Tuesday, May 1, 2012

4 Months of Rocksmith Progress - A Look Back

Nearly 4 months have elapsed since I got Rocksmith and started playing it.  We got our XBox and Rocksmith for Christmas 2011, but then we left town for about a week so it hasn't quite been a full 4 months yet.

I reached Level 7 about a month and a half ago. Last week I reached Level 8. (Apparently Level 8 is still just International Headliner, the same as Level 7. I hear the names associated with Levels 9 and 10 are sort of goofy.) Only three more levels to go and I'll by a Rocksmith. For what that's worth. I'm really more interested in just being a better guitar player. Which, thanks to Rocksmith, I am.

Spreadsheets with scores and dates and accuracies and streaks from back in March and last week are below. But, generally, here's what they tell me:
I've mastered 10 different songs and played them from memory at least once. I've also mastered alternate arrangements of 3 of those songs (Angela, Surf Hell, and Satisfaction). That's a pretty solid set worth of music that I've learned and memorized since starting Rocksmith. I've got 4 song scores over 100k and just need to master one phrase (generally a solo) on each to master those. Don't tell me you can't learn anything from playing Rocksmith.

I've played a total of 58 songs and arrangements, including 8 DLC songs. I've got another 4 songs between 90k and 100k and several between 80k and 90k. I've unlocked one double-encore super secret song. I've completed 6 events.

I've got 20 songs with scores still below 70k. And, I've still got over 40 songs and arrangements from the original Rocksmith song list (the one that comes with the game) that I haven't even touched yet. Plus, a TON of DLC that Ubisoft has made available over the past few months. Level-wise it almost looks like I'm burning through the game - but there's plenty left and more DLC gets uploaded faster than I can keep up with it! (Even if I could play them all, I couldn't afford to download everything!) But I do sort of wonder what happens, game-wise, once I reached Level 11. Others have apparently done it and restarted the whole game over again. Since RS seems to sort of randomly generate events from all available songs, including DLC, maybe that's what I'll do, too. Guess I'll see how I feel when I get to that point. 

Of course, they also say there's a bass version or whatever you want to call it coming out soon. When that is released, I can start all over from Satisfaction with the bass!

My kids have played quite a bit, my son more than my daughter, and we've played together on multi-player mode several times. Lots of fun! 

Right now I'm using Scale Runner to warm up at the beginning of practice sessions. I use Riff Repeater to master troublesome phrases, relying heavily on the ability to force up the level of phrases. I'm working on getting the songs I've played already up to Master Mode, and I'm working up three new songs for Event 7  (I Miss You, Sunshine of Your Love, and that Andronicus song.)

Plus, I'm still working on Mastering the three free Christmas downloads to play in front of a live audience this Christmas. I've got God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen pretty much nailed. Working on Carol of the Bells and have it up to 82k so far. Haven't even tried We Three Kings yet. I've got 7 months.


Sort of unrelated to Rocksmith, but not entirely, I've acquired 7 more guitars since I started. Rocksmith gave me GAS. I don't plan to keep them all. Ubisoft might want to mention that when they promote the game. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has bought music-related stuff as a result of playing Rocksmith. Heck, even if you don't count the guitars, I've burned through at least two sets of strings in 4 months and I had to buy a decent (i.e. wide and soft) strap for my LP Special; the little nylon strap just wasn't cutting it for 2-4 hour sessions. Since the leather strap was a little stiff, I also got strap locks. Not to mention that I bought a whole XBox just so I could play Rocksmith - and along with the XBox has come XBox Live membership, Netflix, DLC, etc.

I'd say Rocksmith is here to stay. I sure hope so.

