Show HN: Guitoro, a virtual guitar you strum with your keyboard

• 4instruments
• 15chords in every key
• 51songs to play along with
• 20%slowest song speed
• 56strum and picking patterns
• 15drum styles

Play

Play guitar with your keyboard or your fingers

No guitar needed. Guitoro is built to be played, not just clicked, on whatever you have in front of you.

• Computer keyboard

  Your left hand holds a chord on the letter keys and your right hand strums with H and J, the way you'd play a real guitar. 15 chords sit under your fingers, plus keys for arpeggios, single strings, chucks and palm mutes.

• Touch screen

  On a phone or tablet, tap a chord pad and swipe the strings with your finger. Up to five fingers at once, and you can tap the frets on the neck to play single notes.

• Mouse

  Drag across the strings. A fast swipe plays louder, a slow drag rolls the notes one by one, and a click plucks a single string.

• Melodies in Solo

  On a computer, switch to Solo and every keyboard row becomes a string and every column a fret, with bends and vibrato on the arrow keys.

Learn by watching

See every string and every stroke, as slowly as you need

In a video lesson the hand moves fast and hides the strings, so you can't tell which ones were really hit. Guitar apps teach the basic chords and stop there. Guitoro plays the song's real part on the guitar in front of you, at the speed you choose, and shows exactly what the hands do. Then you play it, on the virtual guitar or on your own.

• Played like the record

  Each song plays its best-known part close to the original recording, stroke for stroke. Slow it anywhere from 20% to full speed and the chords, the strum and the band slow down together.

• See which strings are hit

  Each string lights up the moment it sounds, then vibrates as it rings. You can see whether a stroke hits all six strings, just the bass strings or only the top three.

• Watch the strumming hand

  Over a strummed part, the pick swings down and up like a real strumming hand, once per step of the pattern. Solid swings hit the strings and faint ones miss them, so you see the hand keep moving through the gaps.

• Fingers on the neck

  While a chord rings, the neck shows it: finger numbers from 1 to 4, barres, muted strings and the capo. Copy the shape onto your own guitar.

• No guitar? The song waits for you

  Play a song's chords on the keys or the screen and it follows you. The keys show its chords in order, the next one lights green, and the song holds until you play it. No score and no rush.

• Have a guitar? Play along

  Watch a part slowly, copy it on your guitar, then play along as you raise the speed. On a computer, choose My guitar: the on-screen keys step aside and the song box shows the strum or picking pattern, a chord strip you can click to jump around, and the speed.

Realism

Why it sounds and feels like a real guitar

Most online guitars only let you click single strings or frets, or play a synthesized tone when you click a chord. On Guitoro you strum: swipe across the strings or use the keys, and every string sounds as you cross it, from recordings of real instruments.

• Recorded, not synthesized

  Every guitar and bass note is a recording of a real instrument: a steel-string acoustic, a classic guitar with nylon strings, a solid-body electric on its bridge pickup, and a four-string bass.

• Strums follow your hand

  Each string sounds as your finger or mouse crosses it. Swipe down or up, fast or slow, and you hear the difference, down to a slow roll across the strings.

• Real chord shapes

  Chords use the shapes guitarists play, with open strings, barres and muted strings, so a G sounds like a G on a guitar, not on a keyboard.

• Guitar techniques

  Chucks, palm mutes, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends and vibrato, while the strings vibrate on screen as they ring.

Use cases

What people use it for

• Playing without a guitar

  Strum real chords and play whole songs with your computer keyboard or your fingers, with a backing band behind you. On a train, at the office or on the sofa, a laptop or a phone and headphones are enough.

• Learning real songs

  Songs like Wonderwall, Hallelujah and Let It Be come set up with the right key, capo, tempo and the strum from the record. Lead the chords from the keys, or pick up your own guitar and play along at any speed.

• Getting a strum right

  Slow a song's strum down, watch which way the pick moves on every beat, then strum it yourself over a drum beat until it feels steady.

• Learning their first chords

  See where each finger goes, hear how the chord should sound, then copy the shape on a real guitar. Every chord also has its own page in the guitar chord chart.

• Checking a chord chart

  Paste the chords of a song from a chord site and hear how it goes before you sit down to play it.

• Writing a song

  Type a chord progression under My songs, loop it with the backing band, and record the idea before it's gone.

• Teaching

  Show a class a chord shape or a strum on a big screen, slowed down, with every string and every pick stroke visible.

• Other musicians

  Singers, keyboard players and songwriters can hear how guitar chords are voiced and see how a progression lies on the fretboard, without learning to hold a guitar first.

Features

Everything in the app

The most complete virtual guitar online: four instruments, every key, real chord shapes, songs, a backing band and recording, all free in one place.

