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Pro Guitar and Bass

Pro Guitar is a mode designed to be played with a controller that much more closely imitates a real guitar.

This mode has some rather complicated mechanics, so some things may have been missed. There are also some observed unknowns in some chart files documented here.

Track Names

  • PART REAL_GUITAR - Pro Guitar (17-Fret)
  • PART REAL_GUITAR_22 - Pro Guitar (22-Fret)
  • PART REAL_GUITAR_BONUS - Unknown Pro Guitar track that EoF has available
  • PART REAL_BASS - Pro Bass (17-Fret)
  • PART REAL_BASS_22 - Pro Bass (22-Fret)

There are separate tracks for 17-fret and 22-fret due to different Pro Guitar controller models having a different amount of available frets.

Track Notes

MIDI Note Description
Markers
127 Trill lane marker
126 Tremolo lane marker
125 Big Rock Ending marker 1
124 Big Rock Ending marker 2
123 Big Rock Ending marker 3
122 Big Rock Ending marker 4
121 Big Rock Ending marker 5
120 Big Rock Ending marker 6
116 Star Power marker
115 Solo marker
108 Left hand position marker
107 Force full chord numbering
Expert
106 Expert Unknown
105 Expert string emphasis marker
104 Expert arpeggio phrase marker
103 Expert slide marker
102 Expert force HOPO marker
101 Expert Purple (6th lane, high E string)
100 Expert Yellow (5th lane, B string)
99 Expert Blue (4th lane, G string)
98 Expert Orange (3rd lane, D string)
97 Expert Green (2nd lane, A string)
96 Expert Red (1st lane, low E string)
Hard
82 Hard Unknown
81 Hard string emphasis marker
80 Hard arpeggio phrase marker
79 Hard slide marker
78 Hard force HOPO marker
77 Hard Purple (6th lane, high E string)
76 Hard Yellow (5th lane, B string)
75 Hard Blue (4th lane, G string)
74 Hard Orange (3rd lane, D string)
73 Hard Green (2nd lane, A string)
72 Hard Red (1st lane, low E string)
Medium
58 Medium Unknown
56 Medium arpeggio phrase marker
55 Medium slide marker
54 Medium force HOPO marker
53 Medium Purple (6th lane, high E string)
52 Medium Yellow (5th lane, B string)
51 Medium Blue (4th lane, G string)
50 Medium Orange (3rd lane, D string)
49 Medium Green (2nd lane, A string)
48 Medium Red (1st lane, low E string)
Easy
34 (Unobserved) Easy Unknown
32 Easy arpeggio phrase marker
31 Easy slide marker
30 Easy force HOPO marker
29 Easy Purple (6th lane, high E string)
28 Easy Yellow (5th lane, B string)
27 Easy Blue (4th lane, G string)
26 Easy Orange (3rd lane, D string)
25 Easy Green (2nd lane, A string)
24 Easy Red (1st lane, low E string)
Root Notes
18 Sharp-flat switch
17 Hide chord name
16 Slash chord marker
15 Root note marker: D#/Eb
14 Root note marker: D
13 Root note marker: C#/Db
12 Root note marker: C
11 Root note marker: B
10 Root note marker: A#/Bb
9 Root note marker: A
8 Root note marker: G#/Ab
7 Root note marker: G
6 Root note marker: F#/Gb
5 Root note marker: F
4 Root note marker: E

Track Channels

Notes:

MIDI Channel Description
0 Normal notes
1 Ghost notes
2 Bend notes
3 Muted notes
4 Tapped notes
5 Harmonics
6 Pinch harmonics

Markers/phrases:

MIDI Channel Description
1 Arpeggio chord shapes
11 Reverse slide direction
13 String emphasis: EAD
14 String emphasis: ADGB
15 String emphasis: GBe

Track SysEx Events

Modifier Description
0x02 Slide up
0x03 Slide down
0x09 Palm mute
0x0A Vibrato
0x0B Harmonic
0x0C Pinch harmonic
0x0D Bend
0x0E Accent
0x0F Pop
0x10 Slap

Note Mechanics

The fret number of notes and markers that use fret numbers is determined by the MIDI note velocity, starting from velocity 100 and going to velocity 117 for 17-fret or 122 for 22-fret.

Different channels in the MIDI track are used to mark notes as different types of notes. The exact differences between the different notes aren't well-documented, this will require research.

If any note in a chord is marked as muted, the whole chord will become muted. Chords that contain single muted strings must omit the muted strings in charting.

Phrase Mechanics

Trill and tremolo lanes are used to make imprecise/indiscernible trills or strumming easier to play. They prevent overstrumming and only require you to hit faster than a certain threshold to hit the charted notes.

  • The exact mechanics for these on Pro Guitar are not fully known, but it should be safe to assume it works the same as regular guitar.
  • Tremolo lanes can be used on chords.
  • Trill lanes should only be used with two-note trills.
  • These only apply to Expert unless they are marked at a velocity between 50-41, in which case it applies to Hard as well.

Arpeggio phrases use a corresponding note/chord on track channel 2 as a "ghost" note/chord to be displayed for the duration of the marker, indicating to the player that they can hold that note/chord for the upcoming notes.

Marker Mechanics

The left hand position marker marks the fret position where the player's left hand should be from this point forward, and determines how fret numbers get positioned on top of the note in RB3. Fret 0 and the last 3 frets of the fret range are invalid for this marker (i.e. ranges from 101 to 114 for 17-fret, and 101 to 119 for 22-fret).

The force full chord numbering marker makes the game display all of the fret numbers for all of the notes in a chord.

The string emphasis markers use track channels to visually emphasize certain strings:

  • 13: High string emphasis (GBe)
  • 14: Middle string emphasis (DG)
  • 15: Low string emphasis (EAD)
MIDI Channel Description
13 High string emphasis (GBe)
14 Middle string emphasis (DG)
15 Low string emphasis (EAD)

The slide marker turns sustain notes into slide notes. The direction of the slide is determined through these rules:

  • If the sustain ends within a 1/16th of a following note, the slide will follow the direction of the next note's fret number: lower to higher will slide up, higher to lower will slide down. If both are the same, it will slide down.
  • Otherwise, if the fret number for the corresponding note is 0-7, the slide will go up, else if it's 8 or higher it will go down.
  • For chords, the lowest non-open (fret number of 0) string's fret number determines the direction.
  • The direction of the slide can be reversed by placing the slide marker on channel 11.

The root note markers mark the root note of chords. They are required for chords, but have a running status: a new root note marker only needs to be placed when the root note changes.

The sharp-flat switch marker switches whether the chord displays as sharp or flat.

The hide chord name marker hides the chord name that would normally be displayed for a chord.

The slash chord marker is used for displaying slash chords such as Fm7/E or Am/G. It excludes the lowest string when calculating the name for before the slash, and uses it only for the note after the slash.

Track Text Events

Chord names:

Event Text Description
[chrd<difficulty> <name>] Overrides the chord name shown for the current chord.
difficulty is a number representing the difficulty: 0 = Easy, 3 = Expert, etc.
name is the name to use for the chord. A <gtr></gtr> tag pair is used for superscript, so you can use, for example, C<gtr>7</gtr> to display C⁷.