Rocksmith 2014 Edition - Session Mode Tutorial

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Join our Audio Lead, Nick, for a detailed walk-through of our amazing new Session Mode feature! There are tons of useful tips and tricks to learn.
My Band Settings -- 0:13
0:30 -- Completing Session Mode Missions
1:00 -- Individual instrument settings
1:51 -- Scale Explained
2:16 -- Root Explained
2:37 -- Complexity Options Explained
5:12 -- Groove Explained
6:51 -- Tempo Slew Explained
8:09 -- Room Options Explained
Session Mode Interface -- 9:33
9:37 -- Intensity Meter (Dynamics)
10:15 -- Harmonicity Meter
11:33 -- Scale Notes (Hollow Notes)
11:57 -- Chord Tones (Filled Notes)
12:53 -- Automatic Scale Changes
13:32 -- Manual Scale Changes / Scale Patterns
15:25 -- Using Tones in Session Mode
15:53 -- Calibration in Session Mode
16:30 -- Exploring Dynamic Levels in Session Mode

[@lockedheartunlocked]

These tutorials really need to be in the game. It could be the whole video just broken up into sections like how it is in the "About" tab on here. Now I'm going to watch the Riff Repeater video.

[@jaysonares2557]

i realize I'm quite randomly asking but do anybody know of a good place to stream new series online ?

[@shaggun]

Unbelievable how many things they included in the session mode, simply awesome

[@elmarcianitoespacial]

8 years later and this is still amazing!

[@nstrug]

Really helpful. It would be great if the current chord that the band is on was also displayed.

[@dam7196]

This game has by far been the best teaching resource that I have EVER used to learn ANYTHING. No book, person, video set, software, et cetera, has ever been this effective for me. Big props to you guys. And thanks for this video, it answered the many questions I had about session mode.

[@yeadontwearitout]

How's your progress been so far? I put the guitar down for years and started playing again once I got my hands on this game

[@dam7196]

@@yeadontwearitout killin it

[@megaquarters7172]

Been playing guitar for about 10 years and when I found rocksmith, it opened up SO much for me to learn. This game is amazing for teaching you the basics of almost everything. Rock on Rocksmith 🤘🎸🎼🎶🎵

[@varnishyourboard]

session mode is worth the price of this awesome "game" alone! As a beginner I've gotten chills after playing made up riffs with the "recommended" notes. really fun.

[@samuelg315]

This was awesome! I have a tendency to conservatively approach things. I had basically ignored Session Mode...only playing Learn A Song. I can't wait to now explore Session Mode. I'm still an "advanced beginner".

[@InoSense85]

I've spent more time with my guitar the past 5 days than I have the past 5 years. I know this game isn't going to make me a virtuoso ny itself but it definitely is a great tool and starting point.

[@biffdelmonte3787]

David White I hear that, my son is 13 and plays Rocksmith along with me, I would have killed to have rocksmith when I was his age.

[@EnydOfDays]

OUTSTANDING!! These SERIOUSLY need to be tied into the game disk, have them to link to youtube (for those with internet/game play) it is frustrating to try these with a trial and error method of learning without instructions. I just happened to think... "I wonder..." and here I am. NOW I can go play with it, understand it and jam... This feature is no longer confusing, it is really cool!

[@dust17111]

I've been playing guitar since I was 14 I'm 34 now and the last two years that I've been playing this I have improved more than ever and understood so much more and expanded my musical taste and ability so much it's the perfect tool for a learner like myself thanks hope another one comes out soon guitarsmith 2019 c'mon !

[@gregh.2138]

session mode rules, never thought Id ever play a guitar solo that wasn't someone else's, and relatively simple. I am playing hours everyday and doing improv solos I never dreamed possible.

[@jerrylive365]

I'm brand new to bass and have no clue what I'm doing. Thank you for this! The game gives direction on what to choose but not how to play session mode. This helps. Now if I only knew what to do with my fingers.

[@ivanover]

Yes, if you could simply create a PDF manual for Rocksmith 2014, that'd be great.

[@raphalreadytaken1218]

This video was really helpful, and completely changed my perspective on Session mode. It's a shame the game itself barely explains how it works and all the features it has.

[@Christopher-bw9ny]

I like that you keep saying "A lot of people don't realise..." That's because nothing in session mode is explained 😂

[@Boraboar]

FInally, that's the voice of Rocksmith I am listening all the time!

