Guitarcade Spotlight: Scale Warriors
Scale Warriors is a scale practice game that focuses on you playing the notes in different orders and different amounts. Every enemy of a type has the same patterns to them, so eventually you can combo kill them without even needing to see where they are standing. Each successful note has your character jumping to the enemy and punching or kicking them to the next note.
The game takes its inspiration from the old 8 bit era beat'em ups like Double Dragon and River City Ransom. The bad guys are a gang that has wronged the players, and you must proceed through "stages" where you fight regular bad guys and eventually special "boss" fights that have extended scale sequences.
I really wanted to like Scale Warriors, it was probably my most looked forward to game in the Guitarcade. I am a scale playing nut, so I thought I'd play the hell out of it. The reality is that I have not, as of yet, played a lot of it. The Scale Racer game, to be spotlighted later, is better at teaching scale shapes IMO, while Scale Warriors is made for improving your general note playing abilities, and developing muscle memory patterns. I think they have the games listed backwards when it comes to recommendations, I think Scale Racer should be first, and then you do Scale Warriors after. As I learn new scales, I will use this game more, I think.
Day 26
I did quite a few things outside of Rocksmith today. Last week Rocksmith got a lot of new Oasis songs to play, and there's one included with the game already. I've seen that Wonderwall is made much easier by having a Capo, so I went today and bought a Capo. It is really weird for me to own a capo. Growing up, the Capo was this thing you got in your "starter" kits, but never knew exactly why to use it. I don't remember a single friend ever using a capo. So the fact that I know why to use a capo makes me a bit happy. Also, if you have read this, I bitched about a lot of songs I want to play are in E Flat. My brain actually lit a few sparks, and I had this question: If I tune E Flat, and use a capo on the first fret, isn't that being in E now? So I shot the question to Google, and I was correct! You can, indeed, do that. All the more reason for me to own a capo.
I'm working on going backwards through my scales in a musical way. I can walk up and down my scales pretty easily, and I can make music with them and all that, but going from the B string to the G is just not as smooth as when I go the reverse way, or when I do E to A in the Pentatonic minor. So I don't really need Rocksmith for that practice, I watch Yogscast videos on youtube and just absent mindedly practice this, committing it to muscle memory.
I also bought a 70's tastic looking journal and some colored pencils. My brain works better when I write things down. You can tell me a whole list of groceries 5 times in a row, and ask me to repeat it once, and I'll probably get 2 or 3 right. My brain just doesn't store info like that. I write the list down, and I'll be able to tell you, probably in order, 3 weeks from now, the entire list. So that's what my journal is going to be, Skypp-notation on chords and scales. Oh I have books, especially bass books, that talk about all this too. But writing it down will help me out immensely. Maybe it would help you too? Try it out.
I did get some session play in at the end of the night. Probably about 30 minutes? I don't know, time flies when I'm in session mode. Still, well over an hour of practice and guitar-study today.
Showing posts with label DLC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DLC. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Impulse Buy and Day 24
Impulse buying is practically what Internet retail is based on.
I would not have gotten Rocksmith 2014 if it did not have a lot of songs that I personally like.and would not mind learning. I like that there is some basic rock like Sixteen Saltines by Jack White, but also some metal like Blood and Thunder by Mastodon.
The classic rock offerings of Rocksmith 2013, 2014 and DLC is actually really really great. The staples of the classic rock station are there: Dream On by Aerosmith, American Woman by The Guess Who, Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas. Drift Away by Dobie Grey. All of that is DLC.
Pretty much any genre of Rock has some great DLC support. I got Rocksmith with a PSN card and almost immediately went to buying songs I want to learn to play. At $3 a pop, I was only going to be able to get a handful. I easily got $60 in my cart and decided I should probably wait and see. I think this is the best of advice, because I would have doubled my investment in the game, and I don't think I'd be playing most of those songs yet.
You might end up being like me. I know there are people that are "learn the songs, and you'll learn the skills as you do the songs". I've met them in real life, they exist. I am just not one of them. I am more academic. It is not enough to know something is a chord, I want to know why its a chord. I don't want to just know that these notes are played in a song, I want to know why these same notes are used in other songs too. If I had a huge curriculum style book with quizzes and lesson reading, I'd have all the theory done in a heartbeat, I've always been very successful with "book learning". I've got a mind for it.
So, so far, I do not rely on learning songs so much.
I'd do this: pick your 5 favorite songs from the original list and wait till you get them to 75% or so. All five of them. When you do that, then DLC may be a smart purchase. Oh and for the record.... I'm 2 of 5 so far.
Day 24
I skipped ahead a few "recommended" lessons and went into some more chord lessons. I do not think they emphasize the fact that your fingers will eventually stretch and learn to play these chords with time. At least, that's what I've always been told and even people with small hands like me will be able to do them...
