"Play something you've come up with"
That's what every newer guitarist would want to hear. The reality is that when you sit down to show someone that you're learning guitar, they instinctively want to hear something they recognize. Its only human nature, they want to compare you to something they've heard to be able to judge your skill. If you can play something they perceive as a good song, they're going to think "oh wow, my friend can play this popular song!". I'm guilty of it as well. I used to ask "can you play Sweet Child of Mine" and in the later years, "know any Pantera?"
I've been on the other side now though, and I regret being that way. When you're new and you're learning, you're focusing on technique and practicing. In all reality, you probably know some pretty good sounding things to play that uses the techniques you know, but you might be missing one technique to be able to play ACDC, or Guns N Roses.
You also might know a few genres. You might be tempted to say, "well I can't play that, but if you tell me a genre of music you like, maybe I can play something in it for you in that style". Seems like 90% of the time they're going to say "I like J-pop" or "know any Skrillex?", or something equally as un-guitar or something you just don't know the style of.
That's just how life goes.
So if you're reading this, and you have a friend that is practicing and learning guitar, remember what I've said. There are 10 million-billion songs out there, and chances are your first 20 you can come up with aren't going to be something they can play. Look at them, smile a little bit, and say "just play something you know or something you've come up with yourself". You're going to hear something new, don't be scared, you might be the first person ever to hear a new piece of music that never existed in the world before. It could be great.
Day 35
I have pretty much decided on 4 "tone" categories that I like to play in. Clean for acoustic/chords work, light overdrive for bluesy stuff, British Crunch(my favorite) for ACDC sounding rock, and high gain "High on Fire" tone for metal. Today I played with the Tone shaping section to try and get two of these: high gain metal and low gain overdrive.
I have to say that low gain overdrive is the hardest to get "right" with the sound in my head. I think that's why there was so much fuss over the Tubescreamer pedals that Stevie Ray Vaughn popularized. He sort of gave everyone a "base" to start from. There's a billion tubescreamer clones and light overdrive circuits in the pedal world. Am I happy with what I"ve done in Rocksmith to get the sound? I'm about 75% happy. I would like my natural tone to get out a little bit more, but none of the low gain pedals have a mix built in to run a dry signal through. I may have to go to the regular drive category and just really roll off the drive. My real Marshall amp does not do this sound very well, I need to break out my amp modeler and test out some stuff.
I am about 90% satisfied with my high gain metal tone I have though. I looked up Matt Pike's amps and found that there might be a clone of it in Rocksmith. So I chose that amp, maxed the gain, and then put a high gain distortion pedal in front to boost it even more. Its pretty awesome sounding metal bliss. There's a lot of Matt Pike inspired metal guitarists out there these days, so I can cover a lot of ground with his sound. Take away some bass in the signal and you can get a lot of Mastodon's sounds, for example. I'm not a squeally diddly diddly dealeo doo kind of metal fan. I'm more of the Black Sabbath heavy riff kind of metal fan, and Matt's tone is sort of an Iommi on steroids kind of sound.
Showing posts with label video games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video games. Show all posts
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Wahhhhhh and Day 34
The Wah, the Auto-Wah, and the Envelope Filter.
These are some of my favorite filters for just having "fun" with. If you are new to instruments, you can sound like you know what you're doing if you have one of these to play with. Its the funk "wick wicka wick wah" sound, the "bow chicka wow wow" sound. To the new, they all seem the same, but to someone presented with the 3, it becomes a little more clear. So here's what they are, and consequentially the differences.
First off I should talk about the origins. The origins in modern music is thought to be traced back to the 20's and 30's when horn players learned they could manipulate the horn mute in and out to create a "wah" kind of vocal sound to their playing. Later this was reproduced in electronics in the form of a Wah Pedal, later came the envelope filters. Sitars are known to be able to make this type of sound too, but the influence in modern rock is from the horn players.
A wah-pedal is a filter that let's you change the filter's "Peak" by using your foot. Where the peak is determines where the sound gets highest or lowest in the signal modulation. You can hear it very noticeably in Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child(slight return)". The Wah-pedal makes every performance a unique experience, with slight changes in how much the player uses the pedal affecting how the song sounds. The performance is not standardized, but there's much more "expression" from the player.
(video above is my favorite pedal of any type for any instrument of all time, the Bass IQ from EBS)
Technically an Auto-wah is an Envelope Filter. A pedal uses an Envelope follower to create a voltage from the volume signal of the guitar. This volume signal changes the peak of the modulation of the signal. The difference is that an Auto-wah typically stays set at a fixed position that you choose and creates a much more consistent sound. This is useful for recording or freeing the player from having to manipulate a pedal and focus on playing. The notes will always trigger the auto-wah at the same spot and make the same sound. What is typically known as an Envelope Filter allows the intensity of your playing to alter the sweep. If you play lightly, you sweep slower, lower, longer and softer. If you play hard, you'll trigger the sound to make a fast, quick, snappy and short sweeping sound. It brings in the "expression" from a wah pedal, but frees the player from having to mess with a pedal just like an auto-wah.
I am a huge fan of Envelope Filters on bass guitar, though my enthusiasm for wah of all types on guitar is growing.
Day 34
Wow. Some days. Some times there's like this thing in the air. Your state of mind, the atmosphere, the guitar is tuned just right or the knobs on the amp are tweaked to some kind of point... Today I had the most metal practice session ever. Like, I would not mind playing in front of some people kind of playing. I needed extra arms to make the lml etal horns while I played. I was playing so metal, I am pretty sure that I accidentally bumped into actual parts of Black Sabbath songs. I would look up those parts to see how close I was to them, but then I'd be so excited I'd play 3 more hours and I just can't do that right now lol.
Its snowing outside, and I'm pretty sure I was playing the Viking raiding anthem. I dare not entice them more.
The ironic thing is, I was like "ok, today I'm mastering the next tier of "Simple kind of man". A song that is decidedly un-metal. I just don't know what got into me, but I kinda wished it did so more often. Anyway, I have began noticing people playing chords that I know while watching TV, movies or youtube. Now I'm starting to recognize when people are playing a bunch of power chords. I was watching some really good pedal demos today, demos done by the people that make the pedals, and they sounded really good and all they did was play power chords. I experimented with power chords which lead to my metal practice today.
I know there's a hipster sort of thing going on and has been for a long while, where if someone is playing a lot of power chords, some smart ass says "pfft, they're just playing a bunch of power chords" and frequently its by people that a power chord is just about the only term outside of "note" that they know. Come on. People are better than that. Music is music. Do not become a snob of technique, because let me tell you, unless you're Bucket Head, Joe Satch or Malmsteen, there's always going to be someone that can put your skill to shame.
Appreciate the simple and complex.
And never be ashamed of the music you make(I need to listen to this advice myself).
These are some of my favorite filters for just having "fun" with. If you are new to instruments, you can sound like you know what you're doing if you have one of these to play with. Its the funk "wick wicka wick wah" sound, the "bow chicka wow wow" sound. To the new, they all seem the same, but to someone presented with the 3, it becomes a little more clear. So here's what they are, and consequentially the differences.
First off I should talk about the origins. The origins in modern music is thought to be traced back to the 20's and 30's when horn players learned they could manipulate the horn mute in and out to create a "wah" kind of vocal sound to their playing. Later this was reproduced in electronics in the form of a Wah Pedal, later came the envelope filters. Sitars are known to be able to make this type of sound too, but the influence in modern rock is from the horn players.
A wah-pedal is a filter that let's you change the filter's "Peak" by using your foot. Where the peak is determines where the sound gets highest or lowest in the signal modulation. You can hear it very noticeably in Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child(slight return)". The Wah-pedal makes every performance a unique experience, with slight changes in how much the player uses the pedal affecting how the song sounds. The performance is not standardized, but there's much more "expression" from the player.
Technically an Auto-wah is an Envelope Filter. A pedal uses an Envelope follower to create a voltage from the volume signal of the guitar. This volume signal changes the peak of the modulation of the signal. The difference is that an Auto-wah typically stays set at a fixed position that you choose and creates a much more consistent sound. This is useful for recording or freeing the player from having to manipulate a pedal and focus on playing. The notes will always trigger the auto-wah at the same spot and make the same sound. What is typically known as an Envelope Filter allows the intensity of your playing to alter the sweep. If you play lightly, you sweep slower, lower, longer and softer. If you play hard, you'll trigger the sound to make a fast, quick, snappy and short sweeping sound. It brings in the "expression" from a wah pedal, but frees the player from having to mess with a pedal just like an auto-wah.
I am a huge fan of Envelope Filters on bass guitar, though my enthusiasm for wah of all types on guitar is growing.
Day 34
Wow. Some days. Some times there's like this thing in the air. Your state of mind, the atmosphere, the guitar is tuned just right or the knobs on the amp are tweaked to some kind of point... Today I had the most metal practice session ever. Like, I would not mind playing in front of some people kind of playing. I needed extra arms to make the lml etal horns while I played. I was playing so metal, I am pretty sure that I accidentally bumped into actual parts of Black Sabbath songs. I would look up those parts to see how close I was to them, but then I'd be so excited I'd play 3 more hours and I just can't do that right now lol.
Its snowing outside, and I'm pretty sure I was playing the Viking raiding anthem. I dare not entice them more.
The ironic thing is, I was like "ok, today I'm mastering the next tier of "Simple kind of man". A song that is decidedly un-metal. I just don't know what got into me, but I kinda wished it did so more often. Anyway, I have began noticing people playing chords that I know while watching TV, movies or youtube. Now I'm starting to recognize when people are playing a bunch of power chords. I was watching some really good pedal demos today, demos done by the people that make the pedals, and they sounded really good and all they did was play power chords. I experimented with power chords which lead to my metal practice today.
