I think it does not matter, how you are learning, but the learning method must motivate and engage you. The best real teacher can not help, when the pupil don't want to learn. So if somebody loves to learn with Yousician there is nothing wrong with it.
Unfortunately, except the guy he mentioned in the video who without Yousician was completely lost and had no idea what to do with his guitar... He was so used to looking at the screen that once he didn't have that, he had no idea what to do.
It's a nice thought, but like he says in the video, it really depends on where your focus is. If you practise with a visual aid you're effectively training the visual part of your brain when what you really need to train is your ears. You can potentially make good progress that way, as far as the physical side of playing an instrument is concerned, but you'll never be a musician, you'll only ever be a kind of musical touch-typist - all muscle memory but no creativity or feeling or anything else that makes a musician a musician. And I mean that objectively, because those things require practice, and you're not practising them. A lot of (not all) classically trained musicians end up like that because of the way they're taught (just follow the dots!). That said, if being a musical touch-typist makes you happy, that's fine too, I guess.
@@cederickforsberg5840 Still Yousician can be beneficial for a beginner, for muscle memory etc… If you really want to learn a lick, a song from Yousician, you’re free to try to play it without looking at screen then you’ll memorise. You notice after level 8-9 you can no longer look at the screen for difficult solos, as only way to play then looking on the fretboard. :)
@@mylogify Everybody has a choice ofcourse, but why pay money for it if there is TONS of tabs often with lessons on youtube already?? I don't get that part.
I'll second that video - it'd be really damned cool to hear some sort of VH1 Storytellers version of the various instrument's acquisitions, etc (Minus the tragedies VH1 always focused on in those. Shit was brutal.)
As someone who lives in regional Australia, I think the new age of learning on line is an amazing resource. As a kid I outgrew the teachers available to me at a young age and a couple of years ago as a 38 year old, I tried a local teacher. After a few lessons, they told me they weren't able to teach me the things I was needing to learn, which I was appreciative of. But it does leave us regional guitarists a bit stranded. Something I've always been disappointed about.
I'm 20. Been playing for about 6 years. RUclips has taught me everything I know. Full songs, scales, and chords. I couldn't imagine learning lesson by lesson with an in person instructor. Skill level up would have been very slow if so
My son and i have been playing Rocksmith inMelbourne since it first came out, and we have over 300 songs. He plays bass and i have a couple of 6 strings. It is brilliant. The new Rocksmith+ sucks. Has no multiplayer and the music is totally uninspiring. That may change.
@@Dylan-nm6vf It's much FASTER when you have an in person teacher. You understand that having a teacher doesn't limit you in any way, correct? I can't imagine being so arrogant as to believe that personal tutoring couldn't be beneficial. Like, what do you even think guitar lessons are? 🤦♂🤣
Nothing beats in person lessons. I am self taught and didn't take a formal lesson for 30 years. I learned more in 6 months than I ever did on my own. He took the mystery out of theory and made it simple. That's something that can't be done by reading a book or watching a video.
I’m a pretty new guitar player (I’ve been playing for maybe 3 years) and I’ve improved more in my last year of lessons so far than I ever have. Having somebody to point out your mistakes and give you tips/tricks is amazing.
Same. Learned a lot after finally going to an instructor again. Going to a teacher is like going to a gym. Sure, you can do it by yourself. But the instructions and motivations push you out of your comfort zone. Plus, a great teacher will know your strengths and weaknesses.
When I'm learning a song I try to memorize it first, so even if I'm using a software I'm always stop everything I'm doing to play it all by myself, no back tracks, no metronome, no concern about time, just focus on memorize the part I'm learning. That's how it works for me, after I learn every note by heart then I try to play on time, so I'm not dependent on a Tab or a app.
I prefer Rocksmitth bc it has separate things for teaching certain techniques, and it has a performance mode which gets rid of the notes on the screen, having you play it from memory
i see Rocksmith and the others as karaoke... as you will do well/better on the songs you already know (listening) than trying to sing/play something you dont know the melody, phrasing, etc... 🤗
i know its not for everyone but ill always be fond of rocksmith. its what brought me into guitar and its what taught my the basics and its how i had fun getting my hands up to skill around the guitar. now i teach myself and i have a lot of fun and take it more seriously now and ive been making music because of it
Learning by ear is still the best way. Even if you don’t figure something out note for note you’re still using your ear to get as close as you can. Over time you’ll just know where on the fretboard to start when learning a new song.
Learning by ear is good, but for beginner/intermediates? Not really for me. It should be very difficult to play by ear a song consisting a lot of variety of chords
Glad you made this video. I constantly get the “So, you wanna play like Metallica?” Ads, and have been on the fence about Yousician. I’ll stick with what I’m currently doing though.
I just picked up the guitar again after many years and I’m still a beginner. I’ve watched your videos and countless others on RUclips to try and get started and they’ve certainly helped a lot. I started using Guitar Tuna while I waited for an actual tuner to come in, which in turn led me to Yousician. I agree with everything you said in this video. It’s a great and affordable tool for people like me who can’t afford lessons because of time and/or money, but the adverse effects of using your iPad to study music could end up doing more harm than good. It’s good to remember to take a break from the screen and try to play it on your own and that’s a really good way to learn and apply what the app is teaching. Yousician should include a feature like this in their app between lessons.
Songster has a pretty awesome program, transcribed in tab, abilities to control speed/tempo, supports all instruments including vocals. Also you have the ability to correct incorrect tablature in which updates on their main server. Their music catalog features thousands of songs from all genres. In my opinion it's an excellent tool to add into your music theory studies. Thanks for sharing this information 😊
I wonder if James or the guides talk to you about down picking palm muting exercises or why James uses the 3 finger technique. I get way.... and tried it for 2 weeks but just could not get used to it. I didfeel the control but my playing got worse as my wrists were locking up.
I just watched your video on the yousician mettalica lesson program. I've learned to play guitar primarily through yousician with a mix of other online guitar programs and RUclips channels like yours and I feel like this has been a very good tool through out my guitar journey over the past 3 years. As far as the yousician app I have realy needed to fine tune my setup with a audio interface, monitors, microphone and then I play my guitar through a boss katana more then the audio interface. You really have to make sure that the audio setup and latency calibration is done properly and frequent. And going though the learning process you learn palm muting, pinch harmonics and vibrato but unfortunately these are things that are not included when the song is scrolling so you have to be a little intuitive. Bends, slides and sometimes strumming patterns are included so you just have to be aware of some of the subtle variations when you're learning songs. The Bobby effect is totally spot on, to not have that be a problem I've really had to practice the song over and over and memorize chunks of the song and play it with out the assistance of the app. But in my opinion the featured artist section is great for guitarist that are in the beginning stages of learning. I absolutely love mettalica and will most likely finish the featured artist path, but having enough experience to play all the songs in their entirety I jumped right into the harder stuff. Ultimately I think this is a great way to learn guitar, especially for people that grew up playing video games but the biggest problem is the "Bobby effect" you have to practice other methods and play with out the aid of the little bouncing ball as much as you can. Thanks for doing a piece on this, I think your videos are amazing and especially love hearing your personal guitar stories!
