How to make Guitar Hero Charts. This guide covers everything you need to know! Learn the basics of using feedback 0.97b chart editor. More advanced techniques are also covered, be sure to check them out.

Feedback 0.97b by Turkeyman

Probably the most well known chart editor available for Guitar Hero and it offers a graphical interface similar to the game. The interface is very intuitive to use and much of the basic usability is covered within the programs own help section I won’t list that here. Definitely take the time to learn the shortcut keys, some of the more useful ones are listed below under “various tips & techniques”.

So, this is where the fun starts! infinite possibilities, especially with GH3+ installed which makes it possible to add HOPO chords.

By forcing a note, we are actually reversing it’s property from a HOPO note to a strummed note, or vice-versa. A HOPO is a note which can be played in sequence just by fretting, no strumming required. An example of this is the intro to Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce. In the expert chart it is only necessary to strum the first note. By default, any notes which are 1/12th step apart or closer are automatically a HOPO note within the game. In addition, any chords you place are strummed notes by default.

To force a note:

  1. In feedback chart editor, go to the note you want to force
  2. Push the “W” Key and put an asterisk in the event box (*)
  3. Save the chart file
  4. Using GH Tools (click to download), open the saved chart file and press the “force notes” button
  5. A new version of your file will be created ready to be imported into the game

Tapping notes are a feature of the GH3+ hack by Exilelord. These are notes which can be played without needing to strum at all. They can make fast tapping sequences easier to hit because the player won’t need to strum again to resume their streak, if they miss. Chords can also be converted to tapping notes for some interesting and unique pattern possibilities.

To add a tapping note:

  1. In feedback chart editor, go to the note you want to change to a tapping note
  2. Push the “W” Key and put a T in the event box
  3. Save the chart file
  4. In GH Tools, open the saved chart file and press the “force notes” button
  5. A new version of your file will be created ready to be imported into the game

This will help you to visualise how forced notes and tapping sections work

If you open up a .chart file in notepad, you’ll see something like this;

21888 = N 1 0
21888 = E *
22080 = N 4 0
22272 = N 0 0
22464 = N 1 0
22656 = N 3 0
22656 = E T

What does this mean?

  • The five digit numbers in italics – represent the “time” within the chart.
  • “N” – represents a “note”.
  • “E” – represents an “event”.
  • The numbers (I have colored) – represent the frets placed, in feedback.

The notes are numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 for green, red, yellow, blue, orange respectively. So for instance, if you add a red note in feedback, it’ll translate to “N 1 0” in the .chart file. When you add the chart using GHTCP, the game will show this as a red note.

Using events to add forced notes or tapping notes

When you add an event, you’ll see an “E” followed by the event name. The event name is whatever you enter into feedback at the time – in the example I have added two events, one named “*” and another named “T”. It has become standard practice to add a * where you want a forced note, and a T where you want a tapping note.

Once you have added events, it is simple to open the chart in notepad and use “find and replace” to convert all instances of “E *” to “N 5 0”, and all instances of “E T” to “N 6 0”. These values force the note, or add a tapping note. An even easier way is to convert the events is to use GH Tools; just drag your file into the program and click “force notes” – it converts them instantly!

Forced notes, add a “N 5 0” value, at the same “time” as another note – this forces the game to invert it’s normal strum/HOPO property. Likewise, tapping notes add an “N 6 0” value at the same time as another note. With tapping notes, the resultant note or chord can be hit by just fretting with no strumming required.

#1 if you try opening a chart with forced/tapping notes in feedback, the program will crash as soon as you get to that part of the chart. In order to reopen the chart in feedback without it crashing you will need to either use the original unmodified chart, or remove the forced/tapping notes (easily done in GH Tools, selecting “unforce notes!”).

#2 if you add an event in feedback, you must remove that event if you plan on changing the note. For example, if you have an asterisk (*) next to a green note and need to change it to a red note make sure you remove the event first, and then change the note. If you don’t do this, feedback will crash when you later attempt to add a new event in the same place.

#3 if you add a tapping note in a place where no notes are charted, it will create a broken section which would require the player to fret the note twice.

#4 if you add two forced notes of the same color in a row, it will create a broken section where the second note in the sequence will need to be played after releasing the fret and strumming again.



