Never played guitar or touched one, 16 months later.... Evaluate me please

[CmdrCrackhead]

Greetings, I have been playing for about 16 18 months range, I played rocksmith just around the time 4 months later or whatever they released 2014. I own it on the XBOX one and 360 (rocksmith 2014) my version for pc I use to play custom songs so until there is a cheap steam sale I'm not buying it a 3rd time (plus bought rocksmith 1, 2 times for pc version I owned and the other for PS3 (I did not have a 360 at that time or I would have got that one) just to get its chord to play 2 players since my dad wants to learn rythm.

Anyways I posted some videos to youtube, for constructive criticism and for tips on doing guitar solos. They are in my profile and maybe one rocksmith 1s page, but I cant figure out how to post them onto here. Anyways I had flu decided in the buzzed on codeine cough syrup to try bandicam (tried fraps it did not work). I randomly picked songs I've played before but other than the iron maider fear of the dark one, I would not say I have mastered the other ones.

So like I asked please give me tips on soloing techniques and constructive criticism, if you say just I suck, that does not help me. Tell me WHY i suck or WHAT I am doing wrong etc. This is a 10000 hr skill so if said person says I suck I'll see you in 6 months and ask what you think.


Here is my link or go to my profile. I look forward to the tips and tricks you guys might share with me. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsct8CQUvSf7QQGKSmsLl3_lUURs2f8PR

[CmdrCrackhead]

Forgotto say thanks in advance for the advice and tips on how I can play better or anything you notice I do wrong etc. I have a double jointed pinky finger so i can play power chords with pinky covering two-three strings vs putting my ring finger and pinky on two strings. Also why is my ring finger like my weakest link, I use it to cover the third fret I am currently anchored at such as finger 1 on fret 5, 2 on fret 6, 3 on fret 7, 4 on fret 8 but can usually reach nine or ten if need be like in some of KISS's songs

Thanks fellow guitar players for checking em out if you end up doing it. :)

[Blasgah]

Good effort man - pretty good for 16 months. Good on you too for putting yourself out there for feedback. I watched a little of some of your videos. I'm an intermediate player - 20 odd years but really only starting to focus on it last 18 months so hopefully I've got some useful tips:

1. Try working on alternate picking / strumming. Unless you're James Hetfield then most of us struggle with downpicking only. It slows you down in a song like fear of the dark and in a song like Free falling can sound a little mechanical down strumming only.

2. Watch that you're not muting notes that are supposed to ring out - e.g. califormication intro / verses.

3. I suggest focusing on some songs that have a cleaner sound and really listen back to them. Distortion can mask mistakes. Note that you can get 100% and still not sound that great.

4. Work on applying some vibrato. Unfortunately Rocksmith doesn't count a miss for not applying it, but it's essential to the sound of some songs.

They are some of my tips anyway. There's some very knowledgeable guitarists on this forum so I'm sure other here will have some more tips for you. Also, Rocksmith on it's own isn't enough. Check out other online resources and play outside of Rocksmith too. I personally find justinguitar.com the best site for free lessons.

Keep at it man and I hope I've helped!

[CmdrCrackhead]

