Origin Story
Here at Teeny Rockers, we love our music and we wanted to be able to do more than just listen - we wanted to play along! Like so many others though, we didn't really have the time needed to really learn an instrument well and we had no significant prior music experience either, so picking up an instrument and learning it from scratch was a bit daunting. We managed to play little bits here and there but didn't really feel like we were getting any better..... until Rocksmith came along.
What Is Rocksmith?
Rocksmith is software that you can get on Playstation, X-Box or PC/Mac that in some ways works a lot like your typical Guitar Hero-type game. The key difference though, is that you use a real guitar or bass instead of a plastic one with buttons on it. The game comes with a whole heap of songs already available to play (66 in fact) but it also has a massive library of DLC, extra songs that you can buy either individually or in packs. They add new songs every week and they've now got well over 1000 songs to choose from in their library.
Can My Child Use This?
So this is the really cool part - your child can use this software and they have a fantastic example of how well this can work in the form of Audrey Shida, a young girl from Japan who's Dad picked up a copy of the software (originally for himself). She got into it when she was around 8 years old and her little sister Kate hilariously sings (read: yells) along, especially to the heavier metal songs.
This video gives a really good brief summary of how she started and where it's taken her so far:
Pretty impressive, right?
Her most popular video on her own YouTube channel is of her playing Slayer's 'War Ensemble', only a couple of years after she first picked up the guitar, while her sister Kate provides fantastic vocals into a pool noodle microphone.
Epic!
You can even play two player if you buy a 2nd cable so you can play along with your kids! Who knows, maybe you could get good enough to start playing your own songs as a duo, go out on tour, take over the world....
It's never too late to start but it's never too early either - You may as well get them started as young as possible like this little guy:
Mint!
So How Does It Work?
This video from Ubisoft gives a good, quick rundown of how it actually works and even features Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains!
How Exactly Is This Good For Me & My Kids?
Learning guitar (or any instrument) is good for you in so many ways. It has been proven to enhance memory, mood, math ability, concentration and social skills to name a few. Plus its so damn cool when you can pull a guitar out at a party and play for people - and that's great for your confidence & ego!
Get Yourself A Copy
To be clear, we haven't been paid for this, nor have we been asked to write it. We don't even sell the game ourselves. We just happen to own a copy and really like it so we wanted to share it with you, our wonderful Teeny Rockers readers.
Though of course if anyone at Ubisoft is reading this and wants to pay us we're certainly not going to say no *hint hint*.
So if you've seen this software around and wanted to try it or maybe you haven't but you're keen to give it a go, we'd definitely recommend it. It's fun, easy to learn and you can play 2 player (if you buy a 2nd cable) so you could even play along with your kids! You could have one on lead and one on rhythm or one on electric guitar and the other on bass and learn together!
Rock on!
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