Rocksmith

This is a joint review of two products I bought together for use together, which I am certain will help you in your decision. I bought my first Guitar when I was 17 (a few decades ago :-)) in Pakistan but never had the time to learn, especially as I got more into music synthesis, sequencing, and keyboards. Arriving in Manhattan to attend Columbia Business School almost 25 years ago I immediately purchased a Yamaha (acoustic) that still adorns my Long Island home for nearly 20 years. During that time I did manage (despite an utter lack of talent and complete lack of training or music education) to create an electronic music CD a few years ago. Email me about nTrance: To The Tunnel Of Love. :-) Of course, I have to thank Atari for the original experience (Atari 520, then 1040ST and finally Mega4ST) and Apple (various Macintosh desktops and laptops) along with Korg, Yamaha, Casio, Roland, and many others (including Ashar Nisar, as well as whoever wrote Music Studio for Atari, Dr. T for KCS, and Opcode for Vision) for helping but not completely hiding my total lack of musical talent. By the way, I still own those products in running condition 25 years later. Anyway, back to this review. Despite my love for the Piano and for electronic music and the dual creativity of music tunes and sound synthesis on keyboards, here was something about the guitar that always attracted me. But, lack of time, knowing there was a calloused fingers price to pay, and other obligations kept me from it. Then I bought an Xbox 360 with Kinect, and my interest in guitar was rekindled (not the Amazon Kindle kind :) ) by the availability of Rocksmith. At the price, for what is elaborate software, including a cable interface for ANY electric guitar to connect to the Xbox, along with licensed music (including the first rock tune I loved as a 7 year old, Can't Get No Satisfaction), and an ability to help even the untalented learn to strum guitar, I had to order it, and I did, from Amazon. Since Rocksmith required me to purchase an electric guitar, I looked around, on Amazon, and one of my other favorite music stores, Guitar Center. I also checked out Best Buy. There were many great guitars in the several hundred dollars price range but I also knew that the likelihood of it becoming an expensive unused showpiece around the house was high. So I looked downmarket in price. Reading the great reviews on the Glen Burton guitar, I settled on it. Heck, even if it was never used, it matched the colors of my new Yamaha Y-ZF R6 motorcycle :) and would be a not too terrible waste of money. I did email the seller to see if there was a way I could get the Blueburst (gorgeous blue and black body) but I could not get it in time, or with Amazon Prime that I was planning to use. So, I went with this Glen Burton in wine red. Both Rocksmith and the Glen Burton arrived on time the next day. I love Amazon purchase experiences but this was the first somewhat less than perfect ones. Rocksmith, a software DVD and cable, came packed beautifully sturdily in the typical Amazon carton. The far heavier, more "breakable" and sensitive guitar, on the other hand, arrived in a carton just slightly larger than the guitar's own carton, with just a few folded layers of brown wrapping papers thrown in for "cushioning". (Others have commented on the poor packaging also). Mine, fortunately was not damaged, but the packaging was not up to par for Amazon experiences, in my opinion. This is when it got more annoying. The product name clearly states: '39" Inch WINE RED Double Humbucker Full Size Electric Guitar [Fat Style] & DirectlyCheap(TM) Translucent Blue Medium Guitar Pick'.... but, there was nothing in there with a pick. I had to email the seller and was told that is shipped separately! It is "just" a piece of plastic but to get Prime (and pay extra per item for next day delivery) and then find out the pick will arrive later, after I would have left for a trip, was annoying. Another thing that I was surprised by was the complete and utter lack of anything remotely like an "owner's manual". Even if I buy something for $1.99 at a Home Depot or someplace these days, I usually find even a tiny scrap of folded paper with some usage, or care, instructions. Nothing, zip, nada, for a nearly $100 product that will be used by many beginners. Nothing about a warranty. Nothing about how to care for it. Nothing about not putting it in a washing machine... OK, I say that last piece in jest, but you get the idea. For less than $100 I am not expecting 2 separate manuals in 20 different languages and colored how-to plug-in instructions. But to have nothing at all in the box, and the seller's advice in an email to go buy a book, were extremely annoying and dissatisfactory. What do I ask for at the book store... "How To Clean Your Wine Red Electric Guitar For Dummies"? The Rocksmith software, on the other hand, was delightful to set up and use - except for an initial hiccup. As you probably know, the software is basically of the type you've seen people play, e.g. Rockband etc., on their TV consoles. Notes of different colors come down the highway lanes representing different locations on the fretboard. But, no matter how hard I tried, each note made Rocksmith tell me to move one note over to the left. Every note, on every string. I tuned and retuned the guitar, but kept getting the same error. I then did a Bing search (why Google when using an awesome Microsoft console :-) ) and found others reporting the same problem and found the answer to be exactly what I said. "No matter how hard I tried...." was the problem... When the strings are pressed too hard they stretch enough to change their tone, making Rocksmith thing you played one note to the left. Using a lighter touch I was immediately able to hit the right notes... of course, every 20th note of the actual songs. I have used Rocksmith thrice, once each day for about 15 minutes, so as to slowly toughen the fingertips, without overdoing it. The guitar itself has been a satisfactory purchase. I will read up more in other places to learn about the upkeep and maintenance of such instruments (manufacturer gets a Fail for not including something in the box). Overall, I have to say even the seller has been fine, and Amazon, as always, has been great to deal with. The seller's auto-reply says emails may take 24 hours to reply and generally he responded well within that time frame. Amazon was awesome in how quickly they offered to take the guitar back or to otherwise make up for the less than satisfactory experience. So, for that I would make this a 4.5 Star experience. But since there is no half-star option, and I do not want to give 5 stars due to the shortcomings, I will leave it at 4-stars. I had to be in Seattle for the weekend and only got back to Long Island, New York, late last evening. I will get back on the Xbox starting my learning experience this week. Who knows, in these next few decades ahead, I may actually learn to play, not just own, a guitar. :-) Rock On!

