Game Modes

• While basic at heart, the few game modes provide more fun than most games with a plethora of modes.
• Quick Play
• Play any of the songs you’ve already unlocked for a high score.
• You have the option to play on any difficulty.
• Tutorial
• Not really a game mode per se, but will definitely be something you want to try first.
• Does a good job of giving you an intro to using the guitar.
• Career
• This is the main way to play and unlock songs.
• You have the option to play four different difficulties (explained later) 
• Most songs are unlockable through Easy, but the other difficulties hold a few bonus songs as well as the ability to purchase items from the store.
• Multiplayer
• If you have two guitar controllers this is a blast to play with friends.

Gameplay

• Guitar Hero uses a simple rhythm based mechanic as seen in games like Dance Dance Revolution, Amplitude, and In The Groove.
• Colored icons scroll down the screen and as they cross the bottom you are supposed to hit the matching colored button on the controller.
• But the entire beauty of the game is how you activate those icons as they scroll across the screen, by using the guitar controller.
• The controller is made up of five different colored fret buttons, a strum bar, a whammy bar and a tilt sensor.
• In order to play a note you must match the corresponding colored fret button with the colored icon as it is passing the bottom of the screen and then press the strum bar either up or down to activate the note.
• At times and depending on the difficulty level, you will have to press more than one button at the same time.
• This is called a cord.
• Some notes are long notes (or sustains) that require you to keep the fret button held down for a given amount of time after you strum.
• During these notes, you can use the whammy bar to alter the sound of the note.
• Of course, your goal is to hit the notes in time with the icons on the screen.
• Doing so will fill your “Rock Meter”.
• But miss too many and your “Rock Meter” will fall and eventually you might get booed off the stage.
• That’s the basic controls of the game, but the controls wouldn’t be much without a little bit of strategy.
• As you play notes, you will come across some star icons.
• These icons come in groups and if you hit all of the notes in that group you will fill your “Star Meter”.
• Once your “Star Meter” is filled at least half way, you can tilt the guitar straight up to activate “Star Power”.
• Under “Star Power” your score will double for a short period of time, and your “Rock Meter” will rise twice as fast.
• When the songs get faster, you can use two advanced techniques.
• “Strumming on” allows you to strum one time for a group of icons in rapid succession and in order from left to right.
• With one strum you place each finger in succession on the fret buttons without letting any of them off.
• “Strumming off” allows you to strum one time for a group of icons in rapid succession going in order from right to left.
• For this move you start with all buttons of the group pressed at the same time, and then in one strum you let each finger off the corresponding fret button when the icon goes by.
• When you complete a song, you will earn a rating from 1 to 5 stars and get a score.
• In career mode, you will also earn some money that you can spend in the “Unlock Shop” to buy things, like new guitars, avatars, guitar skins and most importantly new songs.
• These songs you buy do not have to be completed to move on in the career but are fun additions.
• Overall, the gameplay produces some of the most fun that you’ll ever have when playing a video game.

Multiplayer

• Two-player is a blast especially if you have an extra guitar.
• You don’t need an extra guitar, you can also use a controller, but what is the fun in that?
• Unfortunately, there isn’t much more to it than just beating the other persons score.
• For example, there is no way to attack or otherwise sabotage your opponent.
• As you play a song, some stanzas will rotate back and forth between players.
• This allows you and a friend can stand side by side and trade rifts in a real guitar off way.
• Other parts of the song are played in unison.
• A cool trait of this gameplay is that the music played by each player will only come out of the speaker on their side of the TV.
• When the players play in unison, then the full stereo effect of the song is heard.
• At the end of the song, the player with the least number of misses along with the best use of the “Star Power” will win bragging rights.
• Overall there isn’t much to the multiplayer but it does allow an extra person to be playing the game at the same time and not whining about getting their turn.