Virtual Guitar
Play a guitar on your screen. Tap any fret to hear its note, or pick a chord and strum it. The virtual guitar uses standard tuning E A D G B E (alternate tunings too), plays exact reference pitches, and needs no download, microphone or account. Sound is made in your browser.
Fretboard
The virtual guitar needs JavaScript.
Chord (shown on the fretboard, standard tuning)
Strings are drawn with the thinnest string (high E) at the top, as on a guitar tab. Scroll the fretboard sideways on a small screen.
What you can do with it
- Learn the notes on the neck. Every square shows its note name, so you can see how the notes repeat after fret 12.
- Check chord shapes. Pick a chord: the orange squares show the frets, crossed-out open squares are strings you do not play.
- Tune by ear. The open strings play the exact tuning notes.
- Try alternate tunings. Switch to Drop D, DADGAD or Open G and hear how the open strings change.
How the sound is made
Each note is synthesised with the Karplus-Strong plucked-string method: a short burst of noise is fed through a delay line whose length matches the pitch, which gives a natural plucked decay. No recorded samples are loaded, so the page stays small and works offline once loaded.
Questions and answers
How do I play the virtual guitar?
Tap or click any square on the fretboard to play that note. The left column is the open string. Pick a chord to see where the fingers go, then press Strum down or Strum up. On a computer, keys 1 to 6 play strings 1 to 6 and the arrow keys strum.
Can I tune my real guitar with the virtual guitar?
Yes, by ear: the open strings play exactly the standard tuning notes at A4 = 440 Hz. For a faster and more exact result, use the microphone tuner.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The sound is made by the browser with the Web Audio API, so the virtual guitar works on phones, tablets and computers without downloads, sound files or an account.
Last updated October 20, 2026.