[@uglyguyfe]

So the only way to figure out chord progression in session mode is to recognize what chord the band is playing at any given moment by looking at the notes that are filled in a scale shape and recognizing which chord is that. That is a useful skill in itself - understanding where chord tones in each scale shape. But seeing in advance what would be the next chord or seeing the whole progression that the band is playing would be at tenfold improvement to the session mode.

[@progrocker69]

This is an excellent guide for those who may not know much about musical nomenclatures, or who are just intimidated by the number of options in this mode. Excellent job -- this should answer any questions people have and should really turn more people on to the possibilities of this software package! (I refuse to even call it a "game" now, unless specifically referring to the Guitarcade games.)

[@cobiyu8349]

Awesome feature! My only wish is that it shows the chord progression so you can select better notes for solo'ing with.

[@Djserenade]

This game is an absolute master piece!! Can't say enough about it

[@dudeyousuckreally]

Session mode is the most fun I've had with guitar in ages.

[@DanSZiegler]

Great video. Learned a lot about what is becoming one of my favorite parts of Rocksmith! :-)

[@Runny117]

I wish I would have watched this years ago lol. I love Rocksmith so much.

[@ShogunHz]

We need a record toggle to MP3 or WAV for Session Mode!! I was going crazy looking for one and found out there isn't such an option. Literally the only thing I'm disappointed with, with this game. This game is Phenomenal and sooo many things to do!! It'd be perfect with recording capability, to jam and reference what you played for production later.

[@TheKornheaD]

CyX SenZe Exactly my thought when playing the game, would make it unbeatable.

[@RiffRepeater]

+CyX SenZe Why not use a 3rd party application to record? :)

[@ShogunHz]

latency, distortion etc. doesn't work well with others. I'm on Macbook Pro. Audio Hijack works but for me there's noticeable latency that I cannot tolerate.

[@RiffRepeater]

Try Quicktime Screen Recording :)

[@ShogunHz]

I've tried everything and performance isn't good. Thanks for the suggestion though. Hopefully they implement it in the future.

[@sunilgoswami007]

Oh, loved this tutorial so much!

[@dr150]

Thanks for posting this video guys! _EXTREMELY GOOD_ stuff you guys programmed into the game. I'll be implementing all of it!

[@VekmanVictor]

I still dont understand how to use the shapes shown, but still very nice tutorial. Love the game.

[@MikeStofmeel]

Thanks for the guide, I'll be sure to hit up session mode next time I play. I have to admit that I didn't know half of what you explained in this video and the mode was therefore a little intimidating, but this helps me on my way :)

[@Aglassdarkly116]

I'll echo what some others have said. This tutorial or something in depth like it should really be in the game. A quick pop up that you see once after completing a mission isn't really enough. Session mode is a great tool, helps to better understand how to use it from the start.

[@ElDuderino502]

You can choose a kazoo! Bad ass!

[@shigrathFX]

Well, this video was surprisingly helpful. Thanks for that.

[@Walsh2571]

The irony is the humming in the background of a video where the lead speaker is an audio designer.

[@RedBeardHair]

this is very helpful thank you so much. time to go session.

[@BUTTSAW]

Great tutorial!

This was really insighful. Thank you!

[@shawnawesome7770]

I learned more from Rocksmith than I had my previous 26 years playing. I'm actually learning now. Slowly but yeah.

[@shampoovta]

Love this game. That really helped me understand about the shapes. We made a big poster of all the scales to practices with an amp. My brother has the most time to practices so he zoomed ahead of all of us. Plus he is a math genius. :/ How did I end up the artistic talent can't do math worth shit girl? Oh well. We should be able to record and print songs or rifs we make on the fly. It could be short like loops. I have worked a lot with loops in the past on Sonic Foundries Acid pro years ago and with this and that together I may be able to Frankenstein something that could be considered music.

[@fredpacella2484]

BTW, the phenomenon of "shapes repeating" is (as most will know) due to moving 12 frets or one octave.

[@androgynastronaut]

Great tut. What's needed is to have a list of which instruments go best with which settings in game. Or make it automatically attune to the correct setting, with the option of moving it to another setting. Anyway, thanks for this.

[@DrunkenSteppa]

Thanks! I own the game and these videos make things easer :)

[@debbiesagel6986]

Cool game/app... thanks :)love to learn!

