A virtual bass guitar is a browser-based instrument that reproduces the 4-string bass (E-A-D-G) using Web Audio synthesis. Each string has a deep, fat tone with a pluck transient, just like a real electric bass played with fingers.
The bass sits in the low register — the E string at 41 Hz is the foundation of most grooves. Click or drag across the strings to pluck, switch to Slap mode for a percussive attack, and use the Open Strings button for a quick E-A-D-G arpeggio demo.
The tone recipe is deliberately simple: a triangle wave snaps down from 1.6 times the pitch to the true note in 40 milliseconds — that fast drop is what makes a pluck feel plucked — and a sine sub-oscillator underneath fills the low end. A lowpass at 900 Hz keeps the sound dark, and a highpass at 35 Hz trims subsonic rumble.
Slap mode changes the character completely. Every pluck gets a 50-millisecond noise burst through a 2.4 kHz bandpass filter — the crack of the string hitting the frets — and the whole voice gets louder.
There are no frets on this page, just four open strings. That keeps the instrument honest: it is a groove tool, not a bass course, and the open tuning means you cannot hit a wrong note, only a wrong timing.
The Open Strings button plays E, A, D and G as a rising arpeggio, 180 milliseconds apart. It is the fastest way to check your speakers are alive and hear the full range of the instrument.
Recording captures whatever you play and renders a WAV locally. Nothing is uploaded — the synth runs in your browser with the Web Audio API.
On touch screens you can slide a finger across the strings; every string you pass gets plucked. It feels closer to strumming than to tapping individual notes.
Beginners get the most from the two low strings: E and A carry almost every pop and rock groove, and holding a steady rhythm on the root note is the entire job description of a bass player.
Standard bass tuning is E-A-D-G (E1=41.2 Hz, A1=55 Hz, D2=73.4 Hz, G2=98 Hz) — the same as the lowest four strings of a guitar, one octave lower.
Bass chords exist on a real bass, but this page plucks one string at a time — layer them by recording.
It plays E, A, D and G as a rising arpeggio, 180 ms apart.
A synth: triangle wave plus sine sub-oscillator through filters, generated live in your browser.
The lowpass at 900 Hz plus the low register — bass energy lives below the treble range.
Yes, the WAV files are yours.
Yes — tap strings or slide across them; a continuous touch plucks every string you cross.
Anything built on a root note. Blues, pop and rock progressions all live on E and A.
A practice tool for rhythm: you can hear and record grooves. It does not teach fretting, which it honestly does not have.
Slap mode plus the low strings. The sub-oscillator is already doing the heavy lifting below 100 Hz.
No. Standard E-A-D-G only.
A bass has 4 thicker, longer strings tuned an octave lower, and it plays single-note grooves rather than chords. It provides the rhythmic and harmonic foundation of a band.
Every string you cross gets plucked — a fast sweep sounds like a strummed arpeggio.
The gain decays exponentially over 2.2 seconds — long enough to feel the groove, short enough that fast lines stay clean.
The E string sits at 41 Hz, below most laptop speakers. Use headphones to actually hear the bass doing its job.
Yes. Hit Record, play your bassline on the strings, then Stop and download your performance as a WAV file.
Yes — the open strings and the simple layout make it perfect for learning bass fundamentals: root-note grooves and steady rhythm.
The plucked bass uses a fat triangle wave with a pitch-drop transient and a lowpass filter, which closely matches the character of a real electric bass.
E1 at 41.2 Hz, A1 at 55 Hz, D2 at 73.4 Hz and G2 at 98 Hz — standard bass tuning, an octave below a guitar.
A real string starts slightly sharp when it is plucked hard. The synth copies that with a 40 ms drop from 1.6 times the note to the true pitch.
It adds a short noise crack through a 2.4 kHz bandpass filter and raises the volume — the percussive attack of slap style.
No. Four open strings only. This is a rhythm and groove instrument, not a fretboard simulator.