Don't believe the few poor reviews of this game. It's simply the best ever guitar game and you will learn how to play quickly while having a blast. New songs can be downloaded every few weeks as new DLC is released for 2.99 a song. Next week some Pearl Jam songs will be released. I've been playing this game for 3 months and I've had a blast learning how to play guitar. I bought a 350 dollar Squier Fender Deluxe Stratocaster to use with this game and it works great. Those few disappointed people have nobody to blame but themselves because they did not take the time to setup the system or their guitar. As far as the people that complain about audio lag, the instructions tell you to use separate component/composite cables to run the audio through a home theater receiver & speakers, so the HDMI just sends the video to your TV, so mute the volume on the TV while playing. If you still hear a little lag, the game allows you to adjust settings for lag, so experiment with different settings until the lag is gone. The few bucks you spend on cables and the 5 minutes you spend wiring the game correctly eliminates the lag. Do a little research before crying and giving up, and bad mouthing this awesome game. Visit the Rocksmith forum at the Ubisoft website to learn tips like: tuning the sixth string a little bit on the flat side helps ensure the notes register and also make sure you aren't bending the string when pressing down or the proper note will not be played/register (don't blame the game for operator error); Also make sure your volume knob on the guitar is at max volume. A software patch was recently released that allows 30 tries in Riff Repeater mode, instead of 5 tries, it also lets you set the mastery level so you can try 100% difficulty or make it really easy. So for those people that complain about playing a song and getting overwhelmed when the game automatically levels up and throws unexpected notes at you too quickly, first you should practice the song in Riff Repeater, Freespeed, pause the game to adjust difficulty, master the song in Riff Repeater and then play the full song to qualify for a performance. Additionally, if you keep your controller next to you, you can always reach over and pause the game when you see a tough section coming up, this allows you to reposition your fingers to the upcoming strings/frets, then un-pause the game and tackle it. I routinely pause the game when new chords come up so I can reposition my hand and it works great! Some people complain about having to check the tuning on the guitar before each song because this takes too long; but really it only takes a few seconds and don't you want to make sure the strings are in tune so the notes will register correctly and you will get a higher score? That's just whining, maybe those people are too lazy to learn the guitar in the first place...maybe go back to the guitar hero plastic toy game. Some people complain about how its hard to play the correct notes while looking at the screen. Well yes this is true but you will get better with practice and soon be able to do this. You will also learn the song so well that you don't have to always look at the screen, as you memorize the riffs you can play along with the music while just looking at your guitar. Bottom line, this game makes learning the guitar really fun. Of course you should also use youtube and other websites to help learn proper fingering and chords and other basics like changing strings, don't expect Rocksmith to teach you 100% of what you need to know.

