A Great Way to Learn How to Play Guitar

      Back in December I decided to buy Rocksmith 2014 Edition. I wanted to buy the game because I heard a lot of good things about the game and how it can teach anyone how to play the guitar. I started playing the guitar back in eight grade, but I hadn't actually picked up for about two years, so I bought the game so that I could get back into playing the guitar and improve my skills at the same time. Going into the game I already knew most of the basic for playing the guitar, however I was very impressed at how well the game taught the player the basics and adapted to the skill level of the player. The game features several mini-games help hone your technique while at the same time giving that feel of playing an arcade game. There also a wide selection of songs that the game can teach you how to play. The way the game teaches the song is it will play the song and display the notes to play, but the game only shows so many notes based on the players skill level and as the player gets better at the song it will show more notes until the song is "mastered" and the player can play the full song. This game covers everything that is in the song from chords to pinch harmonics and offers videos of how to do the techniques used in the song, if the player is unfamiliar with that technique. Overall,  with Rocksmith's wide selection of songs and tutorials, I have to say this game was way better than any guitar lesson I have ever took. Over the past couple of months I have greatly improved at the guitar and am still learning new things every time I play Rocksmith. So I would have to tell anyone that is thinking to learn how to play the guitar to go buy Rocksmith because they will not regret it once they do.

Video Games Cause Violence?

     I have always wondered, why is it that when a teen or a kid performs a violent crime the media always wants to point their finger at video games and say that it was the reason the person did the crime? It doesn't make any sense. You cant say someone did a violent crime just because they played a violent video game. No study has ever proven that video games cause real world violence, so why does the media continue to try and use video games as a scapegoat when a kid perform a violent act? I remember one case when a teen shot and killed someone and the media try saying the kid did it because he excessively played World of Warcraft. Now that was a ridiculous claim because the game is fantasy world that isn't even focused around using gun nor does it even provoke the player to use guns in the real world and shoot people. Studies have even shown that as sales of video games have gone up, the rate of youth violence has gone down. Besides, it has been proven that video games can be a great way to get rid of anger and get your mind off things. So why does the media continent to blame games for violent acts? I don't know. Maybe someday the media will start to accept video games and realize that they don't cause all the violence the media says they do.

Text Response to "Out of the Woods"

      The article I choose to read is called "Out of the Woods: Today's Kids Can't See the Forest for the MTV", by Joel Achenbach. The article is about how today's kids spend way too much time inside and don't enjoy spending time outside. The author of the article also compares his summers as a kid to the summers that his kids have and then ends by saying that ultimately its the parents overprotective ways that keeps their kids indoors.
   
      In a way, I do agree with the author that kids spend too much time indoors because I remember my mother telling me when I was a kid to "Go Outside!". The author said playing in the woods was the funnest thing he could do as a kid, but I didn't grow up anywhere near woods to go play in them when I felt like it and there was no way my mother would of let me venture far enough away from my house to go explore the woods when I felt like it; usually the most fun I had outside was when I would throw random things I found in my front yard. However, I was always compelled to stay indoors as a kid because I could find many more entertaining things to do compared to going outside. When the author was a kid, if he had access to games where he could be a space commander and command his crew to save the universe from an ancient alien race, or computers/ phones where he could contact his friends whenever he wanted, or the ability to go on the internet and find out why people are so fascinated with cats, things may have been different from him. Why go outdoor when you can stay inside and do so many fun things? Who knows? Maybe its all the gadgets and goodies that kids have access to, or their parents being overly protective that keeps them indoors. One thing is certain that today's kids defiantly had a different childhood compared to the authors generation.