Is this a game? Also Day 08

Is this a game?

Well, it certainly has "game" in it.  The Guitarcade section definitely has some fun games.  This is definitely not a Rhythm game in the same sense that Guitar Hero was.  Guitar Hero was made for you to feel like.. a Guitar Hero, while hitting buttons according to music track ques.  All the games in the Guitarcade are there to have you practice something, so there is not really a way to play Return to Castle Chordead in a more casual non-chord way.  You can't get a room full of random people and throw the controller(your guitar) around and have fun.  The Song Learner in "easy" setting is mind numbingly boring because its not filled with un-needed taps, every thing you play, even on "easy" is a part of the song.  Duck Re-dux is close to Guitar Hero in technique, but there's no cool music to go along with it.

I would say, "do not look at it as a fun game where you learn guitar".  I would put it rather, "A way to learn guitar, with some games involved".  There's a huge difference there, and I"m worried some people will get it, not find a way to have fun with it, and then give up.

I played Guitar Hero, and even had a version of it.  I got some fleeting feelings of playing guitar with it.  I saw that ACDC released a whole sub-game of songs for it, and immediately wanted to get it.  But then I remembered that I want more.  I don't want to feel like I play guitar, I want to actually play guitar, and in the end, playing the ACDC songs that I've always wanted to play will feel hollow.  I had a real guitar sitting next to the TV that was like "play with me".  I know not everyone really wants to be a guitarist, but I do, and RockBand and Guitar Hero just felt like wasted time unless I was in a group of people just trying to have fun.  But that's personal, that's for ME.

This Rocksmith, this "game" is exactly what all the guitarists that bitched about Guitar Hero were saying they wanted.  Plunk this down in a room of friends, and they're not going to have fun.  Get a room full of guitarists and... well, you'll have spilled beer.  Taking turns at Guitarcade games will be fun, but I think some people might get self conscious about the amount of guitar stuff they know and suddenly want to use the Jam Session.

Maybe for Rocksmith 2016 they will add a "Guitar Hero" difficulty setting.  You could pass the guitar around, and have it so player 1 tries it at 88% difficulty for real, and players 2 and 3 has Guitar Hero difficulty set up for the first string use only?

Just a thought.

Day 08

Wow.  This Rocksmith can make you feel like a million bucks.

I did the mission today where you play in three different keys, using the Pentatonic Minor.  The game suggests you try the bands Hard Rock, Acoustic Blues, and Garage Electric.  I first started with the Hard Rock, and the game gave me this auto-wah, phaser sort of effect.  I almost switched over to my pre-set distortion, but decided to give it a go.  I felt like Jimi at Woodstock.  There is a saying about wah pedals and hammer-ons and feeling instantly like a rockstar, and I never understood it till last night.  The band did its incredible thing, and I figured out where the band was going to drop out and just have the beat going, and at that point I started soloing on the highest string... wow.  It felt good.

Then I did the acoustic blues, and again, I came up with something I loved.  It is almost impulse to grab my recorder.  Another hobby of mine is writing, as in words on paper.  If you ever have an idea you are encouraged to write it down, just in case you use it later.  I've had lots of notes brought back into my writing, so I have this habit of wanting to record every jam.  I gotta remind myself that it is just jamming the pentatonic scale, its ok, its not mind blowing.

I know I suck.  You know I suck.  Chords show I suck.  But for a brief time, I'm feeling awesome and accomplished.  That's worth the price of admission.

I think I've nailed my warm up routine down to playing Gone Wailin' to get my muscles warmed up.  Then Duck-Redux so that my brain is working on the fret layout, then I change up which i play next.  Its about 20 minutes of warm up time.  Then I do a quick session run of riffs I enjoy playing.  Then I decide what to do that day.  I have not had to re-adjust my pick in my hand at all lately, and that makes me happy.  i'm still struggling with getting the G and B strings confused.  I'm a bassist first, and a 4 string player at that, so those new strings mess up my hand's count.  All in time, I suppose.