I know there's a hipster sort of thing going on and has been for a long while, where if someone is playing a lot of power chords, some smart ass says "pfft, they're just playing a bunch of power chords" and frequently its by people that a power chord is just about the only term outside of "note" that they know. Come on. People are better than that. Music is music. Do not become a snob of technique, because let me tell you, unless you're Bucket Head, Joe Satch or Malmsteen, there's always going to be someone that can put your skill to shame.
Appreciate the simple and complex.
And never be ashamed of the music you make(I need to listen to this advice myself).
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Hand stretches and day 33
Don't be a hero.
Everyone should be warming up their hands and arms for use before playing. I am surprised this is not gone over in Rocksmith. When I first started bass, I had to find ways of keeping my fingers and arms moving at work throughout the day. They would get tired and ache all the time while I was playing. Now that has not been an issue for years. Since I very much play notes and I arpeggiate chords with bass, I never really had to stretch my hands. I stopped doing the stretching exercises.
I have had to start that again. My arms do not ache(maybe my shoulders, but that's already stopping only 33 days in), but I know that my fingers could stretch for chording a lot easier if I started up a stretching routine. While looking on youtube for some recommended ones, I came across 2 different people that talked about not stretching before playing guitar, getting carpal tunnel, and having to not play for 4-5 months because of it. It doesn't even take you 5 minutes to do the adequate stretches. Here's a stretching vid, it is more comprehensive than the "for guitarists" vids I've seen, and I have found it is really really good.
The results are immediate. This is not something you have to do a few times before you see the result. Now, over time you'll be able to stretch further, yea, but immediately your chording should feel a lot better after doing stretches like these before you play.
Day 33
Split my playing in 2 today, so I got more Guitarcade practice in than usual. This is because I really do use them to warm my hands up. I guess its a good time to do a post about hand exercises, you've probably read it before this then, even though I'm typing it after, so I'll not go into it here.
I've been neglecting going through my session mode missions. I pretty much figured out everything on screen in the first couple of times playing. I'm not someone that can ignore something and say "I'm sure I'll be told what it is later". No, when I'm presented with something I don't know, I instinctively find ways of figuring it out if I can't figure it out myself. So going through those missions were tedious, but there is one saving grace: the recommended bands part of the missions. I probably would not have rocked with a kazoo, something I do just for "fun" in the past few days, if I had not been given the band as a mission requirement. Session mode continues to be very important for me, as I wish I could jam with people more than I do. Nothing helps more than playing with other people. Playing by yourself in your room or garage, you can develop an isolation syndrome where you think you're improving, but you're not really doing anything useful to anyone but yourself. To your ear its a neat new phrase, but without knowing how it fits in with a band, it may be kind of bad.
I am seriously about to give up on the "learn a song" section of the game. I have yet to learn any skills for playing other things while playing a song in this section. When I'm playing, the song is broken up into so many small chunks, and the difficulty swings wildly from easy to hard at the drop of a hat, and I focus more on doing the thing instead of learning a song. Seriously. I think I'm done with that aspect. It does not help me. I only get angry. Not because the songs are too hard, that would never make me angry, but the way the game adjusts and chops up the songs, its useless to my brain. It helps zero. Maybe time will change it. I've several times said "ok, today I'm going to play a crap ton of Learn a Song" only to get so angry I have to walk away from the Tv for a few hours. I'm not an angry person, its not easy to make me angry. If I focus on Lessons, Guitarcade, and Session mode, I can play for 2+ hours and not blink. Five minutes into Learn a Song and I"m ready to break stuff.
I guess I"m a little harsh on the Learn a Song thing. There's plenty there that can help people. Its not bad for me due to Ubisoft's lack of trying. I think I've just convinced myself over the years that Guitar Hero is a waste of effort if its not for a room full of people, that playing tiny bits of songs that don't make you sounds like a song is a waste of my time.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted if this changes. I hope it changes.
Everyone should be warming up their hands and arms for use before playing. I am surprised this is not gone over in Rocksmith. When I first started bass, I had to find ways of keeping my fingers and arms moving at work throughout the day. They would get tired and ache all the time while I was playing. Now that has not been an issue for years. Since I very much play notes and I arpeggiate chords with bass, I never really had to stretch my hands. I stopped doing the stretching exercises.
I have had to start that again. My arms do not ache(maybe my shoulders, but that's already stopping only 33 days in), but I know that my fingers could stretch for chording a lot easier if I started up a stretching routine. While looking on youtube for some recommended ones, I came across 2 different people that talked about not stretching before playing guitar, getting carpal tunnel, and having to not play for 4-5 months because of it. It doesn't even take you 5 minutes to do the adequate stretches. Here's a stretching vid, it is more comprehensive than the "for guitarists" vids I've seen, and I have found it is really really good.
The results are immediate. This is not something you have to do a few times before you see the result. Now, over time you'll be able to stretch further, yea, but immediately your chording should feel a lot better after doing stretches like these before you play.
Day 33
Split my playing in 2 today, so I got more Guitarcade practice in than usual. This is because I really do use them to warm my hands up. I guess its a good time to do a post about hand exercises, you've probably read it before this then, even though I'm typing it after, so I'll not go into it here.
I've been neglecting going through my session mode missions. I pretty much figured out everything on screen in the first couple of times playing. I'm not someone that can ignore something and say "I'm sure I'll be told what it is later". No, when I'm presented with something I don't know, I instinctively find ways of figuring it out if I can't figure it out myself. So going through those missions were tedious, but there is one saving grace: the recommended bands part of the missions. I probably would not have rocked with a kazoo, something I do just for "fun" in the past few days, if I had not been given the band as a mission requirement. Session mode continues to be very important for me, as I wish I could jam with people more than I do. Nothing helps more than playing with other people. Playing by yourself in your room or garage, you can develop an isolation syndrome where you think you're improving, but you're not really doing anything useful to anyone but yourself. To your ear its a neat new phrase, but without knowing how it fits in with a band, it may be kind of bad.
I am seriously about to give up on the "learn a song" section of the game. I have yet to learn any skills for playing other things while playing a song in this section. When I'm playing, the song is broken up into so many small chunks, and the difficulty swings wildly from easy to hard at the drop of a hat, and I focus more on doing the thing instead of learning a song. Seriously. I think I'm done with that aspect. It does not help me. I only get angry. Not because the songs are too hard, that would never make me angry, but the way the game adjusts and chops up the songs, its useless to my brain. It helps zero. Maybe time will change it. I've several times said "ok, today I'm going to play a crap ton of Learn a Song" only to get so angry I have to walk away from the Tv for a few hours. I'm not an angry person, its not easy to make me angry. If I focus on Lessons, Guitarcade, and Session mode, I can play for 2+ hours and not blink. Five minutes into Learn a Song and I"m ready to break stuff.
I guess I"m a little harsh on the Learn a Song thing. There's plenty there that can help people. Its not bad for me due to Ubisoft's lack of trying. I think I've just convinced myself over the years that Guitar Hero is a waste of effort if its not for a room full of people, that playing tiny bits of songs that don't make you sounds like a song is a waste of my time.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted if this changes. I hope it changes.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Spotlight Guitarcade: Scale Racer and Day 31
Scale Racer
Scale Racer is a game where by you steer a car through lanes of a highway by playing scales. The highway has cars you must avoid, and also you are being chased by the police. If you wait to change lanes till the last moment, you can make the police cars crash into civilians. This scores you extra points on top of whatever it takes to finish the course.
I would say that this game most resembles and sounds like an old racing game that all my cousins and I played tons of: Rad Racer. There are elements of the newer Need for Speed: Hot Persuit, and also a bit of Sega's Outrun. The colors used on screen and the car chosen to represent you makes me feel that they mainly used Rad Racer. The music also more reminds me of the Nintendo's sound effects than any arcade game.
Scale Racer is probably my pick for the best average between learning and fun. Scale Warriors wants to get your used to switching between scale parts, but you're memorizing enemy patterns more than scales, while Scale Racer more easily teaches you the scale shape. This is, of course, just my opinion. I have barely touched Scale Warriors, but I have played the hell out of some Scale Racer.
Additions, criticisms? Aside from being able to edit your own parameters, which is lacking in most Guitarcade games, I think the main changes to be made would be cosmetic. I think it would be really cool that if your choice of headstock, inlay, and amp skins would affect how your car looks and sounds. Just a cool thought.
Day 31
I'm over the 1/2 way point? I'm having such a fun time doing this blog that I'm not sure I'll stop updating at 60. I'm getting encouraging feedback from friends, and thinking of stuff to post above the memoirs gives me a sort of satisfaction that I've missed since highschool(I'm a nerd). I have some ideas on what I'm going to do. We'll see how it goes.
Instead of messing around with the in game Tone Shaper section, I ended up playing with my actual amp for much of the day. I found that it actually has a pretty good hi-gain setting that allowed me to nail "The Beautiful People". Yesterday was the loudest I have had the amp up while doing palm mutes, and I have to say that I see why high gain amps are popular for metal. It is not just the howl that they give, it makes palm muted notes sound amazing.
There are a few tones I'm having a problem getting set up though. The lighter overdrive settings pretty much do not exist in this amp. I am getting addicted to the tiny bit of dirt when doing blues inside Rocksmith, which is funny because I have always disliked the "Tube Screamer" pedal clones, and now I think I want one. Tube Screamers are named more aggressively than they really are, its actually a low gain, low dirty overdrive sound.
The amp I do have is really good at getting the ACDC tone, which is my favorite guitar tone of them all, so its not like I have fallen out of love with my amp. I've had this thing for over a decade now, and its worked flawlessly. At the time I got it, there just was not the low watt tube amp options that there are now. I do have a mid-2000's amp modeling digitech amp station, which is kind of like a less advanced "Tone Shaper" from inside Rocksmith. I will have to look at getting that Tube Screamer tone with it. Nu-metal and Triple Rectifiers were all the rage then, so it abounds with high gain amp sounds, I don't know how much low gain stuff it can do.
