Air Guitar — Play Guitar with Your Hands Using Your Webcam

Turn your webcam into a guitar. Your left hand selects the chord by holding up fingers, and your right hand strums by moving up or down in front of the camera. No instrument, no install — completely free and private. All processing happens in your browser.

Click here to Start

Camera Left hand Right hand
🔊

✋ Left — Chord

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Hold up left hand

🤚 Right — Strum

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Move right hand up/down

E
A
D
G
B
e

Available Chords

Having trouble playing via hand gestures? Try the Virtual Guitar — click chords and strum with your mouse or touch instead.

How to Use the Air Guitar

  1. Click Enable Sound first — browsers require a tap to unlock audio. You'll hear a test note and the button turns green.
  2. Click the camera placeholder above — allow camera access when prompted. Stand ~60cm from your camera in a well-lit room.
  3. Hold up your left hand — the number of fingers you extend selects a chord (fist = E, 1 finger = Am, up to 5 = Em).
  4. Swipe your right hand down to strum down, or up to strum up. Faster movement = louder sound.
  5. Watch the strings — the visualiser shows each string vibrating as you strum.

Chord Reference

Left Hand Finger Count:

  • ✊ Fist (0 fingers) = E major
  • ☝️ 1 finger = A minor
  • ✌️ 2 fingers = C major
  • 3 fingers = G major
  • 4 fingers = D major
  • 🖐️ 5 fingers = E minor

Tips for best results:

  • Use a bright, evenly lit room
  • Keep both hands in frame at the same time
  • Make strum movements deliberate — wrist speed matters
  • Adjust volume with the slider above the camera

How It Works

The Air Guitar uses MediaPipe Hands, Google's real-time hand landmark model, to track 21 keypoints on each hand at up to 30 frames per second. Your left hand's extended finger count maps to a chord. Your right hand's wrist velocity — computed across a rolling ring buffer of recent frames — triggers a strum when it crosses a speed threshold. Sound is synthesised using the Karplus-Strong plucked-string algorithm via the Web Audio API, producing realistic guitar tones without any audio files. All camera frames are processed locally — nothing leaves your device.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this send my camera feed to a server?

No. All hand tracking and sound synthesis runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly. Your camera feed never leaves your device. No data is stored or transmitted.

Why is there no sound when I strum?

Browsers block audio until the user interacts with the page. Click the Enable Sound button first — it turns green and plays a test note to confirm audio is working. Then strum.

My hand isn't being detected — what should I do?

Make sure you're in a well-lit room with your hand fully visible in frame. Avoid sitting with a bright window behind you. Keep your hand roughly 40–80cm from the camera.

Can I use this on mobile?

Yes — the tool works on modern mobile browsers with a front-facing camera. Use Chrome or Safari on a recent device. Hand tracking is CPU-intensive on mobile, so results may vary.

What chords are available?

Six chords: E major (fist), A minor (1 finger), C major (2 fingers), G major (3 fingers), D major (4 fingers), and E minor (5 fingers / open hand).

Why does sound stop after I click Stop and Start again?

After stopping, the audio context is suspended to save battery. Click Enable Sound again after restarting, or use the Start Camera button which also attempts to resume audio automatically.

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