Twitch streamer CarnyJared has set a world record after nailing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’ at 300% speed on Guitar Hero 2’s Expert mode.
For those who’ve played Guitar Hero 2 - the game where you shred on a plastic guitar to different rock tracks - you’ll know that ‘Free Bird’ is undoubtedly one of the hardest songs to nail, especially on expert mode.
It’s the last song you can unlock through ‘career mode’ on the game, and with its 9-minute-long length and close to a five-minute-long guitar solo - it’s always a daunting song to play. Even the game acknowledges this - hitting you with multiple ‘are you sure you’re ready to play this?’ screens before allowing you to take the stage in game.
That’s why it’s so impressive that this dude has not only nailed it with 100% full combo on expert mode, but he did it with the song tripled in speed.
It took Jared over 500 tries to finally get the world record, and when he did finally nail it, the moment was all captured on his twitch stream, to over 4,000 of his followers that were watching at the time.
“It took 533 FC runs to the solo and countless hours of frustration,” he said. “But finally the Free Bird world record is absolutely annihilated.”
After Jared completed the song and the score card came up, he let out a “finally!” and a “let’s fucking go baby!”
The previous World Record for ‘Free Bird’ on Guitar Hero 2 was a perfect expert score at 235% speed - so Jared has well and truly got this title in the bag, and I can't see anyone beating it any time soon.
But that’s not the only Guitar Hero World Record he holds. Back in 2021, he became the first person to ever complete a perfect score on the song ‘Soulless 6’ on Guitar Hero 3's expert mode - a song that was considered impossible by many to achieve a perfect score on.
He was also the first person to get a perfect score at 257% speed on ‘Through The Fire and Flames’ - another song that most Guitar Hero players struggle with, even on ‘hard’ mode.
As someone who still dusts off my old PS2 and whips out Guitar Hero 2 from time to time, I’m genuinely impressed by this guy. I played a shit tonne of the game in lockdown, and I still can’t get through ‘Free Bird’ on ‘hard’ mode, let alone ‘expert’ level.
Jared - you're a Guitar Hero hero!
Side note - how sick would it be if Guitar Hero got a re-release? That could actually become a reality! Last year, the CEO of Activision Blizzard said that he’d be keen to bring back some retired games, including Guitar Hero. Fingers crossed.
Lynyrd Skynyrd were our Rock 2000 winners last year with their tune 'Simple Man' taking out the #1 spot, while 'Free Bird' came in at an impressive rank of #35. Where will Lynyrd Skynyrd place this year? Listen to The Rock 2000 now.