Scale Racer is a game where by you steer a car through lanes of a highway by playing scales. The highway has cars you must avoid, and also you are being chased by the police. If you wait to change lanes till the last moment, you can make the police cars crash into civilians. This scores you extra points on top of whatever it takes to finish the course.
I would say that this game most resembles and sounds like an old racing game that all my cousins and I played tons of: Rad Racer. There are elements of the newer Need for Speed: Hot Persuit, and also a bit of Sega's Outrun. The colors used on screen and the car chosen to represent you makes me feel that they mainly used Rad Racer. The music also more reminds me of the Nintendo's sound effects than any arcade game.
Scale Racer is probably my pick for the best average between learning and fun. Scale Warriors wants to get your used to switching between scale parts, but you're memorizing enemy patterns more than scales, while Scale Racer more easily teaches you the scale shape. This is, of course, just my opinion. I have barely touched Scale Warriors, but I have played the hell out of some Scale Racer.
Additions, criticisms? Aside from being able to edit your own parameters, which is lacking in most Guitarcade games, I think the main changes to be made would be cosmetic. I think it would be really cool that if your choice of headstock, inlay, and amp skins would affect how your car looks and sounds. Just a cool thought.
Day 31
I'm over the 1/2 way point? I'm having such a fun time doing this blog that I'm not sure I'll stop updating at 60. I'm getting encouraging feedback from friends, and thinking of stuff to post above the memoirs gives me a sort of satisfaction that I've missed since highschool(I'm a nerd). I have some ideas on what I'm going to do. We'll see how it goes.
Instead of messing around with the in game Tone Shaper section, I ended up playing with my actual amp for much of the day. I found that it actually has a pretty good hi-gain setting that allowed me to nail "The Beautiful People". Yesterday was the loudest I have had the amp up while doing palm mutes, and I have to say that I see why high gain amps are popular for metal. It is not just the howl that they give, it makes palm muted notes sound amazing.
There are a few tones I'm having a problem getting set up though. The lighter overdrive settings pretty much do not exist in this amp. I am getting addicted to the tiny bit of dirt when doing blues inside Rocksmith, which is funny because I have always disliked the "Tube Screamer" pedal clones, and now I think I want one. Tube Screamers are named more aggressively than they really are, its actually a low gain, low dirty overdrive sound.
The amp I do have is really good at getting the ACDC tone, which is my favorite guitar tone of them all, so its not like I have fallen out of love with my amp. I've had this thing for over a decade now, and its worked flawlessly. At the time I got it, there just was not the low watt tube amp options that there are now. I do have a mid-2000's amp modeling digitech amp station, which is kind of like a less advanced "Tone Shaper" from inside Rocksmith. I will have to look at getting that Tube Screamer tone with it. Nu-metal and Triple Rectifiers were all the rage then, so it abounds with high gain amp sounds, I don't know how much low gain stuff it can do.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Crop circles and Day 30
Because of my wonderful mother, I was able to purhase a bass I had been searching for that was getting rare. My credit was not good enough to get the limit raised, so she let me order it through her credit. This is how I got in possession of a bass much nicer than I deserved.
Within the first month of owning, I had belt indentations on the back of it. I did not wear belts back then. I do however have several cousins that do, and several of them had played the bass. If you're somehow reading this and suspect you're one of the cousins, then I have to thank you. I was not mad at the time, and I am not mad or angry now. I never plan on selling that bass, so retail value means nothing to me. What happened was good for my psychology. The first "dent" had been done, and it was over with. If you ever buy a new instrument that is beyond your means, then you will know what I speak of.
I will enter "zen master" mode again, and tell you that getting a guitar that is so "precious" to you that you're afraid to take it jamming to a friend's house, or even play it without taking a lot of precautions is not a good idea. I do not expect you to take my advice, as I had gotten it myself from wiser, older players and proceeded to ignore it.
Some people see instruments as a tool and that they shouldn't be vanity objects, but I say you should have something that excites and pleases you. Unlike that top of the line smart phone you have, your instruments will not become obsolete and unplayable simply due to new models in less than half a decade. So if there is something you can reach for that is going to make you keep reaching for it day after day, then maybe consider taking steps to acquire it. Just don't put your livelihood in danger over it.
And brace yourself for it to not be perfect. You see that part where I said "inspires you to keep reaching for it?" Yea, being afraid to get a 3,000 dollar Les Paul out of its case, or being afraid that you may "play it too much" and get some ware on it, that's not "reaching for it every day".
Day 30
It has surprised me with how fast I'm learning to use the G chord. When I first looked at the G chord, or in other times previous, I have thought it was awkward. I want to use my pinky for that last bit on the high E string. Due to bass, it is very much strong enough, and right now I just can't see any disadvantage of using it there. If I need to do a quick change in the vicinity, my ring finger being free would just make it faster. I guess time will tell.
I still pretty much make a A minor chord to get my fingering correct for the C chord. I can directly thank Rocksmith for being use to this change as its in the practice track under Chords 201. I've gotten the changing between A Minor, C Major and G down pretty well, so now I will be working on my intermediate strumming pattern for Simple Kind of Man.
As a quick aside, I played the harmonic game inside Rocksmith, Harmonic Heist I believe it is. It is similar to the Ninja game for slides, except you do the harmonic and try to avoid being in view while guards are about. I rather like it, and its not a pain in the ass like the ninja slides are on the low E. I want to work Harmonics into my playing since I want to do it as a bass player as well, so I can see myself playing Harmonic Heist much more.
Also, I would say that String Skip Saloon is getting ridiculously hard, but if I step back and think about it, it probably means that they are focusing on things I'm less familiar with. The D and G strings give me trouble because I rely on going to either the A string first or the B string first, and going up or down, I do not go strait to the D or G. I'm guessing the focus in this area is where the game has taken me, so its good I find it hard, its something I need to work on.
Within the first month of owning, I had belt indentations on the back of it. I did not wear belts back then. I do however have several cousins that do, and several of them had played the bass. If you're somehow reading this and suspect you're one of the cousins, then I have to thank you. I was not mad at the time, and I am not mad or angry now. I never plan on selling that bass, so retail value means nothing to me. What happened was good for my psychology. The first "dent" had been done, and it was over with. If you ever buy a new instrument that is beyond your means, then you will know what I speak of.
I will enter "zen master" mode again, and tell you that getting a guitar that is so "precious" to you that you're afraid to take it jamming to a friend's house, or even play it without taking a lot of precautions is not a good idea. I do not expect you to take my advice, as I had gotten it myself from wiser, older players and proceeded to ignore it.
Some people see instruments as a tool and that they shouldn't be vanity objects, but I say you should have something that excites and pleases you. Unlike that top of the line smart phone you have, your instruments will not become obsolete and unplayable simply due to new models in less than half a decade. So if there is something you can reach for that is going to make you keep reaching for it day after day, then maybe consider taking steps to acquire it. Just don't put your livelihood in danger over it.
And brace yourself for it to not be perfect. You see that part where I said "inspires you to keep reaching for it?" Yea, being afraid to get a 3,000 dollar Les Paul out of its case, or being afraid that you may "play it too much" and get some ware on it, that's not "reaching for it every day".
Day 30
It has surprised me with how fast I'm learning to use the G chord. When I first looked at the G chord, or in other times previous, I have thought it was awkward. I want to use my pinky for that last bit on the high E string. Due to bass, it is very much strong enough, and right now I just can't see any disadvantage of using it there. If I need to do a quick change in the vicinity, my ring finger being free would just make it faster. I guess time will tell.
I still pretty much make a A minor chord to get my fingering correct for the C chord. I can directly thank Rocksmith for being use to this change as its in the practice track under Chords 201. I've gotten the changing between A Minor, C Major and G down pretty well, so now I will be working on my intermediate strumming pattern for Simple Kind of Man.
As a quick aside, I played the harmonic game inside Rocksmith, Harmonic Heist I believe it is. It is similar to the Ninja game for slides, except you do the harmonic and try to avoid being in view while guards are about. I rather like it, and its not a pain in the ass like the ninja slides are on the low E. I want to work Harmonics into my playing since I want to do it as a bass player as well, so I can see myself playing Harmonic Heist much more.
Also, I would say that String Skip Saloon is getting ridiculously hard, but if I step back and think about it, it probably means that they are focusing on things I'm less familiar with. The D and G strings give me trouble because I rely on going to either the A string first or the B string first, and going up or down, I do not go strait to the D or G. I'm guessing the focus in this area is where the game has taken me, so its good I find it hard, its something I need to work on.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Straps and Kazoos and Day 29
I have a strap problem.
It is weird some of the things you realize about yourself. I've known for quite some time that I try to get the strap that matches best with my instruments, to me it was common sense, something everyone does, right? Well apparently I have something deeper than that.
My girlfriend and I were at the music shop earlier this week and looking at the acoustics on the wall. They had 4 of the same model, just different adornments and cosmetic changes on the wall. It is at this point I want to emphasize that they all sounded pretty well. I looked at all 4 and listed them to myself "this one here is most like the kind of bass I'd go for". It was made of a rare figured wood, with just a few adornments. "this is more like the electrics I'd go for". It had more Gibson-esque inlays and adornments with a solid color. "I think I like this one least". The least one had garish inlays all up and around the neck, and the body we very embelished with abalone, and even the color was a color I shy away from. No way does this guitar say anything about me.
Then I went to look at the straps they had at the store, which were situated so that I was looking at these guitars while I looked through the straps. They had the usual nylon, something I'd only get for a super pointy 80's guitar I'd never buy in the first place. Then there was this why leather one with these tasteful, almost japanese styled flower imprints dotted here and there. It matched very well with the garish looking acoustic, and suddenly if I was going to buy one of these 4 acoustics, the one in last place suddenly became a contender for first place. It was then that I realized I had a problem lol.