It's a wonderful game and fantastic for people learning guitar or more experienced players just looking to have fun. I've poured a few hundred hours into the 2014 edition, and mainly bought this one so I could import the songs into it, but decided to try this one on its own as well. In some ways it is superior to the later game, my personal favorite feature being that it plays a recording of your playing right after you finish the song. On top of it being a satisfying ego boost where you can hear "Hey I actually played it really well!" It also helps you actually hear parts you have trouble with and need to improve on. The song list is fantastic as well, with a lot of songs that are great for beginners and a lot more difficult songs to build up to. There's also a stellar list of unlockable songs, which broadened my taste in music further and introduced me to bands I probably never would have listened to beforehand. Overall I'd heavily recommend getting this game as well as the 2014 edition as they both have fantastic song choices (not even counting dlc songs), are remarkably fun to play especially for any aspiring guitarist or bassist, and a wonderful stepping stone into the beautiful world of music as a whole. As a side note though you're going to need to buy a Real Tone Cable separately now and those aren't cheap.

Je recommande ce jeux a tous ceux qui aime la guitare!! C'est un moyen vraiment efficace pour apprendre à jouer, et en même temps on passe de bons moment entre amis! En plus il n'y a aucun problème de compatibilité avec un playstation française!!

Als kurze Zusammenfassung des Spiels fällt mir nur: "MUST HAVE!" ein! Hier die längere Version meiner Rezension: THEMA LAG ---------- Vorab möchte ich kurz auf die besagten Lags eingehen, heißt die zeitliche Verzögerung von Gitarrenanschlag bis zum Erklingen des Tons am TV bzw. der HiFi Anlage. Eine leichte zeitliche Verzögerung konnte ich feststellen, als ich den Ton über HDMI laufen ließ. Zwar ist die Verzögerung minimal, jedoch absolut störend, da das verzögerte Timing den Rhythmus stört und letztendlich Punkte kostet ;) Beseitigt habe ich das Problem indem ich den Ton (in den Systemeinstellungen der PS3) auf meinen Verstärker gestellt habe. Die PS3 habe ich via TOSLINK mit meinem Verstärker verbunden. Dadurch wurde das LAG THEMA beseitigt! ZUM SPIEL ---------- Das Game ist top zusammengestellt. Anfangs hatte ich Schwierigkeiten das Spielsystem durchzublicken,...da gibt es einen Event Manager, eine Song Section etc. ...wofür alles gut ist erklärt sich von selbst, wenn man einige Stunden vor dem Spiel verbracht hat. Obwohl ich seit einiger Zeit Gitarre spiele, ist das Spiel trotz allem eine Herausforderung, da man quasi ins kalte Wasser geworfen wird. Das heißt: Im Idealfall habe ich die Möglichkeit mir vorher einen Tabulator/Noten anzusehen und dann einen Song langsam einzuüben. Bei Rocksmith, kommen die TABs angeflogen und man muss reagieren. Das mag zu Beginn evtl. frustrierend sein, schult aber ungemein die Reaktion und die Vertrautheit mit dem Gitarrenhals. Das Spiel passt sich dem können des Spielers "on the fly" an und gibt Hinweise darauf, was man unternehmen sollte um sein können zu verbessern z.B. wird auf Übungen in dem Technik Bereich verwiesen etc. LEVEL UP --------- Jeder Song fängt leicht an (d.h. relativ! Bezogen auf das Können des Spielers). Spielt man diesen ordentlich durch, hat man die