Home >> Internet Games >> Video Game Accessories

How to Make a Rock Band Guitar Work on a GH 3

With the explosion of rhythm-based video games on the market, issues of compatibility often arise. Many of the guitar peripherals are compatible with iterations of their namesake (Rock Band 3 guitars are backwards compatible with Rock Band 2, for example), but aren't always usable with games produced by other companies. Guitar Hero guitars are compatible with Rock Band games, but the same has not been true in reverse. Rock Band 3 is the first version of the game with universally compatible instruments.

Instructions

- 1
  Reference a Rock Band/Guitar Hero compatibility chart. (See Resource) These charts comprehensively list which peripherals from these two popular series are compatible with each other. Begin by locating your gaming system, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii.
- 2
  Identify your guitar model. Some charts from third-party sites like Joystiq provide pictures alongside the versions of guitars for easy identification, but they are often not as thorough as Rock Band's official site. The distinct shapes and colors, in addition to knowing which version of the game you own, should make this quick.
- 3
  Compare your guitar to the compatibility matrix. As you can see from the charts, Rock Band guitars are completely incompatible with Guitar Hero 3 (GH3) and worked for only Xbox 360 on the subsequent follow-up "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith." With the release of "Guitar Hero: World Tour," the integration between games was finally built in, and to date (January 2011), all guitars between the franchises are compatible with their concurrent counterpart.

Video Game Accessories