Rocksmith

 (227 customer reviews)

I thought I'd give a review from the point of view of someone completely new to the guitar, for those of you out there like me who are wondering if this will really teach you or if it'll be a frustrating waste of money. First off, I'll say that it isn't easy. As someone completely unfamiliar with the frets and the strings, I had a tough time starting out - very slow and clumsy. BUT, you'll see improvement REALLY quickly. I've only been playing for about two hours and although I still suck, I'm having a great time and I'm already loads better than I was when I started out. The only reason I stopped was because my finger got sore from holding down the strings. So far, for someone who's wanted to learn and either never had the time or money to take lessons, or found practice to be tedious and dropped it, or just doesn't have a mind for reading music, this is a definite recommendation. If anything changes as I get further along, I'll update this review. But as of now, I love it...Read more

As others have said, this game is not a replacement for a human guitar teacher. The advantage here is that you get to jump in and start playing songs right away, and let's face it, that's the reason alot of folks give up on their "regular" lessons early on. Nobody wants to spend five days learing how to tune their guitar even though they should. Nobody wants to spend another fifteen days learning how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" even though they should. People want to pick up the guitar and play "Sunshine of Your Love" in ten minutes, and Rocksmith lets you do that... sorta.

Rocksmith won't teach you to play any song you want on the guitar in a week's time, but what it does is get you used to holding the instrument and what to do with your hands. The first time I ever played Guitar Hero, I think I might have hit a total of ten notes in the song. But eventually my left hand learned which button was which and how far apart they're spaced, to where now I can play alot of...Read more

In reading the reviews written about Rocksmith so far, I can see a little of myself in almost every reviewer. I was the guy who bought an all-in-one guitar starter kit in his early 20s because he thought he could learn to play from a DVD. I'm also the typical Guitar Hero/Rock Band-turned-real guitarist. I've taken lessons from both self-taught and accredited instructors and have been playing about 2.5 years now. I figured if I could go from failing the easiest song in Guitar Hero I to playing almost every song at 90+% Expert in Rock Band 3, I could learn to play a real guitar if I was willing to dedicate the same amount of time to that as I did a video game. I was really excited when Rock Band 3 announced it would have pro mode. Not only to be able to play a real guitar along with the game, but just to have accurate tabs for some of my favorite songs (accurate in the sense that if I learned the chords and notes, I could play the song--I understand there will always be debates...Read more