Here's my summary page from my progress tracking spreadsheet as of March 6th (This was back when I was having issues copying the fill colors into my blog.):


Date First Played
High Score
Best %
Best Streak
Play Count
28-Jan-2012
200279
94
96
61
23-Jan-2012
200033
99
302
11
23-Feb-2012
197259
100
89
5
26-Jan-2012
132554
88
50
11
14-Jan-2012
109775
98
158
6
5-Feb-2012
108484
97
155
5
26-Feb-2012
101103
97
126
11
2-Feb-2012
101066
96
122
29
14-Jan-2012
100299
97
155
45
19-Jan-2012
97762
96
152
70
22-Jan-2012
96609
90
88
42
15-Jan-2012
94445
94
80
16
6-Feb-2012
86737
89
89
15
14-Jan-2012
86600
0
0
6
15-Jan-2012
85738
95
138
25
15-Jan-2012
82550
0
0
33
6-Feb-2012
79776
90
60
21
1-Feb-2012
79735
88
66
3
15-Jan-2012
79013
95
110
52
6-Feb-2012
76799
91
58
15
5-Mar-2012
75592
92
127
7
23-Feb-2012
74507
0
0
1
1-Feb-2012
73384
0
0
1
8-Feb-2012
72970
90
86
10
15-Jan-2012
70966
0
0
21
24-Jan-2012
66064
90
144
22
22-Jan-2012
60425
87
98
19
24-Jan-2012
59846
0
0
6
2-Feb-2012
58578
95
128
19
21-Jan-2012
57289
87
105
48
24-Jan-2012
55320
80
42
??
8-Feb-2012
41941
88
85
1
10-Feb-2012
40728
0
0
2
22-Jan-2012
32372
0
0
1
5-Feb-2012
29715
0
0
1
26-Jan-2012
23837
0
0
1
30-Jan-2012
21438
0
0
2
1-Feb-2012
18106
0
0
1
1-Feb-2012
13249
0
0
33

Here's my current progress summary: 
Song
Artist
Play Count
Best %
Best Streak
High Score
Horrors The
14
88
50
250645
Little Barrie
6
99
294
230414
Little Barrie
124
98
181
222001
Rolling Stones The
11
99
272
217479
Queens of the Stone Age
10
99
675
213773
Brian Adam McCune
158
95
102
210466
Black Keys The
8
98
158
205498
Eric Clapton
10
100
89
204506
Jarvis Cocker
17
97
264
203555
Nirvana
33
96
122
202526
Jarvis Cocker
30
99
302
202435
Rolling Stones The
66
97
155
202003
Queens of the Stone Age
13
95
36
120093
Heart
31
95
182
110818
Nirvana
40
96
109
100658
Dan Auerbach
10
93
75
97856
Soundgarden
48
91
88
96609
Nirvana
10
96
109
95871
Dead Weather The
41
95
80
95739
Deep Purple
33
93
309
94860
Heart
4
93
103
90154
Taddy Porter
23
89
89
86737
Stone Temple Pilots
28
95
170
85738
Deep Purple
1
91
148
84407
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
6
98
227
83685
David Bowie
20
91
76
83031
Seth Chapla
90
92
148
82002
David Bowie
1
0
0
79838
Lenny Kravitz
22
90
60
79776
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
21
88
66
79735
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
54
95
110
79013
Blur
1
0
0
74507
Radiohead
10
90
86
72970
Horrors The
2
95
33
71772
Interpol
21
0
0
70966
Radiohead
2
93
58
70138
Dan Auerbach
6
93
75
70019
Horrors The
4
69
16
67976
Seth Chapla
10
83
37
67087
Best Coast
22
95
128
66161
Red Fang
25
90
144
66064
Brian Adam McCune
24
88
67
62070
Kings of Leon
19
87
98
60425
Pixies
6
0
0
59846
Rolling Stones The
??
80
42
58677
Muse
48
87
105
57289
Lynyrd Skynyrd
1
86
95
46782
Blur
1
0
0
45262
Boston
5
85
62
43406
Soundgarden
2
0
0
40728
Muse
3
73
38
35490
The Cure
1
0
0
32372
Muse
1
0
0
29715
Megadeth
8
78
38
27093
Rolling Stones The
??
78
24
20072
Red Fang
2
0
0
19735
Apart from the fact that my spreadsheet design skills are improving, look at the scores. From 2 to 12 songs with scores over 200k. Not sure that this means I'm a "good guitarist," but without a doubt I have learned to play a bunch of songs by playing Rocksmith.

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