guitar-herorock-band-3
Guitar Hero supports both 4-lane and 5-lane drums mode. I assumed it wouldn't be possible to play 5-lane drums in Guitar Hero using the Rock Band cymbals, but then I found these, which claim to work with Guitar Hero.
Is it possible to play 5-lane drums using a Rock Band drumset and the new cymbals?
It depends on the instruments.
Here is a really nice compatibility chart that I found when I had the same question.
Yes, it is standard 5 button gameplay compatible.
However, it will not work for Rock Band 3 pro guitar mode.
More detail:
It doesn't support RB3's pro mode. The way it works in Power Gig is that the first five frets are the equivalent of the five buttons when you use it as a game controller, and then frets 7-11 act as solo buttons.
The result is that the sound the guitar makes when you strum doesn't sound anything like the song you're playing. Apparently you need a rubber muter for the strings too, or the game will read the continued vibration of the strings as you constantly strumming. The guitar works as a real guitar, but when you're using it as a controller, it's regular five-button gameplay.
Best Answer
I think it's unlikely that anything other than Guitar Hero drums will work. I have an Ion kit with three cymbals; it works fine with Rock Band 2 and 3, but shows up as a "normal" 4-color kit in GH: Monsters of Rock.
It's disappointing, because while I greatly prefer the Rock Band series now, I enjoy variety, but I'm not going to buy another kit just to get a better GH experience. (I tried that with a GH guitar to use the slide/tap stuff, and that wasn't really worth it IMHO.)