Music / 05
Online Guitar
Play a guitar in your browser: tap frets on a full fretboard, or pick one of 15 open chords and strum up or down with an adjustable speed, then record it as WAV or MIDI.
Online Guitar: The sound is made with Karplus-Strong synthesis, a physical model of a plucked string: a short burst of noise circulates through a delay as long as one vibration, losing a little brightness each time round, which sounds like a decaying string. Strings are in standard tuning, E A D G B E, and playing a new note on a string stops the one ringing on it, as on a real guitar. Runs 100% locally in your browser with zero server file uploads.
- Category
- Everyday tools
- Runs
- In your browser
- Cost
- Free · no sign-up
- Availability
- Ready to use
Runs entirely in your browser
Tap a fret to pluck one string, or pick a chord and strum. Keys 1 to 9 choose chords, D or ↓ strums down, and U or ↑ strums up. The sound is a plucked-string physical model, standard tuning E A D G B E.
Learning the first chords
Most beginner songs use a handful of open chords. G, C, and D cover a great many folk and pop songs, and adding Em and Am covers more. The fretboard shows each shape, so you can copy it onto a real guitar: the highlighted frets are where the fingers go, and strings without a highlight are played open or, where the chord skips them, not at all.
Changing chords in time is the hard part. Practise slowly with the metronome, switching on the first beat of each bar.
Tuning and other instruments
Standard tuning from the lowest string is E A D G B E. To tune a real guitar to it, use the guitar tuner; to work out melodies, the online piano shows the same notes laid out in a line.
How to use it
- Tap any fret to pluck that string, or choose a chord such as C, G, or Am.
- Strum down or up with the buttons, or with D and U or the arrow keys.
- Press Record to keep what you play, and download it as WAV or MIDI.
Privacy & limitations
Everything plays in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Your chord and strum speed are remembered.
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Frequently asked questions
Which chords are included?
The common open chords: C, D, E, F, G, A, Am, Dm, Em, and the seventh chords B7, C7, D7, E7, G7, and A7. The fretboard highlights the shape, so it also works as a chord chart for a real guitar.
How do I read the fretboard?
The bottom row is the thick low E string, as you see it looking down at a guitar you are holding, and the top row is the thin high E. Fret 0 is the open string; dots mark frets 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12.
Can I use it to tune a real guitar?
You can play the open strings to tune by ear, but a tuner that listens to your guitar is easier: try the guitar tuner, which uses your microphone.
What is the strum speed?
The gap between strings as the strum crosses them. A fast strum sounds like a firm pick stroke; a slow one spreads the chord into an arpeggio.
Free tool · runs in your browser · no account required