Virtual Piano: Play Piano Online
Play notes and chords with your mouse, a touch screen, your computer keyboard or a USB MIDI keyboard. Nine sounds, chord names and a live staff. It's free and needs no sign-up.
- the last things you play appear here
Settings
Play with the computer keyboard: the bottom row plays the white keys and the row above it plays the sharps.
No account · nothing leaves your browser · MIDI ready
Play piano online: what this virtual piano does
This virtual piano is a free online piano keyboard that runs in your browser. Play it with a mouse, a touch screen, your computer keyboard or a USB MIDI keyboard. It names the chord you hold, writes the notes on a grand staff and plays nine sounds, from a sampled Yamaha grand to organ and strings. You don't need an account, and there's nothing to install.
It's for the moments when a real piano isn't within reach: checking a chord from a song, picking out a melody by ear, practising note reading, or trying a progression before you sit down at the instrument.
- Keys
- Up to 49 on screen, C1 to C8 with the octave buttons
- Sounds
- 9, from grand piano to organ, strings and vibraphone
- Play with
- Mouse, touch, computer keyboard, USB MIDI
- Shows
- Chord name, notes, live grand staff, last chords
- Price
- Free, no account
- Works on
- Desktop, laptop, tablet and phone browsers
Four steps
How to play the virtual piano
- 1
Press a key
Tap a key
Click or tap any key, or type on your computer keyboard: Z X C V B N M play the white keys from C, and S D G H J play the black keys between them.
- 2
Hold a chord
Hold three keys together, say C, E and G. The display names the chord (C major), lists the notes and writes them on the staff.
- 3
Pick a sound
Choose one of nine voices with the voice buttons. A sound loads the first time you pick it, the keys on screen first.
- 4
Plug in MIDI
Go fullscreen
Connect a USB MIDI keyboard and press MIDI. Velocity and the sustain pedal come through, in Chrome, Edge and Opera.
Nine sounds, from grand piano to organ
Every voice except the synth plays real recordings. Press Play on a card and the piano switches to that sound and plays a short phrase in it.
Grand piano
On the keysThe Salamander Grand Piano, a Yamaha C5 recorded every minor third from C1 to C8. The default, and the one for anything classical.
Electric piano
A bell-like electric piano in the Rhodes style. Warm under chords, and at home in soul and jazz ballads.
Organ
A drawbar organ that holds for as long as you hold the key, the way a real one does. For gospel, rock and hymns.
Harpsichord
The plucked baroque keyboard: bright notes that fade quickly. Try some Bach on it.
Strings
A string section that swells in softly. Hold whole chords and you get a pad under a melody.
Vibraphone
Struck metal bars with a long, soft ring. Jazz voicings sound right on it.
Guitar
Plucked guitar samples, for checking a chord before you take it to the fretboard.
Xylophone
Short, bright wooden bars, for melodies that need to cut through.
Synth
A sawtooth lead made in the browser rather than recorded. The only voice without samples.
Grand piano: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm. Electric piano, organ, strings, harpsichord and vibraphone: FluidR3_GM by Frank Wen. Both CC BY 3.0.
Computer keyboard piano: which key plays which note
Two rows of your keyboard are two octaves of piano. The bottom letters are the lower octave, the top row is the one above, and the keys between them are the black keys, where they'd sit on a piano.
Press the keys here or on your own keyboard and the piano above plays them. Turn on Key shortcuts in the settings to print the letters on the piano keys too.
Learn
Read the full guideScales and ChordsMajor, minor, triads, sevenths7 min readScales and ChordsDiscover the building blocks of music - scales and chords that form melody and harmony.
Scales and Chords
Discover the building blocks of music - scales and chords that form melody and harmony.
Major scales
Major scales have a bright, uplifting sound. Each one follows the same interval pattern: whole - whole - half - whole - whole - whole - half.
C major
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
G major
1♯G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G
D major
2♯D - E - F# - G - A - B - C# - D
F major
1♭F - G - A - Bb - C - D - E - F
Major scale pattern
All major scales follow this interval formula:
Related tools
Virtual piano: frequently asked questions
Is this online piano free?
Yes. The virtual piano is free, needs no account and installs nothing: it opens in the browser and plays straight away. The notes you play stay on your device.
How do I play the piano with my computer keyboard?
The bottom letter row is the white keys: Z X C V B N M play C D E F G A B, and the comma plays the next C. The black keys are one row up, in the gaps: S and D for C♯ and D♯, G H J for F♯, G♯ and A♯. Q to I and 2 3 5 6 7 repeat it an octave higher. Hold a key and the note holds with it.
How many keys does the virtual piano have?
Up to 49 keys (four octaves) on a wide screen and fewer on a narrow one, because the keys never shrink below a width you can hit. The octave buttons move that window anywhere from C1 to C8, so the whole range of a real piano is in reach except its three lowest keys.
Can I play chords and see their names?
Yes. Hold several keys at once, with the mouse, a few fingers or the computer keyboard. The display names the chord as you build it, inversions included (E G C reads as C major / E), lists the notes and writes them on the grand staff. The last five chords stay along the bottom of the display, and each one is a button that plays it again.
What sounds does the online piano have?
Nine: grand piano, electric piano, organ, strings, harpsichord, vibraphone, guitar, xylophone and synth. You pick one with the buttons beside the display. A sound downloads only when you choose it, starting with the keys on screen.
Does it use real piano samples?
Yes. The grand piano is the Salamander Grand Piano, a Yamaha C5 recorded every minor third and released under CC BY 3.0. The electric piano, organ, strings, harpsichord and vibraphone come from the FluidR3_GM sound font (CC BY 3.0). If a file can't be reached, a synthesised tone stands in for it, and the Synth voice is synthesised on purpose.
Can I connect a MIDI keyboard?
Yes. Plug in a USB MIDI keyboard, press MIDI and allow access when the browser asks. The piano follows how hard you play, and a sustain pedal plugged into the keyboard works too. Web MIDI runs in Chrome, Edge and Opera. In Safari and Firefox the piano still plays with the mouse, touch and the computer keyboard.
Does the virtual piano work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Every finger is tracked on its own, so you can hold a real chord on a touch screen. A phone shows one row of keys, and Stacked keys in the settings puts two octaves one above the other. In fullscreen, a phone held upright gets the keyboard turned a quarter turn, so the keys run the length of the screen.
Why can't I hear anything?
Browsers only start sound after a tap or a click, so the first one switches it on: press Tap for sound or any key. Then check the volume slider in the settings and your device's own volume. On an iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later, the piano plays even with the ring switch set to silent.
Is there a sustain pedal?
Yes. The Sustain button keeps notes ringing after you let go of the keys, like holding down the right pedal of a piano, until you switch it off. With a MIDI keyboard, its own sustain pedal does the same.
Can it help me learn to read music?
It helps. Every note you play shows up on the grand staff above the keys, in treble or bass clef. Fullscreen adds a Reading mode that shows a note to find on the keyboard, a Practice mode with falling notes and a Theory mode with the circle of fifths.
Where can I learn scales on piano?
The Scale Library shows every scale in every key with the notes lit on a piano keyboard, the formula, diatonic chords and audio playback ascending or descending.