Talkin' Five-Fret Gaming With YouTube's "Guitar Hero With Jack"

A couple of years ago, if you said Five-Fret gaming was on the cusp of a major comeback, you’d be laughed out of the room. The genre, kickstarted by the 2005 release of “Guitar Hero,” exploded in popularity with the one-two punch of 2007’s “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” and “Rock Band,” published by EA (but developed by original “GH1” and “GH2” devs Harmonix), which added drums and vocals into the mix. From there, there were a few years known as the “golden age,” during which players were inundated, practically bombarded, with “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” games every few months. Alas, this over-saturation led to the decline of the genre, which fizzled out with 2010’s “Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock” and “Rock Band 3.”

Five-fret gaming made a minor comeback with “Rock Band 4” and the ill-advised “Guitar Hero Live.” While the “Guitar Hero” revival crashed and burned with a resounding thud, “Rock Band 4” kept the banner of rhythm games alive for a decade, but the game was delisted in late 2025, and its library of DLC is slowly being removed from stores.

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It was believed that five-fret games might be gone for good, but nothing could be further from the truth. In 2023, “Fortnite Festival” launched as a side mode within the free-to-play juggernaut of “Fortnite.” The mode, developed by original “Guitar Hero” team Harmonix, essentially translated the game to “Fortnite,” and recently added drums and vocals in an update. Meanwhile, companies like PDP and CRKD have released new guitar controllers, and CRKD has a drum set on the way. There are also multiple brand new games coming up, including “Sound System” and “Stage Tour.”

Through it all, the five-fret genre was kept alive due to the strength of its small, but dedicated, fanbase. One such fan is known online as “Guitar Hero with Jack.” For seven years now, he’s been on a quest to play through every single song in the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” libraries. His style has evolved since his early days posting, and he now uses “Clone Hero” on PC as his platform of choice to play through the songs, but one thing hasn’t changed: he uploads a new performance every single day. He’s currently about halfway through his quest, which doesn’t currently include “Fortnite Festival” and will surely expand to stuff like “Stage Tour” and “Sound System” in coming years.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Jack about his history with five-fret gaming and his daunting, seemingly never-ending quest to play every single song. He also discusses other topics, such as his choice of five-fret hardware. Unlike many players who have upgraded to CRKD or PDP guitars, Jack is content to stick with old-school, unmodified “Guitar Hero” controllers, at least for the time being. At this point in the genre’s life cycle, there are so many different types of guitar controllers, everybody has a particular favorite (my favorite is the Beatles Rickenbacker guitar, but it doesn’t work anymore, so I usually stick to a CRKD Blueberry Burst model with the “Rock Band”-style solo neck).

Check out our complete chat below. Watch “Guitar Hero with Jack” every day on YouTube, and check out his Patreon to support him directly.

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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 10:33 AM.