Rocksmith for beginners a few tips By Edwin Millheim – United States Editor for Impulse Gamer
This is a hints article; I’ll touch on a few things that will help the beginner along while not going overly in depth on any one subject. I include information on some places both in the United States and Australia that have an online presence, if you cannot go to a place a get a guitar yourself.
So you have joined the phenomenon that is Rocksmith. The game that actually helps you learn how to play guitar. Well good on ya, the rock gods smile upon you.
Rocksmith from Ubisoft is actually a marvel of a concept, even more so that it works. Plug in a real electric guitar and you will be playing along with the songs in the game which are increasing monthly. Thanks to Ubisofts aggressive DLC program. It gives the fans just enough to give them a taste of further songs, but not so much to make it tired. Either way; welcome aboard and here are a few hints and tips to help you along.
Choosing your musical weapon of choice
If you do not even have a guitar yet, then of course the first thing you will want to do is get your electric guitar. If you are fortunate enough to snag the excellent Rocksmith bundle that comes with a full sized Les Paul Jr. guitar, then you are on your way already. If not then the first thing you will want to decide is how much you’re willing to spend. One of the things I tell people who ask me about getting a guitar for Rocksmith is, bear in mind: if you are a gamer, you have spent hundreds of dollars on controllers just to run one game, or if you’re a flight gamer and demand that feel of a flight stick, some people pay 300 and as much as 500 for the high end controllers.
Not to worry. You can get a guitar from a pawn shop or even an online store for between 75.00 and 180.00 on the mid end or if you want to go for the gold 280 and as much as a couple thousand. I do not recommend a beginner spending such a large amount on a first purchase to get them going in the music world and Rocksmith.
When it comes to stores, more bang for your buck and customer service is king. Just knowing the place you made your purchase have your back is a plus. Some of you who have followed past articles know my first choice was an AXL Badwater guitar. Nice rig, and decent company. In fact we even had a contest for a lucky Australian reader to win an AXL Badwater Guitar and a copy of Rocksmith, which was a kick ass give away. (Major thanks to Ubisoft and AXL Badwater on that.)
For my next guitar of choice I went ahead and got an Epiphone Les Paul 100. I looked around and wanted to see if we could find a shop that excelled in customer service and pricing. Wammo, found one that has a presence on Ebay. Perfect. The store is called Sounds Cheap Music and the screen name on Ebay is soundscheapinc
It’s a family owned store. The store even has a video about how they package items and shows the stores warehouse and a message from the owners. Just the fact that they took the time to even make a video and send a message out to potential customers was great. The communication before, during and after the purchase was attentive. They never made me feel rushed, or as if it was a bother to answer questions. To them, it seems a customer is highly valued, and they go to lengths to make happy customers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CQVpMXL_M&feature=player_embedded
For our Australia readers, Guitar World has a presence online, drop them a line and see what they can do for you. http://www.guitar.com.au/
Or you can go direct and own a legend of your own with rich sounds, go to Epiphone direct and check out a store near you or call the Epiphone dealer direct 1-800-444-2766
Now once you have your guitar and you have your Rocksmith game for whatever system you are going to be playing. Each time you choose a song, the game will help you tune the guitar. This is a painless process and is of great assistance to the beginner.
Now if you are new to guitar, and I mean fresh out of the gate new, I would suggest try out the songs that have a single note arrangement first to get you in the groove. The game itself has a progressive difficulty system, so as you are doing better, the game will remember this and start to give you more notes to play eventually even whole chords. Not too worry here either, if it’s too much and you are missing notes, the game backs off and will progress further as you get better.
One of the things you may run into is you are hitting the right note, but it does not seem to register in the game. It may say you need to play one fret higher or lower. If you know for a fact you are hitting the right fret and string, then it may be a case of the guitar needing a tune up. In most cases the intonation set. Intonation is the strings of the guitar having to be slightly different lengths in order for the notes to be at the correct pitch when the strings are fretted. Since this is a bit to getting it right and retuning the string after moving the saddle I suggest taking it to a music store and have someone do it for you.
Also being new, go ahead and use the fret number stickers that come with the game. You can attach them to the guitar neck so you can have a fast visual aid while you’re learning on what frets are where.
The game also has excellent sections for learning techniques and also chords. It can break down sections of any of the songs in the play book or DLC of the game so you can learn sections of a song. If you are not up to speed on whole chords, just use Riff repeater instead. This also uses the progressive difficulty algorithm of the game and will ramp up as you get better.
As you progress you may get calluses on your fingertips, welcome to guitar playing. Remember to rest once in a while between playing sessions so as not to train your wrists and fingers too much. Some players have even suggested doing some warm ups with your arms, wrists, hands and fingers before playing.
The number one thing here is practice, practice , practice. Once you’re playing a real guitar and learning about playing with Rocksmith…practice is no problem. You just get that urge to learn more and play more. It’s a thrill to play a song and you are playing a real guitar, not just pushing buttons on a plastic toy. (For those game players that like the other game just as much, no offense meant…it’s just once you are learning the real thing…it’s a rocking rush that never dies.
Clean your fret board and strings, and depending on how often you play, you may be changing strings once every couple of months or even once a month.
If you have any questions I may be able to help you with feel free to send me an email here at Impulse Gamer.
Have fun, play games,
ROCK ON.
Edwin Millheim
Impulse Gamer