Alright. I'm here, I'm going to answer some questions I get from a lot (and I mean a lot) of people.

TL;DR This game will teach you guitar in its base form. If you want it to be your new Guitar Hero, you better have a massive wallet for all the DLC you'll be buying.

Q: Does this game really teach you how to play guitar?
A: Yes. Absolutely. Unless you were taught by Slash or Les Claypool themselves, this game will get you up to speed in being relevant in the music world. I've picked up a few tricks from this game, and I've been playing guitar for almost 13 years now. The game runs you through the basics to the advanced techniques -- it even gives some neat tips for extraneous stuff about maintaining your instrument and keeping it clean and in good condition. Nice!

Q: Is this game worth the money?
A: Really depends what you use it for. To learn the basics/advanced tech of guitar? Absolutely. Hands down best purchase I made in 2020. For a replacement to rhythm gaming? Eh... This game has really fantastic rhythm game potential, but if you scrolled past the DLC when getting to this review, go back up, and click the "SEE ALL" button there. You will lose where this review went because this game has a massive DLC list. The way this game works, for those not in-tune: this game has a custom DLC community. However, if the devs at Rocksmith put out a song for the game, it must legally be taken off of the Custom DLC host's forums or else DMCA/legal hoop-la happens and the site goes down. And Rocksmith devs are still pumping out DLC for this game -- as if Rainbow Six: Siege is not netting them dummy amounts of money. now pushing for CDLC to be removed if said song is released for the new Rocksmith+, meaning this game no longer gains songs, just loses access to songs you can legally acquire. Not to say you won't get your money's worth just playing the stock songs in the game, though; some of those are fun.

Q: What's the deal with this Real Tone Cable?
A: I really hate to burst your bubble, but that's a proprietary cable that you have to buy if you want to use in-game modulation effects. On the bright side, it is MUCH cheaper than when the game originally was announced, and though playing with the Real-Tone cable is *not* required (can confirm, played disconnected for the first week of owning the game), it makes the game way more enjoyable and addictive. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper to take a dive on a single cable than to invest in a cable, amp, and modulation setup that could run anywhere to $750 on the cheap side of things.

Q: I am totally new to guitar. Can I really just pick up and play this game to learn?
A: Yes. Here's the thing though, and you're gonna hate me for saying it: playing an instrument takes time. Practice. Determination. Commitment. Passion. You will find there are a lot of deterrents in learning guitar/bass, and it is not easy getting past some of those. This game makes the learning process, however, considerably more enjoyable (though I didn't go from start to finish learning in this game, I am mostly self-taught), but the commitment you make to this game will directly reflect in how well you actually play. I can promise you: if you play this and do not learn how to play guitar, you're really not cut out for learning in the first place. If you have a healthy mindset towards self-discipline, this game will help you go far.

Q: Wait, you said "guitar/bass." Does that mean...?
A: Oh, you bet it does. You can learn bass on here too. And if you have a guitar, you can technically learn the bass with the low 4 strings on the guitar. And guess what? The devs at Ubisoft have enough experience to recognize this and even put a feature in the game so you can play bass with your guitar. If that isn't the craziest cool thing, I don't know what is. Of course, if you're buying this game to play the bass, you probably already knew that you can plug a bass in instead (and you probably have said bass sitting around, ready to be played :D ).

Q: So, what? If you don't buy DLC, you just have to play the stock songs and whatever you can find on forums?
A: Yeah, pretty much. But the community has a vast network of pretty well-done (and some not-so-well-done) songs to play along to. Also, if you're buying this in 2020, you'll probably get the Anniversary Pack like I did, which added some cool and fun songs that are hip. But this game in its base state has a lot of fun songs (be aware, though, you have to unlock some of them through playing missions, but if you're learning, that's good encouragement :D ). As a matter of fact, one of my favorite songs in the game is a song I unlocked that I had never heard of prior to Rocksmith called "Impossible Dreams," which is a simple yet fun and unique song to grind out. I'm not saying you won't have fun with the stock songs, but you would probably enjoy it a lot more with some of the DLC they have in this game.

Comments are enabled. I'd love to answer questions about this game, as -- frankly -- I think I'm falling madly in love with the ability to mash my computer/gaming and music together into one hobby. This game is such a beautiful treat compared to solo sessions with an amp and a guitar. If I didn't answer something you were curious about or you wanted to ask a question, I'll respond as best as I can.

EDIT: added comment about RS+ slowly starting to suck the life out of the CDLC community for this game as of its 2021 release, directly affecting and forcing changes to CustomsForge's EULA and ToS. Thanks, Ubisoft.

