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The vocals highway as depicted in Guitar Hero World Tour. This design has been reused in GHM, GHVH, and GHSH. Note that all aspects of vocals are the same in these four games.
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The vocals highway in Guitar Hero: 5, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The aspects of vocals in these games differ from previous games.
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Vocals is one of four main instruments available to player which debuted in Guitar Hero World Tour, and has been included in every Guitar Hero game since. To sing on Vocals, the player must have a microphone compatible with the system the player plays on.
Description[]
The object of Vocals differs from the other three instruments. Instead of notes, a tunnel will appear with the lyrics of the song underneath. With vocals the singer is to try to keep the comet inside the tunnel as much as possible.
On lower difficulty levels, vocal notes will have larger pitch hitbox, accepting slightly-off voice pitches, and on higher difficulties the pitch hitbox becomes tighter and the player needs to be more precise. At each difficulty, more correct pitch is needed to obtain an excellent rating which would score more points, and raise/maintain a 4x multiplier. When singing the comet will leave an orange trail inside to show how well the singing was. In Guitar Hero World Tour, the only rating the player would get was a colored flash which would appear upon finishing a phrase.
From Guitar Hero: Metallica onwards, the player would receive ratings for the quality of the singing. In Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the new highway has a different rating system. Located next to the rock meter there is a small bar. While singing the bar will fill will color. The color varies from white to yellow to green. Also the amount of points attained depends on the size of the phrase and how much the tunnel was filled.
Mechanics[]
With singing, pitch, and timing are factors that the player must possess, rather than enunciation. The only exception to pitch, are spoken notes. Spoken notes are notes which are either fast pitched, screamed, or rapped. These can be sung at any pitch, as long as they are sung. On Beginner difficulty, all phrases in a song have only spoken notes. In Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero, spoken notes are notes that are bigger than normal notes and are located at the middle of the highway. In Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock they are at the bottom of the highway instead of a tunnel.
Star Power and Hypes[]
Star Power can be gained in different ways. One way is available only in pre-Guitar Hero 5 games and the PlayStation 2 versions of Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero. Obtaining "solid" or "excellent" ratings on any phrase will give the player star power. Secondly is by singing into a hype. Hypes are sections of a song which appear as blue clapping hands. Singing into these will also boost the rock meter.
In Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, there are only two ways to obtain Star Power. One way is obtaining an excellent rating on a Star Power phrase. Star Power phrases are blue instead of yellow and only appear on certain phrases of the song. Secondly is by gaining Star Power through Star Power Overload in band play. Also to activate a band moment, the vocalist must get an excellent rating on any phrase in which the band moment is present.
Star Power can be activated by blowing a rush of air into the mic or by pressing a button on a standard gaming controller.
Freeforms[]
Another part of vocals are freeforms. These appear as wavy sections of the song. While in one of these the player can earn bonus points by matching the pitch of the song. Each song will have a different pitch for freeforms, and a different octave which these are sung in. The better the singing is, the more points are gained, as well as a multiplier which is increased with better singing. Star power can also be used to multiply the freeform score.
Freeforms in Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock no longer grant the player points. The only purpose of these is to boost the rock meter.
Ratings/Scoring system[]
Depending on how well a phrase was sung, the player will receive ratings, and a base amount of points. These are the ratings and scores found in the Guitar Hero World Tour-styled games.
| Rating | Color | Difficulty | Points Earned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sloppy | Red | Beginner | 100 points |
| Rough | Orange | Easy | 200 points |
| Average | White | Medium | 300 points |
| Solid | Yellow | Hard | 400 points |
| Excellent | Green | Expert | 500 points |
Vocal styles[]
In Guitar Hero: World Tour, Metallica, Smash Hits, and Van Halen, there are two types of vocal style: "Static" and "Scrolling". With static vocals the comet is moving while the pitch guides are still. And in scrolling the comet is still while the pitch guides are moving. In Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and Warriors of Rock, there is a new vocal style known as "Karaoke". With karaoke, the lyrics take up the screen and the player must rely on prior knowledge of the pitch rather than a pitch guide. Also lyrics that are white are yet to be sung and lyrics which are blue have already been sung.
Vocals in other Guitar Hero games[]
Vocals in Band Hero on a Nintendo DS Lite.
Vocals on Band Hero for Nintendo DS can be played using the built-in microphone of any Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, or Nintendo 3DS models. Vocals, along with Drums, are the only two instruments playable on Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS models as Guitar and Bass requires the Guitar Grip attachment that's only compatible with the original Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite models.
Casey on Vocals minigame in Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass.
In Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass, the Casey on Vocals minigame can be unlocked by recruiting Casey as a vocalist during Career. Vocals in Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile: Backstage Pass is played differently than on console or Nintendo DS. Instead of singing on a mobile device's microphone, the player holds the Action button, 5 key, or presses the touchscreen to raise a lips icon and align the lips icon's vertical position with the position of vocal notes. Releasing the key lowers the lips icon. If aligned correctly, the lips icon will be magnetized until the end of the vocal note and adds to the player's score.
In Guitar Hero Live, besides using a USB microphone, Vocals can be also be played with an iOS device (with its built-in microphone) by connecting the Guitar Hero Live Companion iOS app to the game via wi-fi.
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