Ok, my personal experience with Yousician (and with the Metallica courses so far): 42 years old guy here, picked a guitar for the very first time when I was like 19, but never really got into it. I was practicing by myself like 2 hours a week, never really felt any progress. Now, during last year pandemic period I tried Yousician at home, since I had an acoustic guitar. Surprisingly, and as you mentioned, it got me engaged immediately due the nature of game-like interface. After that, got more and more interested in practice and learning. Short story, during this year I have advanced more than all my previous attempts. Now I can play lots of songs that I never could before, I can play some leads (also an impossible task for me before). But one important note, as you also mentioned in your video: this should not, by any means, be your only source of learning. Currently I use Yousician for 20 min like some kind of warm-up session and has helped me mostly to develop a lot of muscle memory and some techniques here and there. With the new Metallica course, I don't have any problem with the videos whatsoever (I connect my guitar to a Samsung Galaxy Tab 6, using an iRig device). All the videos load and play immediately. They are quite shorts clips with 'tips' from James or Kirk, where they talk about the importance of the 'riff' in a song, or about the downstroke technique from James, etc. The lesson video that plays just before each exercise is performed (I think) by someone from Yousician (you only see the hands and the guitar, not the face) but still is quite good in my opinion. In the intro video for 'Enter Sandman'. for example, it shows the way James actually place his fingers for the main riff, instead of the way many of us do it. And that's a nice touch in my book. Overall, I have a good experience with the app and I recommend it to my friends usually, but always explaining that it will never replace a real teacher and it should not be the source to 'learn' songs (I still use the good old tabs for that). Thanks for all your videos Mike, I really enjoy and learn a lot with them. Also, excuse my poor English grammar (not my primary language).
You are spot on with your evaluation of the program. I am a beginner guitar play and started to learn with Youisician. It is a super fun way to learn guitar but it misses some of the fundamentals that are needed, I found after a while I needed more and tried a few other programs and some private lessons to fill in the gaps. It makes me dizzy too if I use it to long. I do still find it useful as it makes me want to pick up the guitar and jam along to songs on it, I figure anytime the guitar is in my hands being played is a win.
I’ve played intermittently for 20 years. I have started Yousician and I think it’s pretty awesome. It’s like learning songs by reading tab but with my own band with me at all times!! My fingers have never been this nimble or my timing better! Love it!
245 hrs on youcisian, here’s my pros and cons (for beginners) Pros: Color coded chords, helps you get shapes down Individual notes are color coded depending on which fingers you are meant to use The courses in “Learn” tab are honestly amazing, help me get techniques down before I even come across songs that use them Gamification and leaderboards , really motivate me to improve Cons: I still barely know how to read real tabs. Not very helpful for memorizing songs (the few songs I have learned off tabs, I memorized very easily in comparison) Requires room with good acoustics and a computer or phone with good microphone. If your audio input sucks, it will struggle to register your notes. Overall , I recommend but you must be cognizant of the fact that you will need to put additional effort in to learn to read real tablature and eventually memorize songs, unless you wanna be like Bobby.
I am a beginner guitar player and I use Yousician and Trufire. Trufire is actually great because I can follow along with actual instructors. Yousician just seems to helps me warm up for a song and makes my string picking more accurate. It serves a purpose but I believe Trufire is more likely a better way to learn. Depends on the person's preference! I do like the James Hetfield video on anchoring the picking hand for accuracy on Yousician. Must see!
Thanks for the honest review Mike! I was hoping the course would have more hands on with James and Kirk; like you I would love to have the personalized instruction from the guys themselves just to get those insider pointers for how to really play their songs.
I do most of my playing these days using Rocksmith, and I can definitely confirm the problem of becoming reliant on the note highway. I've been playing for around 30 years now, so it's not an issue of being inexperienced, but if I don't actually spend time committing things to memory, it's very easy to be completely lost when I don't have the notes in front of me. I don't know if I would recommend solely using something like Rocksmith for learning guitar, but what I find it really good at is making it fun to play, which is like 75% of learning. You'll still want something more instructive to fill in the gaps and to make sure you aren't reinforcing bad habits.
I have been using yousician since mid 2020 daily and agree with the review. With a 50 hour a week job + toddler + trying to keep my mind and body healthy, being able to grab my guitar and get time in without the time in travel, waiting, and a 30 min lesson once a week plus practice. Having said that. Yousician has progressed my guitar playing dramatically and in a way that would not have happened without it for all the reasons listed above. For the record, I believe in real life music lessons. I have spent many nearest engaged in voice coaching, and learned several other instruments with the benefit of direct instruction starting in my early teens. To me, it is all about the right tool for the right person at the right time. :)
Good job, Mike. You took the time to consider - and explain nicely -, some of the potential downsides that are not obvious, like dizzyness from the side scrolling screen, and your brain getting indoctinated to follow the screen so much that you don't recall how to play the song on your own without the screen. Very valuable insights, thank you
Excellent comments! I have been glued to my computer over the past few days after signing up for this program. I believe that ensuring I’m not screening dependent is great advice.
As soon as I clicked on ur video a Yousician ad came on haha how ironic. I remember back in 2013 when my parents got me my first guitar, they let me take guitar lessons at school. 6 months in and all I learned was what power cords were. I stopped all leasons and never looked back. 9 years later and I could say I've reached professional level. Learning songs by ear is so much easier for me. Everything I know now is pretty much self taught
I like it a lot, I noticed you have to hit the notes just a bit early do to latency. But it is definitely helping me with not looking at the fretboard while playing, so it's better for me in that aspect. I payed the 97.00 for the year, I think it's worth it. Being able to start slow and speed up when your ready is nice. 👍
Are you using phone or pc? If pc you need to make sure you have a separate audio channel. HDMI has audio BUT it is the reason behind the latency. Get yourself an external set of speakers and use audio cables or optical some thing
I like Yousician myself, since life gets in the way, it's hard to got to a teach for lessons. I've noticed the ledency as well, which can be a pain in the behind. Overall I enjoy the program, hopefully things can change in my life and I can find a guitar teacher soon, until then I'll keep using Yousician.
Great review! I have a student that has wondered how to get out of looking at the screen in Yousician to become a better guitar player. You're review is right on Mike. Thanks.
I just wanted to say, I played Rocksmith 2014 everyday for about 6 months before I took lessons. It was a great starting point. I was also curious about this Metallica program. Keep us posted.
I learned how to play off musician 4 years ago and now I can play rhythm to every Metallica song. I think it’s great for teaching basic chords but after you get that down, it’s best to go off on your own afterwards
I think you got it spot on. Screens have their place in learning, but they usually have to go away after a while. And as usual, your videos principles apply to all of life. Screens have their place but they shouldn't replace real life.
I really love the honesty and depth of your videos. Always super informative, without being overstated or dragging, and also not leaving important bits out either! Would love to pick your brain in real time someday with regards to some of my technical questions/challenges 🙂
The Bobby Effect is something that I will try to keep in mind. I think that this will be a good way to develop dexterity and build up callouses on your fingers, but it should encourage you to memorize the songs and not look at the screen. Maybe it should have a mode to teach you the riff, have you practice it, and then gradually take away the visuals so that you can remember it. Remembering the sequence is one of the harder parts of learning riffs, for me.
Honestly, whether or not they’re doing it for their fans or just for the sake of money I still like the idea that the band is letting us play their songs just like them
I love your videos . Thanks for this video and you transparency about this METALLICA collaboration with YOUSICIAN . All your thoughts about it are on point !
I really like Rocksmith as it has dynamic learning, so as you progress learning the game removes the tab so you have to learn the song and memorise it but I'm someone who used to learn by way of online tab sites and playing along to the actual song, so Rocksmith I feel has really helped me. There's also lessons on techniques and some fun game modes.
