Online Piano
Play, record & learn songs
Turn your phone sideways to fit more keys.
About the Online Piano
A full online piano with five piano types (a recorded grand, a concert grand with a hall reverb, a bright stage piano, a 90s house piano and a classic FM electric piano) plus electric piano, organ, strings, guitar and more. Play with your mouse, multi-touch on a phone or tablet, your computer keyboard (two rows, like a real keybed) or a USB MIDI keyboard. The screen names every chord you play, so it doubles as a chord finder. Hit Record to capture your playing, then play it back or download it as a WAV audio file or a MIDI file for your DAW. Want to learn? Pick a song like Happy Birthday, Für Elise or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the next key lights up until you play it. Switch the key labels to Sargam (Sa Re Ga Ma) for Indian classical practice.
- Click or tap the keys, or play with your computer keyboard: the bottom row (Z, S, X…) is the lower octave and the top row (Q, 2, W…) the upper.
- Hold Space for the sustain pedal and use the arrow keys or the − and + buttons to change octave.
- Press Record, play, then download your performance as WAV or MIDI.
Playing with your computer keyboard
The keys are laid out like a real keybed. On the bottom row, Z X C V B N M are the white keys C D E F G A B of the lower octave, and S D G H J above them are the black keys. The top row Q W E R T Y U I plays the next octave up, with 2 3 5 6 7 9 0 as its black keys. Hold Space for the sustain pedal, hold Shift to play louder, and use the left and right arrow keys to move both rows an octave.
Reading the chord display
Hold down two or more keys and the screen names the chord. Inversions are shown as slash chords: C/E means a C major chord with E in the bass. That makes it a handy chord finder when you're working out a song by ear.
Learning songs
Choose a song under Learn a song and the next key lights up in gold. Play it and the next one lights up, so you learn the melody one note at a time at your own speed. Switch the labels to Sargam if you think in Sa Re Ga Ma: Sa is C, and lower-case re, ga, dha and ni are the komal (flat) notes.
Recording and exporting
Press Record, play, then stop. Download WAV for an audio file you can send or post, or MIDI to keep every note editable in GarageBand, FL Studio, Ableton, Logic, MuseScore or any DAW, where you can change the instrument, fix timing or add other parts.
Frequently asked
How do I play the piano with my computer keyboard?
The bottom letter row Z X C V B N M plays the white keys of the lower octave, with S D G H J as the black keys. The top row Q W E R T Y U I plays the upper octave, with the number keys 2 3 5 6 7 as black keys. Hold Shift to play louder and Space for sustain.
Can I connect a MIDI keyboard?
Yes. Plug in a USB or Bluetooth MIDI keyboard, press Connect MIDI keyboard and allow MIDI access when the browser asks. It works in Chrome, Edge, Opera and Firefox on a computer or Android, with velocity and the sustain pedal. Safari, iPhone and iPad don't support MIDI keyboards in web pages.
Does it sound like a real piano?
Yes. Every key plays a recorded sample of a real instrument, loaded once and then cached. The concert grand is the Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC-BY 3.0); the other instruments come from the FluidR3 soundfont (MIT). The FM electric piano is synthesised live, the way the original 1980s keyboards made it. If you are offline, sampled instruments fall back to a built-in synth sound.
What are the different piano types?
Grand piano is a natural acoustic grand. Concert grand is a richer concert instrument in a large hall, in the style of a Steinway. Stage piano is bright and punchy for playing with a band, in the style of a Nord. House piano is the thin, glassy sound of 90s dance music, in the style of the Korg M1. FM electric piano is the bell-like 80s ballad sound of the Yamaha DX7. These are our own sounds inspired by those instruments, not the manufacturers' recordings.
Can I save what I play?
Press Record, play, then press Stop. You can play it back, download a WAV audio file or a MIDI file to edit in GarageBand, FL Studio, Ableton or any DAW.
Can I play chords and see their names?
Yes. Play several keys at once and the display names the chord, including inversions, for example Am/C or Cmaj7.
Is there any delay when I play?
Sound starts within a few milliseconds on most computers. Wired headphones or speakers have less delay than Bluetooth ones, which add noticeable lag on many devices.
How many keys can I play at once?
As many as you like: chords, both hands and the sustain pedal all work. Some computer keyboards can only register a few keys pressed together, so use the mouse, touch screen or a MIDI keyboard for big chords.
Is what I type sent to a server?
No. The tool runs entirely in your browser and there's no server behind it, so what you type never leaves your device and nothing is stored. You can check: it keeps working if you go offline after the page has loaded.
More from the Music drawer
Other tools kept in this drawer, plus a few favourites from the bench.