1 · Plug in
Use a USB audio interface or guitar cable, or just your computer’s or phone’s microphone. The first time you play, a two-minute setup tunes you up and measures your timing.
Learn guitar by playing the songs you love
Melodic is a free guitar game that listens to your real guitar or bass. Start from your very first note with lessons built into 37 original songs, then learn the songs you love: slowed down, looped and simplified to your level.
- 37 original songs
- 17 techniques
- 7 stages
- Guitar & bass
- No download
How it works
Plug in. Pick a song. Learn every note.
2 · Pick a song
Start the Tour to learn from scratch, or open any song in your library. Import the tabs of the songs you love and play them at any level.
3 · Play along
Notes fly down a 3D fretboard to the strings they belong on. Play them on your guitar as they land: Melodic hears every one and tells you what to work on.
The Tour
Learn guitar from scratch, one song at a time
The Tour is a guitar course dressed up as a road trip. The band’s guitarist quit a week before the tour, you answered the flyer, and Mags, the tour manager, teaches you the set: seven venues and 37 original songs. Each new technique arrives in a song written around it, and each venue ends on a headliner that puts it all together.
- Day-one easy. The first songs are one riff on open strings, at 76–96 beats a minute: about a note a second.
- Lessons that wait for you. Every new technique is drawn on the real highway, then drilled until your guitar plays each note.
- Never ahead of you. No song asks for a technique the Tour hasn’t taught. Your hand moves up the neck venue by venue, from fret 5 to fret 22.
- Pass at your pace. Hit 60% of the notes to pass in the Garage, 78% by the last venue, and practise any gig slower first.
Techniques
Every technique, shown the way you’ll play it
From open strings and power chords to bends, harmonics and tapping. Each one is drawn on the note highway exactly as you’ll meet it in a song, with the steps to play it and the mistake to watch for.
5Power chords
A frame means play those strings together, in one stroke.
HHammer-ons
Pick once, then hammer your finger down for the next note.
↑Bends
Push the string until the note rises by the amount shown.
PMPalm muting
Rest the edge of your picking hand on the strings for that chug.
◆Harmonics
Touch the string right over the fret wire, don’t press, and pick.
TTapping
Your picking hand hammers the note onto the fretboard.
Note detection
It hears every note you play
Melodic listens to your guitar the way a teacher would: every time you pick, it hears which notes your pick brought in and exactly when, and checks them against the song. Hit them and your streak climbs, the multiplier goes up and the whole stage comes alive. Miss one and you hear it the moment it happens.
- Judged by your pick. A string you left ringing never counts against the new note you just played.
- Chords too. Every note of the shape is checked together.
- You hear yourself. Your guitar plays through the song’s own amp, sitting a little above the band.
- A report after every gig. Accuracy per technique and per section, and a note from Mags on what to practise next.
Your songs
Learn your favorite songs on guitar
Bring the tabs for the songs you’ve always wanted to play. Drop them on your library and Melodic does the rest: it builds a guitar part and a bass part, finds the verses, choruses and solos, and works out every difficulty level from the music itself.
- Import tab files: .gp, .gp3, .gp4, .gp5, .gpx, .gp6, .gp7 and MusicXML, one at a time, a whole folder or a .zip.
- A real library. Search, genres, sorting, artist pages and cover art for every song.
- Guitar or bass. Every song gets both, plus each single part, in its own tuning.
- Yours alone. Your songs stay on your device.
Practice tools
Slow it down.
Loop it.
Speed it up.
The fastest way to learn a hard part is to play it slowly, over and over, and speed up as you get it. Melodic is built for exactly that.
- Any speed from 25% to 150%, in 5% steps, and the notes keep their pitch.
- Section Loop. Loop the solo, the chorus or any run of sections, or set your own A–B loop.
- A built-in speed trainer. Every time you play the loop clean, it speeds up a little.
- One key away. L loops the section you’re in, − and + change the speed.
Difficulty
Any song, at your level
Pick a level from 5% to 100% of the notes. Melodic keeps the backbone of the song and thins the rest evenly, so even at the easiest level it still sounds like the song. Drag across the picture: same moment, Beginner and All notes.
Crown of Knives, a free song in Melodic, at the same moment on two levels.
How levels are worked outTuner
A tuner built in
Every song starts in tune. Melodic’s tuner has a needle that swings like a real one and a strobe that stands still when you’re spot on, for the tuning the song needs: E Standard, Drop D, Eb, DADGAD, Open G, 7-string and bass tunings, or any note in chromatic mode.
- Needle and strobe, with the note, its frequency and how many cents out you are.
- Hear the note you’re tuning to, played on a modelled guitar.
- Your input level against the noise gate, so you know you’re being heard.
First-time setup
Set up once, in two minutes
The first time you open Melodic, it offers to walk you through your guitar setup. Eight short steps and every note you play is heard at the right level and judged at the right moment. Run it again any time from Settings.
01
Your rig
Guitar or bass, and how it gets in: a cable or audio interface, a microphone, or no guitar yet.
02
Plug in
Pick your input and play a string. Melodic tells you when it hears you, and what to check if it doesn’t.
03
Levels
It listens to the room, then to you, and sets the noise gate between the hum and your quietest note.
04
Tune up
String by string, with the built-in tuner.
05
Hear yourself
Through the song’s amps, through your own pedals, or straight from your amp or interface.
06
Sync
Tap along to clicks you hear and notes you see, and Melodic lines up your speakers and screen.
07
Guitar timing
Pick along with the highway so a note played on time is always judged on time.
08
Mix
A band plays while you set your guitar, the band, the metronome and effects by ear.
Stages
Seven stages that play along
Career
Fifty levels. 53 stamps.
Everything you play counts. Notes hit, songs finished, gigs passed and streaks kept all earn XP, and fifty levels take you from Bedroom Player to Living Legend. Achievements are rubber stamps in a stamp book, and your career page keeps your lifetime stats and how many notes of each technique you’ve hit.
Anywhere
On the screen you already have
Melodic runs in your browser on a computer, a tablet or a phone: there’s nothing to install and no account to make. On a phone it listens through the microphone, so all you need is your guitar and a pair of headphones. On a computer you can also install it as an app.
Questions
Before you plug in
Can I learn guitar with Melodic if I’ve never played?
Yes. The Tour starts on open strings, teaches one technique at a time and never asks for anything it hasn’t taught. The first songs are slow, about a note a second, and every new technique gets a lesson and a drill that waits for you.
What do I need to play?
A guitar or bass and a way in: a USB audio interface, a guitar-to-USB cable, or just the microphone in your computer or phone. No guitar handy? You can still follow along and practise without scoring.
Can I learn my favorite songs?
Yes. Import the song’s tab (.gp, .gp3, .gp4, .gp5, .gpx, .gp6, .gp7 or MusicXML) and Melodic builds guitar and bass parts and every difficulty level. Slow it down, loop the hard parts and speed back up as you learn.
Is Melodic free?
Yes. It plays free in your browser, with nothing to download and no account.
Does it work with an acoustic guitar?
Yes. Play it into your computer’s or phone’s microphone, or plug in an acoustic with a pickup. The setup tells Melodic which you’re using.
Can I learn bass?
Yes. Every song has a bass part, bass players get bass parts first, and the tuner has bass tunings including 5-string.
Your first song is one riff away
Guitar or bass · 37 songs to learn with · the songs you love at your level · free in your browser
Play Melodic free