I can fully recommend both for that reason alone with 2014 easily being the superior version. The most important thing to mention with the original Rocksmith & the 2014 edition is that they motivate you to play, which is the hardest barrier to overcome when learning or improving in guitar. If you are new to Rocksmith make sure you flip the strings so that red is on the bottom, so that it will be easier to read tab and music notation in the future.
In the old Rocksmith I would actually learn the song with a tab player (GoPlayAlong) before trying to play the song in Rocksmith! However in this version I am getting better at shooting the flying notes Playing bass is great fun as well. I have been playing guitar for thirty years, and still prefer reading tab. Session mode is almost worth the price of admission, providing unlimited improvisation practice. In the old Rocksmith I would actually learn the song with a tab player (GoPlayAlong) before trying to play the song in Rocksmith! However in this Rocksmith 2014 is a significant improvement over the original Rocksmith. Rocksmith 2014 is a significant improvement over the original Rocksmith. Overall though, Rocksmith 2014 is about as good as possible, and while not perfect, it's still pretty darn great. The note detection, while improved, still is slightly flawed, most noticeably so in drop D power chords, and while "true tuning" is great, it's kind of a pain to have to retune my guitar so often. Now it looks like an actual menu! If I had to knock the game any, I'd say that the missions become obviously random very quickly, like asking me to play a new song when I've already played every song I have. The original's menu was absolutely horrible.
The reworked gameplay looked kind of suspect at first but is vastly superior, adding support for palm muted chords, oblique bends, and even pinch harmonics (which I still can't figure out how to play). Most obvious is the improved song list, with more mainstream rock hits over the general indie flavor of the original (although I still ended up liking much of the original's song list). The reworked gameplay looked kind of suspect at first but is vastly superior, adding support for palm muted chords, oblique bends, and even Rocksmith 2014 is better than the original in almost every way. Rocksmith 2014 is better than the original in almost every way.