Guitar Hero

The gameplay is similar to other music and rhythm video games, in that the player must press buttons on a game controller in time with scrolling notes on the game screen to complete a song. The guitar peripheral has five different-colored fretbuttons near the nut of the guitar neck, and a strum bar and a whammy bar on the body of the guitar. The game supports toggling the handedness of the guitar, allowing both left-handed and right-handed players to utilize the guitar controller.


The player is awarded points for correctly hitting notes, chords and sustains. The player can also increase a score multiplier by playing a series of consecutive notes successfully. A "Rock Meter" tracks the player's performance based on success or failure of hitting notes, and if the meter drops too low the song will prematurely end in failure for the player.