Realizing a problem is the first step to fixing it.
I hope.
This is the part where I be a responsible example and tell you that you should pick a strap based on comfort first and looks last. But, come on. That works if you're being all "zen master" but we all know its more "oh this looks cool... is it comfortable". Its fine to go for looks, just DO NOT FORGET the comfort part. Oh and its physics, if your guitar is hurting your shoulder because its heavier than you're used to, get a wider strap. Padding can help, but not as much as adding an extra inch of wideness.
Day 29
So today I jammed out with a kazoo. Yea, I'm surprised as you are. There is actually a kazoo in the Session feature and its featured in a band i had to use for a mission. My guitar has enough fuzz on it to basically be a kazoo, so sometimes it was hard to tell them apart lol. It was a nice, uppity ditty in Pentatonic Major in the key of C I think it was. Maybe it was A. Not my cup of tea, but a fun experience none-the-less. You kazoo players take heart, someone in Rocksmith is carrying the torch to legitimize your musical instrument of choice!
I also played in a "Newgrass" blues based country band. I played in Pent Major again, but this time in G. So far the key of G is my favorite for blues playing, so this was actually pretty cool. I'm no where near as good with the Major Pent as I am with Minor though, but practice practice practice as they say. Speaking of things in the key of G, I'm currently practicing transitions out and into G with the chords I already know. This is going to open up several new paths for me, song wise. I honestly can't remember if I have said this already, but watching a Foreign Film with Subtitles really helps me stay in one spot, and focus while I play through the chords. I live in a world where since middle school they have taught multi-tasking as the "normal" resting state, and worked as a chef where the difference between good and bad is how well you can multi-task, so its hard for me now to sit there and do one task and not feel like I'm wasting time. I know watching a film and practicing are technically 2 things, but it could be much much worse.
I really need to redo all my preset sounds. My mainstay, based on a plexi/OCD overdrive sound just doesn't have enough low end to sound nice when palm muting, and also it has a little too much dirt for the kind of stuff I'm practicing with these days. I still never got a fuzz I liked, but then again I'm not playing anything where fuzz fits all that much. I think tomorrow I'm going to get a cleaner, fatter over drive for my primary, and a high gain "High on Fire" sound for a backup.
It is weird some of the things you realize about yourself. I've known for quite some time that I try to get the strap that matches best with my instruments, to me it was common sense, something everyone does, right? Well apparently I have something deeper than that.
My girlfriend and I were at the music shop earlier this week and looking at the acoustics on the wall. They had 4 of the same model, just different adornments and cosmetic changes on the wall. It is at this point I want to emphasize that they all sounded pretty well. I looked at all 4 and listed them to myself "this one here is most like the kind of bass I'd go for". It was made of a rare figured wood, with just a few adornments. "this is more like the electrics I'd go for". It had more Gibson-esque inlays and adornments with a solid color. "I think I like this one least". The least one had garish inlays all up and around the neck, and the body we very embelished with abalone, and even the color was a color I shy away from. No way does this guitar say anything about me.
Then I went to look at the straps they had at the store, which were situated so that I was looking at these guitars while I looked through the straps. They had the usual nylon, something I'd only get for a super pointy 80's guitar I'd never buy in the first place. Then there was this why leather one with these tasteful, almost japanese styled flower imprints dotted here and there. It matched very well with the garish looking acoustic, and suddenly if I was going to buy one of these 4 acoustics, the one in last place suddenly became a contender for first place. It was then that I realized I had a problem lol. Realizing a problem is the first step to fixing it.
I hope.
This is the part where I be a responsible example and tell you that you should pick a strap based on comfort first and looks last. But, come on. That works if you're being all "zen master" but we all know its more "oh this looks cool... is it comfortable". Its fine to go for looks, just DO NOT FORGET the comfort part. Oh and its physics, if your guitar is hurting your shoulder because its heavier than you're used to, get a wider strap. Padding can help, but not as much as adding an extra inch of wideness.
Day 29
So today I jammed out with a kazoo. Yea, I'm surprised as you are. There is actually a kazoo in the Session feature and its featured in a band i had to use for a mission. My guitar has enough fuzz on it to basically be a kazoo, so sometimes it was hard to tell them apart lol. It was a nice, uppity ditty in Pentatonic Major in the key of C I think it was. Maybe it was A. Not my cup of tea, but a fun experience none-the-less. You kazoo players take heart, someone in Rocksmith is carrying the torch to legitimize your musical instrument of choice!
I also played in a "Newgrass" blues based country band. I played in Pent Major again, but this time in G. So far the key of G is my favorite for blues playing, so this was actually pretty cool. I'm no where near as good with the Major Pent as I am with Minor though, but practice practice practice as they say. Speaking of things in the key of G, I'm currently practicing transitions out and into G with the chords I already know. This is going to open up several new paths for me, song wise. I honestly can't remember if I have said this already, but watching a Foreign Film with Subtitles really helps me stay in one spot, and focus while I play through the chords. I live in a world where since middle school they have taught multi-tasking as the "normal" resting state, and worked as a chef where the difference between good and bad is how well you can multi-task, so its hard for me now to sit there and do one task and not feel like I'm wasting time. I know watching a film and practicing are technically 2 things, but it could be much much worse.
I really need to redo all my preset sounds. My mainstay, based on a plexi/OCD overdrive sound just doesn't have enough low end to sound nice when palm muting, and also it has a little too much dirt for the kind of stuff I'm practicing with these days. I still never got a fuzz I liked, but then again I'm not playing anything where fuzz fits all that much. I think tomorrow I'm going to get a cleaner, fatter over drive for my primary, and a high gain "High on Fire" sound for a backup.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Guitarcade Spotlight:Scale Warriors and Day 26
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.
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.
Monday, January 20, 2014
The Teacher's Warning and Day 25
There is a warning that I hear a lot from videos on youtube and from teachers giving free advice to players in general. The warning is "if you focus so much on learning 2 or 3 songs, then all you're learn is 2 or 3 songs". This does speak to me. I have a few songs I obsessed over on guitar as a teenager, thinking "if I learned to play this, I'd know I'm a guitarist". It is dangerous because if you devote months of time to such a small set of skills, you will absolutely learn those 2 or 3 songs, but the risk is that you have left yourself with no new goals.
Well, I feel that I am past that point of danger, but my songs are still there. I still have that list of "I want to break this out in case I'm playing in front of Cousin A" or "I want to play this one for my sister because she and I enjoyed listening to this song when I was little". The warning still creeps in, and I'm worried I'm not advanced enough to do them without getting caught up in them. But I think acknowledging the risk will help get over and past the risk.
So what's my list? Here's a few. I may add others to other posts later.
ACDC Highway to Hell. I've mentioned before that this song shaped my music tastes, forever putting me on the path of pure Rock and Roll. Plus all my cousins will love the hell out of hearing it. All my cousins come over on Easter, so I can tell anyone thinking its inappropriate, "Catholic dogma says that Jesus descended into hell to rescue the righteous of the past". So there. Highway to Hell is appropriate for Easter and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Sweet Child O' Mine is a song I used to ask my cousin to play all the time. The beginning just seemed so amazing to me as a young kid. I hear that it is not all that hard to play the whole song. I do have to contend with the whole E flat tuning though.
Yellow Ledbetter is a song that got me back into wanting to play guitar after learning bass. I've learned that this song is basically a love letter from Pearl Jam's guitarist to Jimi Hendrix. This got me back to listening to Hendrix and several songs of his that I had never heard before. After Angus Young's style of playing, Jimi's bluesy stuff is the 2nd style to have the most influence on me.
Day 25
It was a Sunday, so it was a late practice. In Rocksmith I did the guitarcade, and for a second time went completely through Return to Castle Chordead. This game really does help. In fact, I was going through the chords I had in my memory today and wow, I have actually learned quite a few that I can name while changing between them. They aren't the super useful ones, but they are chords and I am able to practice with them.
I practiced tuning to drop D without a tuner. I'm making headway. I know there is a way to make a harmonic of a note and tune correctly using that by using your ears, but I need an example of that with some lessons. There is a "special" lesson section in Rocksmith, and one of them is "Tuning by Ear" so I need to mark that for watching tomorrow. I'll let you know how the video is. Its rather unfortunate that its at the bottom when you sort by "recommended".
Well, I feel that I am past that point of danger, but my songs are still there. I still have that list of "I want to break this out in case I'm playing in front of Cousin A" or "I want to play this one for my sister because she and I enjoyed listening to this song when I was little". The warning still creeps in, and I'm worried I'm not advanced enough to do them without getting caught up in them. But I think acknowledging the risk will help get over and past the risk.
So what's my list? Here's a few. I may add others to other posts later.
ACDC Highway to Hell. I've mentioned before that this song shaped my music tastes, forever putting me on the path of pure Rock and Roll. Plus all my cousins will love the hell out of hearing it. All my cousins come over on Easter, so I can tell anyone thinking its inappropriate, "Catholic dogma says that Jesus descended into hell to rescue the righteous of the past". So there. Highway to Hell is appropriate for Easter and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Sweet Child O' Mine is a song I used to ask my cousin to play all the time. The beginning just seemed so amazing to me as a young kid. I hear that it is not all that hard to play the whole song. I do have to contend with the whole E flat tuning though.
Yellow Ledbetter is a song that got me back into wanting to play guitar after learning bass. I've learned that this song is basically a love letter from Pearl Jam's guitarist to Jimi Hendrix. This got me back to listening to Hendrix and several songs of his that I had never heard before. After Angus Young's style of playing, Jimi's bluesy stuff is the 2nd style to have the most influence on me.
