🎸 GuitarPicker

▶ Play it now: adervec.github.io/GuitarPicker — nothing to install (or install it as an app from the address bar).

An open-source music-learning web app that runs entirely in your browser (in the spirit of tools like Yousician) — no build step, no account required, local-first (with optional opt-in cloud sync). Plug in a guitar (or any mic), pick a song, and play along while a scrolling note highway grades every note in real time.

Quick start

Browsers won't load ES modules from file://, so start a tiny local server from this folder, then open the printed URL:

# Option A — Node (zero dependencies)
node serve.mjs            # -> http://localhost:8080

# Option B — PowerShell (zero dependencies, Windows)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\serve.ps1

# Option C — Python
python -m http.server 8080

Open the URL, go to Settings, choose your microphone & output device, then hit a song. Allow microphone access when prompted (it never leaves your machine).

On Windows, double-click GuitarPicker.cmd to start the server and open the app in one go (make a desktop shortcut to it for one-click launch).

Install as an app

GuitarPicker is a PWA. With the server running, open it in Chrome/Edge and use the Install icon in the address bar — you get a Start-menu/desktop app with its own window, taskbar shortcuts (Tuner / Songs / Progress), and offline support after the first visit.

Analyze your progress with Claude

Progress → 🤖 Export for Claude downloads a Markdown practice report (summary, per-song bests, full session log). Drop it into Claude, Claude Desktop, or a Claude Cowork folder and ask for coaching — the file starts with a suggested prompt.

What's inside

• Note highway — streaming notes, per-note killfeed (Perfect / Good / Off / Miss), a healthbar that dips on mistakes but lets you finish (a failed run just won't count as a pass).
• Tuner — live pitch + cents needle, out-of-tune detection, multiple instruments & tunings.
• Songs — a 45+ song public-domain library (folk, spirituals, nursery rhymes, carols, classical themes, plus chord-progression trainers) tagged by genre, with singalong lyrics, plus import / export / transpose / capo suggestions.
• Synthesized backing band — every song gets one, with no audio files to download. The app works out the chords and plays bass, chord comp and (where it suits the song) drums underneath you, each in its own instrument voice. Songs can also carry parts for other instruments: play the guitar line on "When the Saints" and the harmonica answers you — or switch your instrument to harmonica and the guitar plays instead. Toggle it with 🎺 Band.
• Karaoke — a full sing-along mode: a scrolling teleprompter that highlights lyrics word-by-word, a per-line count-in, backing track + an optional guide vocal, and an optional sing-and-score pass that grades your pitch against the vocal melody (with a live pitch ribbon, healthbar and letter grade). The Play view can show the same word fill on its lyric line. Import standard or enhanced .lrc files, or tap word timings in the editor.
• Song Editor — paint notes on a piano roll or type them in; attach backing/vocal audio; add lyrics, import/export .lrc, or tap-to-time word-level karaoke timing.
• Listen & Make — record yourself, auto-transcribe to a song at three difficulty levels, with animated/solid/screen-capture-slideshow backgrounds.
• Training — courses with progression + tempo-adjustable skill drills.
• Theory Games — ear training and theory quizzes.
• Glossary — a music dictionary with interactive chord/scale/interval players.
• Instruments — a detailed guide to every supported instrument (specs, playing guides, playable reference pitches), also readable standalone as docs/INSTRUMENTS.md.
• Progress — session history and improvement trends.
• Locker — build a layered player avatar (skin tone, hair, clothing, tattoos, eyewear, headwear, jewellery, frames), design a guitar (body shape, finish, hardware, inlays, decals), and choose from 26 app skins. Rarer items are unlocked with coins.
• Coins & rewards — earn 🪙 by playing songs (accuracy + pass bonus) and completing daily activities; spend them in the Locker. Balance shows in the top bar, and your avatar rides along in the play HUD.
• Daily practice — a home-dashboard checklist of recommended activities that refreshes each day, tracks what you've completed, and pays coins.
• Themes, clear input/output device display, customizable backing & vocal volumes.
• Cloud sync (optional, opt-in) — sync your songs, history, and progress to a private folder in your own Google Drive. Off until you sign in; the app is fully local/offline until then. No backend, no database, and no setup on the live site — see docs/CLOUD-SYNC-SETUP.md.

Verify it works

npm test    # import graph + core music/pitch math + headless view-render checks

License

Source code is released under the MIT License — free to use, modify, and share. The license covers the code only; the built-in songs are public-domain works (see below) and remain in the public domain.

Disclaimer

I'm a software developer — not a doctor, music teacher, coach, or lawyer. GuitarPicker is a personal hobby project provided as is, without warranty of any kind, for fun and practice. It is not professional music instruction, and nothing in it is medical, health, hearing, or legal advice. Use your own judgement, and protect your hearing when playing with audio or headphones. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Yousician or any other company.

Privacy

GuitarPicker runs entirely in your browser, with no analytics and no servers operated by this project. Microphone audio is analysed locally for pitch detection and never leaves your device. Your songs, settings, and progress are stored only in this browser's localStorage — export or wipe them anytime from Settings → Data. Cloud sync is opt-in and off by default: if you enable it and sign in with Google, your songs/history/progress sync to a private folder in your own Google Drive (drive.appdata scope, plus your name/email so Settings can show which account is connected) — nothing else goes over the network. Otherwise the app makes no network requests.

Credits & content

All built-in songs are traditional or public-domain works (or original practice progressions), and the glossary text is original. No third-party libraries, fonts, images, or audio are bundled. See CREDITS.md for per-song provenance.

Architecture

See Design.md for architecture, the song file format, and known limitations.