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-ons 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
WaveGroup 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.