i'm more used to metal type strumming fast til my forearm is sore type stuff so I'm trying to get that down doing upstroke with full barre chords. Do you think it would be smarter for me to pick some of the songs i'm best at, practice them a few times, then record myself til I get the best run with as few errors and then upload them? I was thinking I was dumb for not really putting effort in, like okay this song looks fun, click to play, ctrl z to record, boom then upload. I guess that would show my true skill better.
(Or if guitarist suggested a good tracklisting to get down to show my skills I'll practice til I'm as perfect as I can do and then do an evaluation upload.)
For guitar solos do you have to do a lighter touch? I don't understand the technique as I've had it explained but don't understand the pressure.
Also the custom song I played, both red hot chili peppers ones, the one otherside, that whole solo is messed up, you can't do a harmonic on string 2 while having string one open but be harmonic also (or string 1 harmonic fretted with string two open but harmonic), that's like impossible right? Because when I play it it sounds right and I'm not doing it anyway different.
Also californication was a big mess I should not have posted until I got the turning right because I kept missing a chord I was holding and it would not detect it so it looks like i'm totally screwing up unless you watch where my fingers are on my fret board, but I fingered I'd upload it with the others. Must have been the codeine cuz I upped these to my face book, got told good job or got likes or good job for beginner (but I've spent some 8-10 hr days playing in the past especially if I'm smoking or drinking which hasn't happened lately), i'm kinda plateauing where I have lil things like learning to upstroke downstroke, finger strengthening, but my weakness is the solos.
I think I should do like my dad said which is pick some songs you really like and play them till your one hundred percenting them and getting master mode. (which I've unlocked on a lot of songs but find annoying, like Hungry Like The Wolf, get 99% correct first go, very very easy lead guitar song. But after that it did master mode for the song and I'm like damn I only saw the notes once let me get them down. Then songs like dancing with myself Billy Idol are fun and easy, got 110% due to master mode, but it's not a hard song if you know power chords and double stops etc.
I ramble too much so.....
Big thanks bro. My first response was a nice guy and not a troll. I figured I'd get a bunch of you suck and no explanations or tips just people putting you down for fun. Seems the rocksmith community is not too infested with them it seems. Good luck on your journey to guitar mastery

[CmdrCrackhead]

Is there Virbrato lesson in rocksmith? I know I've done all the tremolo ones where you pick very very fast. Is it where you hit the string/note a certain way that it makes a different sound v/s it's normal sound? Like the ones that are highlighted with a glow around them or am I way off?

[Blasgah]

Vibrato is where you hit the note and then bend it lightly usually up and down with your fretting hand to get a variation up and down in pitch either side of the note. Someone has a guide somewhere with all of the rocksmith notation so you know what you're looking for. There is a Vibrato 201 lesson in rocksmith. Note that Rocksmith doesn't pick up the vibrato - if you play the note straight it will register as a hit so it won't help your scores but it will help your playing sound better.

Also, see the video at the following link http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TE-103-HandVibrato.php

Personally, I'd stay away from customs when you're learning. Not to say that they are all bad, but at least with official DLC there is a level of quality control. There is plenty of good DLC in rocksmith and the included tracks are more than enough to get a beginner going.

I'll have a look next time I'm in rocksmith and see if I can suggest some songs that are good for technique. Off the top of my head, for getting some bends and vibrato down I'd suggest blues songs. There aren't many to choose from in rocksmith - The Sky is Crying by Albert king is one, and Born Under a bad sign is another. They might be a challenge for only 16 months of playing though. But give it a go - if you break it down and practice the licks in riff repeater, you'll have a lot of fun and learn a lot even if you can't nail the whole song.

Regarding your touch - you should have a light touch all the time. Good for speed and avoiding injury. My guitar teacher had exercise to practice just playing notes as lightly as you can to the point where you get a little string buzz. That way you know you only need a little more pressure to make a clean sound. It really drives home how little pressure is needed.

[grimlog]

You're doing well for playing only a few months. What I recommend strongly is working on your timing more. You're quite off most of the time :) Listen to "Fear of the dark" for example, where you pick only 5ths on yellow and blue strings, then blue and orange strings. Or "Breed" where you play the fast thing on the 11th fret after the main riff. You're completely off beat there and that sounds really bad. To improve this, play simpler songs, master them 100%, go to "Score Attack Hard" and try to maximize your score there. Timing does matter there, so you'll only score great, when your timing is correct more or less. I know, playing the more advanced songs is way more fun, but you should get the basics right, before jumping to that.

[DeathJohnson]

I watched one of the videos, the Fear of the Dark one, and from reading through the topic, all the advice I could give has already been given, and then some.

I might want to start a topic like this for my bass playing, but I don't know how much it could help without a camera for the actual playing. Although there are definitely some things you can tell just by the sound. I think my main issue right now is the strength in my fingers, I can't even play Fear of the Dark because the stretching hurts my fretting fingers enough that I can't really keep moving them.

