Beginner (known as Basic in Guitar Hero Live) is the lowest difficulty level first introduced in Guitar Hero World Tour, and has appeared in every console Guitar Hero game since then, as well as Guitar Hero Arcade (for certain songs otherwise Easy will play) and Band Hero for Nintendo DS.
In Beginner difficulty on Guitar, Bass, and Drums, all Easy-difficulty notes are converted into rainbow-colored horizontal lines in most console games, orange-colored horizontal lines in Band Hero for Nintendo DS, white-colored horizontal lines that are black on the top edge in Guitar Hero Live). These special Beginner/Basic-level notes can be played with or without any frets held. When played, all targets in the target line lift up, highlighted in purple (excluding in Guitar Hero Live) except frets held still have their held color.
The speed of the highway is also slow and the Rock Meter descends very slowly for making mistakes. Beginner is obviously meant for those new to Guitar Hero, learning how to hit the beat of songs without needing to hold specific frets, and the player is unable to fail on this difficulty level.
On Vocals, the player can sing along with the lyrics in freestyle and aren't required to sing at pitch.