Virtual Guitar
A virtual guitar you strum by dragging across the strings. Hold a chord with one tap, fret any note on the neck, or play guitar online from your computer keyboard.
Tap the neck to fret a note. Tap it again to let the string ring open.
Keyboard: Space or ↓ strums down, ↑ strums up, 1 to 6 pick single strings from low E to high E, the letters on the chord buttons (Q to P, A S D) hold a chord, 0 lets all strings ring open.
How to play the virtual guitar
This virtual guitar is an online guitar you play in the browser: drag across the six strings to strum, tap a chord button to hold one of 13 common shapes, tap a fret to play single notes, or use your computer keyboard, in standard or another tuning. Drag your finger or the mouse across the six strings to strum, and tap a single string to pick it. The low E string is at the bottom and the high E at the top, as in guitar tab and on the neck below, so dragging upward plays the low strings first (a down strum on a real guitar) and dragging downward plays the high strings first. The speed of your drag is the speed of the strum.
The chord buttons put your left hand in place. Tap C, G, Am or any other and the virtual guitar holds that shape and strums it once; after that, every strum plays the chord until you pick another. Open lets all six strings ring. Strings marked x are muted and stay silent, just as in the chord shape. To play single notes or your own shapes, tap a fret on the neck; tap the same fret again to lift the finger. The name of whatever you hold appears at the top.
On a computer, Space or the down arrow strums down and the up arrow strums up. Keys 1 to 6 pick the strings from low E to high E, and the letter on each chord button holds that chord, so you can change chords with one hand and strum with the other. 0 goes back to open strings.
The chords on the buttons
The buttons hold twelve common open chord shapes plus the F barre chord. Each shape reads from the low E string to the high E string: x is a muted string, 0 an open string, and a number the fret to press.
| Chord | Shape (low E to high E) | Notes | Key |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | x32010 | C E G | Q |
| D | xx0232 | D F# A | W |
| E | 022100 | E G# B | E |
| F | 133211 | F A C | R |
| G | 320003 | G B D | T |
| A | x02220 | A C# E | Y |
| Am | x02210 | A C E | U |
| Em | 022000 | E G B | I |
| Dm | xx0231 | D F A | O |
| E7 | 020100 | E G# B D | P |
| A7 | x02020 | A C# E G | A |
| D7 | xx0212 | D F# A C | S |
| G7 | 320001 | G B D F | D |
For every other chord, in every key, see the guitar chords chart. To name a shape of your own, tap it into the guitar chord finder.
Tunings
The Tuning menu retunes the strings. Standard tuning is E A D G B E from low to high. Drop D lowers the low string to D, the half step down and full step down tunings lower every string, and open tunings such as Open G (D G D G B D) make a full chord with no fingers at all: choose Open G, press Open and strum. The chord buttons keep their standard-tuning shapes, so in another tuning they give other chords; the name at the top always shows what the strings actually play. To tune a real guitar to any of these, use the guitar tuner.
Practice ideas
A guitar simulator will not build calluses, but it is a quick way to learn how chords sound together and to hear a progression before you try it on the instrument. Try these:
- Hold G, C and D in turn and strum each four times. Those are the I, IV and V chords of G major.
- Change between Am and E, then Am and E7, and listen to how the G# in E pulls back to A.
- Tap single strings of a chord one after the other, low to high, to hear it as an arpeggio.
- Set a steady beat with the metronome and strum down on every beat, then down and up.
How the sound is made
Nothing is recorded or downloaded. Each string is synthesised in your browser with a plucked-string model: a short burst of noise circulates through a delay tuned to the note, losing a little brightness on each pass, which is close to how a real string's sound fades. A string that is plucked again stops its old note, as a real one does, and higher frets sound higher because the model follows the note of each fret in the chosen tuning.
More for guitar: Guitar Tuner · Guitar Chords · Guitar Chord Finder · Guitar Scales · Fretboard Notes · Capo Chart · Guitar Tab Maker · Chord Chart Maker · Online Guitar Amp · Guitar Effects · Online Looper
Questions
Can I play guitar online for free?
Yes. The virtual guitar is free, runs in your browser and needs no sign-up or download. It works with a touch screen, a mouse or the computer keyboard.
How do I strum on a phone?
Drag your finger across the strings in the box: upward from the low E string is a down strum, downward is an up strum. Tap one string to pick it. Tap a chord button first to hold a chord.
Which keys play the virtual guitar?
Space or the down arrow strums down, the up arrow strums up, 1 to 6 pick single strings, and Q W E R T Y U I O P A S D hold the chords C, D, E, F, G, A, Am, Em, Dm, E7, A7, D7 and G7. 0 lets all strings ring open.
Why do some strings not make a sound?
Strings marked x are muted in that chord shape, as in a chord chart. The C shape, for example, does not use the low E string. Press Open to let every string ring.
Can I change the tuning?
Yes. Pick Drop D, DADGAD, Open G and other tunings in the Tuning menu. The strings and the neck retune, and the chord name updates.