The game typically uses a special guitar controller, often packaged with the game disc. It can also be played with a standard DualShock controller. Each controller appeals to different players; some can use a guitar, some can use a DualShock, and some can comfortably use both well.
The guitar controller features five colored buttons on the fret, a strum bar, and a whammy bar. However, DualShock players use different buttons. This table details the guitar to DualShock control mapping.
| Action | DualShock |
|---|---|
| Green Fret | |
| Red Fret | |
| Yellow Fret | |
| Blue Fret | |
| Orange Fret | |
| Star power | |
| Start/Pause | |
| Strum | |
| Whammy (analog) |
The other buttons (
,
,
,
,
,
, and the remaining axes of
) are unused.
On the menu screens, treat Green as
and Red as
. Green goes forward, Red goes back, strum bar goes up and down. Simple as that. When playing a song, the fret buttons correspond to the colored notes on screen, the strum bar strums, start pauses, the whammy whammies notes, and select activates star power.