Rocksmith Single Note Fun

Rocksmith's single note arrangements teach you how to play with control and finesse, so are great ways to improve your speed and technique. Often, and not surprisingly, the parts also teach you essential scale forms. When I play these single note arrangements, I focus on playing efficiently, with little wasted motion, and mute the strings I'm not playing with my right and left hand to play the line as cleanly as possible.

I also like to place my pinkie finger on the corner of my pickup, nice and relaxed, and keep it there as an anchor for my picking. I also use the middle and ring fingers, and the palm of my right hand, for muting.

I really like these two songs, and they're pretty easy to learn, which is why Rocksmith encourages you to play them right away. Master the essential pentatonic scale by playing these riffs:

• THE DEAD WEATHER: I Can't Hear You
• THE BLACK KEYS: Next Girl

These songs teach you how to mute strings while you are riffing, too.

For a song that's not really in any scale know to mankind, try:

• NIRVANA: In Bloom

This song is an excellent example of a "leading tone" line, where grace notes and chromatic runs create a powerful sense of tension as the guitar and bass march in thunderous unison. In fact, the single note part in Rocksmith, minus the solo, of course, is basically the bass line, possibly with one or two minor variants. Single note means learning the solo for "In Bloom." I think this solo is brilliant and well worth the effort, but I'm stuck at 80% mastery right now.

Interestingly enough, In Bloom is also part of RockBand (1), so I've learned to sing it reasonably well, and could probably combine both Rocksmith and RockBand to learn this whole song (minus the drums, sadly).

Songs I'm working on in single note arrangements, but still need to polish

• STONE TEMPLE PILOTS: Vasoline
• LITTLE BARRIE: Surf Hell - I love this tune!
• CREAM: Sunshine Of Your Love
• RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Higher Ground (this is no longer listed on the Rocksmith site!)
• THE ROLLING STONES: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

The Riff Repeater is a great way to master sections that are giving you trouble in Single note arrangements. I usually start with the Leveler, and then use the other options if I'm really stuck. 

What are your favorite single note lines in Rocksmith? Which songs are the easiest to learn? Are there parts that are especially difficult to play? Please comment below.

Grave of Bonaparte

Greg PC has done some excellent research on this traditional song, and found some original (primary) documents, starting with:

a set of alternate lyrics (not the Know-Nothing ones) that preserves the theme of the song but which is really different. [Here's] an Italian blog that actually has the musical notation to the song! One thing I've found interesting is the fact that the second and third verses swap places in different versions. Most of the older versions I came across have it 1-3-2 which made me assume that maybe that was part of the arrangement Norman Blake had done, to switch the two. It makes more sense to me the way we sing it but it also made me question if we were getting it right from a tradition point of view. I need worry no longer. This version is in the order we're used to. 

Also, Greg found the lyrics at the Library of Congress, and a chord chart with lyrics. Nice work on the research!

Rockband 3 Drums: Getting Started

I believe it's possible to learn how to play drums by starting on the standard Rockband ("non-pro") drum set. In fact, I have the Guitar Hero drum kit (3 toms and 2 half cymbals), but it works with Rockband 2 and 3 as well. I always have fun when I play Rockband drums, even though I can only finish songs consistently on Easy. I've found that when I play drums, afterwards my guitar playing (real guitar and bass, not the Rockband kind) is much tighter; meaning, much more accurate rhythmically.

It seems that the best way to learn anything in Rockband 3 is to start in Career mode and pick the appropriate challenge; in my case, this means starting with the 11 simplest songs, and trying to reach three stars or more on each song. I just couldn't pull it off on Medium difficulty.

Once I got started, I could immediately see my improvement from song to song. I started off earning three stars, and scoring in the low 90's for accuracy; by the end I earned five stars on one song and four on several others, and put together some nice long streaks, where the drum highway lights up with a neon blue swirly pattern and the streak badge glows with the same neon blue. Also, I was scoring 95% accuracy or better, although I never finished higher than the top 90% of the leader board.

I learned how to hold the sticks loosely, so they bounce off the heads, and how to relax through my arms and shoulders, instead of trying to really hammer away. Of course, it's fun to really bang away, but to put together a decent streak, I found it best to try to relax into the beat, and not force it.

Some other tips:

• when the track starts, bang your sticks together, or tap your foot (not the one on the pedal, the other one) in sync with the click track at the beginning of every song, so you are ready to make your first hit right on the beat.
• Setting up the drums "righty-style" means I can cover the red tom with my left hand, and then drum the other pads with my lead hand (my right).
• Try some rolls, in rhythm, during your drum breaks, when you trigger Overdrive. As with the rest of your drumming, focus on staying relaxed and staying on rhythm, instead of trying to bang out the wildest drum solo you can. If you come out of the drum break on the beat, you keep your streak alive, and the points mount up quickly. Plus, it feels great!

Knocking on Heaven's Door Verse 3

Dylan didn't always sing this optional third verse:

mama wipe the blood from my face
i'm sick and tired of all these wars
there's a lot of people feeling just like me
feels like I'm knocking on heaven's door

The Alarm sings a cool version that includes this third verse.

Thanks, Chris G., for the words & video link!

Boneoke Aug. 17, 2011

Just got back from the Bone. On the bass, I sang "Low" by Cracker; and "Knocking on Heaven's Door." Plus, for the first time ever, I also played bass on: "Pride & Joy" (SRV); "Better Man" (Pearl Jam); "Sweet Caroline"; and Creed's "One." I actually have never ever heard that Creed song before -- the rhythm guitarist showed me the chords once and we started playing.

Just Got Paid & The Rover

Last Tuesday todd, Brien and I played a cool version of "Just Got Paid" where we broke into Zep's "The Rover" and then came back to "Just Got Paid." I found some inspiration for some of the bass fills in Ver. 3 of The Rover bass tab. Todd & Brien were inspired by Dream Theater's "Big Medley" and came up with the idea for this rockin' mashup.

Key to the Highway

By Big Bill Broonzy

Notable versions by Eric Clapton & Duane Allman, Little Walter, Junior Wells

I sang this with Ken at NGW, alternating verses, which we pulled from Blues for Peace.

8-bar blues
||: A | E | D | D |
| A | E | A D | A E :||


I got the key to the highway,
and I'm billed out and bound to go
I'm gonna leave here runnin',
cause walkin' is most too slow

I'm goin' down on the border,
now where I'm better known
Cause woman you don't do nothin',
but drive a good man 'way from home

Now when the moon creeps over the mountain,
I'll be on my way
Now I'm gonna walk this old highway,
until the break of day

Give me one more kiss mama,
just before I go
I'm gonna leave this town,
ain't comin' back no more"

So long baby, now I must say goodbye,
So long baby, now I must say goodbye,
I'm gonna walk this highway, 'till the day I die"

Rolling in the Deep

Julie likes to sing Rolling In the Deep (chords).

Capo 3

Open Tuning: D

I got back from the guitar monastery today and promptly tuned my little Yamaha to the Vestapol open D tuning: D A D F# A D. I reviewed some basic major scale forms, then tried them out strumming. I also worked on some Travis picking. This is a great tuning and I'd like to record some of the ideas I came up with while I was playing.