Alright. I'm here, I'm going to answer some questions I get from a lot (and I mean [i]a lot[/i]) of people. TL;DR This game will teach you guitar in its base form. If you want it to be your new Guitar Hero, you better have a massive wallet for all the DLC you'll be buying. [b]Q: Does this game [i]really[/i] teach you how to play guitar?[/b] A: Yes. Absolutely. Unless you were taught by Slash or Les Claypool themselves, this game will get you up to speed in being relevant in the music world. I've picked up a few tricks from this game, and I've been playing guitar for almost 13 years now. The game runs you through the basics to the advanced techniques -- it even gives some neat tips for extraneous stuff about maintaining your instrument and keeping it clean and in good condition. Nice! [b]Q: Is this game worth the money?[/b] A: Really depends what you use it for. To learn the basics/advanced tech of guitar? Absolutely. Hands down best purchase I made in 2020. For a replacement to rhythm gaming? Eh... This game has really fantastic rhythm game potential, but if you scrolled past the DLC when getting to this review, go back up, and click the "SEE ALL" button there. You will lose where this review went because this game has a [b]massive DLC list[/b]. The way this game works, for those not in-tune: this game has a custom DLC community. However, if the devs at Rocksmith put out a song for the game, it must legally be taken off of the Custom DLC host's forums or else DMCA/legal hoop-la happens and the site goes down. And Rocksmith devs are [strike][i]still pumping out DLC[/i] for this game -- as if Rainbow Six: Siege is not netting them dummy amounts of money.[/strike] now pushing for CDLC to be removed if said song is released for the new Rocksmith+, meaning this game no longer gains songs, just loses access to songs you can legally acquire. Not to say you won't get your money's worth just playing the stock songs in the game, though; some of those are fun. [b]Q: What's the deal with this Real Tone Cable?[/b] A: I really hate to burst your bubble, but that's a proprietary cable that you have to buy if you want to use in-game modulation effects. On the bright side, it is [i]MUCH[/i] cheaper than when the game originally was announced, and though playing with the Real-Tone cable is *not* required (can confirm, played disconnected for the first week of owning the game), it makes the game way more enjoyable and addictive. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper to take a dive on a single cable than to invest in a cable, amp, and modulation setup that could run anywhere to $750 on the cheap side of things. [b]Q: I am totally new to guitar. Can I really just pick up and play this game to learn? [/b] A: Yes. Here's the thing though, and you're gonna hate me for saying it: playing an instrument takes time. Practice. Determination. Commitment. Passion. You will find there are a lot of deterrents in learning guitar/bass, and it is not easy getting past some of those. This game makes the learning process, however, considerably more enjoyable (though I didn't go from start to finish learning in this game, I am mostly self-taught), but the commitment you make to this game will directly reflect in how well you actually play. I can promise you: if you play this and [i]do not learn[/i] how to play guitar, you're really not cut out for learning in the first place. If you have a healthy mindset towards self-discipline, this game will help you go far. [b]Q: Wait, you said "guitar/bass." Does that mean...?[/b] A: Oh, you bet it does. You can learn bass on here too. And if you have a guitar, you can technically learn the bass with the low 4 strings on the guitar. And guess what? The devs at Ubisoft have enough experience to recognize this and even [b]put a feature in the game[/b] so you can play bass with your guitar. If that isn't the craziest cool thing, I don't know what is. Of course, if you're buying this game to play the bass, you probably already knew that you can plug a bass in instead (and you probably have said bass sitting around, ready to be played :D ). [b]Q: So, what? If you don't buy DLC, you just have to play the stock songs and whatever you can find on forums?[/b] A: Yeah, pretty much. But the community has a vast network of pretty well-done (and some not-so-well-done) songs to play along to. Also, if you're buying this in 2020, you'll probably get the Anniversary Pack like I did, which added some cool and fun songs that are hip. But this game in its base state has a lot of fun songs (be aware, though, you have to unlock some of them through playing missions, but if you're learning, that's good encouragement :D ). As a matter of fact, one of my favorite songs in the game is a song I unlocked that I had never heard of prior to Rocksmith called "Impossible Dreams," which is a simple yet fun and unique song to grind out. I'm not saying you won't have fun with the stock songs, but you would probably enjoy it a lot more with some of the DLC they have in this game. Comments are enabled. I'd love to answer questions about this game, as -- frankly -- I think I'm falling madly in love with the ability to mash my computer/gaming and music together into one hobby. This game is such a beautiful treat compared to solo sessions with an amp and a guitar. If I didn't answer something you were curious about or you wanted to ask a question, I'll respond as best as I can. EDIT: added comment about RS+ slowly starting to suck the life out of the CDLC community for this game as of its 2021 release, directly affecting and forcing changes to CustomsForge's EULA and ToS. Thanks, Ubisoft.