I went to try "Peace of Mind" from Boston, thinking the harmony and playing was on par with "More than a Feeling". I screwed around for a minute and raised the levels, then I saw the onslaught of jangly rhythm chords and quit.
I hate onslaughts of chords. They certainly make the song sound fuller, but I find them a real waste. You spend all this time learning how to contort your fingers into X then you have to snap over to Y then X then Z all in rapid succession, then you find a power chord gets you at least 2/3 to 3/4 the way there with no effort. If I am going to grind away a couple of hours learning something I find learning a run on a complicated solo FAR more impressive and rewarding than learning a few chords and stringing them together expertly in time. This all makes sense to me as psychologically I favor lead over rhythm all day long, but that's my thing. The only "chordal" pattern I have ever enjoyed was the rhythm of Crazy Train, but Randy Rhoads makes anything fun and rewarding to play (and even in High school I remember skipping that part to learn the intro and the fingertaps at the solo)
Does anybody else react to something that immediately makes them quit for something they find more rewarding?
Absolutely. There have been a couple of songs I've started (CCR) where it was simply a chord shift nightmare. The fun thing is it's probably a (as an example) modified G chord. You shape into a G and just lift the little finger or put down the ring finger to change the tone. But it's coming at me so fast I just quit the song entirely. Heck even Harder to Breathe, a song I really liked in Classic Rocksmith and a mess of muted chords and notes that all of a sudden were there in RS14. Just "holy crap, where did that all come from" before 3Xing out.
The American Woman chord arrangement on Classic Rocksmith was another one I simply quit. I couldn't figure out where the chords fit into the song so I'm trying to play it and the song is playing and I'm totally out of sync because it makes no sense. It's likely a much quieter fill than the main tune, to give it body, but in game it's loud and doesn't fit in with the beat or tone of the song.
Carl
If you are doing missions, keep in mind that quitting those songs doesn't count as "Play a new song", so you may be left going back and finding which ones you started, but never completed. It can be tough since, as you know, they still show a percentage on them.
I had to do that a moment ago. had finished all the practice tracks, and it looked like all the songs. There was one still in there though that I had quit.
I very much like that they've added in all these additional techniques (especially the percussive strumming), but I have to admit that it has greatly reduced my ability to just jumpstart sections to 100% in riff repeater, because now there's so much more to pay attention to. I'm not always in the frame of mind for that (depending on how much time I have to play), so sometimes that song goes on the "sort out later" list.
That said, I find the chord onslaughts really add to the overall fullness of many of the songs, and more than ever I feel like I'm learning the actual songs. Combined with the proper segregation of rhythm and lead parts, and I really feel we have something here.
I've professed before that I'm a rhythm guy, so this is right up my alley, and I'm really enjoying bass as well. My ejector seat moments usually involve crazy solos... although I sure find them great to listen to!
Agreed. Power chords, no problem, but real chords are a pain. I'll admin I am not a rhythm type player, it actually fascinates me that others can do that so easily, yet struggle any type of simple leads. And I'm the opposite!Originally Posted by pulpsmack Go to original post
However I love the rhythm/sound of Mary Jane's Last Dance, and will try to struggle through it until I get it. But I wish with Rocksmith 2014 that they had some simplified tab view of a section so that we could easily see the chords, changes and progression. Then you could practice the changes, and progression outside of Rocksmith until comfortable enough to take on the section.
How do others tackle those onslaught of chord sections? What's the method to your madness?
I try to learn the chord names... but MOST of the time, I play through the song a few times and pause when I get to one I don't recognize, figure out where it is, get my fingers placed properly and then practice switching to it from other chords in the song that I do know off by heart. I find that if I do that for about 10 mins I (usually) nail it when it comes around again.
I love a good chord progression though. I played 'Disarm' (Smashing Pumpkins) about 8 times in a row today just because I love the bass tones that come with a couple of the chords that I can't remember the name of now. :/