• Four real instruments

  Steel-string acoustic, classic guitar, electric and four-string bass, each built from recorded samples. Pick a recording for the acoustic (Warm, Bright or Mellow) and the classic (Natural or Concert), and presets for the electric, from Clean to Crunch, Classic Rock, Metal, Lead and Ambient.

• 15 chords in every key

  Pick any of the 24 major and minor keys and the chord keys fill with the chords that fit it: the main chords, sevenths, and sus, add9 or sus2 colors. Edit puts any chord you type, like F#m7 or Dsus2, on a key.

• Chord shapes on the neck

  While a chord rings, the neck shows finger numbers, barres, muted strings and the capo. Standard is the shape most players learn first, Easy swaps a barre chord for a smaller shape, and Up plays the same chord higher up the neck.

• Songs at any speed

  51 songs and classical pieces come set up to play, from Wonderwall and Hotel California to Canon in D. Slow them to 20%, lead their chords from the keys, or play along on your own guitar.

• 56 strum and picking patterns

  14 everyday strums from Steady downs and the pop staple D DU U DU to shuffle and 6/8, 4 styles (reggae, funk and country), 26 more rhythms drawn from real songs, and 12 picking patterns like Travis and classical p-i-m-a. Choose one and you hear it straight away.

• A backing band

  Drums, bass and strings that follow your chords: 15 drum styles, including rock, funk, reggae, bossa nova and cajon, and 25 bass lines. The Band switch next to Play turns them on. Tempo goes from 10 to 220 BPM, with a metronome.

• Your own songs

  Paste a song from a chord site or as ChordPro text, pick a strum, and Guitoro plays it with the band. Write "x2" to repeat a line or a part. Lyrics are left out, and your songs stay in your browser.

• Solo mode

  Play single notes and melodies on the neck from the computer keyboard, with hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends and vibrato.

• Amp & FX

  Overdrive, distortion and fuzz on the electric, plus bass, mid and treble, room or hall reverb, and delay on every instrument.

• Tunings and capo

  10 tunings, from Standard, Drop D and half step down to DADGAD and Open G, D and E, a capo up to fret 10, and a left-handed guitar.

• Record and export

  Record takes of up to 10 minutes with the band, replay them and save them as WAV or a small compressed file. Takes stay in your browser.

• Online tuner

  A free guitar tuner that listens through your microphone, with pages for drop D, open tunings, the bass and the ukulele.

Getting started

How to use Guitoro

From silence to a song you lead yourself. The first two steps take a few seconds.

1. Choose an instrument

   Pick Acoustic, Classic, Electric or Bass at the top of the page. On a phone, tap the guitar picture. You can switch at any time.

2. Pick a chord

   Tap a chord pad, or press its letter on the keyboard. The default key is G major, so the middle row, A S D F G, holds G, C, D, Em and Am. Auto strum starts on, so the chord strums itself.

3. Strum it yourself

   Turn Auto off, then swipe down across the strings for a downstroke and up for an upstroke. On a keyboard, H strums down and J strums up.

4. Choose a pattern

   Open the Strum menu and pick a strum or picking pattern. You hear it once on your chord. With Auto and Loop on, it keeps playing while you hold a chord key.

5. Play a song

   Open Songs & recordings and pick a song. Press Play to hear it, or press the chord key that lights green to lead it yourself. The tempo button next to Play slows it down.

6. Add a band

   Turn on the Band switch next to Play. Its edit button opens Backing band, where you choose the drums, the bass line and the strings.

7. Record a take

   Open Songs & recordings, choose Recordings, and press Record. Play, then use Stop next to the recording timer. Your takes stay in Recordings.

Keyboard

Play guitar with your computer keyboard

Your left hand holds the chords and your right hand strums, just like on a guitar. Keys follow their physical position on a US QWERTY keyboard, and every key on screen shows its letter.

Learn chords

How to learn guitar chords with Guitoro

Learn strumming

How to learn strumming patterns

Strum patterns are written with D for a downstroke and U for an upstroke, and x for a muted chuck. The trick is to keep your hand moving down on every number and up on every "and", even when it misses the strings. In Guitoro you can watch the pick do exactly that.

1. Listen first

   Choose a pattern from the Strum menu and you hear it once on your chord. The menu shows each pattern as a grid of downs and ups.

2. Watch it slowly

   Open a song with the strum you want and slow it to 50% or less. The pick swings down on the numbers and up on the "and"s: solid when it hits the strings, faint when it misses. The strings light up to show which ones each stroke hits.

3. Play it yourself

   Turn Auto off, turn on the Band switch or the metronome, and strum along with H and J or by swiping the strings.

4. Record and listen back

   Record a take and listen for uneven strokes. When it sounds steady, speed up.

5. Build up in order

   Steady downs, then Down-up eighths, then the pop staple, then 6/8 ballad and Shuffle. After that, open songs like Wonderwall, Hallelujah and Knockin' on Heaven's Door and strum their own patterns.

FAQ

Questions

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