Things Wot Go Wrong and Day 12

There are a few problems I've had with the game, and so far it seems to not only be me.

The Dux Redux is a problem for a lot of people.  I said in an earlier post that doing a very light touch to the fretting fixes that. I can confirm that it fixes it for me, though in the heat of the game I sometimes still fret too hard.  It is weird that during songs and lessons that I do not have a problem with the game detecting my fret usage, but this particular Guitarcade game some how does.  It is the E string that has the problem.

Bends.  Guys.  Please.  Do not tear your hair out over the Bends lesson.  Skip the lesson after learning what a bend is if it is acting up on you.  Bends just aren't handled well as of January 2014.  I am reading that the bending lesson in Rocksmith 2013 was bad also.  It might prevent you from getting 100% on lessons and songs, but its is NOT you.  It is Rocksmith.  This also means the string bending arcade game does not work very well, though I have not yet played it myself to confirm.

My suggestion is to set up riff repeater and be honest to yourself; get through the practice track a few times a day, memorizing it like any other lesson, but ignore the rating.  You know if you have it correct or not.  Why keep doing it?  Build those bending muscles, and figure out your technique.  Its important, especially if you want to play some Hendrix in your lifetime.

My USB cable does not like to connect well sometimes.  I switch USB ports and all that, and still, it is wonky.  It could just be a loose USB hub.  I have found that the last two times, which isn't a large enough sample to know it works, that if I take apart the USB cable at the breakaway connector, and plug that back together, that I get signal.  Yes, that's a breakaway connector.  It is meant to come undone instead of pulling your PS3/360 off on to the floor if you yank your instrument cable too hard.

I'll make any new "Things Wot Go Wrong" posts as I accumulate anymore.

Day 12

The Bends problem is back, so I looked it up online and.. well look above for what I found.

I'm steadily scoring much higher on String Skip Saloon, so it is doing what I need it to do.  Meaning I am getting used to seeing the strings from Low(thickest) to High(thinnest).  As for Scale Warriors... I get what its doing, and I want to like the game a lot, in fact I want it to be my favorite game, but I just do not think it is improving my guitar skill.  Loading up sessions and playing the scales listed there seems much easier to me, and much better at memorization.  It is too easy to get flustered and just start banging away at strings in Scale Warriors.

I have the hardest time going directly to the B or G string.  My fingers just aren't used to 6 strings, and its just taking more time than I thought to at least get them correct.  You'd think it wouldn't be all that bad because I have zero problems with a 5 string bass, but its like my fingers have blurry vision from D, G, B.

I started the Hamer Ons and Pull offs lesson for my last half or more of today's practice time.  This is a proper lesson.  I am good with this kind of stuff, but the practice track is a step up compared to other practice tracks.  This is going to take time to memorize and play smoothly.  I like it.  Its the kind of challenge that is challenging for my level of play without being screwed up by bad game detection(like the bends).

Tip of the Day:

Riff Repeater's sections are chosen by your L's and R's buttons and triggers.  When you get a new practice track, listen to the game play it, then load up your riff repeater, highlight the entire thing and start out at like 80% speed or whatever is good for you.  I personally keep the difficulty at 100%.  In fact, I am catching myself saying "don't F'ing patronize me, give me the whole song" when I screw up on ONE LITTLE PART and the game decides to make the entire rest of the song easier for me.  At the point of memorizing the song, that actually is not helpful at all.

Gotta beat this level! and Day 10.

There are some things I need to wrap my mind around in this new kind of format of "game" learning.

As a gamer I have this achievement habit, and I don't mean just the "chieves" that are now on consoles.  This goes further back.  This is the desire to stick with a certain level of a game(like Mario world 5) until I get through it nicely, and then use warp tunnels to never have to deal with that shit ever again.  If you go at music like that, you're going to suck.

A song is not a level.  A practice track is not a level.  You need to keep at them, you need to be able to do them without notation in front of you, and without Rocksmith telling you how to play.  That's the point of this, right?  You want to learn guitar, not learn how to play a "game".  I still go through each practice track at least once a session, and I go through the newest one 100% perfect twice.  I focus on not getting it "right" but making it sound good.  Making it sound good is just as important.  You might think "its a practice track, what does it matter" and I say that if that's your approach, you're making things harder on yourself.

Unlike a certain infamous Guitar Hero episode on South Park, you will not be asked to remember one of those songs to play without the game.  That's isn't the point of Guitar Hero.  Committing songs and riffs to muscle and mind memory is very important, and doing it with the smaller and easier pieces of the practice tracks is a good start.


Day 10

Had a frustrating day today.  I'm no stranger to bends on an instrument.  I have particularly strong bends because I typically play bass.  I don't just typically play bass, I use Lo-Rider strings that have lots more tension.  When I demo a bass at a bass shop, the strings seem like loose springs to me in comparison.  I don't know if the game was just having a hard drive detecting them, or they have an insanely tight tolerance for bends.  I was so angry at the Bends lesson because rage-quitting and doing something else more productive would mean I have to start the lesson over again.  So I finally, with lots of cursing, got to the practice track, completely ignored and worked on some riffs I have been developing, and turned the game off after the save.

The whole day wasn't wasted, I did my usual warm ups, and got new high scores in each of my warm up games.  My errors with Duck Redux seem to have been from me fretting too hard.  I do not think that's the only problem, I think Duck Redux is flawed in that aspect, but I am able to play again accurately by using a light touch on the E string above the below the 5th fret(towards the headstock is below in music notation).

I'm starting my march toward the chord lessons.  Its time to face the beast.  I was supposed to start learning songs today too, but I did not get around to it.  I got more than my hour in(I've yet to stop at one hour in all the days so far), and I'll get started on songs after or during my chord training.