Various tips and techniques

Modify BPM by increments of 10 by holding the alt key when pressing +/-. For 0.1 increments, hold the CTRL & alt keys and for 0.01 increments (who would use this, anyway?) hold CTRL+shift.

The quickest way to navigate to different parts of the chart/song is by holding the “alt” key when pressing the up/down arrows. By doing this, you will jump from one section to the next. When I am charting a song the first thing I’ll do is title the section names. I use something basic like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… and that helps me navigate the chart quickly.

You can select the entire chart in feedback by going to the beginning (pressing the “End” key on your keyboard) and then holding shift while pressing “Home”. This will jump to the last note in the song. With the shift key still held, press up once and you can then copy, delete or move the entire chart.

Feedback has no undo function! as a “workaround” I often select the entire chart and then copy it to the medium/hard difficulty. Copy and paste functions work as you’d expect e.g. ctrl+c, ctrl+v. By creating a copy of the chart, I can revert back to what I had if I mess something up.

You can change the default fretboard in feedback by pressing escape and then navigating to program settings.

Fretboards are saved in FEEDBACKThemesDefaultFretboards. It is possible to create your own, they just need to be 256x512px and saved in .png format. If you download feedback from this site, I have included a few which I made which are really basic. This allows you to focus on creating an amazing chart!

This is quite essential for saving time. If your keyboard supports it, set up a macro sequence which automates the process of adding a forced note or tapping note in feedback. In other words, the process of pressing e, adding a “*” (or a “T”), and then pressing enter to create the event. I use macros for forced notes and tapping notes. I also modified mine so they automatically go forward one step after adding the event, which means I can press and hold down the assigned key and change entire sequences back and forth really fast. If your keyboard doesn’t have a built in macro recording function, just google something like “macro software” and get something. You won’t regret it.

The left and right keys change the step size, but you can input custom intervals by pressing “Q” and then inputting the amount. This also lets you input intervals beyond 64th notes. Especially useful when “under-charting” a section (to keep it from being too difficult). For example, you might have a sequence of 48th triplets which is too fast but 24th or 32nd notes are too slow; in such cases, try putting 40th quintuplets in! See the images below which help demonstrate this;

  • 48th notes
  • 24th notes
  • 32nds
  • 40th notes

Set the default program for opening .chart files to notepad, or notepad++, whatever you like to use. It is useful sometimes to go into the file and make edits.

You can use things like 192 step intervals at a high BPM to make ultra-fast sequences which look almost impossible to hit. The (generous) timing window within GH3 allows you to start early and end late. This has been useful for creating interesting chart sequences for some of the random sounds which I put in my songs. Some examples;

  • uberjuice
  • juggernaut
  • chaos
  • Uber Juice – I’ve charted a very fast sequence of RG YR O. This section is possible because the timing windows allow you to hit it a lot slower by starting to fret it early and hitting the last orange late.
  • Juggernaut – orange notes are placed between green & orange chords, this makes the section look a lot faster than it is (a few people unknowingly called that the section was impossible when they first saw the chart preview!).
  • Chaos – this song is full of unique and insane looking sequences, one example is this fast sweep of GRYBYRG which can be hit by taking advantage of the timing window.

Bear in mind that none of these examples are particularly “easy” to hit, they are all challenging in their own way. It can be a really interesting way to add some uniqueness to a chart. It is best to add sections like these tastefully. I wouldn’t recommend spamming these all over a well polished chart just for the sake of making it “look” harder than it is, unless you are going for that like in the chart I made for “Chaos”.

broken chords

You can create “broken chords” in feedback by using copy and paste.

  1. add a sustain note (in the example, you would start with a single blue sustain which is the entire length of the chord).
  2. go back to the beginning of the note, hold the shift key and move forward one step to select that note. With the note selected, copy it.
  3. Proceed to add the second sustain (in this example a red sustain note). When you add the second sustain, the first one will shorten and at that point, you can go back to the first note and press CTRL+V.
  4. As a result, you will have a broken chord sustain which begins with a blue note, and proceeds to a red note partway through.
  5. You can add even more notes! Continue the process by selecting from the beginning of the first note up until the beginning of the second, copy, rinse and repeat.

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If you have any suggestions or corrections, post a comment. I will keep this page up to date with the best techniques.

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