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.
In-game
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.