Show HN: Guitoro, a virtual guitar you strum with your keyboard
guitoro.comGuitoro is a free browser guitar using recordings of real instruments. You can strum with your keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen, choose acoustic, classical, electric guitar or bass, and see chord fingering and each stroke. Song practice can be slowed to 20%, and there are free chord tools and tuners. No signup or download.
1 minute video demo: https://youtu.be/DtcluMLdSgs
I would love feedback on how the strumming feels and sounds.
Such an AMAZING idea - as a guitar player I wish I had thought of this. Kudos to the creator...Very well done :)
Very well done. Looks and sounds great.
A couple of UX thoughts I had while using it:
1. Since the chords are all within a specific key, have you considered using the numbers 1 through 7 to play the respective chords? That way playing a 1-4-5 or a 2-5-1 would be very intuitive?
2. Have you considered using modifier keys (shift, ctrl, alt) to control whether a chord is strummed down versus up (e.g. pressing A would be down, but Shift+A would be up) or major/minor (A would be major, Alt+A would be minor)? I guess Ctrl could be a 7th chord modifier too.
Just some thoughts. Great tool!
I just spent 30 minutes playing with this. It's incredible, well done to the author!
This is very interesting however i don't know guitar. Can somebody give me a couple of tips on which keys to press so I could play well known song? For example Angie by the rolling stones?
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the-rolling-stones/angi...
and switch to A minor
This is very nice. One suggestion based on a guitar related hobby webapp I built myself: fretboard renders in potrait probably makes for nicer ux.
My tool does not focus on strumming at all as this one does though.
Nice work. Am having fun with it.
This looks great!
I noticed that the strumming seems a bit off on chord changes. A good default is to let strings that don't change on chord change to continue to ring through. Just think about the strings as actual strings and the kinds of things that happen to them when you play.
Also, different songs will have different techniques like bar chords that may have less brightness, palm muting etc.
I'm working on a physical guitar digital luthier kit right now as part of a project at Toronto Metropolitan University working with disabled musicians. Our aim is to release it so anyone can build one.
Here is our documentation of examining an existing assistive guitar built a few years ago in the UK. https://www.designingsoundfutures.org/kellycaster-mark-1/
Now we're taking lessons learned from that and working on robust versions for touring musicians, and variations to adapt to different assistive and artistic needs.
Great to see others doing nifty work with this guitar based music stuff.
Thanks, great input! Letting the shared strings ring through chord changes makes a lot of sense and I will look at it. Song techniques like palm muting are on the list too.
Your project sounds wonderful. Good luck with it, I'd love to see it when it's out.
The chord names not matching the keys on my keyboard are throwing me off a lot on this, but that's difficult to get anything other than major chords. Maybe it would be playable by using modifiers to shift to minor and 7th etc.
Another idea I had was being able to bend by holding two keys like monophonic synths.
Very well done! When adding a chord on a key, I'm missing a small preview of the chords as they appear in the autocomplete list, or would be nice to be able to assemble a chord on a fretboard view. What made you start work on this app? And what is the logic behind how the chords are laid out on the keyboard?
Thanks! Both good ideas, noted.
I wanted to play some chords when Im away from my guitar and none of the browser online guitars I found were at the level I was looking for.
The keys follow the song's key: A row = the 5 main chords (I IV V vi ii), Q row = their sevenths Z row = color chords
In solo mode, there should be a horizontally flipped version, such that such that the 0 key plays open E on the 1st string, and the 9 plays F on the 1st string, etc. That would allow me to hold my wireless keyboard backwards, facing the screen, rely on the muscle memory of my hands.
There was something like this that came with an old Sound Blaster card back in the day that I spent quite a lot of time with. It had something like this, where you could pick individual strings with the number pad and change chords with the F buttons.
love it!
Been working on something similar (a DAW, to learn more about music) - and just wanted to say that your guitar voice is quite good! Bravo
Had fun with this on my phone! Any chance of calculating velocity based on speed of pick movement? I'm sure some super basic ASDR and maybe a low-oass would get you to a very satisfying place
Next steps: add Guitar Hero controller or/and Rock Band interface support
Why does it show a left-handed guitar on Player view, and a right-handed one on Audience view?