Day 25
It was a Sunday, so it was a late practice. In Rocksmith I did the guitarcade, and for a second time went completely through Return to Castle Chordead. This game really does help. In fact, I was going through the chords I had in my memory today and wow, I have actually learned quite a few that I can name while changing between them. They aren't the super useful ones, but they are chords and I am able to practice with them.
I practiced tuning to drop D without a tuner. I'm making headway. I know there is a way to make a harmonic of a note and tune correctly using that by using your ears, but I need an example of that with some lessons. There is a "special" lesson section in Rocksmith, and one of them is "Tuning by Ear" so I need to mark that for watching tomorrow. I'll let you know how the video is. Its rather unfortunate that its at the bottom when you sort by "recommended".
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Solid State and Bass, also Day 23
The first question people will ask on this subject is "what is the difference?" and from a technological point of view, Solid State amps use diodes and transistors instead of tubes for their pre-amp and power sections. There are hybrids, particularly with bass, where there are tubes in the pre-amp section and solid state in the power.
The problem is that a solid state amplifier will not compress a signal once the signal goes beyond what the design is created to handle. Tube amplifiers will round off, compress, and fatten a tone with lots of harmonics, and send this signal to a speaker and it creates this magical "guitar" tone that we know today. In a solid state amp, this signal is hard clipped. It turns a mountain into a mesa, with a fat top. You send this flat top signal to a speaker, and it makes the speaker want to destroy itself. Well, not really, but a speaker is designed to move in and out, not to move out and stay out during the "flat" part. This causes a speaker to malfunction.
Now why in the world would anyone want to use solid state? Well, they cost less. Their parts are manufactured for a myriad of electronic gadgets, so you can get the pieces and throw them together. They also are more reliable, as there is less heat, and more stable parts used, in general. There is another section of people that like them, and that is people wanting 100% clean tone.
The non-compressive nature of Solid State means that there are not a lot of overtones introduced to the signal, you have a pure clean tone. Sure this kind of sucks if you want a creamy, rich, bell tone from your clean channel, but if you're applying a lot of amp modeling, effects pedals, or computer modulations, then a solid state signal is the "blankest" of canvases.
Then there are the bassists. Bass takes A LOT more power to get the sound out into the audience than guitar does. Some bass amps with tubes get up to the 300 watt range, but that's pushing it. These monsters weigh over 100lbs without a speaker cab. While on the solid state front you can get into the 1,000's of watts for under 1,000 dollars and under 20 lbs. Now, 300 tube watts, when they are overdriven, can get insanely loud, but you're losing some of your "clean". Solid state provides the largest, cleanest, most defined headroom for bassists. There are other things to take into consideration, wattage is not a guarantee of volume, and the type of power supply will influence the sound as well, but in general bassists are much more accepting of solid state than guitarists. Because of that, bassists now have literal pocket sized amps with 500 watts, and 4x10 speaker cabs that weight under 40 lbs.
Day 23
I warmed up with my Guitarcade as usual. I also played some of the game based on Bending. While still kind of inaccurate, the game did prove to be fun. I think for a beginning guitar player, they should have stuck to the thicker strings further down the neck, because nothing will give beginners blisters faster than bending on the B at the 12th fret.
Anyway, I did the harmonics lesson. Harmonics on guitar seem dreamily easily. I wish they were this easy to do on bass guitar. In bass guitar, harmonic play is like a top tier thing, up there with piano-esque tap play. Jaco made himself legendary by making it a hallmark of his playing. On guitar they almost seem effortless. I know the lesson said that not every spot on the neck will make a harmonic, but it seems that just about any spot did. This is not true of bass either lol. Anyway, I got through the lesson pretty easily, but that might be because of my prior bass practice in the subject.
I did a lot of "amp" practice today, meaning I did it w/o Rocksmith. It is just easier for me to practice scales and the songs I know with my amp. I have a 25 foot guitar cord, and the amp is in a more convenient spot. So I start a movie on netflix, put the amp on clean, and practice scale runs while I watch the movie.
I am really feeling the need to learn more blues-rock and rock style playing. I keep doing the bluesy stuff I have practiced with for years, and I'm wanting to learn something new that I can improv in.
The problem is that a solid state amplifier will not compress a signal once the signal goes beyond what the design is created to handle. Tube amplifiers will round off, compress, and fatten a tone with lots of harmonics, and send this signal to a speaker and it creates this magical "guitar" tone that we know today. In a solid state amp, this signal is hard clipped. It turns a mountain into a mesa, with a fat top. You send this flat top signal to a speaker, and it makes the speaker want to destroy itself. Well, not really, but a speaker is designed to move in and out, not to move out and stay out during the "flat" part. This causes a speaker to malfunction.
Now why in the world would anyone want to use solid state? Well, they cost less. Their parts are manufactured for a myriad of electronic gadgets, so you can get the pieces and throw them together. They also are more reliable, as there is less heat, and more stable parts used, in general. There is another section of people that like them, and that is people wanting 100% clean tone.
The non-compressive nature of Solid State means that there are not a lot of overtones introduced to the signal, you have a pure clean tone. Sure this kind of sucks if you want a creamy, rich, bell tone from your clean channel, but if you're applying a lot of amp modeling, effects pedals, or computer modulations, then a solid state signal is the "blankest" of canvases.
Then there are the bassists. Bass takes A LOT more power to get the sound out into the audience than guitar does. Some bass amps with tubes get up to the 300 watt range, but that's pushing it. These monsters weigh over 100lbs without a speaker cab. While on the solid state front you can get into the 1,000's of watts for under 1,000 dollars and under 20 lbs. Now, 300 tube watts, when they are overdriven, can get insanely loud, but you're losing some of your "clean". Solid state provides the largest, cleanest, most defined headroom for bassists. There are other things to take into consideration, wattage is not a guarantee of volume, and the type of power supply will influence the sound as well, but in general bassists are much more accepting of solid state than guitarists. Because of that, bassists now have literal pocket sized amps with 500 watts, and 4x10 speaker cabs that weight under 40 lbs.
Day 23
I warmed up with my Guitarcade as usual. I also played some of the game based on Bending. While still kind of inaccurate, the game did prove to be fun. I think for a beginning guitar player, they should have stuck to the thicker strings further down the neck, because nothing will give beginners blisters faster than bending on the B at the 12th fret.
Anyway, I did the harmonics lesson. Harmonics on guitar seem dreamily easily. I wish they were this easy to do on bass guitar. In bass guitar, harmonic play is like a top tier thing, up there with piano-esque tap play. Jaco made himself legendary by making it a hallmark of his playing. On guitar they almost seem effortless. I know the lesson said that not every spot on the neck will make a harmonic, but it seems that just about any spot did. This is not true of bass either lol. Anyway, I got through the lesson pretty easily, but that might be because of my prior bass practice in the subject.
I did a lot of "amp" practice today, meaning I did it w/o Rocksmith. It is just easier for me to practice scales and the songs I know with my amp. I have a 25 foot guitar cord, and the amp is in a more convenient spot. So I start a movie on netflix, put the amp on clean, and practice scale runs while I watch the movie.
I am really feeling the need to learn more blues-rock and rock style playing. I keep doing the bluesy stuff I have practiced with for years, and I'm wanting to learn something new that I can improv in.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Play what you like, even if you don't like it. And Day 19
Forgive me if I've ever given you this "speech" already.
I did not consider myself a "bassist" until I had this strange set of revelations. One of these revelations was that I should embrace what I find fun to play.
I know that seems weird, but I have to explain a little. I'm probably notorious around my friends were hating radio. I really can't wait for 2 or 3 songs that I don't care for to get done for 1 tolerable song. This means that it is hard for me to focus on learning any songs I find blah. This also means I don't like playing "blah" bass lines that exist in a lot of classic Rock or the genres I listen the most to. Its my flaw, I know I suck more because of it, but I try to live with it.
About 6 years ago I was turned on to "jazz improv" bass by the Talkbass forums. I have to tell you, I can't sit and listen to this stuff really... but holy crap do I love to play it. How can I explain that without sounding like a jerk? Maybe its like the people that will play sports, but hate watching it on TV? Maybe it reminds them that they should be doing it rather than watching it? I do make myself sit and listen though, for learning reasons. It has probably made me what people would call a "busy" bass player.
I read that John Paul Jones used to listen to horn players and that's how he got inspired for his bass lines in Led Zeppelin. So I immediately got on Youtube and looked up the horn player I knew the name of, Louis Armstrong. I also branched out. The silly thing was, I forgot to go back and listen to more Led Zeppelin. This came later with another "revelation" I will write about later. By listening to that, I began appreciating the older "golden era" of horn player's music. I also became a much better bass player, and learned a very clean, "poppy" sound as I tried to come closer to the sounds I heard on the jazz.
Anyways, all of that is to say, play what you find fun. Sure, you've probably heard it, and you've probably thought "well yea, play what you like not what other people like" and I say YES BUT, maybe you find something fun that you don't like. Play to your strengths. You may love Punk rock, but you find you hate the bass lines. You may despise Surfer music, but find tremolo picking to be tons of fun. Play what is strong for you and it will make you practice more, and eventually you can work your style into the genres you like.
John Paul Jones works his motown inspired stuff into the heaviest rock that Led Zeppelin does. Flea brought funk bass into punk rock. Brent Hinds of metal band Mastodon is a bluegrass banjo player. I have, on several occasions, brought my improv jazz into blues. I am currently bringing the only thing I really know decently on guitar, simple blues riffs, into chugging palm muted metal. Play what you find fun, play what is strong for you in technique, and then YOU can make it the genre you wish you were playing. You may find your own voice and bring something new to the world.
