 The Guitar Hero series ( sometimes referred to as the Hero series ) is a series of music rhythm games first published in 2005 by RedOctane and Harmonix , and distributed by Activision , in which players use a guitar @-@ shaped game controller to simulate playing lead , bass guitar , and rhythm guitar across numerous rock music songs . Players match notes that scroll on @-@ screen to colored fret buttons on the controller , strumming the controller in time to the music in order to score points , and keep the virtual audience excited . The games attempt to mimic many features of playing a real guitar , including the use of fast @-@ fingering hammer @-@ <unk> and pull @-@ offs and the use of the whammy bar to alter the pitch of notes . Most games support single player modes , typically a Career mode to play through all the songs in the game , and both competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes . With the introduction of Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008 , the game includes support for a four @-@ player band including vocals and drums . The series initially used mostly cover versions of songs created by <unk> Sound , but most recent titles feature soundtracks that are fully master recordings , and in some cases , special re @-@ recordings , of the songs . Later titles in the series feature support for downloadable content in the form of new songs . 