[@deependdiver9737]

Super helpful I'm sure I will be back to review haha

[@xGshikamaru]

great guide, I liked session mode, but one of the things I would have liked would be to be able to coerce the band into a given chord progression. But it seems you can’t really do that. Have you considered adding an expansion that would add other popular chord progression, like ii-V-I, I-V-vi-IV (so many great songs in this chord progression) or i-VII-VI-iv for instance ?

[@scottyc3215]

First thing I tried was Autumn Leaves. They weren't having it. LOL

[@guyonamotorcycle1]

Great info! Audio could use a low cut filter though. Lots of thumps and bumps. Make more of these. Thank you.

[@DarrenBoyd0]

Wow, nice job Nicolas (sp?). I'm was pretty sure I understood session mode before watching this, and now I feel like I understand it twice as much :D. I feel like that last little bit about dynamics could be a video all on its own.

[@mehabox]

can't wait for the end of workday and practice some scales, grrr

[@OK-Satori]

Love the game concept and it has inspired me to finally learn to play. So I've picked up the game and still slightly confused on how to actually read/play scales in session mode. I just don't know what I'm supposed to play. For example, do I just play any scale note, whether or not it is filled in? How do I play chord tones? What order do I play the notes to actually move up and down the scale? I feel like somehow I've missed lessons on how to actually play scales or on what I'm actually supposed to do here.

[@fewjag2982]

Sorry if it's late, but for scales, you just play the notes in the scale, filled in or not. The chord tones are the filled in notes, and it's best to try and begin and end your phrasing with those filled in chord tones. The order of the notes themselves is not intrinsically important, just work on what sounds good that complements the band and what playing style you like.

[@TheParaz]

The session mode has a lot of potential and is probably very great for experienced professional guitar players. I have played for over a year and find it rather useless. It has amazing potential and I think they could have had some licks you had to play over certain parts to get through it, but "as it is" it is completely useless. The missions are "play 10 minutes in scale xx with band yy" and you play random notes and it sounds crap and you get "through" with learning anything. Perhaps you could do such a videos series? If you know somebody that does that, then please let me know. If you decide to do such one yourself, then I would be more than willing to make donations over Patreon or such.

[@JaFoste_Studio]

Will there ever be a new version of Rocksmith? I know about Remastered, but maybe something that could give a clearer guide as to what I need to practice in order to progress?

[@jrmunroe4024]

thank you.

[@iankelly694]

Hey Nicholas, I pretty much use this game in session mode, and I still want to punch the drummer, who thinks just because I play loud or fast that's, even momentarily this is a cue for more drums, especially open hi hats and lots of cymbals. it'd be great if you guys could introduce more control over the drummer's dynamics. (yes I've played with calibration) there should just be a mode where the band keeps going, as they drop off very quickly, meaning that you're learning to play play play, rather than the merits of not playing over every bar.

[@cedricmulia]

hey are you the guy in Rocksmith 2014 lessons and the one where the guy said good, amazing, subpar, or bad perfomance when the song ends?

[@theorginalsnaxyz]

No that's another youtuber named andy i believe. proguitarshop is his channel.

[@skakid271]

i have been playing for 5 years now and scales still confuse the shit out of me

[@oncearoundthemapleleaf9041]

Thank you for the tip on how to complete the second mission on the session mode. That is a bad decision in GUI design to place a pull down menus at the very top, instead of with the other menu select (titled) items. Below the other setup items would of been more appropriate, considering in most cases you would be selecting what to place in the band 1st. Then saving and/or selecting a saved preset.

[@craksracing0com]

Hi thnks for this tutorial !! missions on session mode are awesome...until yesterday i didnt even know there was those missions to progress....done a few and they just told me the first pentatonic shapes 6-4-1 and 4-2 : ) during the missions they explain everything root note...tempo..., chord tones, disonancd, key etc but one think i ll need soon is to repeat them! how can i do that? anyone knows thanks

[@flip153]

Tone selection is easy, use tones from any Slash song

[@frequentfalls4282]

how did you select an entire band that jives together

[@5hoopuf]

This is probably a bit late, but wouldnˋt it be cool to be ble to see the chord changes that the band is playing? I know you see the different chord tones light up but knowing the chord also gives a bit of understanding for new and imtermediate players. A thought for the next release maybe ;) love the game. Still playing it! Especially if I get into a rut and just need some guitar fun and inspiration on what to practice.