Haven't tried this yet but I'm hoping to when I have a bit more free time. I've played a tonne of Rocksmith though and the "Bobby Effect" is definitely real there, although I think the "master mode" helps a little by removing the visual cues once the game detects that you're comfortable enough with certain sections, which might be a cool feature to have here too
Good video, i am using youcisian because i am more of self taught kind of guy find it hard when someone teaches me something. Just small comments : 1- for 100% accuracy it is better with an audio interface like scarlett. 2- it is true that you get more dependent on the screen than memorizing the song. But with the practice option it gives the possibility to pause and then memorize it. 3- the major advantages of digital program is that it get your muscle memory to follow the exact rhythm and tempo of the song instead of being too fast or too slow. Thanks for the video
That's excellent mate. Can't believe you got the review done so quickly after the release date. I really wanted to see someone I respected review it so well done. Also, now I know that you study BJJ I have even more respect for you. Greetings from the North of England and have a good weekend. Keep up the good work
I thought that the whole idea was to have access to videos of James Hetfield explaining in detail how he plays Master of Puppets for example.... without that it just sounds like following Guitar Pro with extra steps
I was a loser in highschool. Learning metal riffs was necessary to fill my day. No computer. No lessons. Just Guitar World/ Player mags. Still have a stack waist high. Sometimes I look at them for nostalgia and all
Great review! It's a promising app but still leaves room for more improvements. I still prefer learning from channels like you tho, kinda prefer some human element when I'm learning.
I've been playing for a year. I call myself the riff master because that's all I really know how to play. I just got Yousician and instantly liked it. I did notice it's not 100% accurate and you can become dependent on the screen so I paused often and studied the tab. Overall I say great.
I liked your review and can understand how disappointed you were not getting a ‘private lesson’ from James. I loved that you included ‘Rygar’ as the arcade game. Not many people know about that one.
I agree with this video.... I'm self taught, mostly by ear and studying everything about James and Kirk. First time I met hetfield ('97) he said "I never took lessons either, Tony Iommi was my guy".
4:20 The nausea may be due to low frame rate in the lessons. It looked like about 20-30 fps to my eyes, which can cause symptoms like nausea and headaches if the same pattern seen consistently without any change over long periods of time. In gaming, its scrolling with you, so it varies. I don't know if it's a limitation of recording, the software, or the browser you're using, but 60 fps or more tends to solve that issue. Many retro games ran at 60 fps.
I’ve tried it out on my phone, James does sort of mention palm muting on the video before Sandman, he calls it anchoring and shows the difference between putting his palm on the bridge vs just letting your arm flail about
Thinking about what you described as the Bobby Effect, I agreed with you it was a bad thing, but as I thought about it, I started to think differently. Pianists, school bands, orchestras, jazz bands and many others only play by reading sheet music that is in front of them at all times. It may not be normal for guitarists, but it isn't the worst thing.
Except you can take sheet music or even a tab book anywhere. This program is too cumbersome to be your method of reciting a piece. To compare this to sheet music is not a fair assessment either. Not everyone who uses sheet music relies 100% on what's on the page.
I haven't used yousician, but I used to play rocksmith fairly often. I think it's great if you use it as a fun way to practice alongside more conventional ways of learning - like learning a technique or song myself and then using rocksmith as a fun way to practice.
30y.o. here, tried playing guitar multiple times by learning from tabs and RUclips videos, always stopped doing it due to unfillable expectations from playing the song that I technically couldn’t since I had no skill, so basically skill of assessing what you can and can’t play isn’t there yet by any means at that stage when you’re just starting. Then I tried Yousician and instantly got hooked, like literally I was so engaged and could play novice versions of popular songs that I knew and it sounded so good, so personally I feel like real teachers can teach you a lot and probably way more than Yousician but only in a technical/exercise way, by no means it’ll be any fun tho if you’re just starting. So far I played 100+ hours and not wanting to stop at all, learning 8lvl songs and even though process is not easy if you push it - it’s still fun as long as you can concentrate and be on top of yourself. Now I also try to play songs from tabs online and watching lots of guitar related videos, got my first 2 pedals and now I’m guitar addict even more than I have ever been. Now about drawbacks mentioned in video: 1) Would be sick to see 7 string tutorials 2) Motion sickness possible to get fixed with higher frame rate monitors(so it’s really subjective). 3) Even though I have lots of things to play and learn, why did Yousician removed RHCP, at least they could post some list of things that are getting removed due to licensing or whatever, I randomly figured out from googling.
love this video lol, just bought my very first guitar about a week ago (fender squire strat hss) & tried yousician just so it could tell me i wasn't playing certain notes correctly! i kept thinking my guitar was out of key, although it wasn't needless to say so glad you included this in your video as a very experienced player!!
Jame's commentary is really cool! I have been using Yousician since first starting to learn (almost 2 yrs now), it's been a great experience. I agree though, I suppliment it with content lioke yours, and other musicians on youtube
Thanks so much for this, and all your Metallica vids. I remember being upstairs at a church in Chicago with that old school “Master of Puppets” tab book trying to learn the riffs way back in the day. I appreciate your experience 🤘
I've used Yousician and Rocksmith and a few other programs and I think they're great tools. the issue of not being able to play without the screen is very real, as you mentioned. However keep in mind that a lot of people, especially classical musicians are trained to sight read so much that they can have issues playing pieces without the score in front of them. I've had it happen as much in Rocksmith and Yousician as I've had it happen with sheet music- especially on piano. rock band instrumentalist and jazz/blues, etc stage performers are kind of different in they tend to memorize their music more than some other musicians in my opinion. But you're 100% right. I had a hard time playing songs I played in yousician once the screen was gone- more so than other methods of learning where I have to think about what my hands are doing more. I memorize much faster using Guitar Pro or UG or just tab because I have to interpret it and translate it I think.
If you play rocksmith like it's guitar hero it won't stick but if you play it like you're obsessed with a song, 2 or 3 times when you load up, play a few songs and then cap it off with another time like you're trying to learn it it will stick. My issue was playing songs I already know off by heart cause it's really fun or just blasting through random ones IDK how to play back to back and not sticking with them. Another issue is you're relying on someone else's interpretation. I learned a Halestorm song, off by heart then started playing to a live video and noticed Lizzy wasn't playing what I was, so I watched what she did and it was so much easier to play. They both sounded right, same notes but one was way less economic. But you're definitely right, none of these shortcuts beat, interpreting the tab yourself or learning by ear. Gets a beginner going faster Rocksmith or Yousician but whne you've played a year or so, looking at a tab or hearing someone tell you what chords to play on a video is so much faster to get it under your fingers and a lot easier to memorise.
I had a similar experience with the program not registering correctly when just using a microphone. However, after plugging my guitar directly into the device that Yousician was running on, everything was registered perfectly. I think it's a great practice tool because it offers very direct feedback exactly when i want to play and have time to do so, but like you mention, the best option will always be to also have a real tutor
Yousician helped me tremendously, I do have “The Bobby Effect” every now on then, but I had the hardest time playing in time to anything before Yousician.
I use Yousician and have for many years, but mainly for practice not song memorization. When I first started playing guitar my daughter introduced me to Yousician. I practiced with it for about 2 years and did not improve a whole lot. Then I had an opportunity to get free lessons through Guitars 4 Vets and I have to say my playing improved drastically. You mentioned the Bobby effect and it is real. As I said I have been using the Yousician program for years, about 6 years now. I started using it hoping to advance my playing and learn some songs. It has in fact improved my timing, but I have never been able to learn any song by heart directly from playing with Yousician. I do fine playing along with the program, but when I try to play it without the screen to guide me. I just can't do it. I can however tanscribe the tab from Yousician and put it on paper to learn it. I would say to anyone who wants to use the Yousician program to not rely on it as a sole source. I would say take some lessons and use tabs watch instructional videos to help. I'm not saying Yousician is bad for you at all. Just use it as a game to compete with others or to practice your timing as I do. Just have fun playing, it's a great therapy!
