I suppose I'm now technically on Steam, because Rocksmith requires a Steam account. However, as of yet I know nothing about Steam, and I'm not sure I'm inclined to learn anything about it. For what it's worth, my username is XenophonHendrix.
Bill, rocksmith is fucking amazing. I sat down with my sisters bass and ran through an old Rush song, it gets you in tune and shows you where you need to be. It took a minute to figure out how to read it, they didn't know I was struggling until I got to a part of the song I didn't remember.
I wish I had taken it up when I was a dumb kid, but that is a story that digs up bad -- possibly inaccurate -- memories filled with anger, rationalization, and plenty of self-loathing. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.
Anyway, it's not like I have anything better to do. I'm past the sore finger stage, so I might as well give myself a full chance of learning how to play the thing. I figure I should at least keep going until it is clear that I've peaked out.
I'm still making obvious but slow progress. I don't intend to give up yet, only if it becomes clear I'm wasting my time.
Every day I go from A major to Am, A to C, A to D, A to Dm, ... , A to F, A to G. Then I go from Am to A, Am to C, and so on all the way through until I have cycled through all of the so-called cowboy chords. Along the way I throw in the open dominant seven chords as the whim takes me. I also practice the barre chord fingerings for A (one finger), Am, E, and Em. To wrap it up, I usually do a few barre chords.
After that, I at least do a quarter-note spider exercise all along the neck until my hand runs out of space -- pinkie on the nineteenth fret, on my guitar. (I have to hold the guitar vertically to reach.) I usually do an eighth-note spider exercise, too. If I'm feeling energetic, I do a triplet and a sixteenth note spider exercise all along the neck, too. This isn't using a metronome yet. This is just me counting to myself. I vary the speed of the count with my energy level and level of dexterity that day. Once I'm warmed up, I do stretching exercises half way through and again at the end.
Since I got Rocksmith, I try to play it every day for at least a little while. I believe I've only missed one day since the 21st of July. My goal is an hour a day, which I usually have been able to reach.
In short, I'm making an honest, concerted effort at this. Since starting 4 June, when tender fingers limited practice time, I must have racked up well over an hour of practice per day by now. My best guess is that it's just under two hours. In the end, what limits my practice time these days is either body aches and pains or simply running out of energy or concentration.
I've also been teaching myself the theory behind chords and scales. That stuff is easy for me. It's getting my fingers to do what I want them to do that's hard.
Comments
Do we have a steam username thread?
I'm on steam, but I never get on to play games anymore.
right now my screen name is "Shazbot!". i change it frequently
I'm packwood on there, if you saw me this morning you saw me getting my ass kicked
BTW I tried it but man do the games take a long time.
I suppose I'm now technically on Steam, because Rocksmith requires a Steam account. However, as of yet I know nothing about Steam, and I'm not sure I'm inclined to learn anything about it. For what it's worth, my username is XenophonHendrix.
Been thinking about putting the ol tradewars and bbs back up. What say you?
I'd play TW. Some good nostalgia there.
There is something nice about turned-based games I can play slowly while wrangling the kid. :-)
Bill, rocksmith is fucking amazing. I sat down with my sisters bass and ran through an old Rush song, it gets you in tune and shows you where you need to be. It took a minute to figure out how to read it, they didn't know I was struggling until I got to a part of the song I didn't remember.
I suspect I'm one of Rocksmith's "special" students:
"Let's try that again."
"Let's slow it down a bit, and try that again."
"Let's try that again."
By this time, the song sounds like it is being amplified by a tank of molasses. Ah, well, I'm going to at least give the program a couple months.
I had the benefit of being a dumb kid, so I just kept with it. Smoke on the Water x 1000
I wish I had taken it up when I was a dumb kid, but that is a story that digs up bad -- possibly inaccurate -- memories filled with anger, rationalization, and plenty of self-loathing. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.
Anyway, it's not like I have anything better to do. I'm past the sore finger stage, so I might as well give myself a full chance of learning how to play the thing. I figure I should at least keep going until it is clear that I've peaked out.
stick with it. wesley willis was tragically bad and he had an actual recording career. skill is not an impediment here.
I'm still making obvious but slow progress. I don't intend to give up yet, only if it becomes clear I'm wasting my time.
Every day I go from A major to Am, A to C, A to D, A to Dm, ... , A to F, A to G. Then I go from Am to A, Am to C, and so on all the way through until I have cycled through all of the so-called cowboy chords. Along the way I throw in the open dominant seven chords as the whim takes me. I also practice the barre chord fingerings for A (one finger), Am, E, and Em. To wrap it up, I usually do a few barre chords.
After that, I at least do a quarter-note spider exercise all along the neck until my hand runs out of space -- pinkie on the nineteenth fret, on my guitar. (I have to hold the guitar vertically to reach.) I usually do an eighth-note spider exercise, too. If I'm feeling energetic, I do a triplet and a sixteenth note spider exercise all along the neck, too. This isn't using a metronome yet. This is just me counting to myself. I vary the speed of the count with my energy level and level of dexterity that day. Once I'm warmed up, I do stretching exercises half way through and again at the end.
Since I got Rocksmith, I try to play it every day for at least a little while. I believe I've only missed one day since the 21st of July. My goal is an hour a day, which I usually have been able to reach.
In short, I'm making an honest, concerted effort at this. Since starting 4 June, when tender fingers limited practice time, I must have racked up well over an hour of practice per day by now. My best guess is that it's just under two hours. In the end, what limits my practice time these days is either body aches and pains or simply running out of energy or concentration.
I've also been teaching myself the theory behind chords and scales. That stuff is easy for me. It's getting my fingers to do what I want them to do that's hard.