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How to Use a Rock Band Guitar for PS3 on a PC

The "Rock Band" guitar for PS3 is a peripheral that is used to play music and rhythm based games in the franchise. The guitar peripheral uses standard USB (universal serial bus) connectors, so it can be connected to a PC, but none of the "Rock Band" games have been ported to PC. There are, however, "Guitar Hero" games available for PC that use their own guitar peripherals. With the right software, you can use the "Rock Band" guitar to play these games as well as free guitar-based games such as Frets on Fire.

Instructions

- 1
  Connect the guitar peripheral to any available USB port on your computer. The PC will automatically recognize the USB device.
- 2
  Navigate to the Xpadder website and download the program (see Resources). The Xpadder program allows you to map keyboard or mouse buttons to a game pad or guitar peripheral. This program is needed in order to correctly configure the buttons if you plan on playing any of the "Guitar Hero" games on PC.
- 3
  Start Xpadder and follow the instructions to map the controls of the game to the guitar. Refer to the manual of the game you want to play with the guitar to see what the corresponding keyboard or mouse buttons are. Assign these to the button on the guitar you want to use.
- 4
  Navigate to the "Frets On Fire" website and download the free game (see Resources). "Frets On Fire" is a free PC game that follows the same basic concept as the "Rock Band" franchise on PS3.
- 5
  Start the game and from the main menu and select "Settings." Highlight the "Key" option and press "Enter." Assign each of the games key to a corresponding button on the "Rock Band" guitar or to the keyboard button that was assigned to the guitar using Xpadder.

Video Game Accessories