Day o' Guitar Hero mods (with a bonus)

Posted Dec 3rd 2007 11:40AM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: home entertainment hacks, misc hacks

I've already gotten a pile of tips on Guitar Hero controllers today, so here we go. The first one is already making the rounds. [Mark] replaced strummer with a touchscreen LCD and a magnetic switch. [Mark]s ultimate goal is to add some optical sensing and make the guitar self playing. For details, hit the acidmods thread or just watch the proof of concept demo.

[Johan] sent in the second controller of the day, and it's probably my favorite for guitar bling. The original mushy switches were replaced with micro-switches and CNC milled replacement buttons. Each button is individually lit with LEDs and a cold cathode lights up translucent panel in the body. A PIC controller controls the lights and provides some input options for button tapping. The video is actually pretty entertaining to watch.

For a little bonus, check out [Mastershake916]'s cast Hack-A-Day pendant.

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. LAME
LAME
LAME

Retards who play Guitar Hero are just LAME.

I've got an idea - How about playing a real Guitar !!!

Do you remember the game - Simon?
Thats what Guitar Hero really is - Simon on a stick.

LAME
LAME
LAME

Come on guys - grow up.
Play a real Guitar ........

Posted at 12:55PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Patrick

2. Eh, lighten up. It's the guitar equivalent of karaoke, except with no audience to torture. ;)

Posted at 1:16PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Orv

3. Grow up? It's a GAME, growing up has nothing to do with it ;)

Posted at 2:40PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by MichaelDotNet

4. Patrick was wrongly touched by a guitar game at a young age, I'm sure everyone understands.

Posted at 2:51PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Phillip

5. guitar hero is way overrated

Posted at 2:52PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by steve diraddo

6. now now Patrick lets not turn into a flame battle.

the touch screen one is good, just how does he intend to implement it?

Posted at 3:04PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by SpAxX0r

7. David Crowders modded Guitar hero controller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo2gclsx7ku&feature=related

Posted at 3:21PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Joe

8. Whatever dude, I have been playing "real" guitar for 3 years now. I still enjoy playing a round or two of Guitar Hero when at my friends house. It's not the same thing, but it is still fun.

I actually think playing it has improved my timing playing "real" guitar.

Posted at 4:53PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Dax

9. patrick should try walking into a room of real humans and stop talking to virtual people while he's at it.

you jackass, did you used to scoff at your mates playing cops & robbers when you were a kid too?

Posted at 5:04PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Gillian Spence

10. As a guitar player myself of...around 10 years?...I gotta say, the people that play guitar hero as just a game are fine...but some of them act like it's an instrument, and that being good at guitar hero means they would be awesome with a real guitar. Those are the ones that piss me off.
And just for the record, I totally suck at guitar hero...though I've only played it once or twice. I'm not much of a gamer.

Posted at 7:51PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Urza

11. That pendant/zipper-thing is quite cool. I wish I could afford cnc. Or anything better than this dremel...

Posted at 8:08PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Joey Y

12. I completely agree with urza. I've been playing guitar for about ten years now as well, and I have no problem with the game. In fact, I'm thinking about buying GH3 for the PC tomorrow. The only problem I have is with people who think their "skills" are comparable to that of a serious guitar player. It's not the same thing at all, and nobody is impressed that you can play Buckethead on expert level. I will say, though, that GH3 can indeed help you develop dexterity, which can certainly transfer to more-practical skills, such as guitar playing.

That said, cool hax.

Posted at 8:46PM on Dec 3rd 2007 by tesseract

13. i agree with tesseract. i'm a brass musician, and i've been wanting to take up guitar for a while (i even got my mom to give me her old alvarez dreadnought), but my fingers just don't have the strength or dexterity to fret comfortably. i picked up guitar hero 3 for my wii after playing it a few times and realizing that i could probably use it as a fun way to work on moving my fingers independently, build up some strength, and finally start practicing guitar on a regular basis once i feel more comfortable with my fingers.

Posted at 1:08AM on Dec 4th 2007 by perdidopunk

14. You knwo what would be a good mod? when you miss it gives you a shock. thatll teach you to miss!! i would buy one!

Posted at 4:59AM on Dec 4th 2007 by William

15. Nice pendant. WTF is team hack-a-day? Am I missing some good stuff?

Posted at 8:12AM on Dec 4th 2007 by ginge

16. Ginge: "The Official Site of the Unofficial Hack-a-Day Folding@Home Team" - http://www.teamhackaday.com/

Folding@Home - http://folding.stanford.edu/

Posted at 11:12AM on Dec 4th 2007 by Ed3

17. worst hack ever. no reason for it, just plain dumb doesn't do anything or accomplish anything. no i'm not one of those "learn to play a real guitar" guys either. it's a game, but this hack is beyond idiotic. the lit guitar is better in both construction and functionality, that one should have made headlines.

but yeah that lcd one is just plain stupid. how about this for the next hack, put a floppy drive in it, that would be just as useful

Posted at 5:04PM on Dec 4th 2007 by chewy

18. ginge: Yeah, you are missing a few things. Team Hack A Day is a folding team, as Ed3 mentioned, but is also the unofficial forums for Hack a Day. Many things going on there.

Posted at 7:07PM on Dec 4th 2007 by tom61

19. TeamHaD is pretty nifty. I've been reading over there for the last year or so, and started posting a couple weeks ago... join us...

Posted at 4:44PM on Dec 7th 2007 by phnx

Day o' Guitar Hero mods (with a bonus)

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