have any problem doing the chords but switching between certain chords is a nightmare for me. And I just can't do barre chords at all, those top 2 thin strings are the fuckers I can't fret.

Oh yeah I remember telling you to roll your index finger back, did that never help? Other things to try are adjusting the thumb on the neck, and pulling your elbow in to you to increase the grip a bit. Not too tight, or you'll sound bad.

Switching open chords is just muscle memory, so slowed down songs in Riff Repeater - with accelerate turned on so you're increasing as you nail them.

[Big Jack McBastard]

I shall be giving this a whirl come crimbo.

My axe is on its way and from what I've seen of this, I want, I WANT!

[easytarget]

Holy fucking god, this "game" is amazing.
So, I can sit here, play the fucking Trooper over and over again, unlock achievements chase high scores and at the end of it I can, for fucking real, be able play The Trooper on guitar (or bass)? Fuck. My. Hat.

Also, I love Fang Island. And *that's* why Pantera sounds so off, with the weird tuning.

I wish this had been around in the early '90s when I was first learning, I'd have my Slayer-chops down already.

Life changing thread, folks, thanks so much!

[MonkeyDrummer]

Quick question, this is now on offer on steam for 26 quid,
I know there's a usb adapter too, but I can't afford a good electric guitar to go with it, does the guitar matter?

[Big Jack McBastard]

Spent 6 hours on it today, my fingers wreck, tips on my left hand are still numb.. But I know 2 chords (squee) and I can do some slidey note modulating, I have a feeling it'll be a while before I'm cracking into Muse or fucking Avenged Sevenfold but the first babby steps have shuffled forth.

It's awfully clever, I do like how it notices when I'm accidentally muting a string.

The session thing looks like it'll be good fun when I can do a few bits and bobs and link em up.

[daffs]

just getting started with this in the past couple of days after being too busy/far away from it spacially to play it as I delivered it to my parents' place. loving it. there's a fair few songs I have no real intention of learning and will only ever bother with out of curiosity, but I'm pleased to say my tastes are catered for enough elsewhere, and I'm probably going to spend about £50 on DLC all told. currently all but got Every Breath You Take down, R U Mine? is at 91%ish and I have calluses on my left hand fingers for the first time since picking a guitar up aged 10! I never really got past a plateau of 'can play things passably well so that you recognise the song but the technique's a bit shit' so hopefully I can use this to move beyond that. nice one you lot

[easytarget]

100%!

I mean, only the Pour Some Sugar on Me[nb]in the name of lurhve![/nb] baseline (dead easy), but still an achievement.

[Harpo Speaks]

Really tempted by this, as I've been wanting to learn guitar for a while now and this might at least give me the motivation to actually do it.

Is it compatible with most Electric Guitars then? And for that matter, what would people recommend as a decent compatible guitar for beginners (within a sane price range)?

[Big Jack McBastard]

Got back into it today and it seems 'something' in my brain was working in the background during my 'Kanckered Fingers/Drunk Rest No.1' cos I whizzed through the section that had my hands stumped in my last session, I then went on to do hammer-ons and pull-offs 101 and eventually put five different notes to use in one go and it wasn't completely shit!... and I can still do it now! and I was improvising with them before it even got the chance to tell me to.

Learning eh?, humans, sheesh, eeeh I dunno.

My forefinger has already begun the thickening/callusing ever-so slightly, middle one is starting down that lane too.

Harpo:
As long as it's got yer standard input jack it should be fine, I listened to all the advice the lovely folks poured on me here and went looking for a Yamaha Pacifica 112v kit, couldn't find one so ended up going with the most sanely priced and half decent looking thing on amazon the Lindo Kit. Seems to be essentially the same guitar with a different pick-up arrangement, but what do I know?

170 nicker, and has everything you need, loads of picks, replacement strings, amp (which makes quite a racket with your knobs in the right places), stand, bag, electronic tuner, campo, allen keys for neck adjustment tomfoolery and a DVD of lessons, I've also downloaded a fair wedge of lessons and introductory stuff from.. reputable sources[nb](torrent search: nextlevelguitar)[/nb].

Looks canny, plays fine, it demands attention if it's in the same room as you, silently going: 'You should be having a go-oooo' at you, whenever you're not.

Rocksmith has it's own tuner built in which you can nip to anytime to check if you're on the money as well so that hassle is minimized.

It has let me get away with some shit performances, albeit with accurately low percentage ratings but I have gotten the meat of the ones I've passed into my brain fingers now, it seems to 'get' that at some point.

I wonder when I'll feel 'done' with it?

Will it outlast Oblivion and Fallout 3?

Will I be passable?

Stay tuned[nb]lol first music pun[/nb].

[Big Jack McBastard]

You do need the audio-jack-to-USB (Real Tone) lead, which you can get in with Rocksmith 2014 for 40 quid, no need to buy it separately.

There are 6 potential audio setups:

Straight up HDMI from Xbox to telly (worst)
Component from Xbox to telly (works fine for me)
Component from Xbox to telly and an audio from the TV to stereo (second worst cos you're adding more steps)

...are all supposedly 'high risk of lag' but I've experienced no lag problems with a straight up component cable from xbox to telly (it advises against using HDMI) but there are other audio setups possible with it:

You could link up the audio cables from an xbox component cable to a stereo or headphones rather than your telly if there's lag issues, this is provided you've got the right connections on your stereo, or have a secondary (V cable) jack which can take the red and white pins from the component and allow you to jack headphones into the other end.

and lastly using a HDMI connection on the telly and an audio adapter (or RCA cable[nb]about 4 quid if the other methods don't cut it[/nb]) from the xbox to take the audio cables to your stereo, which is a bit more of a fuck on because you need the RCA cable, it's probably only applicable if you have some wanky 'Game' mode on your telly that you can't turn off though.

[Big Jack McBastard]

I got a "Very good" out of someone within earshot of me earlier.

They're easily impressed. Still, nice to hear.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Fucking owww!

Just got the PC version and all the DLC, been hammering it since 4pm, my left ring finger is fucked.

[BeardFaceMan]

Big bump for this I know, but do you need the official Rocksmith USB cable to use a guitar on the PC? I haven't got 25 quid to spunk away on a new one but I see some generic USB to PC cables available for a tenner, could I use one of those?

Also, this game is made for some hot leaderboard action. We could do a song of the week or something and compare scores. Just looking for a bit more motivation to play after my efforts at learning Angel Of Death fell apart apart half way through the song. Fucking fast playing fuckers.

[Barry Admin]

I really need to get back into it. Anyway, I dunno mate, I used my Xbox cable when I still had a puter, has yours broken?  I heard the latest versions can use a mic, for acoustics, so that might work. Or just a dodgey copy that lets you use a USB cable, as you say, provided that also has a guitar jack. I'd imagine there's a fix like that available.

[BeardFaceMan]

Im pretty sure i first bought this for xbox, thats the cable I've been using on the pc for years with no problem. The problem now is that the cable has gone the way my shitty mp3 player headphones go, its been bent over a few too many times near the jack and theres a bad connection now, I have to keep wiggling it to get it working. It seems like Ubisoft are being a bit cunty and only the official cable works with it, you can use other cables but you need to fuck about trying to find a NoCable patch and not all of them work. Ive yet to try using the mic, mainly because I dont really play acoustic guitar, you can use the electric with the mic but you dont get any tones or anything and I got rid of my amp years ago because the Rocksmith tones are so good.

[Barry Admin]

Keep an eye on eBay for a cable then? Should be able to get one for a few quid second hand, I'd have thought.