The Rocksmith Experiment (Weeks 2 And 3)

I had a bit of a hard time piecing together how these two weeks really worked out for me, and the reason may surprise some readers. The first thing I'm going to mention is that I did very little during the second week of this experiment, mainly due to other things occupying my time, and some days where I came home from work super tired (Coffee can only get you so far into the day...).

The next thing I'm going to point out is how despite playing less of the game itself, the time I actually practiced on my guitar did not. It seems that as I continued to play the game more and more, I kept feeling the urge to stop, practice a technique demonstrated in a song, and then test it out in the game. With this, I think I've finally begun to figure out what this game is going to mean to me as a whole. While I wouldn't substitute any type of instructor for this, I can definitely say it teaches many basic and essential techniques one would need in order to get started on the instrument. While I knew most of these basic techniques going in to it, the game has a way of knowing whether I'm putting the right pressure on certain notes, and even goes so far as to relay proper finger positions for things like chords and hand-shifting.

I think my desire to practice more outside of the game is stemming from the fact that I simply feel disappointed in myself when I can't pull off a technique or a switch that seems so easy to me in theory. I also continue to practice with the hopes I'll get better at reading and playing notes by ear and verbatim. That's not to say I won't want to try more difficult things as I go on, quite the contrary in fact.

I'm beginning to appreciate the game's choice of song selection more than I did initially. This is because they really did pick songs to cater to the beginner player, as well as choose songs that properly demonstrate a lot of the techniques they are trying to teach. The ability to play the song has just as much to do with hitting the notes properly as well as having the correct timing. I will go as far as to say that timing has never been my issue (as my Guitar Hero Expert level playing will demonstrate), but simply my ability to read and combine the notes fast and tightly enough.

I believe if I can properly train my hands to sync with the speed that my eyes and mind work, that I may have actually have a decent play ability in front of me. I look forward to mastering more techniques while checking out everything else this game has to offer me through that process. I think I'm starting to see this game as more of a practice tool than something I can necessarily learn from, but that is by no means a bad thing, as learning and mastering all the regular and downloadable songs is a learning feat in itself. Being able to hit the correct notes and combine it with the proper timing is what makes the master, and that is just what I intend to keep doing. I hope to update this again really soon.