One of the main benefits of Rocksmith 2014 is being able to learn some guitar skills in isolation, without having to pay for lessons or without leaving your living room – a definite plus during the current polar vortex – but still, it's always nice to get some feedback from another human so I jumped at the chance to have fellow Torontonian and Rocksmith 60 Day Challenge participant Anna Wiesen drop by and show me some chops.
Having just completed the Rocksmith 60 Day Challenge, Anna had a few useful tips to impart – the most valuable of which was to use the Riff Repeater function on 100% difficulty but 50-60% speed to learn to play the whole song more accurately but slower, gradually pushing the speed up as you progress. Another good piece of advice Anna had was to practice fingering even without the Xbox on. Just to sit with the guitar occasionally and practice the transitions between chords – one of the things I was struggling with the most in the completing the songs I'd tried so far.
Another thing that came out of our meeting is that, given I'm over halfway through the 60 Days, I should probably focus on one song for the remaining time to be able to focus on it and get it nailed down. Anna had been having a lot of success with "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones and we had fun playing it when she visited so I figured I would give it a go. After a few days of trying, as much I liked the song and was grateful for how short and repetitive it was, I just couldn't get the bar chord down. I just didn't have the dexterity needed to play that particular chord so I decided next week I would take Anna's advice on using Riff Repeater but switch back to "Cold Company" by Minus The Bear which had a playing style that suited me better.
Having just completed the Rocksmith 60 Day Challenge, Anna had a few useful tips to impart – the most valuable of which was to use the Riff Repeater function on 100% difficulty but 50-60% speed to learn to play the whole song more accurately but slower, gradually pushing the speed up as you progress. Another good piece of advice Anna had was to practice fingering even without the Xbox on. Just to sit with the guitar occasionally and practice the transitions between chords – one of the things I was struggling with the most in the completing the songs I'd tried so far.
Another thing that came out of our meeting is that, given I'm over halfway through the 60 Days, I should probably focus on one song for the remaining time to be able to focus on it and get it nailed down. Anna had been having a lot of success with "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones and we had fun playing it when she visited so I figured I would give it a go. After a few days of trying, as much I liked the song and was grateful for how short and repetitive it was, I just couldn't get the bar chord down. I just didn't have the dexterity needed to play that particular chord so I decided next week I would take Anna's advice on using Riff Repeater but switch back to "Cold Company" by Minus The Bear which had a playing style that suited me better.