Main setlist

Guitar Hero III features 73 songs spread across both the Solo and Co-Op Career modes.^[1] These songs are arranged in eight sequential tiers based on their relative difficulty. The player(s) must complete some or all of the songs in one tier (based on the career difficulty selected), including the Encore, to access the next one. During the Solo Career mode, the player will also encounter three Boss Battles, a new mode introduced in Guitar Hero III, at the ends of three tiers as listed below, prior to performing the Encore song. The player must attempt the Boss Battle three times, but after the third time the player has the option of passing the Boss Battle in order to continue progression in the game. However, this option is only available for the first two boss battles (Slash and Tom Morello). In Co-Op Career mode, the players only perform the first six tiers, do not encounter any Boss Battles, and have different Encore songs from the Solo Career mode.^[2]

Once a tier is open at any difficulty level, all songs except the Encores and Boss Battle songs become available for all other game modes; the Encore songs become available once they are completed. The three Boss Battle songs are not playable outside of Solo Career mode. However, these songs were available as free downloadable content for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. All songs (except Boss Battles) can be unlocked for all modes through special cheat codes for the game, as to, for example, allow a solo player to access the Co-Op Encore songs without having to play through Co-Op mode.^[2]

Being based on the same engine as the seventh generation versions of Guitar Hero III, Guitar Hero Arcade features a set of 50 songs chosen from the main, bonus and downloadable content lists.

Bonus songs

Unlike the previous two games, whose bonus acts mostly comprised bands from the Boston scene (some of which have had members who worked at Harmonix and were involved with the games' development), Guitar Hero III's bonus song selection showcases a variety of European bands in addition to American bands signed to independent labels. All but one of the bonus songs are purchased in the in-game store using the virtual money earned through the Career modes of the game.^[1] The exception, "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce, is unlocked after the player completes the solo Career mode on any difficulty, and can be played during the credits, though is not required (but the player cannot exit during the sequence).^[2] The song cannot be failed while being played during the credits.

Track listing