Möglichkeit mit dem "Leveler" (heißt irgendwie so) einzelne Teile eines Songs zu spielen (z.B. Intro, Outro, Verse etc.). Hier beginnt man mit der leichtesten Stufe. Spielt man diese einmal gut durch, wird das Level erhöht (es kommen mehr Noten, Akkorde etc. dazu)...das geht dann so weiter, bis man den zu bearbeitenden Baustein wie im original Song spielen kann. Spiele ich den Song jetzt noch einmal komplett durch (bisher auf leichtester Stufe), wird der Baustein den ich soeben komplett durchgelevelt habe auch in der (schwersten) Originalversion mit verbaut. So kann man Stück für Stück den Song auf das Originalniveau "Hochleveln" *Anmerkung: Die Schwierigkeitslevel des Songs sieht man als orange Balken unter dem oberen Bildschirmrand dargestellt (Intro und Outro des Songs sind blau)* MOTIVATION ------------ Das Spiel macht süchtig! Neue Pedale freischalten, neue Gitarren freischalten, neue Gigs freischalten... das spornt an! Das Publikum flippt voll aus wenn man ordentlich rockt und das motiviert total!!! Die Jungs (und Mädels) von UBI Soft haben ganze Arbeit geleistet! Es motiviert viel mehr bei einem original Song mit zu performen, als über einen als mp3 beigefügten Backingtrack zu spielen (wobei ich das nicht schlecht reden möchte! Es ist ein anderer Ansatz den ich ebenfalls zu schätzen weis und auch nutze!)...es macht einfach tierisch Spaß die einstudierten Riffs etc. vor "Publikum" zu spielen ;) Vom Spiel erhält man auch immer Feedback wie gut man ist/war und auch Vorschläge woran man arbeiten sollte. -> Um es kurz zu machen, ich kann mich nicht erinnern wann ich überhaupt einmal über 9 Stunden am Stück meine Klampfe geschruppt habe ;) NACHTEILE ---------- Ich persönlich finde die Ladezeiten nervig, obwohl die bestimmt nicht länger als 10 Sekunden dauern...oder das ständige Überprüfen, ob die Gitarre gestimmt ist... Aber das spricht dafür wie sehr das Spiel fesselt!!! :))) RIESEN VORTEIL! --------------- Den möchte ich nicht verschweigen. Vielleicht kommt das dem einen oder anderen bekannt vor, dass man ab und zu (mal mehr mal weniger ;) ) auf den Gitarrenhals schielt um zu sehen ob man sich im richtigen Bund befindet...das wird hier knallhart und "spielerisch" abtrainiert, wenn man vor dem "Publikum" ordentlich rocken will :))) ******************************************** ***** US Content Downloaden - How To - ***** ******************************************** Um an die Songs/Features zu kommen, die in den USA zum Download bereit stehen muss man folgendes tun: 1. US Account anlegen (Über das PS3 Menü ein neues Konto erstellen, dabei angeben dass man "irgendwo" in den USA lebt. Google Maps hilft!) 2. Ist der US Account angelegt, muss man natürlich irgendwie einkaufen können. Dafür gibt es die folgende Lösung: Man muss sich für die PS3 eine Playstation Network Card (US) kaufen. Es gibt im Internet zahlreiche Shops wo man sich diese kaufen kann...meist ist der Wechselkurs 1:1 :( ,aber dafür kommt man an die US Angebote ran :) ************************************************* -> Nach gut einer Woche intensiven Gitarre-Zockens mit Rocksmith, habe ich meinen PodHD zum Üben gar nicht mehr angeschlossen! ...das funktioniert wunderbar mit der PS3 :))) TOP!!!!

En la descripción del producto, en la parte de las características dice que incluye un cable USB para poder conectarlo a la guitarra, el cual no lo trae.

le jeu est arrivé sans le câble et la console n'arrive à le lire.