Rocksmith+: RS+ Workshop – Create Community Charts

There are a few things to have in mind before trying to chart on Rocksmith+ :

1. You need an active subscription to have access to the workshop.
2. You can only create charts for songs that are officially released in the library (that means around 10.000 songs currently). You can check the full library on the official website[www.ubisoft.com]
3. Some songs might not be available in your country (worldwide licensing is a nightmare apparently) so you would either have to bypass that restriction by using a VPN or just wait for a new deal allowing the song to be released in your country
4. The charts you upload are available for everyone to play them.

I hear a lot of criticism about Ubisoft leveraging the community to reduce costs on notetrackers and delegate their responsibilities onto us. However, I find this assertion to be flawed upon simple examination of the numbers. Presently, we see approximately a hundred arrangements produced per month. In comparison, during the Rocksmith 2014 era, we were presented with 3 to 5 songs weekly, each featuring 3 arrangements, totaling 36 to 45 per month.

I view Ubisoft’s decision to involve the community in charting songs as a commendable strategy. This is something I’ve advocated for in a few surveys they’ve distributed among the community. It enables us to encompass a broader spectrum of artists, offer more diverse selections, or provide multiple renditions of a same song.

So, why should you consider creating charts for RS+? Allow me to offer a few reasons:

1. It’s a great method for ear training. Enhancing your abilities as a musician involves transcribing songs by ear, and charting is an excellent way to practice this skill.
2. You have the opportunity to chart a lesser-known song by a cool band that might not receive attention from the Ubisoft team. This also applies to popular but regional songs that might otherwise go unnoticed.
3. The more charts we have available, the greater the likelihood that players will discover something cool to play, encouraging continued engagement with the game. This increased player engagement could potentially lead to the inclusion of more renowned artists by Ubisoft, whether or not they come with official charts.
4. You b*tch way too much on a transcription made by someone else and you could show the world how it should have been done instead.

If these points fail to convince you to become part of the charting community, no worries; feel free to close this guide and carry on with your day. However, if they do resonate with you, I hope you’ll find valuable insights in the information that follows. 🙂

To find the Workshop, navigate to the settings panel located in the top right corner. It’s the seventh option in the menu currently (2024.06.06):

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This opens the workshop as a separate program.

Next, you’ll need to download new projects from the website. Once registered, you’ll have your own workshop page accessible here.[www.ubisoft.com]

From here, you have 3 methods for finding songs to work on:

1. Use the search bar located at the top/middle of the screen.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page to discover songs that require arrangements (i.e., those currently only featuring AI chord charts). You can also bookmark this page[www.ubisoft.com] for direct access to songs in need of arrangements.
3. Browse the library and examine songs you’d like to chart to check whether they already have transcriptions for the path you wish to add or not (but you can totally add another version of an existing path).

When viewing the detail page of a song, you’ll find a call-to-action button labeled “Start a new project.” This button prompts you to select a path (Guitar or Bass) for which you’d like to add a chart. Simply click the arrow next to the desired path to download the .rsw file, then place it in your RS+ WIP folder (you should definitely have one!).

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Return to the workshop and choose the “Open local file” option. Locate your .rsw file, load it, and start working on it.

Upon initially loading a file, you’ll either see the “Tab” or “Tempo” screen. You can toggle between them by clicking on the desired one in the top left corner. The tab’s screen is meant to actually chart the song while the tempo map is here to adjust the beats if required.

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If a song features a “Verified tempo map” indicator (you can find it in the song page details, see screenshot above), you can usually proceed directly to charting the song. However, if it does not, it’s advisable to begin by double-checking the tempo map to ensure everything is in order.

To do so, simply turn on the metronome and start playing the song. Ensure that the metronome beats align with the song. Visually, it’s often the broader range of the spectrum that should match the beat separator (but not always). If there is an issue with a beat, you can move the bars manually to adjust it in the correct place.

Once the tempo mapping is done, you can go back to the tab’s view and start charting your song. There are no set rules on how you should do it, no required order to do things, so I will just explain my own method here and why I do it this way.

A phrase is a short section of the song that should make sense in itself. It can be a riff, a succession of riffs, a solo part, a full set of chords,… the idea is that you don’t just cut it randomly. It’s like a sentence, it has to have a starting and an ending point and is meant to “tell something”, when you start telling something else, then you change to another phrase. As a rough example, if you divide a song by verse, chorus, bridge, solo, those are all “Big” phrases, also called “Sections”, that can then be divided again in smaller phrases if required (not always, but almost).

SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FREQUENTLY!

Once your phrasing is done, your chart should look similar to this one :

As you can see, I have divided this song into 31 phrases for my lead chart. There would probably be fewer for Rhythm as it doesn’t include a solo (it’s best to divide solos into different phrases to work on each part independently in the riff repeater).

All charts must include “Begin” and “End” phrases, both of which must be empty. In the screenshot above, you can see them in green and orange. Since this song starts quite late, the “Begin” phrase appears long, but this isn’t an issue here. However, all other phrases must be under 30 seconds, or you’ll need to resolve an error before submitting on the website.

SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FREQUENTLY!

When the phrasing is complete, the actual charting phase begins. Before starting, set your arrangement settings by clicking the wheel in the top right corner. Here, you can select the arrangement type and the song’s tuning. If you use a capo, you can also specify which fret to place it on in this panel.

Regarding errors, there are two types : errors and warnings. Throughout the charting process, focus on eliminating errors since you can only submit a chart if it’s error-free on the website. The error panel provides all the necessary details to resolve them: the timing of the error, a description of what’s wrong, and a double-click feature that redirects you to the problematic section. Although warnings are acceptable for submission, it’s advisable to resolve them as well.

SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FREQUENTLY!

To keep track of what’s done and what needs work, I use a color code for my phrases. So in my case, Blue phrases are my “ToDo” phrases, providing a clear and quick overview of my chart progress. If I see a Blue phrase, I know I still have to work on it. Once a phrase is complete, I rename it and change the color accordingly (verses in pink, chorus in orange, remarkable phrases in gold, solo in green, etc.). The screenshot below shows what a finished chart looks like to me.

SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FREQUENTLY!

When all the phrases are set, the transcriptions are done, the errors have been addressed, I search for the right tones to match with the chart.

You can find tones by clicking the upper right option next to the settings button. To narrow down your list, you can search for an effect or click on the categories above the search bar.

Tones are displayed above the phrases, in grey. It’s best to set a new tone just before the first note that should be affected by it to avoid any “tone latency” issues and prevent last-minute tone changes.

To add a tone, simply select one on the right panel and then click either “Insert tone” to replace the current tone at your cursor’s position, or “Split and insert” to cut the current tone and start a new one from that point. You can add multiple tones to a chart and switch between them during the song.

While the tones are incredible in this Rocksmith version, it’s important to note that you cannot change the presets (at least so far). The only possibility you have to influence a tone is about its volume through the Low, Normal, Loud radio button on the tone properties panel.

SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FREQUENTLY!

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Crashes can occur at any time. While there is an autosave feature, it can be unreliable. To avoid losing hours of work, make sure to SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FREQUENTLY!

Once you’ve finished and are ready to submit your chart for everyone to enjoy, go to File / Welcome screen to return to the… Welcome screen.

From there, since you’re coming from your chart file, you can directly click the “Submit arrangement” button to be redirected to the appropriate page on the website. If you were not logged in, you will need to log in first and then click the “Submit arrangement” button again.

On the arrangement file page (each arrangement has a unique ID), click the “Submit new version” button. If there are no errors, you should see a congratulations message. If there are errors, you will need to resolve them before attempting to submit again.

Important Note: Sometimes errors are not shown in the workshop but appear during submission. Identifying the issue can be challenging, but there are some workarounds. One effective method is to “download the initial file” again from the arrangement page (option is located just to the right of the submit button) and import the “corrupt” chart into this new file. Then, select the path again and try your submission. As a last resort, you can always find help on Discord from either a community member or a member of the Rocksmith team (they’re really cool).

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Approval for a chart typically takes between 5 and 15 minutes, but it can sometimes be as quick as a minute or take several hours. You’ll see a red notification dot on the bell icon once it’s approved, and a confirmation message will appear when you open it.

Now that your chart is approved, you can return to the game and play it! Community charts are marked with a “people” icon before the arrangement’s name. If the Rocksmith team approves it, a big “R” will appear behind the icon, indicating it’s a community chart approved by the team—great work on that! The charter’s name will appear in the game under the “creator” field.

If you find yourself needing guidance with the tool or simply wish to converse about best practices with fellow creators, you’re warmly invited to join the unofficial Discord server at https://discord.com/channels/238233332511539200/857859845147328523

Alternatively, you can leave your questions in the comments, and I’ll try to answer them when I can. I might also create another guide to address frequently asked technical questions.

Have fun charting, and thank you for your future contributions!