I realized I had not beat the first level of Return to Castle Chordead, so I devoted time to doing that. I had to do a couple of "continues" during it, but less than I thought I would. This game actually is pretty good at helping me memorize shapes and names of the chords they use, but I can't help but feel like they should let me customize what chords are used in stages. I would like a sort of customized setting. I am memorizing a handful of chords from the practice tracks and Chordead, but I do not think all but Em are recommended as frequently used in songs. I guess time will tell.
I did some more session work with the Pent Major shape. I really like the sound this scale is, it is very different than my blues and rock playing I've been doing since day 1. It feels "pop" styled, and I'm pretty sure I've heard it as the basis of a lot of alternative acoustic songs.
Outside of Rocksmith... I almost broke down and ordered a 2nd guitar today. I think I"ve said before that I would like a 2nd guitar I can take to places and practice with when I'm away from my PS3. Today though, I found out that several of my most "want to learn" bands use Eb tuning. I have put effort(and sucked at) tuning back and forth from Drop D without a tuner(I'm making progress though). I accepted Drop D, I don't mind it. The Eb tuning is every string being tuned down a half step. This includes Jimi Hendrix, Guns N Roses, and Alice in Chains. What a colossal pain in the ass. Its like my Lead practice wants me to be in Eb, but all the chord songs I want to practice is in E standard. I guess I'll need to come up with a list instead of just practicing what I feel like playing.
I would not have gotten Rocksmith 2014 if it did not have a lot of songs that I personally like.and would not mind learning. I like that there is some basic rock like Sixteen Saltines by Jack White, but also some metal like Blood and Thunder by Mastodon.
The classic rock offerings of Rocksmith 2013, 2014 and DLC is actually really really great. The staples of the classic rock station are there: Dream On by Aerosmith, American Woman by The Guess Who, Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas. Drift Away by Dobie Grey. All of that is DLC.
Pretty much any genre of Rock has some great DLC support. I got Rocksmith with a PSN card and almost immediately went to buying songs I want to learn to play. At $3 a pop, I was only going to be able to get a handful. I easily got $60 in my cart and decided I should probably wait and see. I think this is the best of advice, because I would have doubled my investment in the game, and I don't think I'd be playing most of those songs yet.
You might end up being like me. I know there are people that are "learn the songs, and you'll learn the skills as you do the songs". I've met them in real life, they exist. I am just not one of them. I am more academic. It is not enough to know something is a chord, I want to know why its a chord. I don't want to just know that these notes are played in a song, I want to know why these same notes are used in other songs too. If I had a huge curriculum style book with quizzes and lesson reading, I'd have all the theory done in a heartbeat, I've always been very successful with "book learning". I've got a mind for it.
So, so far, I do not rely on learning songs so much.
I'd do this: pick your 5 favorite songs from the original list and wait till you get them to 75% or so. All five of them. When you do that, then DLC may be a smart purchase. Oh and for the record.... I'm 2 of 5 so far.
Day 24
I skipped ahead a few "recommended" lessons and went into some more chord lessons. I do not think they emphasize the fact that your fingers will eventually stretch and learn to play these chords with time. At least, that's what I've always been told and even people with small hands like me will be able to do them...
I realized I had not beat the first level of Return to Castle Chordead, so I devoted time to doing that. I had to do a couple of "continues" during it, but less than I thought I would. This game actually is pretty good at helping me memorize shapes and names of the chords they use, but I can't help but feel like they should let me customize what chords are used in stages. I would like a sort of customized setting. I am memorizing a handful of chords from the practice tracks and Chordead, but I do not think all but Em are recommended as frequently used in songs. I guess time will tell.
I did some more session work with the Pent Major shape. I really like the sound this scale is, it is very different than my blues and rock playing I've been doing since day 1. It feels "pop" styled, and I'm pretty sure I've heard it as the basis of a lot of alternative acoustic songs.
Outside of Rocksmith... I almost broke down and ordered a 2nd guitar today. I think I"ve said before that I would like a 2nd guitar I can take to places and practice with when I'm away from my PS3. Today though, I found out that several of my most "want to learn" bands use Eb tuning. I have put effort(and sucked at) tuning back and forth from Drop D without a tuner(I'm making progress though). I accepted Drop D, I don't mind it. The Eb tuning is every string being tuned down a half step. This includes Jimi Hendrix, Guns N Roses, and Alice in Chains. What a colossal pain in the ass. Its like my Lead practice wants me to be in Eb, but all the chord songs I want to practice is in E standard. I guess I'll need to come up with a list instead of just practicing what I feel like playing.
Labels:
Chordead,
chords,
Classic Rock,
DLC,
Playstation,
PS3,
Rocksmith,
Rocksmith 2014,
Song List
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