The Rock Band guitar controller is based on a Fender Stratocaster. There are 5 colored buttons which
represent frets (green, red, yellow, blue, orange), and in one of the few differences between this guitar and that
of Guitar Hero, there are 5 smaller frets (same colors) up further on the guitar neck. These can be used during
solos to tap out notes without strumming. There is a whammy bar, which is mainly used to save up for Overdrive
on glowing white notes, and a switch which acts like a distortion pedal during solos. This doesn't earn you any
more points, but it can be fun to turn on wah-wah during a solo. To activate Overdrive, the guitar neck is tilted
up. This can also be accomplished by pressing the Select button. Overdrive earns you higher score multipliers,
and can save a fellow band member who has perished.
Never having played Guitar Hero, I can't really speak to the differences between guitars. What I've heard from
others basically boils down to the strum bar and the frets.
The Rock Band Strat has a silent strum bar, with no tactile feedback as to exactly when the strum takes place.
The Guitar Hero controller, on the other hand, has a "clicky" strum bar, so there's no doubt where the strum
happens. An overwhelming number of people I've talked to prefer the Guitar Hero controller for this reason, and
I could see where such a feature would come in handy, especially on heavy strumming songs (I'm looking at
you, Run to the Hills!).
The Rock Band Strat also has frets that lay flush with each other, with no separation between them, whereas the
Guitar Hero controller's frets are raised off the neck, with a slight amount of space between them. Regarding
this feature, most people seem to prefer the Strat.
Unfortunately, as of this date, the Strat is the only compatible controller for Rock Band, at least in the PS3 world.
Activision refuses to let its controller be used with Rock Band, demanding some sort of compensation for the
privilege.
There are a ton of horror stories on the Rock Band forums regarding faulty Strats; all I can say is that mine has
worked perfectly to date, other than an annoying flakiness about activating Overdrive. EA has a pretty
comprehensive system worked out for returning faulty merchandise, and despite delays (Come on, folks!
They're still recovering from Christmas, I'd guess!), there are a multitude of stories of EA replacing instruments
past their warranty date. Undoubtedly, there are kinks still to be worked out, but it seems that EA and Harmonix
are working to keep the Rock Band customer happy.