Day 19
I'm not going to lie, I did not get a lot of playing in today. I had jury duty and after I got home, I took a nap. I used the guitar unplugged for about 30 minutes, noodling as I waited for lunch to get cooked. Practiced the stuff I've been practicing lately. I did play 1 game each of my "warm up" Guitarcade games. I also played some of the Scale Racer. I love the look of Scale Racer. It reminds me of Rad Racer, a game I played a lot in my youth. Scale Racer is the kind of game that is going to help me learn scales. I wanted Scale Warriors to help so badly, but I'm more focused on getting the "game" correct than learning anything.
I did get some practice in though, so I count that as a triumph. You can take it as you will.
I did not consider myself a "bassist" until I had this strange set of revelations. One of these revelations was that I should embrace what I find fun to play.
I know that seems weird, but I have to explain a little. I'm probably notorious around my friends were hating radio. I really can't wait for 2 or 3 songs that I don't care for to get done for 1 tolerable song. This means that it is hard for me to focus on learning any songs I find blah. This also means I don't like playing "blah" bass lines that exist in a lot of classic Rock or the genres I listen the most to. Its my flaw, I know I suck more because of it, but I try to live with it.
About 6 years ago I was turned on to "jazz improv" bass by the Talkbass forums. I have to tell you, I can't sit and listen to this stuff really... but holy crap do I love to play it. How can I explain that without sounding like a jerk? Maybe its like the people that will play sports, but hate watching it on TV? Maybe it reminds them that they should be doing it rather than watching it? I do make myself sit and listen though, for learning reasons. It has probably made me what people would call a "busy" bass player.
I read that John Paul Jones used to listen to horn players and that's how he got inspired for his bass lines in Led Zeppelin. So I immediately got on Youtube and looked up the horn player I knew the name of, Louis Armstrong. I also branched out. The silly thing was, I forgot to go back and listen to more Led Zeppelin. This came later with another "revelation" I will write about later. By listening to that, I began appreciating the older "golden era" of horn player's music. I also became a much better bass player, and learned a very clean, "poppy" sound as I tried to come closer to the sounds I heard on the jazz.
Anyways, all of that is to say, play what you find fun. Sure, you've probably heard it, and you've probably thought "well yea, play what you like not what other people like" and I say YES BUT, maybe you find something fun that you don't like. Play to your strengths. You may love Punk rock, but you find you hate the bass lines. You may despise Surfer music, but find tremolo picking to be tons of fun. Play what is strong for you and it will make you practice more, and eventually you can work your style into the genres you like.
John Paul Jones works his motown inspired stuff into the heaviest rock that Led Zeppelin does. Flea brought funk bass into punk rock. Brent Hinds of metal band Mastodon is a bluegrass banjo player. I have, on several occasions, brought my improv jazz into blues. I am currently bringing the only thing I really know decently on guitar, simple blues riffs, into chugging palm muted metal. Play what you find fun, play what is strong for you in technique, and then YOU can make it the genre you wish you were playing. You may find your own voice and bring something new to the world.
Day 19
I'm not going to lie, I did not get a lot of playing in today. I had jury duty and after I got home, I took a nap. I used the guitar unplugged for about 30 minutes, noodling as I waited for lunch to get cooked. Practiced the stuff I've been practicing lately. I did play 1 game each of my "warm up" Guitarcade games. I also played some of the Scale Racer. I love the look of Scale Racer. It reminds me of Rad Racer, a game I played a lot in my youth. Scale Racer is the kind of game that is going to help me learn scales. I wanted Scale Warriors to help so badly, but I'm more focused on getting the "game" correct than learning anything.
I did get some practice in though, so I count that as a triumph. You can take it as you will.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Blisters and day 17
I mentioned earlier about the aches I'm getting from new techniques and how I feel like it means I'm finally "learning" guitar. I guess I should go into that a little. A lot of people gloss over that, but a lot of newbie players get turned off from guitar because of it. I remember the blisters when I started bass. Callouses do form, it just takes time. Funny thing I should mention, bass players have different callouses than guitar players. I obviously did not stick with guitar 10 years ago when I got Jasper but I did turn to bass playing.
Bass playing gives you what I call "cat pads" or "dog pads". At least, from my experience. They are broad and thick callouses made specifically for dealing with bass strings. When I re-visited guitar a few years back, the guitar strings basically shredded these bass callouses. I got blisters UNDER my callouses, and even tore a callous. Over the years I still came back to guitar from time to time to play some very crappy versions of metal songs I noodled away on, and I did get an appreciation for blues, so I played some 4/4 blues rock from time to time too. I no longer shred my callouses, and as of yet I have not got my blisters, but my fingers do still hurt, especially with bends on the thinnest strings.
I have no real advice on blisters and callouses. There is no "magical" cure all with them. If you moisturize, you're going to delay getting callouses, but if moisturize helps ease the pain and lets you practice, then do it. . I can just tell you that it gets better over time. I also beg that you do not give up because of the physical pain. Rocksmith has things you can do that don't involve your fretting hand, or at least let you fret with an alternate finger. The Guitarcade is full of things that can still help out with practice even if you can't fret well. Once you get your callouses, you can even not play for a few years and come back and the strings will not be so bad. So its like a long lasting benefit.
Also, do not take a shower and go to playing guitar for like an hour. Let your callouses dry completely, you can ruin months of build up by grating wet callouses on strings
Day 17
Just an uneventful practice day that is is probably boring to read. Warm up, some palm mute practice, and then playing Everlong. Hopefully something above is worth reading ha.
Playing Everlong over and over, at least the arrangement I have decided on playing. Well, I still haven't decided completely on which arrangement I'm doing. There are some signature sounds of this song that I could try and incorporate. I don't have the technical build up of the song, but I won't be singing it, so I have to think about how bored people would get listening to the same parts over and over if I'm playing it for them. So I'm going to do a ABC method. A is the beginning, B is the buildup C is the chorus, D is the alternate picking method of A, and E is the finish I've devised with a little palm mute thing. So I would play it like this: A B C D B C E. There is a reverse version of C that I need to learn because I think I'm going to put that in as well in a 3rd chorus. I don't know, I'll play around and decide.
Bass playing gives you what I call "cat pads" or "dog pads". At least, from my experience. They are broad and thick callouses made specifically for dealing with bass strings. When I re-visited guitar a few years back, the guitar strings basically shredded these bass callouses. I got blisters UNDER my callouses, and even tore a callous. Over the years I still came back to guitar from time to time to play some very crappy versions of metal songs I noodled away on, and I did get an appreciation for blues, so I played some 4/4 blues rock from time to time too. I no longer shred my callouses, and as of yet I have not got my blisters, but my fingers do still hurt, especially with bends on the thinnest strings.
I have no real advice on blisters and callouses. There is no "magical" cure all with them. If you moisturize, you're going to delay getting callouses, but if moisturize helps ease the pain and lets you practice, then do it. . I can just tell you that it gets better over time. I also beg that you do not give up because of the physical pain. Rocksmith has things you can do that don't involve your fretting hand, or at least let you fret with an alternate finger. The Guitarcade is full of things that can still help out with practice even if you can't fret well. Once you get your callouses, you can even not play for a few years and come back and the strings will not be so bad. So its like a long lasting benefit.
Also, do not take a shower and go to playing guitar for like an hour. Let your callouses dry completely, you can ruin months of build up by grating wet callouses on strings
Day 17
Just an uneventful practice day that is is probably boring to read. Warm up, some palm mute practice, and then playing Everlong. Hopefully something above is worth reading ha.
Playing Everlong over and over, at least the arrangement I have decided on playing. Well, I still haven't decided completely on which arrangement I'm doing. There are some signature sounds of this song that I could try and incorporate. I don't have the technical build up of the song, but I won't be singing it, so I have to think about how bored people would get listening to the same parts over and over if I'm playing it for them. So I'm going to do a ABC method. A is the beginning, B is the buildup C is the chorus, D is the alternate picking method of A, and E is the finish I've devised with a little palm mute thing. So I would play it like this: A B C D B C E. There is a reverse version of C that I need to learn because I think I'm going to put that in as well in a 3rd chorus. I don't know, I'll play around and decide.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Explaining Lag Part 1: and Day 13
Explaining Lag.
Ok, I'm going to come at this from a semi-starting angle. When people talk about games, there are several types of lag. One is internet lag, this is caused by a slow connection. Ideally this should never come up in Rocksmith, awesome, one less thing, right? Ok. The next is graphical lag. Unless you're playing on PC, there's not really much you could or need to do. The 360 and PS3 versions of the game were tweaked to make them work smoothly.
The one that Rocksmith has to deal with is Interface lag. Technically the previous two types can cause this type as well, but as I said, not a big issue with Rocksmith on PS3 and 360.
Signals come in two basic forms, Analog and Digital. Analog is a way of turning wave patterns into electrical patterns and back again. The conversion is generally imperceptibly fast in doing so. The problem with sending these analog signals is that certain wave patterns can get lost, static wave patterns can be introduced, and even outside signals can interact with them. Put your phone beside a computer speaker, you'll start hearing a "beep beep beep". Because of this, there ARE better, more expensive analog cables, an entire industry has arose around providing better analog connections.
Digital signals are these waves patterns converted into ones and zeros. These ones and zeros can take up alot of space in the digital world. Most are "compressed", made smaller by reducing similar signals, so that they can travel over a medium. There's another thing that will many times come into play, encryption. Netflix, Redbox, and all the Bluray people do not want you to be able to record their content while it is going through a cable. So the signals are encrypted. After all of this, the TV gets control as well. Compression can cause low resolution videos to get splotchy, so manufacturers put filters to reduce it. Colors could be set up for your specific screen, so now the manufacturers add color toning, skin whitening. The audio might be 5 or 7 channel audio, but your TV is 2 speakers. Now they have to convert that, and many times emphasize the signal that is used for voices. So you have signal production, signal coversion, signal analyzing and compression, signal encryption, signal travel(speed of lightish), signal reception, signal unencryption, signal uncompression and reassembly, signal alteration, and finally signal output. Got digital out from the TV to your speaker system? Well add ALL those steps again before your digital reception device outputs into analog speakers. All of this takes milliseconds each... but add up to have pretty significant delay. I am even missing a few steps here, but you get the general idea.