[greenfj516]

Score Attack is a good tool for me for it will tell me if i am putting to much pressure on the guitar string. i mentally look over on the right side of the display screen to see if my note was aceppted as a good or perfect ring in witch a perfect note will have a better sound. Pressing down hard on the string will also make the note sharp.

Over time strings go bad sounding dead rings and becomes dirty from the grits from our fingers inbedding in the coil wrap. I think that why we all should wipe dry the strings before they get the chance to be glued onto them.

Metal strings will get bends in them from from natural playing and fretting. These bends will also kill the quaility of the tones harmonics. Maybe that is why I see all of those high scorers in score attack leadership board sound so much better is because of the natural harmonics..

Yes i have watched a few of your videos and was impressed with the correct note playing on the scores. The tones didn't seem ring out "imo"

[CmdrCrackhead]

Thanks guys I'll work on the above. I'll pick a few songs get them down as perfect as possible over some more training time and post. I greatly appreciate the help. I feel if we don't allow ourselves to be constructively criticized we never become better guitar players (or also in my example kung fu, they constructively criticize me and it gives me drive to fix what they are pointing out)

[grimlog]

Originally posted by DeathJohnson:

I might want to start a topic like this for my bass playing, but I don't know how much it could help without a camera for the actual playing.

I for one have not looked much at how he is playing. I just listened. So I'd say it could work well, depending on your skill. If you're an experienced player just looking for advice on bad habits that one might spot by looking at your technique, this will not work of course :)

[grimlog]

In addition to playing songs I suggest you look at some exercises to improve your timing:
http://www.fretjam.com/guitar-timing-practice.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/guitar_techniques/how_to_massively_improve_your_rhythm_and_timing_on_guitar_in_as_little_as_5_minutes_a_day.html

[CmdrCrackhead]

Thanks a bunch for those links. I've done majority of exercises in the game but those seem very very useful.
I'll stick to my purchased dlc and rocksmith 1 and 2 soundtrack as practice items vs custom songs. I think maybe I was spreading myself thin. In that I have 100s of songs and I play them as I feel like it on the xbox one or pc. Where each song has different chords techniques bends hammers ons and offs etc so to keep it "fun" I'll play a song then move on to others and then another day come back to that original song and improve a little. Like I could play song 1 and by the time I do my last song to practice 3 days later I play song 1 again whenever the mood hits to hear or play that song.

I'm starting to see from your tips I should find the ones that I can play good already (or decent I am humble so I don't like calling myself things like good vs someone telling me I did a good job. How many times do you guys play a song or do a lesson before feeling like you want to hear a different song.

For me it's constant so it's gonna be weird playing the same one again and again or the same lesson again and again, but if that's what it takes to reach the next level of skill I'll do it.
Also would it be worth the extreme cost of once a week seeing a guitar teaching and paying for lessons or tips. I know somethings I might be doing wrong or could do better that can only be seen by someone in the same room with me. Think that's needed or have most of you self taught yourself from beginner to master?

(My friends are no help they just want me to play while they drink or whatever and don't want to play multi with me because it takes too much effort to get started, i'm like it scales to your difficulty, I started only being able to use my pointer finger I had to constantly shift because of uncoordination of the other fingers but now I can play with all the fingers. And they still turn down playing ever though I'm trying to convert some people. Or at least play bass I told them (no insult to bass players I have seen queen songs have amazing varying bass lines) for the most part bass is just a continuous repeating pattern throughout the song that does not vary much at all, so try that, and there is only four strings to worry about. Nope. I like playing bass myself on custom rap/hip hop songs I think rappers need a live bassist it's fun playing base for old school 2pac , Eminem etc.)

