No Guitar Hero Controller? How to Use a PS2 Controller Instead

Can you play Guitar Hero 2 with a PS2 controller?

Last Updated: February 28, 2023

You're in the mood to break out the most epic jam session on Guitar Hero 2—the only problem is, you don't have the official PS2 Guitar Hero controller. What are you supposed to do now? Don't worry! You can just use a regular controller, and we're here to show you how.

Steps

1
Press the correct button at the time the notes come. Instead of pressing the frets and pushing the strum bar, you just press the appropriate button for the note.
2
Note that the keys are:
- Green: L2
- Red: L1
- Yellow: R1
- Blue: R2
- Orange: X/A
- Up/Down: Directional Keys
- Select: X/A
- Star Power: SELECT
- Start: START
- Whammy: Left Analog Stick up.

Community Q&A

Question

What do you mean by X/A?

Community Answer

The button used on the Playstation is 'X,' while the same action for Xbox is the 'A' button. It's written like this to be a universal article.
Question

What do I use to strum on a controller?

Community Answer

Nothing. There's no strum bar on guitar controller, you just press the fret buttons on time.
Question

How do I attack my opponent in guitar battles on keyboard and mouse or controller?

Community Answer

The same way you turn on the star power on keyboard/mouse/controller. Keyboard - space, mouse - middle mouse key (click the mouse wheel), controller - select (PS), back (Xbox), minus or shake (Wii).

Warnings

The song "Knights of Cydonia" is pretty much impossible on the expert level, due to not being able to strum fast enough with the controller. Other songs, such as "One" and "Holiday in Cambodia", are extremely difficult on the expert level and may seem impossible, but can be done with enough practice and by holding the controller differently to get past the parts where fast strumming comes into play. You can pause the game and swap out the controller to play guitar to get past the heavy strumming parts.

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