Virtual Guitar Online — Play Chords, Scales & Fretboard
Play a free virtual guitar online: interactive fretboard, chords, scales, strumming and a note trainer. No download or signup — mouse, touch or keyboard.
Tool controls
Protect your hearing. Start at a low volume. Never raise the volume to make a tone audible. Levels are shown in dBFS, relative to full scale — not SPL.
How it works
First-party physical modeling Karplus-Strong synthesis on the Web Audio API. Each pluck builds an initial randomized excitation filtered through a delay loop with frequency-dependent damping, sympathetic resonance, and a simulated wooden body cavity. Zero sample library downloads: fully offline and zero telemetry.
On this page
The Virtual Guitar Lab is a free, playable guitar in your browser: a 22-fret neck with physically modelled steel, nylon and electric tones, a chord and scale practice desk, a fretboard trainer and microphone pitch feedback. Nothing is downloaded and nothing is uploaded — every note is synthesised locally on the Web Audio API.
Play guitar online with your computer keyboard
The neck maps to four keyboard rows: the six columns are the six strings (low E first) and each row plays the next fret from 0 to 3.
| Row | Keys | Plays |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Open strings (E A D G B E) |
| 2 | Q W E R T Y | Fret 1 |
| 3 | A S D F G H | Fret 2 |
| 4 | Z X C V B N | Fret 3 |
Press [ and ] to slide the four-fret window up and down the neck — the window remembers the capo, so a chord played in open position comes out at the right pitch. If you prefer the mouse or touch, click or tap any string to pluck it; otherwise, the layout works directly as a responsive keyboard guitar controller.
Drag-strumming, MIDI hardware, and exports
The stage bar and interactive neck provide advanced performance and export capabilities directly in your browser:
- Drag-strumming: Click and drag your cursor or swipe across the strings to strum naturally. The engine calculates pluck velocity from your swipe speed and plucks strings in sequence whether moving down or up.
- Web MIDI keyboard input: Click MIDI In to connect an external MIDI controller via the Web MIDI API and trigger fretboard notes with hardware velocity sensitivity.
- Copy-link state sharing: Click Share to encode your tuning, capo, wood finish, active panel, and chord voicing into a URL hash and copy the shareable link.
- Audio, MIDI, and TAB downloads: Click Record (WAV) to export the active voicing as a
.wavfile, Export MIDI to download chord progressions as.midsequences, or Export TAB to save clean ASCII tablature (.txt).
What is in the Practice Desk
- Chords — 14 chord qualities across every root, with open and movable E/A/D shapes, barre markers and finger numbers. Play any voicing as a strum or an arpeggio, or reverse-lookup custom fingerings with our guitar chord finder. New to shapes? Our beginner chords guide teaches the first eight chords step by step, and the guitar chord chart keeps every common diagram on one printable page.
- Scales — full-neck maps and five box positions for 17 scale types, with note-name or degree labels to help you see the intervals. The pentatonic scale guide builds the five essential boxes shape by shape, and the CAGED system guide shows how chord shapes and scale patterns lock together around the same roots. For a dedicated interactive finder featuring 3-notes-per-string patterns and interval degree labels, explore our Guitar Scale Finder.
- Progressions — five curated progressions (pop, jazz ii–V–I, 12-bar blues, Andalusian, doo-wop) with nine strum patterns, an audible metronome click toggle, and a tempo slider from 40 to 220 BPM.
- Circle of Fifths — an interactive wheel with the relative minors and the seven diatonic chords of every key; click a chord to load it onto the neck. It now lives on its own page too: the interactive Circle of Fifths explains key signatures, chord families and transposing in full.
- Fretboard Trainer — find-the-note and name-the-note drills with rounds, streaks and a score, so note memorisation becomes a game (or launch the standalone fretboard trainer for timed quiz sets). Pair it with the fretboard notes guide, which maps every note from fret 0 to 12 with a two-week memorisation plan.
- Real Guitar Mic — play a note on a real guitar and let the microphone check it against the target pitch.
How to start playing
- Tap the fretboard once to start the audio (browsers block sound until you interact).
- Choose a guitar type and tuning in the stage bar — try Classical Nylon for a soft fingerstyle tone or play electric guitar online using Clean Electric with the palm-muted preset for rhythm practice.
- Open the Chords panel, pick a chord and press Set on Neck, then Strum or Arpeggio.
- Use the metronome and the progressions panel to practise changing chords in time.
- When you know a few shapes, switch to the Trainer tab and test yourself.
Why the tone sounds like a guitar
Most browser instruments play back recorded samples. This one uses physical modelling: each pluck creates a short noise burst that circulates through a tuned delay loop with frequency-dependent damping — the Karplus-Strong algorithm — layered with pick transient and body resonance. That is why the low strings sustain longer, why the same note sounds slightly different every time, and why the page loads instantly with no soundfont files.
Free guitar practice, no download
The Lab is a browser guitar, not a lesson platform: it is free, needs no account, and stores nothing about you. To get in tune first, use the online guitar tuner; for timing practice, the metronome and rhythm trainer sit alongside it. If you want the keyboard equivalent, the Virtual Piano shares the same stage. To shape your tone with amplifier gain, overdrive, and speaker cabinet simulation, test your sound through our free Virtual Guitar Amp. For lower registers and four-string instruments, our Virtual Bass Guitar and Virtual Ukulele bring the same browser-native synthesis to bass and uke.
