Easy-to-Master Rocksmith Bass Songs

I've mastered two more songs since the previous update. The whole list, with number of plays to master is as follows:

Song Title                     Plays to Master
Angela                                   3
Chimney                                2
High and Dry                         6
Next Girl                                4
Six AM Salvation                  5
Song 2                                    4
Where is my Mind?               3

I have not done any riff repeater work or made any special efforts to master any songs on bass. Basically, by just playing these songs through a few times I managed to level up all the phrases and score the required 100k.

Chimney is sort of the oddball here. My rehearsal note entries tell the story. Chimney first showed up as an encore on my Event 6. Then it showed up on my set-list for Event 16 with a qualifying score of 90k.

18-Aug-2012	57708	n/a	n/a	Encore - Event 6
10-Sep-2012	72952	77	28
10-Sep-2012	80456	88	28
10-Sep-2012	81690	84	37
10-Sep-2012	98571	85	33	Qualified @ 90,000 (4x)
10-Sep-2012	107003	93	64	MASTERED!!
10-Sep-2012	106324	n/a	n/a	Event 16

It took me 4 tries to reach 90k. But, by the time I reached 90k, it took just one more play to get over 100k. It didn't take any riff repeater work to get the phrase levels up - it was just a matter of running through it enough to make the score.

Secret Squirrel (Locked) Songs, High Qualification Scores, and Master Mode Encores

It's widely known that you can unlock songs on bass and play them on guitar. But, in the past my son and I were unable to play a song in multi-player mode if one of us had not unlocked the song yet. That made perfect sense to me, but the situation appears to have changed.

Last night my son and I were playing multi-player mode with him on his Strat and me on bass. I needed to qualify Six AM Salvation - one of the secret squirrel double-encore unlock songs - for my next event. I had unlocked this song on bass a while back. My son has not unlocked it yet, but we could play the song together in multi-player mode. (I was also able to qualify it for the next event (at 90k) and master it in multi-player mode.)

Even though all four songs in my event had qualifying scores of 90k, the event (my 17th on bass) wasn't too bad - until the encore. I've mastered a handful of songs on bass, so naturally I got a master mode encore last night. What a train wreck. I scored 42,667 on Song 2. In master mode. That would be a 21,333 in regular, non-master mode - a score that I normally beat even on songs I've never heard before! And, of course, my wife and kids were there watching the whole horrible tragedy unfold before their very eyes. Needless to say, I didn't get a double-encore.

I'd have to say that I am joining in the chorus of those calling for an end to master mode encores - or at least some serious reforms. Like, letting us know which song will appear as the MM encore BEFORE the event starts so you can rehearse it. What real band would ever pick a song they haven't played forever as an encore?

Strangely, I had played all four of the songs from last night in previous events - but I still have 4 songs that I've never played on bass at all. Wonder why they haven't shown up on a set-list yet while other songs have already appeared in at least two events? (I have a similar situation in guitar mode where the Jenny O song has NEVER appeared on a set-list.)

Rocksmith Bass Status Update

In three weeks after downloading the Bass Expansion, I have played 16 Events, unlocked 4 secret squirrel songs, and played all but 4 of the available songs at least once during an Event. I have unlocked all of the bass guitars and techniques, but somehow I still have over 30 tones left to unlock. I've reached Gold level on all 5 of the bass-specific technique challenges. I'm sitting at Level 8, International Headliner, with 9,263,200 RSP.

I have mastered 5 songs on bass without doing any Riff Repeater work - just playing through the songs a few times to qualify for events. Virtually all of the songs that appear on my set-lists now have qualifying scores of 90,000. So, by the time I qualify a song for an event, I'm very close to mastering the song anyway. Here are the ones I've mastered so far:

Angela
Chimney
High and Dry
Next Girl
Song 2

Angela is just like the guitar arrangement but without the solo, which makes it even easier. Took me 3 times to master Angela. I played it once to qualify for Event 2 and then I played it in Event 2. Then it showed up pre-qualified (?) on my set-list for Event 15. When I finished the event, the song was mastered. Last night I played this as my first bass Master Mode performance, scoring 202,694 with 99% accuracy. (There is one spot after the second verse where the basic riff is slightly modified - beware!)

Chimney showed up first as an encore for my first bass Event. It showed up later on my list for Event 14 and I mastered it in one play before playing it in the event. The other night I thought I had Mastered this one on the very first play. I was very excited. But, I forgot that I had actually played it once before as an encore. Still, not too shabby to master a song on the second play through!

High and Dry first popped up as the encore song for my Event 6. Then it reappeared on the setlist for Event 16 with a qualifying score of 90k. It took me four tries to qualify the song with a score of 98571. It was fully leveled up by then, so I tried one more time and mastered it on the 6th play through.

Next Girl was on my set-list for Event 2. I qualified on the first play with 86,174 and scored 89,750 at the event. I qualified it for Event 15 on the first try with 99,536. I took a shot at mastering it and got it on the 4th play with a score of 110,460.

