Rocksmith: Bachsmith II

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 17, 2015

You’ve probably heard me raving about Rockmith 2014 before, and are probably either sick of it or maybe you already play it. Anyway – it’s cool, I’m still playing, and still improving.  Not as much as I’d like, but then, I’m not putting in more than about a half-hour a day into it, either. But I’m about where you’d expect someone to be… I think… after practicing casually for two years, averaging about 40 minutes a day (a little less the last few months). Most of my guitar-practicing time is still with Rocksmith, but I can be found playing unplugged with either my electric or my acoustic practicing riffs or exercises.

This week’s DLC release is a follow-up to last year’s in-house hit, Bachsmith. They arranged and recorded their own rock arrangements of classical music for a downloadable pack. The arrangements emphasized the learning of some techniques, but they were still pretty fun. This year, they did it again.

The arrangements run across all musical styles, but includes Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite (called the “Notecracker Medley”), Mozart’s Symphony Number 40, Chopin’s Funeral March (which looks like the easy one of the bunch), and Offenbach’s The Can-Can. The styles this time are… well, they are a bit more all over the board than the last one. I guess if you want to make sure you practice a variety of styles (still anchored but straying a bit more from straight up rock), it’s a good challenge. The Can-Can seems to incorporate a variety of styles all by itself…

Okay, none are my first choice for what would be in the pack. I’d probably like… I dunno… something like JerryC’s version of Pachelbel’s Canon, a guitar arrangement of Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D minor, Flight of the Bumblebee (like I’d be able to play that one!), etc.  But these sound pretty fun to me overall. It seems like they went for more playful arrangements this time around.

So far the Tchaikovsky arrangements sounds like the most interesting of the mix… but then, it’s a medley.

 

Anyway, it’s pretty cheap for a 5-song pack, but then they don’t have to pay licenses. If you are a Rocksmith 2014 fan, it’s probably worth checking out.

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