This page lists Guitar Hero-branded peripherals, controllers and their controls, as well as serving as a compatibility guide for the various instrumental controllers (including Rock Band-branded controllers/peripherals) compatible with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and other software.
This information was available on Rock Band's official website, but as of July 23, 2014, the Rock Band website was no longer available and some of its contents were moved to Harmonix's website.[1] However, the compatibility lists are still viewable on The Internet Archive.[2] All of the information from that webpage has been compiled into a chart below. This page also provides information on what parts for the controllers are compatible with other controllers, such as cables or battery covers.
List of official Guitar Hero-branded instrumental controllers for each playable instrument. This list does not include Rock Band instrumental controllers, which can be found on the Rock Band Wiki for guitars, drums, and vocals, or third-party instrumental controllers that were not officially licensed/approved by RedOctane/Activision.[a]
^ An example of an unlicensed third-party guitar controller that will not be included on the list (nor a wiki article will be made for on the WikiHero) is the TAC Guitar Mania Freedom V Wireless Guitar Controller that Activision and RedOctane sued TAC for, and TAC countersued against in September 2006.[3] Other third-party guitar controllers (possibly unlicensed) include:
REACT The Legacy Guitar Controller For PlayStation 2
^ 12345 Wired versions of these wireless guitar controllers also existed but were only available on game demo kiosks at retail stores and were not available for purchase for consumers.
List of controls for DualShock 2, Xbox 360 controller, and DualShock 3. All fret buttons activate the strum bar on gamepad during songs. There is no separate strum button.
In the cheat menu when entering a cheat code, ➕▴and ➕▾serve as Strum Up and Strum Down respectively.
By default, playing standard gamepad controls use the shoulder buttons, triggers, and the bottom interface button to play and auto-strum notes. When playing the PlayStation 2 versions of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, or any of the band-related Guitar Hero games up to Band Hero -styled games (World Tour, Metallica, Smash Hits, and Van Halen) there is a trick to switch DualShock 2's controls from gamepad input mode to guitar input mode to press any buttons without overstrumming and manually strum with the D-Pad.
Guitar Hero: Holding ◂➕ at any time switches DualShock 2 in guitar input mode. Releasing ◂➕ switches it back to gamepad input mode. On the main menu, this can be identified when the Tutorial option is highlightable when a guitar controller input is detected and when it grays out when a guitar controller input is not detected.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock: Upon booting up the game, hold ◂➕, then release the ➕ after the first loading screen appears. DualShock 2 controller will now be in guitar input mode, using guitar controls during this gaming session.
Guitar Hero World Tour, Metallica, Smash Hits & Van Halen: Upon booting up the game, hold ◂➕, then release the ➕ after the second splash screen appears after the first loading screen is finished. DualShock 2 controller will now be in guitar input mode, using guitar controls during this gaming session unless you (accidentally) hit ✕ instead of R2 for confirming options/menus.
Guitar Hero 5 & Band Hero:◂➕ must be held at all times upon booting the game to use the DualShock 2 in guitar input mode. Releasing the ➕ will "disconnect" the Guitar controller, reverting the DualShock 2 back to a DualShock 2. Pressing/holding ◂➕ again after releasing it will not put the DualShock 2 back into guitar input mode.
The Windows and Mac OS X version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and Guitar Hero World Tour supports computer keyboards and mice as "guitar controllers" and "drums controllers" (in Guitar Hero World Tour) as well as other guitar and drums controllers that support them and these computer games are bundled with Xbox 360 instrumental controllers. Keyboard and mouse controls are customizable but the default keyboard and mouse controls are listed on the table and in-game images below.
Notice how the default keyboard guitar controllers are in Lefty Flip. By default, the PC versions of Guitar Hero games are set to Lefty Flip but this can be toggled off and the controls will need to be remapped.
In Guitar Hero World Tour, keyboard on Drums uses the 4-lane Rock Band-styled drum highway. For 5-lanes, a Guitar Hero drumkit is required.
Default keyboard controls for Vocals on the PC version of Guitar Hero World Tour (requires a USB microphone to be plugged before the main menu screen to view).
Besides being attached to a Wii guitar controller to power a Wii guitar controller, the Wii Remote itself can also be used in the Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith with "gamepad" controls. However, other peripherals and attachments for the Wii Remote such as Wii Classic Controllers (including the Pro version) and Wii Nunchuk, as well the GameCube controller, are not supported in these games.
During menu navigations (including the pause menu), the Wii Remote is held upright while during song gameplay, the Wii Remote is held sideways. The sound effects of mishitting notes also output through the Wii Remote's speaker.
In the cheat menu when entering a cheat code, B, ➕▸ (upright), A, 1, and 2 corresponds with GRYBO as usual while ➕▴(upright) is Strum Up and ➕▾(upright) is Strum Down. Diagonally ➕▸ (upright) strums the red fret.
Compatibility[]
Compatibility chart[]
All controllers and peripherals listed below are only compatible with the console they were intended to be used on. For example, a PlayStation 3Guitar Hero World Tour guitar controller will only work with the PlayStation 3 versions of the games listed below, even though the Xbox 360 version of the controller occupies the same column.
↑ 2.02.12.2The PlayStation 2 version of PopStar Guitar is compatible with wireless guitar controllers. Some sources say wired USB guitars may not be compatible. IGN's PopStar Guitar Review (archive snapshot of 3 Jan 2013 04:14:00 UTC). PopStar Guitar announcement on Kotaku. The Wii version of PopStar Guitar is only compatible with its proprietary AirG peripheral for the Wii Remote.