I love Yousician. I am 47 and started learning acoustic and just switch to electric. It is so much fun and I have accomplished far more than I ever thought. These Metallica lessons seemed too daunting at first. However after I tried them they were far more easier than I thought. Yes I agree about the palm mute. I have no idea what that technique is because I haven't seen that in the program yet. So I am sure I am missing other techniques, like how long should I press down for?
Honestly, from my experience, when you learn a new song, you can use all the help that you can get from the screen, from the tab, from anywhere, but always your main reference should be your ears and the song itself; in another way to say it is that you should never trust the tab 100%, only if it matches 100 percent with what you hear on the song. I had a lot of help in the beginning with guitar pro but you know how those are made, they all have errors, but that's not a bad thing if you pay attention to the song. The main objective in learning a song is to learn the song obviously, but also to develop your ears, and before guitar pro I had some tabs on paper with Metallica songs and it was the hardest way to learn the song because I had to use my brain and my ears to deduce what's going on there, and match what's on the song with what's on the tab, melodically and rhythmically. But as hard as it was, this was the method that helped me the most because I had to reaaaaly work on it to obtain the end result, and I developed my habit of searching very deep, but the results are also as good as the work you put in. The bottom line is that it helped me trust my ears more than tabs or any other piece of paper, but you have to like doing that, otherwise it's very hard if you hate the process. And actually the tabs are only for guidance, because the real test is when you play along with the song itself, only then you hear what you're doing right or wrong, but you have to be actively listen and compare. Nice videos man, I like them
Man you hit the nail on the head about these apps and games taking your focus away. I have the same problem as your student. I can play songs on Rocksmith but then I cannot without the game. I agree 100% with you on that.
I use yousician and I use it just like you suggested, its a great supplement. I have weekly lessons and those lessons are so valuable, but the app gets me to pull out my guitar every day and do a little 10-15 minute lesson then I do my practice material from class since i already have my guitar out.
Yes, even reading tablature off paper required you to learn and remember as you went along. My biggest pride was learning the classical melodic solos all the way through. Shortly I had the entire songs down.
I have never seen anything from James where he has done any kind of instruction or demonstration of his music. I have tempered my expectations but I was really stoked when I saw this. He is probably my all time favorite player, and I really hope this isn’t just too good to be true
For the motion sickness thing: I game on a daily basis and I am a coding student, I can tell you for a fact that I would get dizzy. I had the same "Bobby" effect for a while, I was really dependent on Ultimate Guitar Pro and Guitar Pro for a while, my solution to it was: play the songs a lot of times, try and memorize the tabs, and then I play without the tab, sometimes I'll get it right away, something I have to review the tab a few times, and finally once I get the song without tabs, I try only the backing track, no tabs, no guitar sound, only the other instruments and vocals. I have been playing for almost 9 years so it does help a lot to be able figure stuff out by yourself, but I can't deny that stuff like Guitar Pro cann be really useful, as long as you don't use it as a crutch, but as always, it's great to learn stuff without it, and you always have those situations where there is some stuff that is off in the tab, so you have to go listen to the songs or watch videos of lessons or even a live performance to be able to get it right
what you said about the bobby effect, alot of people who plays rocksmith has it including me, i see alot of rocksmith streamers on twitch which can play very hard songs with hard solos. but when you ask them what they can play from memory with it it's pretty much nothing too fancy, like how they play with the screen. i do find rocksmith good for learning riffs, and improving technique it did help my alternate picking to become faster, it's good practice, but for building your brain library its better to watch chris zoupa
I definitely have the issue where I do not remember the song when I'm practicing on Yousician. But it's great for motor skill development, I find. I put my guitar down for a few years and recently re-subscribed, and it's helping me re-learn the fretboard without having to look at the neck constantly.
I agree, I've been playing with rocksmith for like ten years and often times I haven't paid enough attention to what I'm actually playing so couldn't actually play the songs outside of rocksmith, it certainly kept me playing somewhat alive but I recently found a real teacher again and I'm actually improving again... I still love rocksmith though, even for its flaws
As someone else commented, these apps are fine for practicing, but imo 1 to 1 private lessons are great because you have some to personally guide you and motivate you/keep you focused.
I have been using yousician for around 3 months and i have learned a lot from it, i have managed to learn refuse/resist alright. I do think face to face learning is better, but with self taught learning you can learn at your own pace.
So I've been a mostly self taught guitar player for about 8-9 years now. Within the past 2 years I've basically ditched my amps (still have them) and use rocksmith instead. And since i have it on my computer, i download basically any song i want. But I've noticed that most of the songs that i play on rocksmith that I haven't learned outside of it are damn near impossible for me to remember how to play. I love rocksmith, it helps me develop muscle memory and strengthens a lot of techniques. But yeah the "bobby effect" is very real. For example, If I wanted to play Trivium's song The Sin and the Sentence, on rocksmith i can play it almost perfectly. But id have no idea how to replicate that if I plugged into an amp
Good review, I thought the same thing initially, that James and Kirk would be showing us once and for all how they play this stuff. Still, as long as we have confidence this is actually correct, unlike the original books with hindsight, at least that counts for a lot
an ad popped up on my phone and it showed footage of james playing sandman, im guessing that is coming later. but for now we get some random dude showing riffs... fuk that
I think it does not matter, how you are learning, but the learning method must motivate and engage you. The best real teacher can not help, when the pupil don't want to learn. So if somebody loves to learn with Yousician there is nothing wrong with it.
Unfortunately, except the guy he mentioned in the video who without Yousician was completely lost and had no idea what to do with his guitar... He was so used to looking at the screen that once he didn't have that, he had no idea what to do.
It's a nice thought, but like he says in the video, it really depends on where your focus is. If you practise with a visual aid you're effectively training the visual part of your brain when what you really need to train is your ears. You can potentially make good progress that way, as far as the physical side of playing an instrument is concerned, but you'll never be a musician, you'll only ever be a kind of musical touch-typist - all muscle memory but no creativity or feeling or anything else that makes a musician a musician. And I mean that objectively, because those things require practice, and you're not practising them. A lot of (not all) classically trained musicians end up like that because of the way they're taught (just follow the dots!).
That said, if being a musical touch-typist makes you happy, that's fine too, I guess.
@@cederickforsberg5840 Still Yousician can be beneficial for a beginner, for muscle memory etc… If you really want to learn a lick, a song from Yousician, you’re free to try to play it without looking at screen then you’ll memorise. You notice after level 8-9 you can no longer look at the screen for difficult solos, as only way to play then looking on the fretboard. :)
I agree. You gotta have some kind of motivation or drive.
@@mylogify Everybody has a choice ofcourse, but why pay money for it if there is TONS of tabs often with lessons on youtube already?? I don't get that part.
Man, I love all the guitars you are using. Would you consider showing us your collection?
I'll second that video - it'd be really damned cool to hear some sort of VH1 Storytellers version of the various instrument's acquisitions, etc (Minus the tragedies VH1 always focused on in those. Shit was brutal.)
@teargazed I third this
I fourth this🙂
I’d love that too
I fifth this
As someone who lives in regional Australia, I think the new age of learning on line is an amazing resource. As a kid I outgrew the teachers available to me at a young age and a couple of years ago as a 38 year old, I tried a local teacher. After a few lessons, they told me they weren't able to teach me the things I was needing to learn, which I was appreciative of. But it does leave us regional guitarists a bit stranded. Something I've always been disappointed about.
