If there was a specific song you were interested in understanding (rather than a huge list), or if you had a video it'd be easier to help figure out what you're not nailling. So, when you do get around to posting a vid I think it will help get you better feedback on how to get that specific arrangement into Master Mode.
Problem is it's hard to say "hey, for those 20 songs here's what you're doing wrong"...
You're probably sadly short of cowbell....
(What Seattle said)
Note that the 14 songs at the top of the list are songs I've already mastered. I'm not having any trouble with those. They're just posted for their potential contrast with the remaining 4 songs at the bottom of the list. Those 4 are the ones that give me trouble. Those are the ones I'm trying to figure out to solos on. I suspect that the solos in those 4 songs have something in common that I'm not getting right (and I suspect it's something not found in the 14 songs above. . . ).Originally Posted by SeattleSauve
Last edited by JTCoop; 05-12-2012 at 07:50 AM.
I have to say I'm at a similar point. Solo 4 of "Smoke on the water" has been at 100% yet unmastered for 2 months, the same with "Sunshine of your love". Some that I've struggled with and got through showed me something though, the most notable was Unnatural Selection. In that one there are two or three whole step bends and then four half step bends. Rocksmith doesn't want you to "bend the hell out of it" it's looking at an analysis of the frequency to see if the new frequency (of the bend) matches it's criteria for the proper note. Truth is, a whole step bend IS bending the hell out of it. Just remember there are often half step bends as well and it's looking for something different there. To test this you can do a one or two fret slide instead and see which one passes with a "flash" then adjust the bend style to match.
I have one - and I'll use it, too! Whatever it takes! In fact, digging back maybe a bit further into the SNL archives, I'd go out and buy a triangle if I thought it would help me get these solos!
Aside from making sure your guitar is not a complete turd or in need of a setup. It sounds like what is needed is some good quality time away from the game, doing some no tempo practice on the areas that you can't seem to nail down. This way you can go slow at your pace not the music's pace. It will allow you to microscopically see what and where it is that is causing this upset in your playing. After some time spent doing no tempo practice, realizing where it is you are going wrong, find out what the correct movement(s) is/are, fixing it/them then play it the correct way repetitively, after that slowly bring it up to speed, with a metronome. Those old habits will want to creep back into your playing. But that is playing. Playing is important. Playing is not practicing. Always take time to practice, practice correct technique, but never forget to just play. There is a separate time for that. It is annoying. It is boring. It is discouraging. It seems overwhelming. I have had to unlearn bad technique and it is the most frustrating thing in the world, but well worth the effort. If you keep making a conscious effort to practice those correct/precise movements, they will start to take hold and show up in your playing. The longer you wait to fix it the harder it will be.
My last 2 Rocksmith sessions have been spent in riff repeater, for More Than A Feeling. Solo 1 and 2.
What ticks me off about that, is it's one of the first songs I learned back in the late 70s. I've played it 100s of times.
Anyway, after almost throwing my Strat through my plasma tv, I suddenly realized something. I was playing it wrong. No matter how careful, there were a few spots that I just knew, and played them regardless of what I saw in te screen, and even worse, regardless of what I HEARD :shock:
Only after I sat and LISTENED, did I realize my mistake. It was one note in Solo 1. 1 freakin' note!! Finally mastered it today. Solo 2 is still kicking my ****.
I just realized that in solo 2, I've been playing a wrong chord at the end. I thought the 4 chords at the end were Dsus4 D, B/D D but the first chord isn't Dsus4. D'oh!!!
It's open d open g and 3rd fret B and E.
Anyway, my point is sometimes you have to take a time out and listen.
RiffAddict is absolutely spot on. Play it as slow as you need to, AWAY from the game, to play it perfectly. Even if (especially if!!) that speed means playing at 10 or 20 bpm, or slower. Speed comes from accurate practice, this super slow practice is equivalent to programming your muscle memory to behave in a certain way. This will erase bad habits and technique you may have developed, and every aspect of playing the guitar will benefit from it. This is why it's so important to stay away from tension while playing guitar, that tension will become a part of your technique and can make complex phrases you attempt seem impossible. It slows down your progress, but more importantly this is how injuries can occur.
When you practice a passage at a speed where you make no mistakes, practicing at that speed will gradually increase your proficiency until you can play at 100% speed. There are many things I can play now at double the songs' normal tempo because of this. This is how "shredders" got to where they are, they didn't practice at fast speeds trying to muscle their way through mistakes or complex fingerings. They practiced it slow enough to play with no mistakes, and gradually upped the tempo - metronomes are used for this purpose.
I recommend searching on the UG forums for something along the lines of a "21 day method." I read it and applied some of the ideas when I first started playing years ago, it's basically the above ideas about slow efficient practice laid out in a more methodical way.
PSN - Alohilo
AMEN to this * infinity.
I have spent what felt like hours (because it was many hours!) this week trying to level up QOTSA Single note and I could not do it,, even though it looked comparatively simple. After a lot of experimentation I worked out it was the slide section on orange (G) string
Eventually in despair I just stopped and listened to the guitar in the song. Once I could hum it exactly I could play it. It feel it was really obvious and slightly miraculous at the same time but boy do I feel stupid. That said I don't feel I wasted my time entirely, I think I learned a lot from it. As you can see I'm conflicted
Also, I just mastered it and popped out a 159,190 for my troubles. Can't tell you how delighted I am and how right the Penguin is; be sure to listen.
Last edited by KinchBlade; 05-13-2012 at 07:19 PM.
"In Bloom", my issue was always the bends... Especially that last one on the e string. I eventually moved it up one fret once I hit the string and bent the sh... crap... out of it. I play it so cleanly now because I went through Riff Repeater like 100 times on it - and that was back when there was a 5 time limit...
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