{
  "id": 14352325,
  "title": "Show HN: Guitoro, a virtual guitar you strum with your keyboard",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/show-hn-guitoro-a-virtual-guitar-you-strum-with-your-keyboard-14352325",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-13T19:11:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hacker News Best",
    "slug": "hacker-news-best",
    "url": "https://guitoro.com/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Guitoro is a highly realistic and comprehensive virtual guitar that can be played online for free in a web browser. Users can interact with it using a computer keyboard, left hand for chords and right hand for strumming, or by swiping strings with fingers on a phone or tablet. The virtual guitar offers options for various types such as steel-string acoustic, classic guitar, electric guitar, and four-string bass. It also serves as an educational tool to learn chords and songs that are not easily demonstrated by chord charts or video lessons.\n\nEach song plays its most recognizable part closely resembling the original recording, stroke by stroke. Users can slow it down to as low as 20% of the original speed, allowing them to watch the guitar being played. As each string is hit, it lights up, the pick swings down and up with the strum, and the neck displays which finger to use. Once the user takes over, the virtual guitar waits for them at every chord change. If a physical guitar is available, the user can play along at their own pace with strings, strum, and fingering visible in front of them.\n\nGuitoro records each guitar and bass note from real instruments, without the need for any downloads or account creation. It builds upon the concept of the Google guitar doodle, featuring six real strings, 15 chords in every key, and 51 songs to play along with. No guitar is needed to enjoy the experience. Designed for play, not just clicking, Guitoro allows the left hand to hold chords on letter keys while the right hand strums using H and J keys, just like playing a real guitar. It supports 15 chords, arpeggios, single strings, chords, and palm muting, and allows up to five fingers to be used simultaneously, with the option to tap frets on the neck to play single notes. The swiping speed influences the volume, with fast swipes producing louder sounds, slow drags playing notes one by one, and clicks plucking individual strings. On a computer, users can switch to Solo mode, transforming every keyboard row into a string and each column into a fret, enabling bends and vibrato through the arrow keys.\n\nThe virtual guitar is designed to match the real part of a song, playing it at the user's chosen speed while showing exactly what the hands should do. The strings light up as they sound, and they vibrate while ringing, indicating whether a stroke hits all six strings, just the bass strings, or only the top three. During strummed parts, the pick swings down and up like a real strumming hand, hitting strings for solid swings and missing them for faint ones, demonstrating precise hand movement across gaps. While a chord sustains, the neck shows finger numbers from 1 to 4, barre chords, muted strings, and a capo, allowing users to copy the shape onto their own guitar. Users can play a song's chords on keys or the screen, and the virtual guitar follows along, presenting chords in sequence, highlighting the next one in green, and holding until it is played. This feature allows users to learn at their own pace, looping through parts slowly, copying them onto their guitar, and then playing along as they increase the speed.",
  "summary": "Guitoro 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…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Hacker News",
        "title": "Show HN: Guitoro, a virtual guitar you strum with your keyboard",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/show-hn-guitoro-a-virtual-guitar-you-strum-with-your-keyboard",
        "published": "2026-10-13T19:11:48.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}