Hey all y’all Rocksmith fans! A bit lighter of an update, but when part of it is six(!) songs featuring B. B. King and Eric Clapton it can be forgiven. In addition, there was some focus on some Bowling for Soup songs (six lead/three bass), four Yahritza Y Su Esencia songs, a little more Bill Withers (three lead/one bass) trickling in for the birthday playlist, and of course, a gigantic assortment of other songs from other artists.
BASS
Neither Eric Clapton nor B.B. King are bassists, but the bass parts to all of the songs are blast of blues parts nonetheless. Riding with the King, Days of Old, and even When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer are very varied in their riffs and move around the fretboard and strings a great amount, but Ten Long Years, Three O’Clock Blues, and Key to the Highway are all still quite fun and only so much less in any of those categories.
The Yahritza Y Su Esencia additions were similar surprise drops, and every one a surprisingly fun bass part as well – or well, guitarron mexicano parts. Cambiaste and Dejalo Ir are quite weird and fun with their pop and slap for this reason, but I think Enamorado is the best of the group, a short part but superfun for its runtime.
Bowling for Soup have some fun bass offerings, I promise (check back next month)! But with the batch we got, I think it’s better to talk about some of the random gems and I’ll remark on their stuff more in the last section of this article.
And what an assortment it is. Groovin’ High by Charlie Christian is an approachable but very enjoyable jazz walk. A Little More Coal on the Fire by Restless Heart and The Answer to Our Life by Backstreet Boys are conversely bass parts that follow root notes but build on that in meaningful and fun ways. Glory by Bobby McFerrin is as great as every other bass part from that artist in the library (which is very), and One Word by Heart is on the more fun side of Heart bass offerings we’ve got. It’s also the last Heart song in the library to have both authentic lead and bass parts, but hopefully we get more in time!
LEAD
Eric Clapton and B.B. King ARE both guitarists, well-known ones that play fun and challenging lead parts, and all six songs we got from them collabing bring that in spades. Each one of these lead parts is a blast to play, and each one – even Riding with the King which has two lead paths – has room for another path that would be also very fun, hopefully we see them in time from the community if not from Ubisoft. All very good, some of the best, lead we have in the game, I remark on the following just because of their additional qualifiers: Three O’Clock Blues and When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer are eight and a half minutes and seven minutes long respectively, while Key to the Highway is additionally fingerpicked in its fun challenges.
The Yahritza Y Su Esencia songs certainly aren’t anywhere near as challenging – in fact, they all share a similar blueprint, usually two riffs that are pretty fun, with certain movements familiar song-to-song. Still, this is by no means being dismissive – all of these come together in fun ways I look forward to revisiting, and as with last month with the Script, there’s value in learning throughlines and economy.
Again in this batch Bowling for Soup is hard to mention in this section – pop punk lead is very much a ‘love it or hate it’ deal, it’s hard to recommend to most any of it to someone looking for something stand-out in the genre and we don’t have any of those this patch. I’ll letcha know when I see it, I promise!
Bill Withers, meanwhile, brings a couple of enjoyable leads. The live version of Friend of Mine has great energy just like Ain’t No Sunshine last patch, it’s an absolute blast outside of its breakdown but it does get stuck in there for a while and the auto-wah tone isn’t great for the song. I Don’t Know gets stuck in its verse rhythm some, but that part’s still fine and the jazz-y solo in the middle is an absolute blast, definitely worth checking out for that.
Even outside of Eric Clapton and B.B. King, we got some fun and challenging lead. Corcovado by Charlie Byrd is an incredibly enjoyable fingerpicked bossanova song, and I’ll Remember April is eleven minutes of alt-charted horns, which is heaven or hell depending on your tastes. To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth by Entombed provides something for death metal fans, it gets a bit stuck in octave chords at the end but everything leading up to that is on the fun side of death metal riffs. And finally, easily overlooked in a patch with B.B. King and Eric Clapton collabs (especially as the song wasn’t mentioned in the patch notes!), Ruhkukah by Allan Holdsworth might be the hardest song in the Rocksmith+ library. Now, half of that is superweird jazz fusion chords, and the other have is very jazz fusion wankery solo (I think there’s some tapped pull-offs in this?), but it’s hard as hell and can be fun if you’re okay with not walking out with a high percentage at the end.
OTHER NOTABLE RELEASES AND WILDCARDS
Bowling for Soup! Sorry, doesn’t really cut it for ‘best of’ stuff most of the time because it’s fine pop punk but nothing for someone not into the genre, however notable this addition is All Figured Out as it is a bluegrass song in their collection.
Aaron’s Party (Come Get It) by Aaron Carter I think is the first authentic arrangements we have for the cache of songs we have from him, but rap often has one or two simple riffs repeated for the entirety of the song to keep the vocals focused, and this poppy produced side of rap is no exception.
Backstreet Boys got bass and lead two songs, The Answer to Our Life and I Wanna Be with You. Might be surprised that they’re decent fun, but there’s more surprising ones already worth poking if you’re feeling like venturing into their offerings.
All or Nothing at All by Frank Sinatra gets a lead of some awkward jazz chords with some decently fun alt-charting mixed in there.
Love is All Around by the Guess Who gets a good bassline added, but it’s essentially just the one part.
Don’t Save Me by HAIM got a passably fun bass addition, if you’re in Mexico.
Stagger Lee is credited to Ike Turner, but I suspect that’s licensing is weird and he did his part to make it weirder. A passably fun bassline under Tina Turner’s vocals.
One for Sorrow by Steps got lead and bass, but it’s not particularly fun.
Arriving a bit late for the birthday, A Song for You Live by Willie Nelson gets a bass part, though it’s an unremarkable one.
