Martin CEO-7

It’s like Guitar Hero…. But real

I’ve been trying to learn to play the guitar for about 7 years now, but if I’m honest I’ve never really gotten past a few basic chords and riffs.

My problem has always been that I’m too busy (and tight) to shell out for actual lessons, and printed materials can only take you so far.  There’s a wealth of videos available on YouTube, but their quality varies, as does their accuracy and helpfulness.

I’d pretty much given up, but after I spent close to a grand on a new guitar my other half was pretty insistent that I actually play it.  Then Christmas came and I found Rocksmith 2014 at the bottom of my stocking.

Rocksmith, from Ubisoft, is a similar concept to Guitar Hero, except you use an actual guitar as the controller, connected to your PC or console using a proprietary cable.  Rather than just checking that you’re pushing the right buttons, the software listens to the signals coming from your guitar to make sure that you’re playing accurately, and advises you if you’re not.

Getting to grips with it

I’ll start off by specifying that you’ll need an electric or electro-acoustic guitar in order to use Rocksmith, and you’ll also need at least one proprietary Rocksmith Real Tone cable.  If you’re buying a retail package it should come with the cable, but if you’re buying on Steam then you’ll need to buy one separately.

Rocksmith is available for Xbox 360, PS3, Mac and Windows (the latter two coming as a single package).  It’s worth noting that buyers will need to sign up for a free “UPlay” account which is used as an anti-piracy measure, but makes it difficult to play the game if you don’t have an active Internet connection.  It’s a system that I’ve had a lot of problems with before, as have many others, but reliability has improved in recent months.

Rocksmith will start off by having you create a profile, detailing your previous experience, whether your right or left handed and whether you want to learn rhythm, lead or bass guitar.  Once you’re setup you’ll be ready to start.

It’s a strange decision to put the “Learn a Song” option at the top of the menu, after all if you’re only a beginner you’re definitely going to want to take a look at the “Lessons” section first.

Also included is a Multiplayer section which allows two guitars to be connected at the same time for jam sessions, and a “Guitarcade” mode which helps to improve various techniques through various 8-bit style mini-games.

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