Rocksmith Saves the Economy!

I bought Rocksmith in 2011 as a direct result of a working display set up in my local Guitar Center. To recap the story, while I went in to look at some drum stuff my kids played around on the Rocksmith set-up in the middle of the store. When we got home, my son picked up the Squier Strat that had been gathering dust in his room and started playing Satisfaction just like he learned it on Rocksmith. As a result, I bought a copy of Rocksmith AND a brand new XBox 360 for our family Christmas present that very year. That was just the beginning of the spending.

Almost immediately after that I bought a second RealTone cable so my kids and I could play Multiplayer mode together. Soon, naturally, we needed new strings for all of our guitars. After a few weeks of hours-long RS sessions, I needed a better (i.e. wider and more padded) strap. Or two.

When the XBox wasn't being used for Rocksmith, we started buying and playing other XBox games. We bought an extra wireless controller and a programmable controller (because I didn't like the way some games mapped the controls). And a charger/storage rack, of course.

Then the DLC songs started coming out. So far we've bought about 35 of those. In anticipation of the Bass Expansion Pack, I bought a used Yamaha bass from GC. Then I bought the Bass Expansion Pack. I bought Rocksmith for PC at a bargain price. Now I've bought the 2014 version at full retail price, although it's on sale right now for $49.99 (check date of this post before rushing out to buy. . . ).

GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome) really kicked in. The guys at my local Guitar Center knew me by name. I didn't buy a new guitar right away, but I bought a pile of used ones. Not just from GC, either. When I say "a pile," I mean like over a dozen. I started trolling online auction sites where I found my Yamaha Strat copy and case (two separate auction items, but the seller combined shipping). I took the Yamaha straight to T.Sheppard's guitar shop for a set-up and ultimately a new neck. Once I bought a six-pack of guitars as a single lot from an online auction. Shipping on that one cost me a bundle (which I almost made back by selling off a couple of the six guitars). I donated one of the acoustics to my church for a music education program. A handful of First Act guitars were bought on other auction sites and most of those require shipping.

Then there was the scratch n' dent PRS Tremonti SE, followed by an Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow body and a Gretsch Electromatic semi-hollow body (both used). Last summer I bought two new guitars in one day - an inexpensive Ibanez acoustic to drag around to softball tournaments and a sweet Epiphone LP Special with P90 pickups for a very sweet price (i.e. under $100). I found my used MIM Fender Tele at the GC store. That's also where I recently found my Michael Kelly Valor. The same day I bought the Vapor, my son bought a used cammo-painted Ibanez with a case.

Eventually I got to a point where I wanted to start playing more off-line. So, I got a brand new Peavey Vyper modeling amp from Musicians Friend. Later I found a used Carvin bass amp and a ginormous bass speaker cabinet which took up entirely too much room at the house. That rig got traded back to GC for a more reasonably sized Fender Rumble bass amp. The Peavey and a very old Crate bass amp that I bought years ago got traded in on a Vox AC15.

Apart from strings and straps, there were stands and wall hangers. I got my daughter a new strap for Christmas last year. One of my her softball team's favorite songs required a slide. And a capo. So, I bought those. Somewhere along the line I picked up an acoustic pick-up (which I've never used but it was on clearance). When I finally settled on a favorite strap, I wanted to be able to quickly swap the good strap to any one of my several guitars, so I invested in some Dunlop Strap-Loks and several sets of buttons. I also tried a set of Loxx (which are very nice but pricey compared to Strap-Loks) on the bass. Then there were the tab books, a couple of other books, and several DVDs. Not to mention all the MP3s I've bought from Amazon so I could listen to Rocksmith songs at work and (try to) memorize them.

The only thing I haven't bought is picks. I play with a pick. But, more often than not, when I buy a used guitar there are several picks in the case. Plus, I have a bowl full of Guitar Center picks. I pick up a new one just about every time I go into the store. I'd take some back but I tend to put them in my mouth between songs. Which, now that I think about it, makes me really, really hope that nobody else ever brings their GC picks back to the store, either. . . Ick.

All in all, I have personally thrown at least a few thousand dollars into the economy over the past two years as a direct result of Rocksmith. No wonder I'm always broke. Yet, despite the fact that much of this money was funneled through Guitar Center coffers, I haven't seen Rocksmith in my local GC store since we bought our first copy in 2011. In fact, while the original Rocksmith seemed closely tied to both Guitar Center and Gibson/Epiphone, there's no mention of either company in Rocksmith 2014 and it seems GC doesn't even sell Rocksmith any more.

I see ads for Rocksmith on my Internet browser, but I'm continually amazed at how many guitar owners have still never even heard of Rocksmith. What's the deal? Rocksmith should be more of a household name than Guitar Hero by now! Why isn't it?

I smell a conspiracy! More later.