Yousician

One of my NYRs is to practice guitar more diligently. Towards that end, I picked up a “used” 2019 serial number EC-256 in immaculate condition at a price no one could say no to (basically $150!), picked up a very lightly used NUX Mighty Air wireless modeling amplifier for less than half price from a guy who lives down the street, and, finally, splurged a bit on the 50% off sale (archived) for Yousician (currently using their desktop app on my MacBook Air, but there's also, of course, versions for the iPad / iPhone, Android, Windows...)

This system is kind of a trip. All the nostalgia (and addictiveness?) of Guitar Hero. But in this case you're actually developing fretting skills, getting more precise with timing, etc. Any time spent practicing guitar skills is time well spent, IME.

Jamming along with a (so far, snippet of a) recognizable song connects for me a lot better than playing a song's guitar parts in isolation, or even with most of the backing tracks you find on, e.g., YouTube. Never mind trying to play along with the actual song on YouTube, before you really have it nailed.

Practice mode is a godsend, it allows you to slow down and loop over specific parts of a song you're having trouble getting perfect, but it keeps the spacing of the notes consistent, so even while you're practicing hitting the individual notes or chords, you're still also getting a feel for playing the actual song when you're ready, without having to fiddle with metronome timing.

And then of course there's the gamification aspect. Even if it's a song I don't love, if for any reason I screwed up a part of it, I'm going to go back and drill it until I get those three gold stars. That's not optional. 🤣

Mmm, tasty dopamine hits. I started playing at 12:25 and only hung up my axe at like 1:30 a.m. because I have to be at least somewhat productive tomorrow.

(I'm using a NUX MG-300 MK II patched into my computer over USB, and (via the 3.5 mm headset jack on the NUX) running Sennheiser HD 660S2 headphones through a Schiit Jotunheim, with the NUX setup as both the audio output device (so I could hear the Yousician lesson, and my own playing, through the headphones), and the audio input so the Yousician app could “hear” my guitar, while the neighbors blissfully could not.)

Now, is there a “real world” version of Heroin Hero? 😜