I'm 20. Been playing for about 6 years. RUclips has taught me everything I know. Full songs, scales, and chords. I couldn't imagine learning lesson by lesson with an in person instructor. Skill level up would have been very slow if so
Why not become a teacher?
My son and i have been playing Rocksmith inMelbourne since it first came out, and we have over 300 songs. He plays bass and i have a couple of 6 strings. It is brilliant. The new Rocksmith+ sucks. Has no multiplayer and the music is totally uninspiring. That may change.
@@Dylan-nm6vf It's much FASTER when you have an in person teacher. You understand that having a teacher doesn't limit you in any way, correct? I can't imagine being so arrogant as to believe that personal tutoring couldn't be beneficial. Like, what do you even think guitar lessons are? 🤦♂🤣
Nothing beats in person lessons. I am self taught and didn't take a formal lesson for 30 years. I learned more in 6 months than I ever did on my own. He took the mystery out of theory and made it simple. That's something that can't be done by reading a book or watching a video.
Unless you’re watching Justin guitar
Sounds like you had a great instructor.
I dabbled in lessons. Went to this guy who was an amazing player, but not an inspiring teacher.
I’m a pretty new guitar player (I’ve been playing for maybe 3 years) and I’ve improved more in my last year of lessons so far than I ever have. Having somebody to point out your mistakes and give you tips/tricks is amazing.
Dude. No. Just no.
Same. Learned a lot after finally going to an instructor again. Going to a teacher is like going to a gym. Sure, you can do it by yourself. But the instructions and motivations push you out of your comfort zone. Plus, a great teacher will know your strengths and weaknesses.
When I'm learning a song I try to memorize it first, so even if I'm using a software I'm always stop everything I'm doing to play it all by myself, no back tracks, no metronome, no concern about time, just focus on memorize the part I'm learning. That's how it works for me, after I learn every note by heart then I try to play on time, so I'm not dependent on a Tab or a app.
Same
I prefer Rocksmitth bc it has separate things for teaching certain techniques, and it has a performance mode which gets rid of the notes on the screen, having you play it from memory
Master Mode and rift repeater for learning sections go so well hand in hand if you do want to learn to play songs or even just licks from memory.
only thing that sucks abt it is that rock smith has no metallica
@@christiankenney8945 it's extremely easy to mod, and the custom song creators have already created all the metallica tracks
@@ChadtheDad23 Yeah, but that's PC only I believe. 😥
i see Rocksmith and the others as karaoke... as you will do well/better on the songs you already know (listening) than trying to sing/play something you dont know the melody, phrasing, etc... 🤗
i know its not for everyone but ill always be fond of rocksmith. its what brought me into guitar and its what taught my the basics and its how i had fun getting my hands up to skill around the guitar. now i teach myself and i have a lot of fun and take it more seriously now and ive been making music because of it
Learning by ear is still the best way. Even if you don’t figure something out note for note you’re still using your ear to get as close as you can. Over time you’ll just know where on the fretboard to start when learning a new song.
Learning by ear is good, but for beginner/intermediates? Not really for me. It should be very difficult to play by ear a song consisting a lot of variety of chords
I was very curious about this. Thank you for your review!
Glad you made this video. I constantly get the “So, you wanna play like Metallica?” Ads, and have been on the fence about Yousician. I’ll stick with what I’m currently doing though.
I just picked up the guitar again after many years and I’m still a beginner. I’ve watched your videos and countless others on RUclips to try and get started and they’ve certainly helped a lot. I started using Guitar Tuna while I waited for an actual tuner to come in, which in turn led me to Yousician.
I agree with everything you said in this video. It’s a great and affordable tool for people like me who can’t afford lessons because of time and/or money, but the adverse effects of using your iPad to study music could end up doing more harm than good.
It’s good to remember to take a break from the screen and try to play it on your own and that’s a really good way to learn and apply what the app is teaching. Yousician should include a feature like this in their app between lessons.
Songster has a pretty awesome program, transcribed in tab, abilities to control speed/tempo, supports all instruments including vocals. Also you have the ability to correct incorrect tablature in which updates on their main server. Their music catalog features thousands of songs from all genres. In my opinion it's an excellent tool to add into your music theory studies.
Thanks for sharing this information 😊
I wonder if James or the guides talk to you about down picking palm muting exercises or why James uses the 3 finger technique. I get way.... and tried it for 2 weeks but just could not get used to it. I didfeel the control but my playing got worse as my wrists were locking up.
Trying the JH technique made me realize how important the pick type was. Maybe try different picks and you might get used to it.
Miss your destiny vids!
Use a 0.88 Tortex Green pick
@@HavocMusic1759 yeah maybe but after being able to pick that fast you'll be able to use any pick. Maybe there isn't a pick of destiny hack for this.
2 weeks and you're complaining? I'd say I got used to it after a year or so.
I just watched your video on the yousician mettalica lesson program. I've learned to play guitar primarily through yousician with a mix of other online guitar programs and RUclips channels like yours and I feel like this has been a very good tool through out my guitar journey over the past 3 years. As far as the yousician app I have realy needed to fine tune my setup with a audio interface, monitors, microphone and then I play my guitar through a boss katana more then the audio interface. You really have to make sure that the audio setup and latency calibration is done properly and frequent. And going though the learning process you learn palm muting, pinch harmonics and vibrato but unfortunately these are things that are not included when the song is scrolling so you have to be a little intuitive. Bends, slides and sometimes strumming patterns are included so you just have to be aware of some of the subtle variations when you're learning songs. The Bobby effect is totally spot on, to not have that be a problem I've really had to practice the song over and over and memorize chunks of the song and play it with out the assistance of the app. But in my opinion the featured artist section is great for guitarist that are in the beginning stages of learning. I absolutely love mettalica and will most likely finish the featured artist path, but having enough experience to play all the songs in their entirety I jumped right into the harder stuff. Ultimately I think this is a great way to learn guitar, especially for people that grew up playing video games but the biggest problem is the "Bobby effect" you have to practice other methods and play with out the aid of the little bouncing ball as much as you can. Thanks for doing a piece on this, I think your videos are amazing and especially love hearing your personal guitar stories!
Ok, my personal experience with Yousician (and with the Metallica courses so far): 42 years old guy here, picked a guitar for the very first time when I was like 19, but never really got into it. I was practicing by myself like 2 hours a week, never really felt any progress. Now, during last year pandemic period I tried Yousician at home, since I had an acoustic guitar. Surprisingly, and as you mentioned, it got me engaged immediately due the nature of game-like interface. After that, got more and more interested in practice and learning. Short story, during this year I have advanced more than all my previous attempts. Now I can play lots of songs that I never could before, I can play some leads (also an impossible task for me before). But one important note, as you also mentioned in your video: this should not, by any means, be your only source of learning. Currently I use Yousician for 20 min like some kind of warm-up session and has helped me mostly to develop a lot of muscle memory and some techniques here and there.
With the new Metallica course, I don't have any problem with the videos whatsoever (I connect my guitar to a Samsung Galaxy Tab 6, using an iRig device). All the videos load and play immediately. They are quite shorts clips with 'tips' from James or Kirk, where they talk about the importance of the 'riff' in a song, or about the downstroke technique from James, etc. The lesson video that plays just before each exercise is performed (I think) by someone from Yousician (you only see the hands and the guitar, not the face) but still is quite good in my opinion. In the intro video for 'Enter Sandman'. for example, it shows the way James actually place his fingers for the main riff, instead of the way many of us do it. And that's a nice touch in my book.