[@fightinfree]

need more drums/instruments DLC

[@neoxine85]

I need some help pretty please :) I don't fully understand how to follow a scale in "sessions"...do i just need to play the highlighted notes one at a time in any order....or can i combine them? and if so...are all higlighted combinations good to play? I'm feeling like i'm really missing something here...

[@citizenerased000]

Agreed it seems everyone who already knows how to play guitar thinks this is excellent, meanwhile us actual beginners don't even have a clue how to even BEGIN playing a single note and what to actually do, step by step, in Session Mode for Scales. It's quite unbelievable they messed up so bad teaching this part!

[@jessiethornberry7871]

im having trouble because the first day i got the game the callibration wouldnt work so i fixed that but now theres no sound at all every time i do a chord or scale it shows the sound coming up but its not coming threw like its supposed to and ived searched on how to fix this problem but i cant find a single video on it

[@TheGek03]

What does "panning" do when you change that option left or right?

[@frequentfalls4282]

worth it just fir the scales

[@Walsh2571]

+robyn Rotolo ikr

[@adanfinancial]

robyn Rotolo

[@mrman487]

I guess I need to learn the Major scales before I can get anywhere with session mode? I'm pretty much a beginner.

[@zxccxz164]

this is cool....but i don't understand when to play the colored note vs the open notes. I am doing something wrong playing the open notes???

[@thedriverman1217]

zxccxz164 the colored notes are notes of the chord, end on those notes, the open notes are passing notes, play any combonation of colored and open notes, and it will sound good as long as you end on a colored note (especially as the chord changes)

[@ThaiThom]

So does this thing work well for plugging an acoustic guitar into and strumming/picking chords? Will it give me a band to accompany my chordal rhythm guitar playing? Also does it record?

[@KaitouKaiju]

No recording

[@einarabelc5]

Really good guide for all level of players. One question. Is there any way to RESET the session mode level to restart from scratch? A possible scenario is stopping playing the game for a while and wanting to revisit things. Is this possible doing something other than using a different account in a console environment? Thank You!

[@einarabelc5]

einarabelc5 On second thought after watching this video I don't think I need to. It'll be a nice enhancement though. Thanks a lot!

[@josephklemm6281]

Is there anyway to change the tuning for session mode to D standard?

[@craksracing0com]

Hi all !!! i want to practice PM on the typical blues track.... where i have to go...? jam, 12 bar...blues bands...? i ask because the game when i go to PM IV or V position (many blues band tried) gives me the dissionance wave... shouldnt be consonant? thnks !!

[@anthonycortez9191]

can my guitar be tuned to C with the band in C

[@mnj1]

I still don't understand those coloured notes at the bottom.

[@herson423]

Me too, I never played before so I was hoping for this video to explain that.

[@Krapvag]

play scale runner - they are scale notes, it'll make more sense

[@albertoayala6053]

They are pentatonic scale shapes. Probably the most important scales to know if learning guitar.

[@KaitouKaiju]

Those are the notes in the key/scale you're playing. When they light up, those are the target notes that you generally want to end the measure on

[@fenrir9673]

why can't I use my guitar with the tone design I have? all I can do is play bass...

[@sinnersdwarf7138]

Just got this game today and the session mode isn't working I go on it start strumming and hear no drums playing along?

[@ThrashRebel]

Are there ever going to be newer versions of Rocksmith or is the company finished with it?

[@Trekari]

What would be nice about Session Mode, is if it didn't randomly decide to NOT play along at all with my guitar. I'll change up the root note and tempo, and all of a sudden when I enter the session, the band just won't play a single note anymore until I restart the entire game. Real A+ work there.

[@Dannydowns1234]

Why is there a D# available to play visually on the A Natural Minor Scale at 13:14 ? Am I understanding the game wrong? Because that is incorrect

[@cedricmulia]

can you explain why?

[@cedricmulia]

***** what do you mean by 'F' is on the reen string? E standard is E,A,D,G,B,e. There is no F????

[@robpace881]

Any updates?

[@dust17111]

Is there a scale or an option to play scales in drop D if so I'm not finding them

[@RiffRepeater]

No, Session Mode was only made for E Standard. You can tune to whatever you want after you pass the tuning though

[@dust17111]

@@RiffRepeater yeah I'm aware , either way having the scales laid out like that described and the changing scales while playing has opened up so much for me as a player for over 15 years now , I've always been the guy saying I don't need or want lessons but after 10 years of making power chords rythm work , I got bored and really wanted to play lead solos and blues but never could find the exact patterns aka scales and after playing this game I now can shred in any style , I do know why though jazz or more progressive players after a while try to forget the scales but I started backwards so it's all new and fun for me !

