Virtual Violin

What this virtual violin is

This page puts a violin fingerboard on your screen. It has four strings, each shown as a row, and you bow a string by pressing on it and holding. The note keeps sounding for as long as you hold, and you can slide along the string to change pitch, which is how a real violin works. There is nothing to install and no account to make.

The sound is synthesized in your browser using the Web Audio system, so no audio files are downloaded. It is a simplified imitation, not a recording of a violin. The board is wider than a phone, so on small screens it scrolls sideways.

The four strings and how they are tuned

A violin has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. From lowest to highest they are G3, D4, A4 and E5. A fifth is the gap between, for example, C and G, so each string sits seven semitones above the one below. The A string is tuned to 440 Hz, and the rest follow: G is about 196 Hz, D about 293.7 Hz and E about 659.3 Hz.

On the board the highest string, E, is at the top, as on the guitar page. Each row is labeled with its number and letter, so string 1 is E and string 4 is G. Because the strings are a fifth apart, the pitch seven semitones up on one string matches the open string above it.

The fingerboard: open strings and positions

A violin has no frets. A player shortens the string by pressing a finger on it, and the exact spot decides the pitch. This page shows twelve cells on each string: the open string and eleven positions, each one semitone above the last. That covers a little less than an octave on each string, which is enough for most beginner tunes.

In real first position, with the hand near the top of the neck, the four fingers often land about 2, 4, 5 and 7 semitones above the open string when playing a major scale, though violinists adjust each finger by ear. The labels in the cells show the note names, so you can see exactly where a finger would need to go for each note.

How the bowed sound is made

On a real violin, the horsehair of the bow grips the string and lets go in a rapid cycle, which keeps the string vibrating. The wooden body then amplifies and colors the sound. Strings played with a bow are full of overtones, which is why a violin sounds bright and rich compared with a plain wave.

This page imitates that with two slightly detuned sawtooth waves, which are rich in overtones, passed through a filter that opens up as the pitch gets higher. Two broad resonances stand in for the body of the instrument, and a faint layer of noise stands in for the bow on the string. The vibrato fades in shortly after the note begins. It is a rough model, and a real violin is far more complex.

Playing with a mouse, touch screen or keyboard

• Mouse. Press and hold on a string. Drag left or right to slide the pitch, and drag up or down to move to another string. The note stops when you release.
• Touch screen. Touch and hold a string. You can use two fingers on two different strings to play a double stop. Because the strings respond to sliding, scroll the page by dragging the header row of numbers or the string labels instead.
• Computer keyboard. Hold 1, 2, 3 or 4 to bow the open E, A, D or G string. Press Tab to reach the board, move between cells with the arrow keys, and hold Enter or Space to bow the focused cell.

Each string can sound only one note at a time, so pressing a second finger on the same string replaces the first, as on the real instrument.

Snap to notes, free pitch and vibrato

With Snap to notes on, the pitch jumps to the nearest semitone, so every position gives a clean, in-tune note and a slide steps through the notes. Turn it off and the pitch follows your finger exactly, which lets you glide smoothly between notes, as on a fretless fingerboard. Free pitch is harder to play in tune, which is also true on a real violin and is the reason violinists train their ears for years.

Vibrato is a small, regular wobble in pitch, made on a real violin by rocking the finger on the string. The slider sets how wide that wobble is in cents, where one hundred cents is a semitone. A small amount of vibrato makes a long note sound warmer. Set it to zero for a plain, steady tone.

Beginner exercises

1. Hear the open strings. Hold 4, 3, 2 and 1 in turn. Notice that each is a fifth above the last.
2. A major scale on the D string. Play cells 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 on the D string, then cell 5 on the A string. That is D, E, F sharp, G, A, B, C sharp, D.
3. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. On the A string, play cells 0, 0, 7, 7, 9, 9, 7, then 5, 5, 4, 4, 2, 2, 0.
4. Slide. Turn off Snap to notes, hold the A string and slowly drag from cell 0 to cell 7. Listen for the smooth glide, then repeat with snapping on.
5. Long tones. Hold a single note for several seconds with vibrato at about 12, then at 0, and compare the warmth.

What a virtual violin is good for

A virtual violin is a quick way to see how a string instrument is laid out, hear what the open strings sound like and pick out a melody without an instrument. It can help beginners understand positions and fifths. Try the virtual guitar to compare a plucked fretted instrument with a bowed fretless one, or use the online tuner to check the pitch of a real violin.

Online violin versus a real one

A real violin is among the hardest instruments to start. Tone depends on the bow speed, the pressure on the string and the point where the bow meets it, and the left hand must find each pitch with no frets to guide it.

The virtual version removes those hurdles so you can focus on the layout, the notes and the sound of a melody. Its bow is always the same, so the tone does not change with how you press. Think of it as a map of the fingerboard, not a substitute for lessons.

Limitations of this version

• The sound is a basic synthesized imitation of a bowed string, not a recording, and does not match any particular violin.
• There is no bow control. Loudness is set by the volume slider and does not change with pressure or speed.
• Each string covers twelve semitones, so notes higher up the neck are not available, and there are no harmonics or pizzicato.
• Free pitch depends on how precisely your pointer moves, so on small screens it is easier to play in tune with snapping on.
• Nothing is recorded or saved, and there is no MIDI input.

Common problems and how to fix them

• No sound. Browsers keep audio off until you interact with the page, so press and hold a string first. Then check the volume slider, your device volume and the tab's mute icon. On an iPhone, also check that the silent switch is off.
• The page scrolls instead of playing. Press on a string itself, not on the header row or the string labels.
• The pitch is hard to control. Turn on Snap to notes, which locks each position to a semitone.
• The number keys do nothing. Click an empty part of the page so focus is not in a field, and use the number row, not the keypad.
• The sound lags. Close heavy tabs and use wired headphones or the device speaker.