Overall, I have a good experience with the app and I recommend it to my friends usually, but always explaining that it will never replace a real teacher and it should not be the source to 'learn' songs (I still use the good old tabs for that).
Thanks for all your videos Mike, I really enjoy and learn a lot with them. Also, excuse my poor English grammar (not my primary language).
Your English is as good as a native speaker, so you explained yourself just fine.
You used “your” and “there” with the proper spelling so I’d say your written English is better than most “native speakers…”
You’re very humble sir. Your comment was very articulate, well written and extremely helpful! Thanks!
Yeah I *never would have known it's not your native language, half of us are worse at it lmao
@@Frodojack Thanks dude!
You are spot on with your evaluation of the program. I am a beginner guitar play and started to learn with Youisician. It is a super fun way to learn guitar but it misses some of the fundamentals that are needed, I found after a while I needed more and tried a few other programs and some private lessons to fill in the gaps. It makes me dizzy too if I use it to long. I do still find it useful as it makes me want to pick up the guitar and jam along to songs on it, I figure anytime the guitar is in my hands being played is a win.
I’ve played intermittently for 20 years. I have started Yousician and I think it’s pretty awesome. It’s like learning songs by reading tab but with my own band with me at all times!!
My fingers have never been this nimble or my timing better! Love it!
245 hrs on youcisian, here’s my pros and cons (for beginners)
Pros:
Color coded chords, helps you get shapes down
Individual notes are color coded depending on which fingers you are meant to use
The courses in “Learn” tab are honestly amazing, help me get techniques down before I even come across songs that use them
Gamification and leaderboards , really motivate me to improve
Cons:
I still barely know how to read real tabs.
Not very helpful for memorizing songs (the few songs I have learned off tabs, I memorized very easily in comparison)
Requires room with good acoustics and a computer or phone with good microphone. If your audio input sucks, it will struggle to register your notes.
Overall , I recommend but you must be cognizant of the fact that you will need to put additional effort in to learn to read real tablature and eventually memorize songs, unless you wanna be like Bobby.
Now here is an actual rockstar teaching the lesson in depth. Always loved this lesson vid!
I am a beginner guitar player and I use Yousician and Trufire. Trufire is actually great because I can follow along with actual instructors. Yousician just seems to helps me warm up for a song and makes my string picking more accurate. It serves a purpose but I believe Trufire is more likely a better way to learn. Depends on the person's preference! I do like the James Hetfield video on anchoring the picking hand for accuracy on Yousician. Must see!
Thanks for the honest review Mike! I was hoping the course would have more hands on with James and Kirk; like you I would love to have the personalized instruction from the guys themselves just to get those insider pointers for how to really play their songs.
I do most of my playing these days using Rocksmith, and I can definitely confirm the problem of becoming reliant on the note highway. I've been playing for around 30 years now, so it's not an issue of being inexperienced, but if I don't actually spend time committing things to memory, it's very easy to be completely lost when I don't have the notes in front of me. I don't know if I would recommend solely using something like Rocksmith for learning guitar, but what I find it really good at is making it fun to play, which is like 75% of learning. You'll still want something more instructive to fill in the gaps and to make sure you aren't reinforcing bad habits.
I have been using yousician since mid 2020 daily and agree with the review. With a 50 hour a week job + toddler + trying to keep my mind and body healthy, being able to grab my guitar and get time in without the time in travel, waiting, and a 30 min lesson once a week plus practice. Having said that. Yousician has progressed my guitar playing dramatically and in a way that would not have happened without it for all the reasons listed above. For the record, I believe in real life music lessons. I have spent many nearest engaged in voice coaching, and learned several other instruments with the benefit of direct instruction starting in my early teens. To me, it is all about the right tool for the right person at the right time. :)
We love your total honesty. This is a great review on a great channel.
Props for the Rygar clip!! Not the biggest Metallica fan,, but I can appreciate their music and guitar work.
Great game on NES!
Good job, Mike. You took the time to consider - and explain nicely -, some of the potential downsides that are not obvious, like dizzyness from the side scrolling screen, and your brain getting indoctinated to follow the screen so much that you don't recall how to play the song on your own without the screen. Very valuable insights, thank you
Excellent comments! I have been glued to my computer over the past few days after signing up for this program. I believe that ensuring I’m not screening dependent is great advice.
As soon as I clicked on ur video a Yousician ad came on haha how ironic. I remember back in 2013 when my parents got me my first guitar, they let me take guitar lessons at school. 6 months in and all I learned was what power cords were. I stopped all leasons and never looked back. 9 years later and I could say I've reached professional level. Learning songs by ear is so much easier for me. Everything I know now is pretty much self taught
I like it a lot, I noticed you have to hit the notes just a bit early do to latency. But it is definitely helping me with not looking at the fretboard while playing, so it's better for me in that aspect. I payed the 97.00 for the year, I think it's worth it. Being able to start slow and speed up when your ready is nice. 👍
On yousician you can calibrate the latency on the settings, just mentioning because this is something that could be useful
They also had %50 off on Black Friday…
Are you using phone or pc? If pc you need to make sure you have a separate audio channel. HDMI has audio BUT it is the reason behind the latency. Get yourself an external set of speakers and use audio cables or optical some thing
I like Yousician myself, since life gets in the way, it's hard to got to a teach for lessons. I've noticed the ledency as well, which can be a pain in the behind. Overall I enjoy the program, hopefully things can change in my life and I can find a guitar teacher soon, until then I'll keep using Yousician.
You definately should get audio interface and use asio as audio device, then you shoudnt have any notiecable latency
New Course is Up! Can’t wait to play!
you seriously upload everything i want to see, best guitar youtuber out there
Great review! I have a student that has wondered how to get out of looking at the screen in Yousician to become a better guitar player. You're review is right on Mike. Thanks.
I just wanted to say, I played Rocksmith 2014 everyday for about 6 months before I took lessons. It was a great starting point. I was also curious about this Metallica program. Keep us posted.
I learned how to play off musician 4 years ago and now I can play rhythm to every Metallica song. I think it’s great for teaching basic chords but after you get that down, it’s best to go off on your own afterwards
I think you got it spot on. Screens have their place in learning, but they usually have to go away after a while. And as usual, your videos principles apply to all of life. Screens have their place but they shouldn't replace real life.
I really love the honesty and depth of your videos. Always super informative, without being overstated or dragging, and also not leaving important bits out either! Would love to pick your brain in real time someday with regards to some of my technical questions/challenges 🙂
The Bobby Effect is something that I will try to keep in mind. I think that this will be a good way to develop dexterity and build up callouses on your fingers, but it should encourage you to memorize the songs and not look at the screen. Maybe it should have a mode to teach you the riff, have you practice it, and then gradually take away the visuals so that you can remember it. Remembering the sequence is one of the harder parts of learning riffs, for me.
Honestly, whether or not they’re doing it for their fans or just for the sake of money I still like the idea that the band is letting us play their songs just like them
I love your videos . Thanks for this video and you transparency about this METALLICA collaboration with YOUSICIAN . All your thoughts about it are on point !
I really like Rocksmith as it has dynamic learning, so as you progress learning the game removes the tab so you have to learn the song and memorise it but I'm someone who used to learn by way of online tab sites and playing along to the actual song, so Rocksmith I feel has really helped me. There's also lessons on techniques and some fun game modes.
OH MY GAWD THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO ABOUT THIS!! THANK YOU!!!!
