Online Guitar (Virtual Guitar)
This online guitar is a guitar neck on your screen: each tap on a fret plays the note of that string, with a nylon-string sound generated in the browser itself. You can play with several fingers at once, drag a finger across the strings to strum and, on a computer, use the rows of your keyboard as strings.
How to use it
- Tap a fret to hear the note. The light strip before the nut plays the open string.
- Under Chords, tap one of the common chords or build another with Root and Type. The neck marks the frets: × is a string that is not played, an empty circle is an open string.
- Strum with ↓ Downstroke and ↑ Upstroke, or slide your finger along the open-string strip: with a chord selected, it plays the chord notes.
- Under Scales, pick the root and the scale to see the notes along the whole neck; Play scale goes up and down one octave.
- On a computer, each row of the keyboard is a string (1 2 3…, Q W E…, A S D…, Z X C…) and the space bar strums.
Help and explanations
Pick a chord and the virtual guitar marks the frets (including barre chords, open strings and muted strings), strums down or up and shows the notes that make up the chord. It works in standard tuning, drop D, half step down and whole step down. Use it to check a chord shape, hear a chord before picking up your guitar, or learn the notes on the fretboard.
Notes on the guitar fretboard
The open strings, from the 6th (the thickest) to the 1st, are E A D G B E. Each fret goes up a semitone: on the 6th string, fret 1 is F, fret 3 is G and fret 5 is A. At fret 12 everything repeats an octave higher, which is why the double inlay sits there.
A shortcut for memorising it: fret 5 on each string gives the note of the next open string, except on the 3rd string, where it is fret 4. That is how you tune a guitar by ear. Under Notes on the fretboard, choose Natural notes or All notes to see the whole map.
How to read a chord shape
Next to the chord name you see the frets, from the 6th string to the 1st: x32010 is C major, with the 6th string muted, the 5th at fret 3, the 4th at fret 2, the 3rd open, the 2nd at fret 1 and the 1st open. The long bar across the neck is the barre: the index finger laid flat holds several strings at the same fret, as in F (133211).
In half step down and whole step down the shapes are the same as standard tuning and the pitch drops: a C shape played a half step down sounds as B, and the tool tells you. That is how chord sheets write songs in those tunings. In drop D the 6th string goes down to D and some shapes change; the neck already shows the right position.
Tips
- To practise chord changes, alternate two chords that go together in lots of songs: G and D, Am and E, C and G7.
- Start with the volume low, especially on headphones: a six-string strum is loud.
- On a phone, turn the screen sideways and the neck goes horizontal, showing 15 frets.
- Left-handed? Tick Left-handed and the neck is mirrored, the way you see your own guitar.
- The sound is a nylon-string guitar. To tune your own instrument, use the online guitar tuner.
Frequently asked questions
Can I play guitar online with my keyboard?
Yes. Each row of the computer keyboard is a string: the number row plays the 1st string, Q W E the 2nd, A S D the 3rd and Z X C the 4th, starting from the open string. The ↑ and ↓ arrows move to the low strings and the space bar strums the selected chord.
What are the easiest chords on guitar?
Em, Am, E, A, D, C and G: all in first position and with no barre. With Em, C, G and D you can already play plenty of songs. F and Bm need a barre and usually come later.
How do I see the notes on the guitar fretboard?
Under Notes on the fretboard, choose Natural notes (C, D, E, F, G, A and B) or All notes, with the sharps. To see them in solfège (Do Re Mi), switch under Note names.
What do the × and the circle above the strings mean?
The × marks a string that should not sound in the chord: mute it with the tip of a finger or just don't play it. The circle marks an open string that is part of the chord.
Does the virtual guitar work for electric guitar?
Yes for the notes, the chord shapes and the scales, which are the same on an electric guitar in standard tuning. The sound is a nylon-string acoustic.
Why does the chord sound different a half step down?
Because every string drops a semitone while the shape stays the same. The name shown is the name of the shape, as on a chord sheet, and next to it you see the chord that actually sounds.
Do I need to download an app?
No. The online guitar runs in the browser on your phone or computer, with no account, and the sound is generated on the device itself.