Go deeper with guitar guides
If you want structured practice beyond the interactive neck, explore our companion guides:
- Guitar Scales — charts and five CAGED-linked positions for major, minor, pentatonic and modes
- How to Read Guitar Chord Charts — symbols, numbers, barre notation and common reading mistakes
- How to Clean a Guitar Fretboard — step-by-step care for rosewood, maple and ebony necks
- How to Learn Guitar Online — a structured free practice roadmap from open chords to fretboard theory
Related tools
- Guitar Tuner — standard EADGBE with microphone pitch detection
- Guitar Scale Finder — interactive scale finder with 5 box positions and 3NPS patterns
- Virtual Guitar Amp — browser-native guitar amplifier simulation with clean, crunch, high gain, and fuzz presets
- Virtual Bass Guitar — playable 4-string and 5-string bass guitar with realistic low-register plucks
- Virtual Ukulele — 4-string ukulele fretboard with High-G/Low-G tunings and chord finder
- Guitar Chord Finder — identify chords by clicking frets on the neck
- Fretboard Trainer — interactive note quiz to master positions across the neck
- Interactive Circle of Fifths — pick any key, see its chords, and load them onto the fretboard
- Metronome — tempo and subdivision practice for chord changes
- Ear Training — interval and pitch drills that pair with the fretboard trainer
- Instrument Tuner — chromatic fallback for any tuning
- Virtual Piano — the same lab approach applied to keys
Related guides:
- Guitar Chords for Beginners — the first eight chords with diagrams and a 4-week plan
- Guitar Chord Chart — printable reference for every common chord shape
- Guitar Fretboard Notes — full neck map with a note-memorisation plan
- CAGED System for Guitar — five moveable shapes that map the whole neck
- Pentatonic Scale for Guitar — minor and major boxes with starter licks
- Guitar Scales — charts for major, minor, pentatonic and modes
- How to Read Guitar Chord Charts — symbols, numbers and barre diagrams explained
- How to Clean a Guitar Fretboard — care guides for rosewood, maple and ebony necks
- How to Learn Guitar Online — structured free practice roadmap from open chords to theory
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to download anything to play this virtual guitar?
No. Every pluck is synthesised in real time inside your browser using physical modeling Karplus-Strong algorithms on the Web Audio API. There are zero soundfont files, zero sample libraries, and no plugins to install.
Can I play this virtual guitar online for free?
Yes. The Virtual Guitar Lab is free in your browser: no account, no signup, no download and no in-app purchase. The audio is generated locally on your device and nothing is uploaded.
How do I play or strum the strings?
Click or touch a string on the fretboard to pluck it, or use your computer keyboard. To play whole chords, choose a voicing in the Chords panel and press Strum or Arpeggio; strums are synthesised string by string with natural timing spread.
Can I drag across the strings to strum like a real guitar?
Yes. Drag your mouse cursor or swipe your finger across the strings on the fretboard canvas to strum. The engine measures your pointer speed and calculates dynamic strum velocity, triggering natural string-by-string plucks whether you strum downward or upward.
Can I use my computer keyboard to play the guitar?
Yes. The six columns map to the six strings and the four rows play frets 0–3: keys 1–6 pluck the open strings, Q–Y play the first fret, A–H the second and Z–N the third. The [ and ] keys slide the four-fret window up and down the neck, and the window follows the capo.
What is a keyboard guitar, and can I play electric guitar online here?
A keyboard guitar usually refers to playing guitar parts via a QWERTY or MIDI controller keyboard, or to a guitar synthesiser instrument. In the Virtual Guitar Lab you can use your computer keys or MIDI controller as a keyboard guitar, and you can play electric guitar online directly in your browser with our Clean Electric preset.
Can I record or export audio, MIDI, and guitar tabs?
Yes. The top stage bar includes direct export buttons: Record (WAV) renders the active chord voicing to a downloadable .wav audio file, Export MIDI generates a .mid file of the current chord progression, and Export TAB downloads formatted ASCII tablature of your active chord, scale, or progression.
How do I share my guitar tuning, capo, and chord settings?
Click the Share button in the stage bar. The tool serializes your current guitar preset, wood choice, tuning, capo position, active panel, and chord voicing into a URL hash and copies the direct link to your clipboard so anyone can open your exact setup.
Can I play this virtual guitar with a MIDI keyboard?
Yes. In browsers that support the Web MIDI API, click the MIDI In button in the stage bar. Connect any standard USB or Bluetooth MIDI keyboard to play notes on the virtual neck in real time with hardware velocity sensitivity.
Is there a metronome for practicing chord progressions?
Yes. In the Progressions panel, enable the Metronome checkbox to hear an audible woodblock click on each beat while your chord progression loops at your chosen tempo.
Can I practise chords and scale box patterns?
Yes. The built-in Practice Desk contains dedicated panels for chords (14 chord qualities across every root, with open and movable E/A/D shapes, barres and fingerings), scale box patterns, strumming patterns and popular rhythm progressions, plus an interactive Circle of Fifths that loads chords straight onto the neck.
Does this virtual guitar support alternate tunings and capos?
Yes. Standard tuning, Half-Step Down, Drop D, Drop C, DADGAD, Open G and Open D are built in, along with an adjustable capo slider from fret 0 to 9.
Can I practise with a real guitar using my microphone?
Yes. Turn on Real Guitar Mic in the Practice Desk to play a note on a real guitar and check it with microphone pitch detection.
Does the virtual guitar work on phones and tablets?
Yes. The fretboard becomes a horizontal scroll rail on narrow screens and responds to touch, so you can play on a phone or tablet without installing an app.