Song 2 is a pain due to the Eb tuning, but it's an easy play. (Use a pick.) It first showed up as my second encore on Event 4. Then it took me two tries to qualify the song for Event 15. I mastered it on the 4th play through with 98% accuracy and a 234-note streak. Tried for 100% accuracy by couldn't get past 99% with a score of 108,784. (Blew it on the event and got a 94,917.)

I've got 9 more songs with scores over 100,000. (I Miss You is sitting at 146,198.) Just a matter of leveling up the phrases. I don't plan to deliberately master any more songs because doing that is just asking to get Master Mode Encores - and who wants that? Not me. I've got one more secret squirrel song to unlock!

This just illustrates the difference between bass and guitar on Rocksmith. Bass seems quite a bit easier as a rule. Which can make it more fun. I mean, I'd love to be able to rip through a lead guitar solo, but so far I just don't seem to have what it takes. On bass, I can lay down a solid back-riff without killing myself in Riff Repeater.

3 Weeks of Rocksmith Bass Playin' and A New Hollow Body 6-String

After just 3 weeks, I'm sitting at Level 8 on my bass and loving it. The bass expansion is awesome and well worth the $30. It downloaded fine (took a while with my slow ISP) and has worked flawlessly on my XBox 360.

I have approached my bass journey a little differently than I approached the guitar journey. On guitar I never played events until I had all the songs up to 70k or more. On bass, I've played events as soon as I qualify the songs, which usually means after one play through. Much less pressure. Much more fun. I have already had at least two songs pop up with first-time qualifying scores of 90k, and at least one song came up fully leveled the very first time, so things will probably slow down for me soon and I'll have to work at qualifying songs a little harder after the next few events.

Bass CAN be a lot easier than guitar. Last night I mastered a song the very first time I played it on bass. My son has done the same thing on a different song. Bass can also be a lot HARDER. Higher Ground, for example, takes some serious bass chops that even the best guitarist is unlikely to have without working at it.

First really surprising thing I noticed about the bass expansion is that you can unlock the Secret Squirrel Club songs pretty easily. And, once you unlock them on bass, they're unlocked for guitar, too! In eight months of Rocksmith playing (pretty intense, serious Rocksmith playing and 14 events) I only managed to unlock one SSC song (Space Ostrich). Playing 14 events in less than three weeks on bass, I've unlocked all the remaining SSC songs except The Star Spangled Banner.

Even though I had diamonds for finger tips from playing guitar, the switch to bass raised some huge new blisters. HUGE. I guess I fret the bass a little differently than the guitar. But, the last of the dead skin is peeling off as I type this and my fingerprints will be well-disguised now.

In short, the bass expansion rocks. If you have Rocksmith and even the slightest inclination to check out the bass world, you need to get the bass expansion. You don't even need to buy a bass guitar to play it - Rocksmith will let you emulate a bass using the top four strings on your regular guitar. A whole new release of Rocksmith which includes the bass expansion is due out next month, but at $30 for the expansion, you may be able to score the original Rocksmith software and add the bass expansion on for less than what the new release is likely to go for.

Guitar-wise, I put a beautiful used Ibanez ArtCore hollow-body on lay-away last weekend. Stopped at the local GC to poke around during the Labor Day sale and it was just hanging there. About $250 with a hardshell case made it a hard deal to pass up. Really nice action and a smooth-as-silk neck with perfectly trimmed frets and edging all the way around. I might have put it down but a guy from the band I sit in with was there and said that he thinks the Ibanez is every bit as good as the Gibson ES-330. I said, "Yeah, but this one doesn't have a Bigsby on it. . . " He said, "Do you really USE a tremelo?" Well, no, I don't. Barracuda is about the only song I ever use a whammy bar on and I wouldn't use the hollow-body to play Barracuda, so I put the Ibanez on lay-away. This gives me a little time to think about it but doesn't allow for the possibility that someone else will buy it while I think. Plus, you know, it gives me two more paychecks in the meantime. I plan to pick it up the first of October. Photos will be posted.

Instruments-in-general-wise, Yesterday I bought an upright piano. Been wanting one for ages. Actually bought one for $10 a year or so ago but had no way to move it. Still not quite sure how I'll move this one, but I'll figure something out.

Rocksmith Bass Expansion - First Impressions

Looks like it's been over a month (nearly two months, actually) since my last post where I apologized for being a slack blogger. But, in my defense, I have been on an actual vacation - at least for a week of the several weeks which have passed since my last post. Also, some IT changes at work have made it impossible for me to access this page from the computer where I spend most of my time. . .

I took my acoustic guitar on vacation to beach and worked on my Christmas songs a little (even though I would have preferred to play some Jimmy Buffet). Missed an opportunity to play a paying gig while I was away and my wife ended up in the hospital for 24 hours with a kidney stone. Other than that, it was a great vacation!

When I got back, the RS bass add-on was just hours from being released. I downloaded it the first or second day it was available and so far I love it. Took about an hour to download over my bargain ISP connection, but once it was finished downloading it played perfectly right from the start.

My son and I tried multiplayer mode with one bass and one guitar last night - and that works great, too! Really a lot more fun than playing multiplayer with two regular guitars.

