Bass guitar in cooperative gameplay in Guitar Hero II, along with characters Pandora and Lars Ümlaüt.
Bass is a playable instrument in the Guitar Hero series, first introduced in Guitar Hero II. In pre-Guitar Hero World Tour games, Bass was only playable in Practice or Cooperative mode. In Guitar Hero World Tour and onward, Bass was made playable in single player and had its own Career.
Overview[]
Similarly to regular Guitar, the highway is made up of five targets and the note to be played must be matched with its respective target. Bass guitar is used to keep the rhythm of a song so the player will encounter the same beat. Unlike guitar, bass guitar is less likely to contain chords though some of higher tiered songs do contain chords. Tap notes and extended sustains are still part of bass.
Mechanics[]
Star Power[]
Star Power is gained by hitting all star power notes in a star power sequence. Star power can also be gained by using the whammy bar on star power sustains. Star Power can be activated by tilting the guitar up, or by pressing the select button.
Open notes[]
- "Open note(s)" redirects here. For other note types featured on Bass, see Guitar § Note types.
In Guitar Hero: World Tour and onwards a new type of note is present: The open note. An open note is a horizontal purple line in appearance, and spreads across the highway. Because it doesn't match up to a target, the open note is played without holding any fret buttons. Open notes can also be pulled-off. Pull-off open notes glow white, like all hammer-on/pull-off notes. The open note can be considered the easiest type of note to hit but can be difficult when played along with regular colored notes.
Another modified form of the open note exists in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. This is the open sustain. The open sustain is played just like a regular open note. Since no buttons correspond to it, no buttons must be held to sustain it.
For most Guitar Hero video games, open notes are exclusive on Bass track. Music editors can add open notes to Lead Guitar and Rhythm Guitar tracks in the Music Studio/GHStudio but they will be converted to green notes during gameplay.
Guitar Hero on iOS feature Accent Gems on Guitar and Bass, which are similar to open notes of being orange horizontal lines that can be tapped in any lane. Guitar Hero (iOS) features this type of note when playing percussive mutes on guitar/bass or hitting percussive drum beats (like in "Paint It Black").
Guitar Hero Live also does not have a playable Bass track but it does included open notes on the Guitar track, which is commonly used for either the lowest note or percussive mutes of a guitar, just like in Guitar Hero on iOS. However, open notes in Guitar Hero Live does not have HOPO support so they must always be strummed. On-disc songs and GHTV songs don't have sustained open notes but the game does support sustain opened notes for custom GHTV Reloaded submissions, shown to have a a thin tail on the center lane instead of a wide tail.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
A list of Guitar Hero video games featuring Bass as a playable track.
- Guitar Hero II
- Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
- Guitar Hero: On Tour
- Guitar Hero World Tour (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades
- Guitar Hero Arcade
- Guitar Hero: Metallica (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits
- Guitar Hero: Smash Hits (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero 5 (+ open notes)
- Band Hero (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero 5 Mobile (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero: Van Halen (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass
- Guitar Hero 5 Mobile: More Music (+ open notes)
- Guitar Hero (iOS) (+ "Accent Gems" on Guitar and Bass)
- Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (+ open notes, sustained open notes)
Guitar Hero video games that don't feature Bass but feature open notes on Guitar track.
- Guitar Hero Live (+ sustained open notes in GHTV Reloaded songs)
