Over the past few weeks, thousands of others and I have been delving into the newest season of the phenomenon, Fortnite. Looking through its menus on which game type to play, I discovered one I haven’t attempted yet: the Epic Games and Harmonix rhythm game mode released in 2023, Fortnite Festival. After doing some quick research and finding out that most older gaming guitars are compatible, I went rummaging through my closet to dust off my old 2015 Rock Band 4 guitar. As I was searching for new batteries to replace the old corroded ones of the past, a question dawned on me, “Have there been any new rhythm controllers released on the market in the past decade since my last Rock Band outing?” The answer is yes, PDP‘s Riffmaster. 

The Riffmaster is the first licensed wireless guitar to hit the gaming scene in nearly ten years, and for something that had multiple variations before it, I must say that this is now my new favorite version. Right out of the box, I noticed how compact it is, as there’s a switch that allows the neck of the guitar to fold down, allowing it to be conveniently stored or packed away for safe travel. The guitar comes in a glossy black finish, which looks absolutely beautiful. It makes me not want to get any unwanted fingerprints on it, keeping it nice and shiny. The rest of the box includes a shoulder strap, a USB wireless dongle that is needed for your guitar to connect to your console, and a USB-C charging cable.

The first thing I did after connecting the Riffmaster to my Xbox Series X (also available for PS5) was boot up Rock Band 4 and re-download every last song I purchased throughout the years. After rocking out for a good while and playing more than a few dozen songs, I can proudly say that the Riffmaster has to be the smoothest guitar controller I have ever used. The colored buttons are perfectly spaced out, so that I always know what button my fingers are on while playing fast-paced songs like “Through The Fire And The Flames.” The buttons and the strum bar are also very quiet and hardly make any sound. I’m aware some others enjoy the clinking sound the instrument usually makes, but for me, it’s perfect. You can take it a step further if you want to jam while not wanting to disturb others by using the built-in 3.5mm audio headphone jack and being able to control the volume through the controller’s D-pad. If you want to customize the appearance of your guitar, it also features a removable faceplate, so you can get crafty and create your own designs.  Underneath the faceplate is a compartment to store the dongle attachment when it’s not in use.

In addition to playing games such as Rock Band 4, the Riffmaster also works great with Fortnite Festival. One of its best exclusive features is an added analog stick at the top of the neck. The stick allows you to move your character and scroll through the never-ending list of music for your next setlist. It’s safe to say that this guitar was purely made with Fortnite in mind, but that’s not gonna stop me from being courageous enough to try and fail terribly at playing through games like Elden Ring or Assassin’s Creed Shadows for laughs.

Over the past few weeks of owning the Riffmaster, I have spent countless hours jamming to all my favorite music in old and new games. Every night has been a mini concert in my house, strumming away into the late night hours, living out the dream of being a rock star. After all the hours I have put into using the Riffmaster, I have yet to charge the thing. It claims to feature up to 36 hours of battery life, which is impressive and convenient. When it finally runs out of juice, you attach the USB-C to the guitar and plug it into your console to let it recharge.

Basically, if you made it this far into reading, you can tell I am a fan of PDP’s Riffmaster; it won me over with its simple yet smooth design and how it feels to use it overall. It is perfect whether you are left or right-handed, and just as easy to pick up and play at any hour of the day. My only small issue is having the dongle attached to my Xbox to play, whereas older guitars featured a Bluetooth connection to sync with my console. It’s not a turn-off, and maybe it helps with latency; who knows, but my biggest worry is making sure I don’t misplace the dongle. Otherwise, it would put a sudden halt to my jam sessions until it’s replaced. If you are on the fence about purchasing the Riffmaster, I cannot stress enough that it is absolutely worth it. The amount of fun you will have will cause you to shred till your fingers bleed! The current price is marked at $129.99 which I feel is a decent price and it’s around the same price point as older guitars being sold on eBay, in which case you might as well spend the money on a new one. With that information, I believe it is fitting to say, “New is always better.”

I would like to give a big thanks to PDP for providing me with the Riffmaster to relive the good old days of jamming on Rock Band with friends and making new memories rocking out on the main stage in Fortnite Festival. If you would like to purchase the Riffmaster for yourself (you know you want to), you can find it here: https://pdp.com/products/xbox-series-x-s-xbox-one-pc-riffmaster-wireless-guitar-controller.