Monday, November 24, 2014

Rocksmith 2014 (Further Impressions)

I've been playing Rocksmith 2014 for about 3 weeks now. I'm trying not to overdo it and burn out, so I'm limiting my practice to about 30 minutes a day.

After 10 hours, I've found out something interesting: I don't think I'm going to burn out this time.

Previously, I hit a wall with chords. It felt impossible.

This time, there's much more help with chords in the game, and I'm slowly progressing. I can play a few different chords now, and I don't feel frustrated. There's a chord "book" where I can review the fingering for a particular chord, and there's a mini-game that's based on chords. So it doesn't feel hopeless.

To me, this isn't a game at all. It's a well-designed, high-feedback learning tool, and I'm going to keep plugging away, because it's fun. I just wish I knew how guitar players twist their hands into impossible chord shapes.

I also bought the White Stripes song pack, which was an easy decision, because I like them so much. As an added bonus, the guitar on most of the songs is very straightforward, with less complex chords (but still plenty of interesting hooks).

There's also a band I'd never heard of before, and they're good. Very good. They're called Gold Motel, and here's the song that's in the game: Brand New Kind of Blue.

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