The following is a list of all characters appearing in various games of the Guitar Hero series.
| Character Name | GH1 | GH2 | GH80s | GH3 | GHA | GHOT | GHWT | GHOT:D |
Genre of Rock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judy Nails | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Alternative Rock, Gothic Rock, Indie Rock and Nu-Metal |
| Johnny Napalm | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Punk Rock |
| Axel Steel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Types of Metal |
| Pandora | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gothic Rock, New Wave (mostly in GH80) |
| Izzy Sparks | Yes (1) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Glam Rock, Glam Metal |
| Clive Winston | Yes | Yes (1) | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Classic Rock |
| Grim Ripper | Yes (1) | Yes (1) | Yes | Yes (1,2) | No | No | No | No | Heavy Metal and Death Metal |
| Xavier Stone | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Funk Rock, Funk Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Acid Rock and Blues Rock |
| Lars Ümlaüt | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Extreme Metal, Death Metal, Viking Metal, and Doom Metal |
| Eddie Knox | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Rock N' Roll, Rockabilly and Psychobilly |
| Casey Lynch | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Hard Rock |
| Midori | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Pop Rock |
| God of Rock | No | No | No | Yes (1,2) | No | No | No | No | Power Metal |
| Elroy Budvis | No | No | No | Yes (1,3) | Yes(1,3) | No | yes | No | Rock N' Roll |
| Metalhead | No | No | No | Yes (1,3) | Yes(1,3) | No | yes(1) | No | Industrial Rock and Industrial Metal |
| Tom Morello | No | No | No | Yes (4) | No | No | No | No | Alternative Metal and Funk Metal |
| Slash | No | No | No | Yes (4) | No | No | No | No | Hard Rock |
| Lou | No | No | No | Yes (4) | Yes(1) | No | No | No | Heavy Metal |
| Joe Perry | No | No | No | No | Yes(4) | No | No | No | Hard Rock and Blues Rock |
| Tom Hamilton | No | No | No | No | Yes(1) | No | No | No | Hard Rock and Blues Rock |
| Brad Whitford | No | No | No | No | Yes(1) | No | No | No | Hard Rock and Blues Rock |
| DMC | No | No | No | No | Yes(5) | No | No | No | Rap |
| Gunner Jaxon | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Grunge |
| Memphis Rose | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Southern Rock, Sludge Metal |
| Ozzy Osbourne | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (6) | No | |
| Ted Nugent | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (4) | No | |
| Sting | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes(8) | No | |
| Matty Cannz | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Marcus Fretshredder | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Rikki Lee | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Shirley Crowly | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Haley Williams | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes(6) | No | |
| Jimi Hendrix | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| Zakk Wylde | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (4) | No | Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal |
| Billy Corgan | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes(9) | No | |
| Travis Barker | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes(7) | No |
- (1): Must be purchased from the Store.
- (2): Unique to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.
- (3): Unique to the PS2 and Wii versions.
- (4): Must be defeated in the corresponding battle before becoming available for purchase at the Store.
- (5): Must successfully beat their song(s) on guitar career before being available for purchase
- (6): Sing and complete their song In vocal career mode
- (7): Must successfully play their song on drum career mode before being available to buy
- (8): Must play their song in bass career
- (9): Must play their song in band career