5-Fret Guitar¶

This document details the format for 5-fret guitar in .chart files.

Song Section¶

Metadata¶

Key	Description	Data type
`GuitarStream`	Lead Guitar audio.	file path
`RhythmStream`	Rhythm Guitar audio.	file path
`BassStream`	Bass Guitar audio.	file path
`KeysStream`	Keys audio.	file path

Events Section¶

Hand Positions¶

Some charts may contain track events in the [Events] section with the H type code. These specify a GH1/2 or Rock Band hand position for character animations, and follow this format:

<Position> = H <HandPos> <Length>

HandPos is a number that corresponds to each of the .mid hand position notes, as detailed in the .mid docs. Possible values range from 0 to 19 (though Feedback, the only editor to make use of them, only outputs up to 18 when loading a .mid file that has them).
Length is how long this hand position should be held, in ticks.

These presumably ended up in the global [Events] section because GH1 used a global ANIM track in its charts to store this information, due to only supporting one guitar track at the time.

Instrument Sections¶

Section Names¶

Instrument names:

Single – Lead Guitar
DoubleGuitar – Co-op Guitar
DoubleBass – Bass Guitar
DoubleRhythm – Rhythm Guitar
Keyboard – 5-lane Keys
While this track is not named for a guitar-type instrument, the game it comes from allows for playing it as if it were one.
SingleBass – Legacy bass track present in some old charts; exact distinction unclear. Used for GH3/GHTCP; otherwise largely unsupported.

Difficulties:

Expert
Hard
Medium
Easy

Note and Modifier Types¶

Note Type	Description
Notes
0	Green (1st fret) note
1	Red (2nd fret) note
2	Yellow (3rd fret) note
3	Blue (4th fret) note
4	Orange (5th fret) note
7	Open note

Modifiers
5	Strum/HOPO flip modifier
6	Tap modifier Overrides the HOPO flip modifier.

Note Mechanics¶

Notes are strum notes by default. They get turned into HOPOs (hammer-ons/pull-offs) automatically if they are close enough to the previous note, unless they are the same lane as the previous note, or are a chord. In .chart, the default threshold is (65/192) * <chart resolution> ticks, rounded down (192 res = 65 tick threshold, 480 res = 162.5 -> 162 tick threshold).

Notes can have their natural state flipped using the strum/HOPO flip modifier, referred to as forcing. Both single notes and chords can be forced, and it is possible to create same-fret consecutive HOPOs (both single and chord) through forcing.

Sustains do not get cut off if they are shorter than a certain threshold, unlike .mid.

Chords may have individual notes with different lengths. These are referred to as extended sustains (start at different times, end at same or different times) and disjoint chords (start at the same time, end at different times).

Special Phrase Types¶

Special Type	Description
Face-Off
0	GH1/2 Face-Off player 1 phrase
1	GH1/2 Face-Off player 2 phrase

Star Power
2	Star Power phrase

Legacy GHTCP Phrases¶

These special phrases are used by GHTCP to mark phrases used in battles. They don't appear to have ever been used in any charts, or even publically documented, but it's possible that GHTCP might be able to export the original GH3 boss battle charts using these phrases.

Special Type	Description
3	Battle Star Power phrase
4	Battle player 1 phrase
5	Battle player 2 phrase

Special Phrase Mechanics¶

Face-Off phrases designate a section of the chart to be played in a face-off/versus mode by one or both players. In this mode, players play against each other, trading off between sections or playing at the same time.

Star Power phrases mark sections of the chart where the player may gain Star Power. When Star Power is activated, points gained from notes are doubled (this applies on top of the standard combo multiplier), and health gained from hit notes drastically increases.

Local Events¶

These are far from the only local events that may be seen, these are just the ones that are commonly supported.

Event Name	Description
`solo`	Starts a solo.
`soloend`	Ends a solo. Any notes at the same position are included in the solo.

Other local events that can be found come from Guitar Hero or Rock Band charts.

Example¶

[ExpertSingle]
{
  768 = N 0 0
  768 = S 64 768
  864 = N 1 0
  864 = N 5 0
  960 = N 2 0
  960 = N 6 0
  1056 = N 3 0
  1056 = E solo
  1152 = N 4 0
  1248 = N 7 0
  1248 = E soloend
}