Late to the Party. | Forums

[PRS_Rocker]

Sammurai50, you are using muscles that you've never had to train before and doing things with them that are totally alien to what they normally do. The thing you can take away from every single post you see here is that you should practice, practice, practice. There's nothing else going to make you better at this game. As you read others' posts, remember that this game is a little bit of the learning process. There's no one place that you can get it all, so look for YouTube videos, learning sites, dvd's, and books. Jam with friends if you can, even if it's just to play easy parts of songs and learn from them. Most of all, don't give up. When you get frustrated (and it will happen), take a break, maybe for a day, then come back. You'll be surprised at what you can do after a 24 hour lapse when you step away from a particularly difficult piece you've been working on.

Rock on.

[KilroyBTTP]

I've been working on this as well. I'm extremely slow on the chord transitions and wonder about proper finger placements on the single notes.

I've started writing the chords down so I can practice the transitions on my own. Although I'm still pretty slow, I'm probably twice as fast as I was so the practice does help.

[bradiam]

And check out www.justinguitar.com, great beginners course, and it's free

^this

Justin has some great beginner lessons that introduce most of the fundamentals. He also shows some practice techniques and exercises that will really help you optimize your practice routine. I can't tell you how much the finger gym, and one minute changes have helped me. One minute changes really speed up your chord transitions in just a few days.

FWIW- don't trust how people do in songs here as a measure of progress. I don't know if anyone currently active does this, but I have seen a few people that can play the game really well, but only use one or two fingers. I've seen several others that do really well with the game, but are reinforcing bad technique by not practicing properly. Like I said, I don't know that anyone here is guilty of that, and I wouldn't tell you if I did, but I have seen it.

Take your time and learn properly. It will be a slower start, but once the foundation is laid, your progress will be much faster and smoother. Also, don't expect to be easily cranking out solos or speedy chord changes in a week. It takes time, and it can be very hard; the rewards are well worth it though.

Most important thing of all is to have fun!

[fatherrock]

ya, well unlike other music 'games'
There are no cheat codes, no quick tricks.

It is just you, a real guitar and the game....having fun while your learning...beats the heck out
of spend years learning so you can finally have fun.

[armoury_R1]

Thanks guys. I have to say everyone here seems really helpful. Right now I am just having a problem with switching between chords. I just didn't know it anyone had found a website or system that definitiely worked. I love RS for learning songs but it seems like it is a little lacking in the actual lessons department. Just saying. Maybe if I dig around a bit more there is something I have missed.

As the others have said, "practice".

FWIW, my own personal experience is different from yours: I first learned how to strum chords, for campfire songs (I was a scout) back in the equivalent of junior high. That's nearly 30 years ago. I got pretty good at that (still am, I suppose -- I can probably play rhythm guitar without too much trouble). And in college I was taking classical guitar lessons, but stopped some time in final year (over 20 years ago). Since then I hardly ever played guitar, if at all, then got into the 'plastic guitar' craze of GH/RB. Then RB Pro came along, I got the Squier controller and I messed with that as well (still do), But once Rocksmith came along, I went all in and got a 'proper' Strat, and am taking lessons.

Considering my background, you'd think I'd do OK, but it's still a lot of work. I did just ace Satisfaction chord in master mode, but with my past experience you'd expect that. But I STILL haven't levelled the single-note version, never mind unlock MM. Unfortunately I don't have much free time, maybe I play once or twice a week, a half-hour or an hour each time at most.

You can't think of this as any other video game, where you can ace it within a few weeks. This is the real deal: it is going to take several months, if not years, to master. But once you do, well, you can "play guitar". And that makes it all worthwhile, IMHO.

[BCRichASM1]

youtube has tons of videos i personally like marty schwartz for youtube lessons but really rocksmith has made me better than anythin else ive tried. just practise as much as you can...love your guitar and it will love you back

[klassenr.]

You mentioned hand positioning: Pay attention to the 'note highway' and notice that four fret positions at a time are highlighted blue. This is where the game says your fingers should be to play the notes coming up. One finger per fret and use all four fingers. As mentioned before, slower in the beginning,, but worth every second of effort in the end.

[Sammurai50]

I am going to check these on line lessons out and I really appreciate the help. I guess I just really needed to have it reinforced that this won't happen overnight. Still, nothing motivates like playing a song? What is the easiest chord song on the game in everyone's opinion?

[KinchBlade]

Arguably any one of these... (no barre chords...). personally I'd say claption or pearl Jam are the easiest by some margin

Eric Clapton - Run Back To Your Side
Pearl Jam - Black
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction - changes might be a little fast.
David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

[bradiam]

The ones kinch listed are probably the easiest, and I would say that's probably even the right order. Eric Clapton chord version is certainly the easiest, and uses the three chords you are likely to learn first from most books or lessons.

Something I wish someone had told me much sooner is to learn some strumming patterns and work on that. Even a simple strum pattern sounds almost musical and will make your chord practice much more enjoyable as you play with the order of them and where to change. Going D, A, E , A , D is boring, but even with a simple all down strum pattern it sounds better to play A 2 3 4 D 2 3 4 A 2 3 4 E 2 3 4.

Even better if you can learn some eighth strumming which is 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Down strums on the numbers, up on the &s. playing 1 2 & 3 & 4 is a really good pattern that you hear in a lot of songs. Dropping th 3 and just playing 1 2 & & 4 is awesome too. As you learn chords it's really fun to use the patterns you've learned to see what sounds good together.

Just get a metronome, look up simple strum patterns, and play.


Get your fingers stretched out as soon as possible. This will help you immensely when playing songs in Rocksmith. You will very quickly find that placing the index finger on a string on the third fret and going to 6th fret with your pinky is a big stretch. You probably won't be able to do it right away. Look up the finger gym on Justin's site. You won't be able to do that right away either, but after a week or so you will see loads of progress.

satisfaction's main riff is good for practicing this. Try and keep your first finger at its starting fret as you play through the riff. Pumped up Kicks by Foster The People is also really good for working on stretches.


I'll go ahead and answer your first question before you've even asked. No, your fingers aren't too short to play guitar. It just takes practice. Nearly everyone feels that way at the beginning.