Guitar Hero Liveguitar controllers—with the exception of the Bluetooth iOS Guitar Hero Live controller that can only be used on iOS and tvOS, are compatible on any platform that Guitar Hero Live is available besides iOS/tvOS. However, while the Guitar Hero Live guitar controller is universal with any dongles, the dongles themselves are restricted to a specific console (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U) but the Xbox One dongle is forward compatible on the Xbox Series X/S along with the Xbox One title and guitar.
Rock Band 4 instruments are only compatible on Rock Band 4 and the guitar controllers for Rock Band 4 are also compatible with Fortnite Festival. Past wireless instrumental controllers can be used in Rock Band 4 but Xbox 360 wireless instrumental controllers require the Legacy Game Controller Adapter to be able to be used an Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S console.
The PDP RIFFMASTER Wireless Guitar Controller is also supported on Rock Band 4 on its respective platforms, as well as Fortnite Festival (PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 ports support the wireless PlayStation 4/5 guitar controller and PCs, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S ports support share the wireless Xbox guitar controller). Other guitar controllers are not yet natively supported but the unofficial third-party software FestivalInstrumentMapper can enable guitar controllers for various systems, as well as Santroller software, to be used in Fortnite Festival on PC (PlayStation 2 controllers not yet compatible[5] and some controllers for certain platforms may have issues) but this third-party software is not endorsed by Epic Games.
A majority of guitar controllers should be compatible with many Guitar Hero/Rock Band-inspired games (e.g. Frets on Fire, Phase Shift, Clone Hero, YARG, etc.). However, for best compatibility and versatility on Microsoft Windows or Android OS, a USB Xbox 360 instrumental controller is recommended.
Wireless Xbox 360 instrumental controllers can be used if using an Xbox 360 Wireless Game Receivers is plugged into the computer and synced with the Xbox 360 (instrumental) controller. If using a third-party Xbox 360 Wireless Game Receiver and if it's not working out-of-the-box, you may have to install the Xbox 360 Wireless Game Receivers driver to the device manually in Control Panel's Device Manager. The only issue even with an Xbox 360 guitar controller is that the slider bar may not work.
PlayStation 2 controllers while using a PlayStation 2 to USB converter. Some older inspired games such as Guitar Zero required a PlayStation 2 guitar controller and may not be compatible with other guitar controllers.
Wireless PlayStation 3 controllers with their USB dongle attached to a computer is also an option but guitar tilt and slider bar will not function.
Using a Classic Controller to USB adapter (e.g. Raphnet adapter, RetroCultMods adapter, etc.), a Wii guitar controller is useable on PC.
Other instruments
Notable inspired games that support drums controllers include Frets on Fire X (a.k.a. FoFiX) in 4-lanes, Performous (4-lanes), Phase Shift in 4-lanes as well as 7-lanes with Rock Band 3 Pro Cymbals (Pro Cymbals are not compatible on a Rock Band 1 drum kit) and real MIDI drum kits (for most in-game features), Clone Hero in 4-lanes, 4-lanes + Pro Cymbals, or 5-lanes, Fret Smasher (drums not yet available but planned), and YARG (everything that Phase Shift can do).
Phase Shift and YARG both support Rock Band 3's keyboard controller and Pro Guitar controllers, not just for 5-lane keyboard, but also the full keyboard (Pro Keyboard is planned for YARG). Clone Hero supports 5-lane keyboard gameplay.
Vocals are playable by microphones in Frets on Fire X, Performous (as it was originally inspired by SingStar/UltraStar as UltraStar NX), and YARG. Phase Shift, Clone Hero, and Fret Smasher do not support playable vocals but can display lyrics.
Clone Hero and YARG (planned) supports Guitar Hero Liveguitar controllers (excluding iOS Bluetooth guitar controllers) and gameplay style for multiple guitar tracks (including Bass, Co-op Lead, and Rhythm). An Xbox 360 dongle is highly recommended. Other console dongles have compatibility issues on computers; strum bar will not register when holding a fret button. However, a Wii U or PlayStation 3 dongle can be compatible with the third-party program Guitar Hero Live PokeMachine running. A modified version of a Guitar Hero Live PokeMachine also supports PlayStation 4 guitar controllers.
Guitar Hero World Tour: Definitive Edition adds support for many microphones and other instrumental controllers, as well as standard gamepads, that the base Guitar Hero World Tour video game on personal computers did not originally support. Any controller can be used for any instrument in the Definitive Edition game mod.
Any electronic drumkit can be used with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock by connecting the MIDI output of the drumkit to the MIDI input of the drum control unit.
Compatibility screenshots[]
Below is a gallery of images captured from the official Rock Band website's compatibility page. In the case of controllers that are compatible with the exact same software as other controllers, they are listed below as the same image for the sake of saving space.
Instrumental controller compatibility with software[]
↑ 4.04.14.24.34.44.5Be sure to switch to Pro Guitar or Pro Lead to use instrumental controllers as intended. Fortnite Festival does not natively support guitar controllers other than Rock Band 4 Wireless Guitar Controller (PC version requires Xbox One & Xbox Series X/S guitar controller) and PDP RIFFMASTER Wireless Guitar Controller (PC version requires Xbox One & Xbox Series X/S guitar controller). However, there is a third-party software called FestivalInputMapper that allows the use of legacy guitar controllers for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, treated as an Xbox One guitar controller. Alternatively, if FestivalInputMapper is not functioning as intended, a controller-to-keyboard mapping software such as Xpadder or JoyToKey can bind keyboard inputs to controller. Warning: While these third-party softwares does not directly affect Fortnite, they does not guarantee protection from Fortnite bans as stated by the developers of FestivalInputMapper. Use at your own risk. Also, new updates for Fortnite can break compatibility with this FestivalInputMapper (thus, breaking compatibility with legacy guitars) so update this software when new updates are available for it.