Hi Rygian, Good catch.
Player view does show a left handed guitar. Two reasons: 1. matches what a right handed player sees looking down at their own guitar: low E on top, neck on the left. 2. players without guitar, to lined up with the pc keyboard that is on the left.
True Audience view is like you watch right hand guitar player.
" matches what a right handed player sees looking down at their own guitar: low E on top, neck on the left"
no, it's wrong
Yeah, and I would rather see the “normal” presentation of chords. At least provide a selector to be able to toggle the view.
Okay, it’s not just me. It was breaking my brain trying to understand the chords on the screen vs. when I play.
As someone learning guitar and looks at a lot of tutorials, 99% of the time it’s presented is the other way around, so the way it’s presented here is rather confusing to me.
That's interesting because I think of Low E on the "top" as meaning close to me, which puts it on the bottom of the screen in this app. That matches what happens when I twist a real guitar face towards me when I've got one strapped. So I just switched it to Tab view and it all felt better.
It's great! As far as I can tell, the toggle for Let ring is not working: when i disable it, notes still ring out after letting go of the key (in solo mode on electric guitar currently)
Thanks for reporting! I will look into it. Did it happen on all notes?
Very nicely done, at first I thought it was gimmicky but it's actually playable
Before I knew it, ten minutes had gone! good job
Really really enjoyable, but how do I turn on drive for the electric guitar?
Thanks! Click Sound button on the right nd pick one of the electric presets. For more control, open Amp & FX in the same panel and choose Overdrive, Distortion or Fuzz.
This was much better than I expected. Nice job.
Nicely done!
This is so cool.
This looks very interesting, I may finally learn wonderwall.
Thanks you, Good luck with wonderwall!
Would be lovely to have a faq section about who you are and how you built it (how long did it take you, which tools did you use, how much back and forth did you need to do with the ai agent, what is your background in terms of programming, web, design and music, etc.)
This is really good.
This is super fun, thanks!
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel:
This is absolutely amazing. Well done.
Sick, love it
This is excellent. Thank you.
Enjoy (; and tell your friend
This is great, great design, great functionality, TY!
That's awesome!
Thanks!
Holy shit, this is incredible. As a guitar player this actually feels like playing a guitar. So cool.
Only suggestion I would have would be to make all 6 strings strummable independently in the chord instead of just the 4, so you can do finger picking on it.
Good idea. I've added it to the list of upcoming improvements. Thanks!
This is kinda cool, but it's nowhere near as fun as being able to play the real thing. Sounds better IRL.
It is nice that it shows the chords.
What an insightful contribution.
I said it's kinda cool. Like what more do you want? I could point out how useless it is in general, I can't say it would make a good learning tool, because it doesn't. But it is a novelty site that does make sound and show correct chord positions. Can you use it to compose something? Sure but the sound cutoff between chords and the need to pick a chord that strums down first before you can strum up means you'll always produce a sound you don't want and you can't even replicate picking.
It's not a tool, it's a toy man. Chill out.
> I could
You did, not could. All those things that you said you could do? You literally did them.
You are failing to answer the question. What's your point? I pose a question, I present what can be said, which sure I did say it in that comment to point at the extremes, but the question remains unanswered. What do you want of me? and now we have what's your point?
My point is hiding behind passive language like that is cowardly. You actively chose to do literally all of those things. It's not that you "could" do them, you did do them. Own up to it.
Get over yourself.
Naw man, I'm taking this to my next gig!
You are right, but it is fun.
If you make this work in a gig (could imagine using it as a DJ), you should post it.
I think you underestimate how creative people can be.
As a guitar substitute, sure, it's an approximation that can't possibly measure up. But as a modernized version of an autoharp, this could be a legit musical instrument.
The fact that it presents itself as a virtual guitar makes it accessible. You see it as a limitation. But limitations are actually great for creativity.
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