Existing "5 button" guitar controllers from previous Rock Band and other compatible games (such as Guitar Hero) can still be used for non-Pro parts in Rock Band 3.
For Pro guitar and bass, one of two official controllers will be required that has the ability to track fingering on specific frets either as fret buttons or strings, and will present this for on-screen feedback to the player.
Mad Catz will be producing a new guitar controller, based on the Fender Mustang for the game's Pro mode, where instead of five colored buttons, there will be 6 buttons across 17 different frets, for a total of 102 buttons; the player will be required to strike the corresponding buttons on the right frets similar to guitar strings. The player uses the "string box" that contains six stainless-steel strings which can detect which strings are being strummed, replacing the "strum bar" from the typical "5 button" controller. The controller will remain compatible for standard "5 button" Rock Band or other similar game play. There are five specific fret rows of buttons marked on the Mustang to match the standard five colors; any button within those rows will be treated as the colored button, while any string can be strummed to replicate the strum bar.
A second guitar controller will be made with Fender in the style of a Squier Stratocaster, featuring six strings instead of fret buttons. The instrument is a true electric guitar with MIDI support, playable outside of the game, but features additional electronics that are able to detect where the player is holding down strings. A demonstration of the unit at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo shows the Fender guitar controller being played directly through an electric amplifier alongside other players on the other controllers while playing the game. The Squier will not be able to be used for normal guitar/bass play. The Squier will not be available at launch of Rock Band 3, but is expected to be out by the end of 2010. The Squier will be console neutral, producing MIDI output and requiring players to also purchase the MadCatz MIDI adapter specific for their console.
During Pro mode play for guitar and bass, single notes are represented by a number, representing the fret on the guitar, over a single string. Chords are represented by solid bars that mimic waveforms. The base position for the player's hand on the fretboard is given by a number on a specific string. The shape of the bar over the other strings provide relative fret positions for the player's hand on the controller.
The instrument controllers provide feedback to the player by sensing the player's current fingering, which is then shown as a waveform drawn at the base of the note track, in the same style as the chord representation, allowing the player to match their waveform to the chord's shape. Players can optionally enable a feature that numbers every fret position for a chord. Chord names are shown at the side of the track, approaching the appearance of a guitar tablature. In addition, Pro Guitar and Bass will include legato-style playing through hammer-ons and pull-offs, as well as slides on sustained notes along the strings represented by sustained note gems with slanted tails. Pro Guitar also includes open chords, arpeggios where the player holds a chord and plucks specific strings for it, and left-hand muting of notes.
Within Easy Pro mode, the game will only present signal notes to the player; Medium difficulty introduces chords, while Hard difficulty is a less-dense version of the full guitar track charted for Expert mode.The game will adjust which frets to use depending on which Pro model guitar is used. Some leeway is given on Pro Guitar such as by missing a chord by one offset string.