[@ronniepickering8257]

Any idea which guitar he's using? I've tried RS2014 with 3 guitars ranging in the £250 - 700 price zone but there's no way I can get a tone so clear and reliably pull of pinch harmonics in game.

[@mviking90gaming80]

check you sound card, am using very old Fender telecaster guitar and it sounds good, not as much as this one but still good! specially i have some buzzes, I cant wait to get a new one :D

[@DocHollidayGames]

I can't agree that people always end a solo on a chord note. Opeth ends solos on non-chord notes all the time, and it sounds fine.

[@JanderVK]

Yes, and look at the criticism that causes on their reviews (ie. Metal Archives) lol Not saying they're bad, I love them, but it's not pleasant sounding to most people. Most of their early stuff is very disjointed song structure wise, and a lot of people hate that.

[@tink18788]

Good Job on the game, It helped me learn the guitar in one year! This tutorial did help me out a TON, p.s. I don't know if I can ask, but, do you think you can add some Metallica songs to the Shop, If you can, Great! :)

[@johnmclellan2257]

I know if you're on PC you can download custom songs. I'm not sure on console though

[@3dlivevideos]

Answerer me this If I want to play a song I wrote with just Chords and maybe a lick here and there, What setting do I use? Also Just FYI I just downloaded windows 10 and Rocksmith won't load? Also I am getting fake redirect error's asking me to download security software. You have a phone number we can call to fix this stuff?

[@cungar1001]

+3dlivevideos Rocksmith doesn't really have a method to learn combined chords and riffs (other than songs that feature that ).Session mode is just to learn soloing. There's many resources for learning this online.

[@creativeaxe8233]

Так и не понял как играть в режиме Сессии. Подскажите пожалуйста.

[@sjg3661]

Thanks great tutorial but it should have been included in the game from the start

[@ItsPBUH]

Why they didn’t label the notes I will never know. Love this game, but session mode would be the perfect scale learning tool if they just labelled the notes...

[@scooter825]

only took eight years but I learned how to use this mode lol

[@Dark83Noodle]

You girls could've add this to the game...

[@hugepines3990]

What he calls breakthrough moment : My guitar teacher always told me the scale is a long table you slap on whatever core note you have, don't bother remembering their names, and I feel my friends did not learn that way. So when I tell them "those positions are on the minor scale", they respond "no, jackass, that's the [insert greek]olian scale". Nobody ever compains about it sounding right tho...

[@intheshed2952]

Can someone plz tell me y my band doesn't play

[@cungar1001]

+Juliano Santana No gigs?

[@billivesay]

+Chuck Ungar Can you explain what you mean? I can't get the band to start playing either.

[@Jellyman211]

Juliano Santana calibration. just like the guy explained in the video.

[@MrLeninus]

It's all fine and dandy, but the audio designer forgot to mention that the session mode is completely fucked up in PC version. Master volume of your guitar is dull, it is never synchronized with the band volume, every little pitch of a string causes overall volume to raise to its maximum regardless of the attack.

[@RiffRepeater]

Rocksmith 2014 - Epic Blues Session FUD

[@OpusPenguin56]

So this is great for noobs like me?

[@SensitiveYouTubeCensorship]

This did not help me at all, I loaded what it asked I get no tempo green line from right to left. I am stuck on the second mission, very frustrating. band does not join in, I played the chord notes for 10 plus minutes nothing changed.

[@thunderfingers515]

It's kinda weird to me that the scale shapes are upside down.

[@Taschenschieber]

There's an option to flip the fretboard view by 180 degrees, if you mean that.

[@Michaeljohncoulson]

Subpar performance.

[@tyschomaker8501]

It's obvious that a lot of time was spent making this game and they just assumed everyone actually using it for the first time will just get wtf is going on.

[@ofecer007]

PLEASE TRANSLATE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

[@ofecer007]

no. I paid for this game. It requires a very accurate translation

[@mushafasa]

I can't be the only one who cringes when he says "lead audio designer" and I can barely hear him over the white noise in the room????

[@donniejimes4383]

I'm trying to figure out how to keep the drummer from being way too GD busy just want basic beats not fucking Neil peart wannabe. And what is pan on the instrument settings.