Rocksmith.....

I have never played guitar before but I thought I give it a try and got Rockband for $49.99 on Sale (imported it from the US). Its a great experience and even though I am still no pro I am learning step by step. I would say if you have enough time you will
surely be able to learn to play guitar with this software.

 

I think the game would help you get used to the idea of playing, but it (obviously) isn't going to explain why you're playing what it is you're playing. It won't teach you music basics... like... why does a G major chord and a D major chord sound good when
played back-to-back. If you're just looking how to figure out how to play some songs, go for it. If you're interested in creating your own stuff, you'll be better off getting a tutor for the first year or so.

 

Here's my take on Rocksmith for XB1:

About me, I've been playing for >30 years, 4.0'd the Berklee performance guitar program, in and out of bands for years since I was a kid, warmed up for a couple of bands you may have heard of (Bosstones etc.), home recording studio, live and online Master's
classes with a variety of pros (Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, etc.), play jazz rock classical and blah blah blah.

As far as being a teaching tool:

I do not believe, if you want to be a "guitar player", that Rocksmith alone will get you started along that path. What it will do, is teach you to play the Rocksmith game.

I do believe, that if you are taking lessons from a professional instructor, studying on your own, and doing what you can to play with other musicians LIVE, then Rocksmith is a good supplement.

The major problem is that, on its own, it does not teach you to LISTEN to your playing and develop a musical sensibility It teaches you primarily to REACT, much in the same way a "twitch" video game does. The guitar becomes a controller, not an instrument.
If you learn to play guitar by staring with rigid focus at a TV screen, you will be completely lost when you stand with a group of people and do not have that visual immersion and set of cues. You won't be listening and playing, you'll be waiting and reacting.

In order to avoid this, you need a teacher, and actual people to play with. A teacher will make sure you are listening; recording yourself in time, deconstructing your playing, seeing what you like and what you don't, and putting it all together. He/she
will also make sure that you are not developing bad habits, many of which Rocksmith does not help you with (e.g. holding a pick incorrectly, alternate picking without rigidity, various common strumming patterns that you have to really drill to internalize
and make flow, etc.).

Also, Rocksmith really, really needs to enable "show notes not numbers". Personally I can't play the games because I don't think in terms of numbers, I think in terms of notes; the only numbers are "that note in that scale would be teh 5th". When you play
with people, jamming and all, constantly saying "string number fret number" instead of just "A on the D string" will hold you way back. I've seen this so many times that it's not even worth discussing; tablature is easy but ultimately holds you back from understanding
what you're playing and why you're playing it.

So in short:

- Alone, Rocksmith teaches you to play Rocksmith. You're not playing guitar, you're playing a game where the controller just happens to be a guitar.

- If you are learning traditionally, Rocksmith can be a very fun support and reinforcement tool.

- Please enable notes instead of numbers. Guitar is about music, music is about notes. Not numbers.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

 

Oh and BTW to get the *** thing working at all, I tried everything; two different sound bars with optical inputs, all the TV settings (uncompressed native resolution etc. etc.), and the delay gets better but is still ultimately unacceptable. Like Yngwie
says, even a light pick will create a lag between pick->note that will prevent you from really nailing accurate, fast lines (e.g. 64th notes played IN TIME, not haphazardly with tremolo picking, which is for wankers). So any delay over what a standard cable->pedal->amp
creates will teach you some really, really bad habits regarding playing in time (on the beat, behind the beat, etc.).

You have to split the signal to get a genuine feel. I use a PODHD500; I plug the guitar into the Pod Guitar In, then run the Unbalanced L (mono) out via the Rocksmith cable to the XBox, and the Unbalanced R (mono) cable to an amp. Set up this way it works
perfectly, set up any other way, a couple of friends, even a demo in the store, I found it unplayable. You don't want to "get used" to the lag, that is bad news if you really want to play guitar.