Highlights
- Twitch streamer Carny Jared sets a world record in Guitar Hero 2, flawlessly completing "Free Bird" at 300% speed after 530 attempts.
- "Free Bird" is known as the toughest song in the game, making Carny's achievement even more impressive.
- Guitar Hero 2, released in 2006, features a collection of hit songs and is available for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360.
An extremely skilled Twitch streamer manages to set a world record in Guitar Hero 2 by performing a full combo on “Free Bird” at 300% speed. The only thing more impressive than the achievement itself is the amount of dedication it took the Guitar Hero 2 player to pull it off.
In 2005, the Guitar Hero franchise became an instant hit and a cultural phenomenon with the release of the first game of the series, simply titled Guitar Hero. The game captivated players by marrying addictive music rhythm gameplay with a full-sized guitar replica as a controller. Guitar Hero 2 was released the following year, and thanks to the success of the first game, it had a much more robust collection of hit songs. Guitar Hero 2 released with classic songs such as “Sweet Child o’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses, “Heart-Shaped Box” by Nirvana, and “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath. One of the most notorious songs in the game was “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, known for being an absolute nightmare to play.
Twitch streamer Carny Jared took playing “Free Bird” to a whole new level by completing it flawlessly at 300% speed. In the posted video, the song plays right away, with the series of notes moving up the screen blazingly fast. As the streamer plays, his face is as focused as it can possibly be, with his brow furrowed and his eyes glued to the screen. His hands bounce back and forth from the fret buttons on the neck of the guitar to the strum bar on the body. The chat in the upper right-hand corner of the screen goes wild as Carny becomes one with the Guitar Hero controller. When the song is over, he puts the controller down, takes out his earbuds, and screams in a mixture of excitement and relief.
It took Carny Jared 530 attempts to finally perform a full combo on “Free Bird” at 300% speed. To full combo a song in Guitar Hero 2, the player must hit every note in the song, including regular notes, long notes that need to be held for their full duration, and special notes such as Star Power phrases. This is no easy task, to say the least.
What makes Carny’s video even more impressive is the fact that “Free Bird” is often cited as the toughest song to play in Guitar Hero 2 by many fans. Other songs known for being especially difficult to play in the game are “Hangar 18” by Megadeth, “Institutionalized” by Suicidal Tendencies, and “Six” by All That Remains.
Guitar Hero 2 is available for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox 360