Show HN: Guitoro, a virtual guitar you strum with your keyboard (guitoro.com)

156 pointsby talccc3 hours ago55 comments

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 how the strumming feels and sounds.

spapas82 16 minutes ago

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?

pseudosavant 38 minutes ago

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!

hannofcart 22 minutes ago

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.

orliesaurus 2 hours ago

I just spent 30 minutes playing with this. It's incredible, well done to the author!

MartijnBraam 40 minutes ago

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.

_spduchamp 2 hours ago

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.

talccc 2 hours ago

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.

waerhert 2 hours ago

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?

talccc 2 hours ago

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

mbo an hour ago

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.

jayknight an hour ago

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.

onlyrealcuzzo an hour ago

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

TomGarden 2 hours ago

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

paaloeye an hour ago

Next steps: add Guitar Hero controller or/and Rock Band interface support

jtumbot an hour ago

Very nicely done, at first I thought it was gimmicky but it's actually playable

Rygian 2 hours ago

Why does it show a left-handed guitar on Player view, and a right-handed one on Audience view?

talccc 2 hours ago

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.

bibimsz an hour ago

" 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

Aboutplants an hour ago

Yeah, and I would rather see the “normal” presentation of chords. At least provide a selector to be able to toggle the view.

rendleflag an hour ago

Okay, it’s not just me. It was breaking my brain trying to understand the chords on the screen vs. when I play.

Aboutplants 41 minutes ago

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.

djeastm an hour ago

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.

ssteeper 2 hours ago

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)

talccc 2 hours ago

Thanks for reporting! I will look into it. Did it happen on all notes?

LewisOrton 2 hours ago

Before I knew it, ten minutes had gone! good job

taybin an hour ago

This was much better than I expected. Nice job.

utopcell 25 minutes ago

Nicely done!

jamesdelaneyie 2 hours ago

Really really enjoyable, but how do I turn on drive for the electric guitar?

talccc an hour ago

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.

pageandrew 40 minutes ago

This is so cool.

teiferer 30 minutes ago

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.)

fellowniusmonk 3 hours ago

This looks very interesting, I may finally learn wonderwall.

talccc 3 hours ago

Thanks you, Good luck with wonderwall!

vdev123 an hour ago

This is really good.

ZeWaka 2 hours ago

This is super fun, thanks!

mbil 2 hours ago

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel:

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iamben 3 hours ago

This is absolutely amazing. Well done.