V8 That said, I only put in 10mins yesterday - fretting hand took some pain from the previous day's slog. Gotta warm up a little - this tune is just too fast to drop into "cold".

Ja I'm losing skin on the tips of my fingers ? After a while of not playing, I normally take a few days to slowly build up my calluses. This has been NOTHING like that ?

Definitely having fun with this challenge. It's way outside what I'd normally end up doing on the guitar — in a very positive way — coz I don't normally play much in the way of chords, rhythm or fast licks. And the deadline is really keeping me focused.

NorioDS And the deadline is really keeping me focused.

Me too! I figure a little everyday work is the only way to get this up to speed. Trying to cram it all into a few days just won't work if you are not used to this. And I'm not!

Luckily I've some serious calluses from the bass playing I've still been doing - but forearm and wrist took a beating trying to slide and then grab the chords fast. I'm overplaying and gripping too hard - basically tensing up - when uping the speed.

Tuckstir I love Playing Rocksmith.. and WAS using it too learn playing guitar... which is not all that great.. for the simple reason that rock smith doesn't show you easy to use shapes, when playing arpeggios. ect

Yep there are definitely limitations. I used it to start playing bass without an issue but I'm sure a bass teacher would send me back to school ?

Rocksmith doesn't really teach much theory. They have the videos and that's great but it's no replacement for a teacher.

One feature I only just now found (3 years later) is that when you have a song open, you can see all the chords in the song. That's a very handy feature because getting the chord shapes under your fingers can help you with a) some of the licks that are formed from the chords and, more importantly b) familiarising yourself with song structures, which chords go well together, which chords you enjoy the sound of, etc.

Only parrot-learning with Rocksmith —or any other method— is the devil! You'll lose whatever you learn as soon as you stop. (Which is what happened with me. I got Rocksmith to play more but, as every time I took a break for a few weeks, I had to almost start over.)

Day 4 : 1x15mins, more listening than playing.

Where the lick starts was bugging me...

V8 I think that the lick starts on a 'and' leading into the 'one' - which I'm finding fiendishly tricky.

I was wrong, it's the and after the one. To me, the lick just sounds 'out'/wooden when you start it on one. And he moves it around -ever so slightly, like he's playing it in 16ths and start it on the e or a. (Counting in 16th's = one-e-and-a-two-e-and-a-three-e-and-a-four-e-and-a)

Still havn't upped the tempo, but happier that I can start the lick on the and and get it to feel groovy while looping the progression - it just didn't feel right starting on the one.

Day 5 : 1x20m. 5 mins using riffstation (thanks @Tuckstir!). From which I can tell you I'm at 110bpm ?. Then just played the riff without backing/drums/metronome. It's starting to kinda sound like Scuttle buttin. Can start the lick on the and without too much issue now.

Also put a little thought into Part II Pointy side of the Duel - @NorioDS How big a Metallica fan are you reallllly? ?

V8
Pleasure, glad somebody has made use of it. had a good look at Scuttle buttin.... I think I would get I right at about 5bpm wow that's a tough song .. enjoy It..

V8 talk to me! I like a good challenge

Day 6: 1x5mins. Wasn't planning on any practice, but had a few minutes to kill before heading out. Got up to 120bpm. But 130bpm was rather messy. At 120+ I'm gonna have to warm up a bit better, going in cold at that tempo is asking to hurt something!

Day 7 : 1x20m. Warmed up for 5mins, then got stuck in at 120bpm. First attempt at 130bpm was awful, it felt waaayy too fast. Cranked up bpm to 145, then 160 - just playing the chords, which was do-able.

Then dropped it back to 130 and played the entire riff. Felt a bit more manageable. Still not comfy though. Dunno how this is gonna get cranked up to 160.... ?

Day 5 I managed some unplugged practice in the morning (while wifey slept) before buying some awesome merch at Geek Fest.

The unplugged practice was different but something @AlanRatcliffe recommended a while ago. More for hearing a guitar's naked tone before buying it but it turned out to be a useful tool for practising. No distortion or other effects to distract you. But you end up picking way harder, so not great for extended periods of practice, I'd say.

Day 6 I didn't practice at all. Mostly to do with one of our cats having gone missing. Still missing sadly ?

Day 7 turned out pretty good. Managed a bunch of full-speed practice but then noticed that the feel was off. Noticed some notes were being played that aren't on the record and other notes were missing. So I slowed everything down to the slowest Rocksmith will allow (1 out of 100, sadly no "proper" bpm feature in RS2014.)

Having the lick (mostly) under your fingers, and then slowing the record down to "painfully slow" really helps you pick out some notes you might have missed. There are a few nuances in each "chord" that give the song some of its flavour and feel.

So hopefully the next 7 days will be enough time to get ALL the correct notes ringing and at the right times. My timing feels a bit rushed at times, so I gotta practice my starts of each lick.

Managed to get a really nice tone on my JS-100 with the pickup selector on the middle (both pickups together) but in single-coil mode. Really sounds tasty. Dunno if I'll be able to get that tone from my BR-600 or Micro Orange Terror so that's another thing to practice this week — dialing in that tone.

@V8 are we recording the final tracks on our phones? ie: Using the built-in video recorder? Or are we doing something fancier?

NorioDS @V8 are we recording the final tracks on our phones? ie: Using the built-in video recorder? Or are we doing something fancier?

Good question, I think phone video w/audio? Not really gonna give us a great idea of tone though. I can plug in sound card and DI out my pedal(s) - will be a minor improvement in tone but not a great deal. I'm lazy to setup a mic or mess around with plug-in's and sims - though if you really want to we can.

V8 I'm just as lazy ?

Best I'd be able to do is DI into BR-600 / Rocksmith. How about we do both? Set phone to record, then DI into something that is also recording, and post both here. The DI will highlight our awful playing ability, which the phone video might hide. But the phone video levels the playing ground slightly by not being too fancy. And doing 'em both at the same time means it's not much work for us, really.

NorioDS And doing 'em both at the same time means it's not much work for us, really.

Errr, can kinda do. If I'm plugged into the DAW I'll be monitoring on headphones - unless I find a splitter somewhere (think I can figure something).

V8 Haha nice! We're going to watch Deadpool later today. Can't wait!

As for practice... ok wait is today day 8 or was that yesterday? (Monday?)

I woke up exhausted. Picked up my axe and barely got anything in. I don't really think I'll get every single not in at full speed come next week Monday morning. Seems really unlikely but I'ma keep trying.

As for the next challenge, I was listening to this and thought (as a completely dumb and crazy idea, just for jokes) that maybe we do the rhythm section of this song ?

(So the first 35 seconds or so ?)

NorioDS We're going to watch Deadpool later today. Can't wait!

I havn't laughed that much since the last Deadpool movie - throughly enjoyed it! There's a great 'bonus' scene about 1/2 way through the credits, I was in tears, too funny. .

NorioDS As for the next challenge, I was listening to this and thought (as a completely dumb and crazy idea, just for jokes) that maybe we do the rhythm section of this song

Errr, there's a rhythm section to this? I can't hear it at all ? . Nah, I'm keener on some old skool riffage ala Metallica/Megadeth/Slayer. It's properly pointy guitar music.

Old man! ?