The bonus is that there is no such thing as "better signal" from more expensive cables. High grade HDMI cables are a rip off. Digital signals either work or don't, there is no signal loss. If the cable is long enough(we're talking multi-room length), there will not be a shitty signal at the end, you'll either get 100% full audio/visual or 0%.
That's all for today. Tomorrow I will talk about reducing each type of lag. If you are reading this on the bleeding edge of reality and want answers NOW, then read the insert that came with Rocksmith or go to Ubi's site.
Day 13
Kind of long, I played a lot today. It was 4 degrees outside my door today, which is strange this close to "Hotlanta", So a lot of stuff to cover...
I think I may be coming to a crossroads here. I have been purposefully going slowly through the lessons and not going through the other stuff fast either. I wanted to make sure I had the basics down before really getting into the stuff I can not do. Also, playing songs at an elementary and unrecognizable level is not fun for me, and I do not feel accomplished. Add to that my notorious dislike of spending time on music I do not care for.
So, I have choices. I want to continue using the Guitarcade for practice, and I want to continue doing lessons that matter to me. The thing is, I think there is a lot of songs that will help me out a lot more than what is included on this disc. Is that still keeping with the spirit of the 60 day challenge? Is there a point to keeping a blog for the challenge if I'm deviating? There are songs that interest me on the disc, there's a lot of them, there's also like 20+ DLC songs that would interest me. I just do not know if I"m good enough to even attempt Thunderkiss '66 or Mary Jane's Last Dance. Like I said, the game just giving me random bits and pieces pisses me off more than helps me out. If its a freakin' power chord, give it to me; I can do power chords. Don't make me prattle away.
What songs do I want to learn? Well, I learned about a few Pentatonic based songs that I have played a long with in Youtube(without actually learning the correct sequence to the notes, but knowing they "fit" in with the music). There are also a lot of simple chord songs that would help me out on that end, and they just aren't in game. I'll think over it tonight.
Today in lessons, I worked on the Hammer On/Pull Off practice track a little today. The next lesson was Tremolo picking, and I found out that I could not care less about Tremolo picking. I have always hated 50's surfer music and beach blanket bimbo style cultural stuff. So yea, I'm not going back to tremolo picking any time soon. I did, however, do the lesson on palm muting.
FINALLY. A new breakthrough. The first since day 01 I would say. I always wondered how people like Rob Chapman, and every metal guitarist ever, got that "thud thud" thick sound. The video showed me how I was supposed to be using my palm to still allow sound through, but make it sort of muffled. I had always though "Palm muting" was just a regular mute technique, nothing really musical. This lesson kind of made me feel dumb, but I am glad I finally know. THIS I will have to practice, THIS I will be using in my own playing eventually. THIS is what i have Rocksmith for.
TIP OF THE DAY
Listen to them when they tell you that tensing up actually works against Tremolo picking. After giving up on the lesson, I did practice just relaxing my hand "just right" for the picking to work at all. To my surprise the notes got faster, rang out clearer, and sounded more accurate.
Ok, I'm going to come at this from a semi-starting angle. When people talk about games, there are several types of lag. One is internet lag, this is caused by a slow connection. Ideally this should never come up in Rocksmith, awesome, one less thing, right? Ok. The next is graphical lag. Unless you're playing on PC, there's not really much you could or need to do. The 360 and PS3 versions of the game were tweaked to make them work smoothly.
The one that Rocksmith has to deal with is Interface lag. Technically the previous two types can cause this type as well, but as I said, not a big issue with Rocksmith on PS3 and 360.
Signals come in two basic forms, Analog and Digital. Analog is a way of turning wave patterns into electrical patterns and back again. The conversion is generally imperceptibly fast in doing so. The problem with sending these analog signals is that certain wave patterns can get lost, static wave patterns can be introduced, and even outside signals can interact with them. Put your phone beside a computer speaker, you'll start hearing a "beep beep beep". Because of this, there ARE better, more expensive analog cables, an entire industry has arose around providing better analog connections.
Digital signals are these waves patterns converted into ones and zeros. These ones and zeros can take up alot of space in the digital world. Most are "compressed", made smaller by reducing similar signals, so that they can travel over a medium. There's another thing that will many times come into play, encryption. Netflix, Redbox, and all the Bluray people do not want you to be able to record their content while it is going through a cable. So the signals are encrypted. After all of this, the TV gets control as well. Compression can cause low resolution videos to get splotchy, so manufacturers put filters to reduce it. Colors could be set up for your specific screen, so now the manufacturers add color toning, skin whitening. The audio might be 5 or 7 channel audio, but your TV is 2 speakers. Now they have to convert that, and many times emphasize the signal that is used for voices. So you have signal production, signal coversion, signal analyzing and compression, signal encryption, signal travel(speed of lightish), signal reception, signal unencryption, signal uncompression and reassembly, signal alteration, and finally signal output. Got digital out from the TV to your speaker system? Well add ALL those steps again before your digital reception device outputs into analog speakers. All of this takes milliseconds each... but add up to have pretty significant delay. I am even missing a few steps here, but you get the general idea.
The bonus is that there is no such thing as "better signal" from more expensive cables. High grade HDMI cables are a rip off. Digital signals either work or don't, there is no signal loss. If the cable is long enough(we're talking multi-room length), there will not be a shitty signal at the end, you'll either get 100% full audio/visual or 0%.
That's all for today. Tomorrow I will talk about reducing each type of lag. If you are reading this on the bleeding edge of reality and want answers NOW, then read the insert that came with Rocksmith or go to Ubi's site.
Day 13
Kind of long, I played a lot today. It was 4 degrees outside my door today, which is strange this close to "Hotlanta", So a lot of stuff to cover...
I think I may be coming to a crossroads here. I have been purposefully going slowly through the lessons and not going through the other stuff fast either. I wanted to make sure I had the basics down before really getting into the stuff I can not do. Also, playing songs at an elementary and unrecognizable level is not fun for me, and I do not feel accomplished. Add to that my notorious dislike of spending time on music I do not care for.
So, I have choices. I want to continue using the Guitarcade for practice, and I want to continue doing lessons that matter to me. The thing is, I think there is a lot of songs that will help me out a lot more than what is included on this disc. Is that still keeping with the spirit of the 60 day challenge? Is there a point to keeping a blog for the challenge if I'm deviating? There are songs that interest me on the disc, there's a lot of them, there's also like 20+ DLC songs that would interest me. I just do not know if I"m good enough to even attempt Thunderkiss '66 or Mary Jane's Last Dance. Like I said, the game just giving me random bits and pieces pisses me off more than helps me out. If its a freakin' power chord, give it to me; I can do power chords. Don't make me prattle away.
What songs do I want to learn? Well, I learned about a few Pentatonic based songs that I have played a long with in Youtube(without actually learning the correct sequence to the notes, but knowing they "fit" in with the music). There are also a lot of simple chord songs that would help me out on that end, and they just aren't in game. I'll think over it tonight.
Today in lessons, I worked on the Hammer On/Pull Off practice track a little today. The next lesson was Tremolo picking, and I found out that I could not care less about Tremolo picking. I have always hated 50's surfer music and beach blanket bimbo style cultural stuff. So yea, I'm not going back to tremolo picking any time soon. I did, however, do the lesson on palm muting.
FINALLY. A new breakthrough. The first since day 01 I would say. I always wondered how people like Rob Chapman, and every metal guitarist ever, got that "thud thud" thick sound. The video showed me how I was supposed to be using my palm to still allow sound through, but make it sort of muffled. I had always though "Palm muting" was just a regular mute technique, nothing really musical. This lesson kind of made me feel dumb, but I am glad I finally know. THIS I will have to practice, THIS I will be using in my own playing eventually. THIS is what i have Rocksmith for.
TIP OF THE DAY
Listen to them when they tell you that tensing up actually works against Tremolo picking. After giving up on the lesson, I did practice just relaxing my hand "just right" for the picking to work at all. To my surprise the notes got faster, rang out clearer, and sounded more accurate.
Friday, January 3, 2014
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.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Best Surprise and Day 06
While it was the Guitarcade that finally got me to get Rocksmith, the best surprise has been the Session mode. The session mode is this hugely versatile area in the game where you choose instruments that will accompany you while you play. There are several types of players that change according to the genre you choose. You could have a chord playing, rhythm guitarist or choose to have that guitar in high gain distortion while it chugs metal power chords. If rock is not your thing(really?) there are some electronic accompaniment, including this really cool 8-bit nintendo style blip and bleep machine.
There is an intensity bar across the top, and the more intense you play the more intense the band will start playing with you. At the start you choose a key to play in, say E, and the fret board will highlight the notes that will work in that key. Your band will keep to the key, and as long as you play the highlighted notes, you will sound "correct" with the band. You can change tempo and set the drummer up as well. If you play the notes to the tempo in the right key, you will find that you will suddenly be jamming with a decent rendition of a band, and that is REALLY cool The Session mode has helped me more than any other part of this game, by far.
It is like a drum machine on steroids. If they could somehow package this into something the size of the typical amp modeling super pedal(like a P.O.D.), they will make a mint. It is NOT just a backing track or a drum machine. With those, YOU adjust to THEM. With Session mode, the band adjusts to you.