Haven't tried this yet but I'm hoping to when I have a bit more free time. I've played a tonne of Rocksmith though and the "Bobby Effect" is definitely real there, although I think the "master mode" helps a little by removing the visual cues once the game detects that you're comfortable enough with certain sections, which might be a cool feature to have here too
Yousician is great, been using it for more than 4 years and it’s the only one I go back to!
Good video, i am using youcisian because i am more of self taught kind of guy find it hard when someone teaches me something. Just small comments :
1- for 100% accuracy it is better with an audio interface like scarlett.
2- it is true that you get more dependent on the screen than memorizing the song. But with the practice option it gives the possibility to pause and then memorize it.
3- the major advantages of digital program is that it get your muscle memory to follow the exact rhythm and tempo of the song instead of being too fast or too slow.
Thanks for the video
Is it ironic that I got a yousician metallica course ad before this video
That's excellent mate. Can't believe you got the review done so quickly after the release date. I really wanted to see someone I respected review it so well done.
Also, now I know that you study BJJ I have even more respect for you.
Greetings from the North of England and have a good weekend.
Keep up the good work
This update was mixed for me, it’s way buggier on mobile but it added a lot of cool songs. I hope they work out the bugs soon tho
Lol, of all of this, what I loved the most was that you showed Rygar. I feel you and could be great friends.
I thought that the whole idea was to have access to videos of James Hetfield explaining in detail how he plays Master of Puppets for example.... without that it just sounds like following Guitar Pro with extra steps
I was a loser in highschool. Learning metal riffs was necessary to fill my day. No computer. No lessons. Just Guitar World/ Player mags. Still have a stack waist high. Sometimes I look at them for nostalgia and all
Great review! It's a promising app but still leaves room for more improvements. I still prefer learning from channels like you tho, kinda prefer some human element when I'm learning.
The Rygar clip just made me love this channel even more :D
I've been playing for a year. I call myself the riff master because that's all I really know how to play. I just got Yousician and instantly liked it. I did notice it's not 100% accurate and you can become dependent on the screen so I paused often and studied the tab. Overall I say great.
I liked your review and can understand how disappointed you were not getting a ‘private lesson’ from James.
I loved that you included ‘Rygar’ as the arcade game. Not many people know about that one.
Thanks, Mike! I was wondering what this Yousician thing was all about. I already know how to play the songs but I was curious what it was like.
K i see
This is a fantastic video Mike!
I agree with this video.... I'm self taught, mostly by ear and studying everything about James and Kirk. First time I met hetfield ('97) he said "I never took lessons either, Tony Iommi was my guy".
4:20 The nausea may be due to low frame rate in the lessons. It looked like about 20-30 fps to my eyes, which can cause symptoms like nausea and headaches if the same pattern seen consistently without any change over long periods of time. In gaming, its scrolling with you, so it varies. I don't know if it's a limitation of recording, the software, or the browser you're using, but 60 fps or more tends to solve that issue. Many retro games ran at 60 fps.
Clicked on this video and the ad was literally for Metallica’s yousician. Lol too good.
Thanks for the review! Sounds about right.
I’ve tried it out on my phone, James does sort of mention palm muting on the video before Sandman, he calls it anchoring and shows the difference between putting his palm on the bridge vs just letting your arm flail about
The Bobby effect is real dude! I had a lot of trouble with it when I picked the guitar back up but I found a solution to it.
Thanks for posting this video on the Facebook group. This kind of explanation is all I was asking about lol.
Thinking about what you described as the Bobby Effect, I agreed with you it was a bad thing, but as I thought about it, I started to think differently. Pianists, school bands, orchestras, jazz bands and many others only play by reading sheet music that is in front of them at all times. It may not be normal for guitarists, but it isn't the worst thing.
Except you can take sheet music or even a tab book anywhere. This program is too cumbersome to be your method of reciting a piece. To compare this to sheet music is not a fair assessment either. Not everyone who uses sheet music relies 100% on what's on the page.
I haven't used yousician, but I used to play rocksmith fairly often. I think it's great if you use it as a fun way to practice alongside more conventional ways of learning - like learning a technique or song myself and then using rocksmith as a fun way to practice.
Guitar AND jiujitsu? You're a legend, man!!
30y.o. here, tried playing guitar multiple times by learning from tabs and RUclips videos, always stopped doing it due to unfillable expectations from playing the song that I technically couldn’t since I had no skill, so basically skill of assessing what you can and can’t play isn’t there yet by any means at that stage when you’re just starting.
Then I tried Yousician and instantly got hooked, like literally I was so engaged and could play novice versions of popular songs that I knew and it sounded so good, so personally I feel like real teachers can teach you a lot and probably way more than Yousician but only in a technical/exercise way, by no means it’ll be any fun tho if you’re just starting. So far I played 100+ hours and not wanting to stop at all, learning 8lvl songs and even though process is not easy if you push it - it’s still fun as long as you can concentrate and be on top of yourself. Now I also try to play songs from tabs online and watching lots of guitar related videos, got my first 2 pedals and now I’m guitar addict even more than I have ever been.
Now about drawbacks mentioned in video:
1) Would be sick to see 7 string tutorials
2) Motion sickness possible to get fixed with higher frame rate monitors(so it’s really subjective).
3) Even though I have lots of things to play and learn, why did Yousician removed RHCP, at least they could post some list of things that are getting removed due to licensing or whatever, I randomly figured out from googling.
love this video lol, just bought my very first guitar about a week ago (fender squire strat hss) & tried yousician just so it could tell me i wasn't playing certain notes correctly! i kept thinking my guitar was out of key, although it wasn't needless to say so glad you included this in your video as a very experienced player!!
Still using Rocksmith myself. I've learned more and improved the most using Rocksmith than any other way of learning.
Jame's commentary is really cool! I have been using Yousician since first starting to learn (almost 2 yrs now), it's been a great experience. I agree though, I suppliment it with content lioke yours, and other musicians on youtube
Thanks so much for this, and all your Metallica vids. I remember being upstairs at a church in Chicago with that old school “Master of Puppets” tab book trying to learn the riffs way back in the day. I appreciate your experience 🤘
I've used Yousician and Rocksmith and a few other programs and I think they're great tools.
the issue of not being able to play without the screen is very real, as you mentioned.
However keep in mind that a lot of people, especially classical musicians are trained to sight read so much that they can have issues playing pieces without the score in front of them.
I've had it happen as much in Rocksmith and Yousician as I've had it happen with sheet music- especially on piano.
rock band instrumentalist and jazz/blues, etc stage performers are kind of different in they tend to memorize their music more than some other musicians in my opinion.
But you're 100% right. I had a hard time playing songs I played in yousician once the screen was gone- more so than other methods of learning where I have to think about what my hands are doing more. I memorize much faster using Guitar Pro or UG or just tab because I have to interpret it and translate it I think.
If you play rocksmith like it's guitar hero it won't stick but if you play it like you're obsessed with a song, 2 or 3 times when you load up, play a few songs and then cap it off with another time like you're trying to learn it it will stick. My issue was playing songs I already know off by heart cause it's really fun or just blasting through random ones IDK how to play back to back and not sticking with them. Another issue is you're relying on someone else's interpretation. I learned a Halestorm song, off by heart then started playing to a live video and noticed Lizzy wasn't playing what I was, so I watched what she did and it was so much easier to play. They both sounded right, same notes but one was way less economic.
But you're definitely right, none of these shortcuts beat, interpreting the tab yourself or learning by ear. Gets a beginner going faster Rocksmith or Yousician but whne you've played a year or so, looking at a tab or hearing someone tell you what chords to play on a video is so much faster to get it under your fingers and a lot easier to memorise.