[grimlog]

For timing it is essential, that you play songs you are very comfortable with, so you can concentrate on one thing, timing that is. If you struggle with chords, notes and/or techniques the timing suffers naturally. Timing is something RS doesn't teach good imo. The highway shows when to pick a note, but it doesn't tell you anything about how takes are made with different note lenghts and all those related, very important things one has to know to be good at playing an instrument. I don't look at the highway to know, when I have to pick a note. I "feel" it, I just know, when the correct moment is, just by listening to what is going on in the take. I think, both links I provided will help you in getting this "feel" for yourself.
Personally I do similar to you. I play a song, try to improve and move on to the next one, if I feel like doing so. I'm not working on one song to master it to 100% at all costs :) I'm totally self taught on guitar. I played other instruments before (with a teacher), so I already had some clue about rhythm and patterns. I know, that my technique is quite sluggish, but it works for me. There are many better guitarists than me out there, especially when one considers the time I play guitar. But I don't care much, fun is what matters to me.
Good songs to train timing imo are "Next girl" , "I can't hear you" and "Angela" (all in the first RS), they are not very hard to master, they have longer breaks between notes and a good groove you have to follow to get good scores.

[CmdrCrackhead]

I'll try angela (even though it's dull lol) or better Next Girl, that one is one of the easiest songs in the game. I can probably practice and then record that as an example of how I've taken your comments to heart and am paying attention to rhythm. I have got to the part where I can hear what the chord is by ear, but not to where I can visualize it's timing perfectly or feel it as you described. (that's why I turn my speakers and bass up on my 7.1 sound system because it's indescribable the first time you hit a chord or power chord and feel it rumble through you. It felt great when I made it from using one finger or multiple to play single notes to suddenly chords, then once I got the power chords down I tried the song again and it's indescribable what it feels like to hit that chord and it sounds just like it does in the song u make the room rumble around you as you play (since playing the right note or chord just makes it sound LOUDER while missing you can hear the miss because the songs note plays and you play off by a fret so you hear the difference.

Do you think getting to know the lyrics of a song and using those as the cue to play (like in master mode) so you know as soon as he stops singing such and such word you play this chord to a 123 12 1 rhythm til the next lyric comes up. Or is this a stupid thought I was thinking?

I wish I knew someone locally who would teach me for me working on his house painting drywall etc or pc repair or just enjoys teaching others and jamming out with them. I could learn a lot I feel if I had a teacher. My dad is willing to help me financially if I need a teacher but I was trying to get all that I could out of the game before I went to seek a teacher and take classes. I can play better than my dad he is a disabled veteran but I still trust his wisdom.

He claims I need to know how to form all the chords and their names or at least the most often used ones like C for example. I should be learning all that then moving on to worry about timing. But I don't agree. And he says I should learn rhythm guitar first before lead. But I like lead and I do play rhythm on a lot of songs. Actually some songs I like better playing rhythm and others I like playing lead, it depends on the song and beat. Is it common knowledge that I did not hear about that you start rhythm guitar then learn lead after? Or is that just my dads personal opinion and he's wrong. He's the type that likes playing strumming type songs like country soft rock like the eagles, blues, etc. He said he would play the game more often than watching his video lessons on dvd if it had country music in it. I think they should make a johnny cash pack or something like that , easy to play songs like I walk the line, to a lot harder ones like the classic Hurt that's originally a NIN trent reznor song.

[grimlog]

Relying on the lyrics is not a good idea in my opinion. As a guitarist you should be able to do the timing for yourself not depending on others that sing or play with you :) You can use lyrics to remember which part comes next, but even that should not be needed, if you have memorized the song enough. I don't agree with your father. While learning how chords are constructed is quite useful knowledge, you can probably become a really good guitarist without the slightest clue about how all this works. You cannot with bad timing. Without good timing you will always sound bad. If you play a C-Chord, because somebody showed it to you, but you don't know how it's made up, it still is a sounding C-Chord :) Learning some rhythm guitar before doing lead on the other hand is no bad advice at all. Everything you do on rhythm is something you can and will use when doing lead later. Imo, every guitarist should be good at playing rhythm. If you want to play a solo, you *have* to know what your rhythm guitarist or bassist are doing, otherwise you're doomed to fail :) Best way to learn what they are doing, is knowing all the stuff yourself. But best advice I can give is, play what you have fun with. In the end, that's what it's all about.
For the feel of the sound: wait until you get your hand on a decent tube-amp with a 4x12 cab or two :)