Bass seems quite a bit easier for me than regular guitar. I've already played 5 events and reached Level 5 - National Headliner after only 3 days of playing. I have not gone into the Riff Repeater yet, but according to the boxes above the lyrics that show up during rehearsal I have maxed out the phrases on at least a couple of songs already. My son has reached Master Mode on at least one song.

Unlike my approach to the regular guitar side of RS, on bass I plan to zip through events and songs until I start seeing the same songs come around for a second time. I'll be curious to see how that works out. So far, I'm already seeing some songs come up for a first play with almost all of the notes showing up. But, so far, I've only run into one song that I didn't qualify for an event on my very first play. Overall, to me, bass just seems far easier to grasp.

I've also unlocked two secret squirrel club songs on bass - something I haven't been able to do on regular guitar after months of playing. (In case you didn't know, any songs you unlock with bass are also available to you on regular guitar. However, in multiplayer mode, you can only play songs that both players have unlocked. Which makes perfect sense - I just never ran into the issue before last night when playing multiplayer with my son on bass.)

The only glitch-like issue I've noticed so far on the bass is the tuner. When tuning to D or E-flat, it seems like the tuner jumps wildly until I finally nail the pitch. Just makes tuning to non-standard tuning take a little longer. Not a huge problem.

Switching back and forth from guitar to bass is effortless and glitch-free. I haven't noticed any change in the way my guitar game plays since adding the bass add-on. It seems like venues pop up in a sort of random order when I play bass events - not sure why and it doesn't make any difference. Just noticed that I seem to be seeing larger venues earlier with bass than I did with regular guitar.

In short, I'm really enjoying the new bass stuff! My third finger is still a little sore - never did get an X-ray, but I might. Right now, my only issue is these huge blisters on my first and third fingers!

Back After a Long Break

I've been pretty slack on this blog , pretty much ever since I took a long weekend over the 4th of July. I didn't just take a break from the blog. I have played a lot less guitar over the past few weeks than I was playing before. No real reason - just got into a more relaxed mode (and now I've got some work that I'm doing on the side which cuts into my play time). Still playing. Just not killing myself with 2 - 4 hour late-night marathon sessions. I think I may have reached a point where practicing a little less may actually produce more positive results. We'll see.

Arm pain had become an issue for a while, so the break has helped with that. Unfortunately, I'm now experiencing some unusual sharp pain in the third finger on my left hand - the finger that I use to fret power chords. It feels a bit like the first knuckle on that finger has a hairline fracture or something. Will probably get an X-ray if it still hurts in a week. But, my forearm and wrists feel much better lately. I've also done quite a bit of playing while sitting down - with the guitar on my LEFT knee as some guys on the Ubi/RS forum suggested. That makes a huge difference and is surprisingly comfortable. Takes just a few minutes to get used to it.

I've mastered one or two songs this month and made some serious progress on a few solos. Bought the Queen 5-pack plus Black Parade DLC. And, I've played two or three events - none of which got me any double encores. In fact, on one event about a week ago I didn't even get a first encore. Pretty bad. I'll post event results and an updated spreadsheet this week.

The break is definitely not an indication that I'm burned out or losing interest in guitar. I'm still at it probably 3 or 4 nights a week and still planning to play my little Christmas concert (mastering the 3 Christmas DLC songs from December 2011 and playing them in front of a live audience). And, I'm very excited about the upcoming release for BASS! Once that comes out, I may be playing a lot less guitar. Can't say for sure, but I really don't foresee ever becoming the kind of guitarist I'd like to be. Bass, on the other hand, I may actually have some potential to play.

Trying a New Approach to Rocksmith Events

I used to try to get my songs up to 70k before I'd play them in an event. But, I recently realized - as I worked my way through the last few songs in the original RS song list - that the songs will show up in events again and again with increasing qualifying scores. So, when I reached the end of the original song list and songs started showing up on set lists for a second time, my qualifying scores were WAY up there - like 90k. That's practically mastering the song! Had I just played the events without trying so hard, I could probably have played the songs in at least a few events each before I started seeing such high qualifying scores.

I bought some new DLC recently, so that showed up on a set list with more realistic qualifying scores. I decided to take this opportunity to try a less ambitious approach to events. Instead of working on the songs until I had them at least half-way mastered, I just ripped into my most recent event after meeting the minimum qualifying scores. Actually, since I qualified all 5 songs on my first play through, I didn't really do the event until I had played each song a couple of times. I didn't do any riff repeater work or anything. Just refreshed my memory by running through the songs before I actually started the event.

The event went OK, I guess, considering that I barely knew how to play the songs and was probably playing maybe 50% of the song. I got an encore. Unfortunately, it was a MM encore, of course. And, funnily enough, even though it was my first mastered song that I've played a couple hundred times, it took me several measures to remember how it went! So, no double encore.

At least this time I got an encore. Could have been worse. Now I'm anxious to see what comes up next. Will my new DLC songs keep showing up until I get the scores up to the level of my other songs? Or, will they appear randomly, mixed in with other songs that I've worked hard on? We'll see.