I had a similar experience with the program not registering correctly when just using a microphone. However, after plugging my guitar directly into the device that Yousician was running on, everything was registered perfectly.
I think it's a great practice tool because it offers very direct feedback exactly when i want to play and have time to do so, but like you mention, the best option will always be to also have a real tutor
Yousician helped me tremendously, I do have “The Bobby Effect” every now on then, but I had the hardest time playing in time to anything before Yousician.
I use Yousician and have for many years, but mainly for practice not song memorization. When I first started playing guitar my daughter introduced me to Yousician. I practiced with it for about 2 years and did not improve a whole lot. Then I had an opportunity to get free lessons through Guitars 4 Vets and I have to say my playing improved drastically. You mentioned the Bobby effect and it is real. As I said I have been using the Yousician program for years, about 6 years now. I started using it hoping to advance my playing and learn some songs. It has in fact improved my timing, but I have never been able to learn any song by heart directly from playing with Yousician. I do fine playing along with the program, but when I try to play it without the screen to guide me. I just can't do it. I can however tanscribe the tab from Yousician and put it on paper to learn it. I would say to anyone who wants to use the Yousician program to not rely on it as a sole source. I would say take some lessons and use tabs watch instructional videos to help. I'm not saying Yousician is bad for you at all. Just use it as a game to compete with others or to practice your timing as I do. Just have fun playing, it's a great therapy!
I love Yousician. I am 47 and started learning acoustic and just switch to electric. It is so much fun and I have accomplished far more than I ever thought. These Metallica lessons seemed too daunting at first. However after I tried them they were far more easier than I thought. Yes I agree about the palm mute. I have no idea what that technique is because I haven't seen that in the program yet. So I am sure I am missing other techniques, like how long should I press down for?
You happen to be wearing my favorite t-shirt, from my favorite Sabbath album... KUDOS!
Honestly, from my experience, when you learn a new song, you can use all the help that you can get from the screen, from the tab, from anywhere, but always your main reference should be your ears and the song itself; in another way to say it is that you should never trust the tab 100%, only if it matches 100 percent with what you hear on the song. I had a lot of help in the beginning with guitar pro but you know how those are made, they all have errors, but that's not a bad thing if you pay attention to the song. The main objective in learning a song is to learn the song obviously, but also to develop your ears, and before guitar pro I had some tabs on paper with Metallica songs and it was the hardest way to learn the song because I had to use my brain and my ears to deduce what's going on there, and match what's on the song with what's on the tab, melodically and rhythmically. But as hard as it was, this was the method that helped me the most because I had to reaaaaly work on it to obtain the end result, and I developed my habit of searching very deep, but the results are also as good as the work you put in. The bottom line is that it helped me trust my ears more than tabs or any other piece of paper, but you have to like doing that, otherwise it's very hard if you hate the process. And actually the tabs are only for guidance, because the real test is when you play along with the song itself, only then you hear what you're doing right or wrong, but you have to be actively listen and compare.
Nice videos man, I like them
Man you hit the nail on the head about these apps and games taking your focus away. I have the same problem as your student. I can play songs on Rocksmith but then I cannot without the game. I agree 100% with you on that.
You have surprising variety in your topics!and always entertaining 👍
I use yousician and I use it just like you suggested, its a great supplement. I have weekly lessons and those lessons are so valuable, but the app gets me to pull out my guitar every day and do a little 10-15 minute lesson then I do my practice material from class since i already have my guitar out.
Yes, even reading tablature off paper required you to learn and remember as you went along. My biggest pride was learning the classical melodic solos all the way through. Shortly I had the entire songs down.
this,if you aint memorized the solos you cant play it if you need to play with a screen aid lol
I have never seen anything from James where he has done any kind of instruction or demonstration of his music. I have tempered my expectations but I was really stoked when I saw this. He is probably my all time favorite player, and I really hope this isn’t just too good to be true
Too good how? Bad instructions or not giving away the true notation?
Excellent take. I thought about getting it. I’ve had the same issues with Rocksmith. Thank you for your take.
love your stuff bro !!!
For the motion sickness thing: I game on a daily basis and I am a coding student, I can tell you for a fact that I would get dizzy. I had the same "Bobby" effect for a while, I was really dependent on Ultimate Guitar Pro and Guitar Pro for a while, my solution to it was: play the songs a lot of times, try and memorize the tabs, and then I play without the tab, sometimes I'll get it right away, something I have to review the tab a few times, and finally once I get the song without tabs, I try only the backing track, no tabs, no guitar sound, only the other instruments and vocals. I have been playing for almost 9 years so it does help a lot to be able figure stuff out by yourself, but I can't deny that stuff like Guitar Pro cann be really useful, as long as you don't use it as a crutch, but as always, it's great to learn stuff without it, and you always have those situations where there is some stuff that is off in the tab, so you have to go listen to the songs or watch videos of lessons or even a live performance to be able to get it right
what you said about the bobby effect, alot of people who plays rocksmith has it including me, i see alot of rocksmith streamers on twitch which can play very hard songs with hard solos.
but when you ask them what they can play from memory with it it's pretty much nothing too fancy, like how they play with the screen.
i do find rocksmith good for learning riffs, and improving technique it did help my alternate picking to become faster, it's good practice, but for building your brain library its better to watch chris zoupa
Was alrady playing for a couple of years before I stumbled on Rocksmith and it just makes playing guitar enjoyable when I dont feel like practicing.
I definitely have the issue where I do not remember the song when I'm practicing on Yousician. But it's great for motor skill development, I find. I put my guitar down for a few years and recently re-subscribed, and it's helping me re-learn the fretboard without having to look at the neck constantly.
I agree, I've been playing with rocksmith for like ten years and often times I haven't paid enough attention to what I'm actually playing so couldn't actually play the songs outside of rocksmith, it certainly kept me playing somewhat alive but I recently found a real teacher again and I'm actually improving again... I still love rocksmith though, even for its flaws
Mike is the best teacher!
As someone else commented, these apps are fine for practicing, but imo 1 to 1 private lessons are great because you have some to personally guide you and motivate you/keep you focused.
I have been using yousician for around 3 months and i have learned a lot from it, i have managed to learn refuse/resist alright. I do think face to face learning is better, but with self taught learning you can learn at your own pace.
Robotron marquee spotted! You have great taste in guitars and games! 😄🍻
I have Rocksmith and I agree with what you were saying about the "Bobby Effect". I have trouble playing songs without the screen in front of me too.
So I've been a mostly self taught guitar player for about 8-9 years now. Within the past 2 years I've basically ditched my amps (still have them) and use rocksmith instead. And since i have it on my computer, i download basically any song i want. But I've noticed that most of the songs that i play on rocksmith that I haven't learned outside of it are damn near impossible for me to remember how to play. I love rocksmith, it helps me develop muscle memory and strengthens a lot of techniques. But yeah the "bobby effect" is very real. For example, If I wanted to play Trivium's song The Sin and the Sentence, on rocksmith i can play it almost perfectly. But id have no idea how to replicate that if I plugged into an amp
Thanks for the review. It was helpful.
Great information on that program, thank you
Good review, I thought the same thing initially, that James and Kirk would be showing us once and for all how they play this stuff.
Still, as long as we have confidence this is actually correct, unlike the original books with hindsight, at least that counts for a lot
an ad popped up on my phone and it showed footage of james playing sandman, im guessing that is coming later. but for now we get some random dude showing riffs... fuk that
When the ad on the Metallica Yousician Review video is for Metallica Youscian. Nice
I'd love to see your guitar collection brotha