Day 06
I was going to further get my fuzz sound down to the sound in my head(look up Gearmandude Soda Mesier on Youtube), but I ended up finding what I think is a Fulltone OCD Overdrive replica. I love this pedal. I know technically I could just pick a plexi style Marshall amp and have it, but something about this pedal through the Fender amps in game makes a wonderful tone. I messed around with a "riff" that reminds me of a very silly 80's hair metal song, but holy crap does it sound good to my ears. Every day I seem to come up with some little riff I have to play over and over for 30 minutes.
I focused on doing all the Guitarcade games I had played so far. I spent a full on hour playing Gone Wailin, String Skip Saloon, Ducks Redux, Ninja Slide N, and Scale Warriors. I spent a lot of time in String Skip Saloon so I could get used to the string layout. I got new high scores in everything I played and really had fun with all of them, except Scale Warriors still. I found out I could reverse my string order, so that the highest string(thinest) is on top. This is how things show up in tabs and I think that's why I"m having such a hard time with the games done this way. So yes, I could change and reverse order the strings, but I'm worried this will screw up my non-game, learning portions. I'll have to explore it tomorrow.
TIP OF THE DAY
If you're used to reading tabs, you can reverse your string order. I suggest doing this from the start if it bothers you, as the earlier the change, the less habit forms with the rest of the game.
There is an intensity bar across the top, and the more intense you play the more intense the band will start playing with you. At the start you choose a key to play in, say E, and the fret board will highlight the notes that will work in that key. Your band will keep to the key, and as long as you play the highlighted notes, you will sound "correct" with the band. You can change tempo and set the drummer up as well. If you play the notes to the tempo in the right key, you will find that you will suddenly be jamming with a decent rendition of a band, and that is REALLY cool The Session mode has helped me more than any other part of this game, by far.
It is like a drum machine on steroids. If they could somehow package this into something the size of the typical amp modeling super pedal(like a P.O.D.), they will make a mint. It is NOT just a backing track or a drum machine. With those, YOU adjust to THEM. With Session mode, the band adjusts to you.
Day 06
I was going to further get my fuzz sound down to the sound in my head(look up Gearmandude Soda Mesier on Youtube), but I ended up finding what I think is a Fulltone OCD Overdrive replica. I love this pedal. I know technically I could just pick a plexi style Marshall amp and have it, but something about this pedal through the Fender amps in game makes a wonderful tone. I messed around with a "riff" that reminds me of a very silly 80's hair metal song, but holy crap does it sound good to my ears. Every day I seem to come up with some little riff I have to play over and over for 30 minutes.
I focused on doing all the Guitarcade games I had played so far. I spent a full on hour playing Gone Wailin, String Skip Saloon, Ducks Redux, Ninja Slide N, and Scale Warriors. I spent a lot of time in String Skip Saloon so I could get used to the string layout. I got new high scores in everything I played and really had fun with all of them, except Scale Warriors still. I found out I could reverse my string order, so that the highest string(thinest) is on top. This is how things show up in tabs and I think that's why I"m having such a hard time with the games done this way. So yes, I could change and reverse order the strings, but I'm worried this will screw up my non-game, learning portions. I'll have to explore it tomorrow.
TIP OF THE DAY
If you're used to reading tabs, you can reverse your string order. I suggest doing this from the start if it bothers you, as the earlier the change, the less habit forms with the rest of the game.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Rocksmith; what is it and Day 01
Rocksmith 2014 is an update to the original Rocksmith(sometimes called Rocksmith 2013). It combines rhythm gameplay(Guitar Hero) with learning. Instead of a guitar controller, you have a special cable that allows you to plug any electrical guitar into your game system. This cable translates the guitar's analog tone into a digital signal that can then be used by the game.
The focus is less on making a game, and more on making a teaching tool that resembles a game.
The game uses licensed music that is converted by the game developers into several difficulty levels that progress from easier to harder as you learn to play. The devs have also modeled amps and effects so that you sound like how you should in each song. You can slow down songs, repeat certain parts by themselves for practice, and adjust their difficulty if the game is going to quickly for you. The best part is that it turns practice exercises into Retro-80's style arcade games that you play by doing whatever subject you are practicing that day.
The game's tag line is the 60 day challenge. Play at least 1 hour every day, doing whichever activity you want(learn a song, jam with a band, do lessons), and by the end of the 60 days, you will consider yourself a guitarist.
Day 01
Day one started with a small crisis. The USB connection was finicky for me, and for about 2 minutes I was adjusting things while trying not to cuss like a rockstar at the top of my lungs. I have not had that problem since. The game asks questions to get a similar guitar on screen to the one you're playing. You then choose a path(changeable very easily) between Lead, Rhythm and bass, after which you tune. The tuning is a little eager to move through strings... I had to redo a string, but it works, and is nice. Then I'm shoved into the main menu with a suggestion to learn a song. The game has "missions", a sort of questing system to help you figure out what you want to do.
I'm a little bit of a tech/gear nut, so the first thing I did was ignore the suggestion to get started with a song. I go and look at their "Tone" sculptor. You can put pedals before the amp, and there are a wide variety. If you know your pedals, you can figure out which is the Tonescreamer and which is the BOSS DS-1 by how they describe them. There is everything from a chorus to a envelope filter. You can choose from tons of amps(just about every Marshall made, and a few boutique amps with "Rocksmith" printed on them to avoid copyright), then even cabinets are modeled. Lastly you can use some studio/rack effects like reverb and compression. You map the tone to a controller so you can easily switch between them.
It is freakin' impressive, but if you're new at it, it can be daunting. They have default settings based on songs in the game, so find a song with a tone you like, and use that.
Getting a little long... I'll try and wrap up day 01.
I started with Blitzkrieg Bop. I suck at counting quick notes using a pick... but within 20 minutes, I could stumble my way through the song outside of the game, and people could guess the song I played. I then found my way to the jam room and instantly had a breakthrough in my playing. I said before, I actually KNOW the concept of scales and chords, but I have never really applied it. It just has something to do with my learning style. I can be told things and it never sticks. I created a classic rock inspired jam band, chose the key I wanted to play in, and instantly something clicked.
This key felt like how I play "My Girl" on bass. Holy crap, its the same pattern! I started playing some bluesy stuff in the pattern, then tried a punk way of doing things. The band changed to match whatever I was playing, it felt like I was actually playing with a jam band.
It was great.
I now know the key of E's pattern starting at the 12th fret by memory. My brain just could never work like that before. I had muscle memory patterns of parts of songs that I used to improv blues lines before, but numbers just make my brain space out. Within a few minutes of PLAYING while LOOKING at visual representations of the pattern, and HEARING it all work with the band, and it was committed to memory.
How its going to be.
I plan on going into more detail about the game, and about music and maybe my stuff, each post having a different subject. At the end of the subject I will update the blog with my progress with a day count, and my progress..
The focus is less on making a game, and more on making a teaching tool that resembles a game.
The game uses licensed music that is converted by the game developers into several difficulty levels that progress from easier to harder as you learn to play. The devs have also modeled amps and effects so that you sound like how you should in each song. You can slow down songs, repeat certain parts by themselves for practice, and adjust their difficulty if the game is going to quickly for you. The best part is that it turns practice exercises into Retro-80's style arcade games that you play by doing whatever subject you are practicing that day.
The game's tag line is the 60 day challenge. Play at least 1 hour every day, doing whichever activity you want(learn a song, jam with a band, do lessons), and by the end of the 60 days, you will consider yourself a guitarist.
Day 01
Day one started with a small crisis. The USB connection was finicky for me, and for about 2 minutes I was adjusting things while trying not to cuss like a rockstar at the top of my lungs. I have not had that problem since. The game asks questions to get a similar guitar on screen to the one you're playing. You then choose a path(changeable very easily) between Lead, Rhythm and bass, after which you tune. The tuning is a little eager to move through strings... I had to redo a string, but it works, and is nice. Then I'm shoved into the main menu with a suggestion to learn a song. The game has "missions", a sort of questing system to help you figure out what you want to do.
I'm a little bit of a tech/gear nut, so the first thing I did was ignore the suggestion to get started with a song. I go and look at their "Tone" sculptor. You can put pedals before the amp, and there are a wide variety. If you know your pedals, you can figure out which is the Tonescreamer and which is the BOSS DS-1 by how they describe them. There is everything from a chorus to a envelope filter. You can choose from tons of amps(just about every Marshall made, and a few boutique amps with "Rocksmith" printed on them to avoid copyright), then even cabinets are modeled. Lastly you can use some studio/rack effects like reverb and compression. You map the tone to a controller so you can easily switch between them.
It is freakin' impressive, but if you're new at it, it can be daunting. They have default settings based on songs in the game, so find a song with a tone you like, and use that.
Getting a little long... I'll try and wrap up day 01.
I started with Blitzkrieg Bop. I suck at counting quick notes using a pick... but within 20 minutes, I could stumble my way through the song outside of the game, and people could guess the song I played. I then found my way to the jam room and instantly had a breakthrough in my playing. I said before, I actually KNOW the concept of scales and chords, but I have never really applied it. It just has something to do with my learning style. I can be told things and it never sticks. I created a classic rock inspired jam band, chose the key I wanted to play in, and instantly something clicked.
This key felt like how I play "My Girl" on bass. Holy crap, its the same pattern! I started playing some bluesy stuff in the pattern, then tried a punk way of doing things. The band changed to match whatever I was playing, it felt like I was actually playing with a jam band.
It was great.
I now know the key of E's pattern starting at the 12th fret by memory. My brain just could never work like that before. I had muscle memory patterns of parts of songs that I used to improv blues lines before, but numbers just make my brain space out. Within a few minutes of PLAYING while LOOKING at visual representations of the pattern, and HEARING it all work with the band, and it was committed to memory.
How its going to be.
I plan on going into more detail about the game, and about music and maybe my stuff, each post having a different subject. At the end of the subject I will update the blog with my progress with a day count, and my progress..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)