Virtual Cello — Play a Cello Online Free, With a Real Bow

How to play it

Press a string and hold it. The note sounds for as long as your finger is down, because your finger is the bow; lift it and the note stops. The strings run across the screen with the A at the top and the low C at the bottom, and the neck runs from the nut on the left toward the bridge on the right, so the further right you press, the higher the note.

Slide along a string while it sounds and the pitch follows your finger — there are no frets. That is a shift, and when you do it slowly it is the portamento that makes a cello phrase sound sung rather than typed.
Two fingers on two strings is a double stop. The open strings are a perfect fifth apart, so any two neighbours played open sound the fifth that opens half the cello repertoire.
Play a song from the list below the instrument and the strings light up; switch on practice mode and the page waits for you to find each note, or try guided play, where a ring closes on the exact spot on the string at the moment the note is due.
Record under the instrument captures what you play as an audio file you can keep — nothing is uploaded.

Cello positions, a semitone apart

A cellist does not think in semitones any more than a violinist does. The hand sits in a position, the four fingers cover a small range from there, and moving to another position is a deliberate act called a shift. The markers on the neck are where the first finger goes in each one.

What makes the cello different is how little the hand covers. On a violin the four fingers span a perfect fourth. A cello string is about twice as long, the notes are twice as far apart, and the hand spans only a minor third: first to fourth finger, each a semitone from the next. In first position on the A string that is B, C, C♯ and D. To reach the next note up, the hand has to move — which is why the positions on a cello are packed a semitone apart through the whole lower half of the neck:

½ — half position. First finger one semitone above the open string: B♭ on the A string.
1 — first position. A whole tone up: B on the A string, D with the fourth finger.
2 — second position, drawn as a band. Cellists play it in two places: lower second with the first finger on C, and second on C♯. Neither is a mistake, and a fret would have to pick one.
3 — third position, also a band. Third on D, and upper third a semitone higher on D♯.
4 — fourth position. First finger on E, a fifth above the open string. On a real cello this is where the hand meets the heel of the neck and the thumb finds it by feel.
5 — fifth position. F on the A string, a minor sixth up. From here the fourth finger is used less and the hand works mostly with three.

The same distances hold on every string, so the markers are drawn once for the whole neck: second position is C♯ on the A string, F♯ on the D, B on the G and E on the C. That is exactly how the published chart this ladder is checked against lays it out, and every position here had to agree with it on all four strings before it was drawn.

Two honest omissions. Sixth and seventh positions exist between fifth and the thumb, but the chart stops at fifth and nothing else this page is checked against names their notes, so they are not marked — the neck is still continuous, and you can play there. And extensions: a cellist often stretches the first finger a whole tone back from the second, so the hand covers a major third instead of a minor one — first position on the A string then reaches B to D♯. That is a change of hand shape inside a position rather than a new position, so it is not a marker.

Thumb position, and why the neck keeps going

Every other fingerboard on this site stops at the octave. The cello’s does not, because on a cello the octave is where a whole technique starts. Past it, the body of the cello is in the way and the hand can no longer sit behind the neck, so the thumb comes up and lies across the strings — a movable nut — and the fingers play from it the way they play from the open string. It traditionally begins on the octave harmonic, exactly halfway along the string, and it is marked T in gold.

The neck is drawn on to the twelfth, a third of the way from the bridge, where the next natural harmonic sits. On the A string that is E5 — the whole top of the cello’s everyday range, and the place the famous tunes live. Notice how crowded the markers get as they climb: halfway along the string sounds the octave, and every interval above it is squeezed into what is left, which is why thumb-position intonation is so unforgiving.

The wolf tone

Nearly every cello has one note that misbehaves. Bow it, and instead of speaking it stutters — a growl that beats a few times a second, like the note is arguing with itself. That is close to literally what is happening: the body has a very strong resonance at that pitch, the string and the box trade energy back and forth, and neither wins. It is not the strings, and it is not bad tuning; it is the instrument, and a better cello can have a worse one.

It is far more common on a cello than on a violin, and on most instruments it lands somewhere between E and F♯ in the middle of the range. On this cello it sits at F3 — three semitones up the D string, or high on the G. The cure every cellist knows is a wolf eliminator, a small weight clamped to a string behind the bridge, which moves the problem somewhere harmless.

So the toggle is called Wolf tone, and it starts off, as if an eliminator were fitted. Switch it on, hold the D string three semitones up, and then slide slowly through that spot: the stutter builds as you arrive and clears as you leave, because a wolf is narrow. That is also why cellists sometimes dodge one with a finger placed a shade sharp. The octave below — F2 on the C string — wolfs too, more faintly, because its second harmonic lands on the same resonance. A plucked note never wolfs: it takes a bow driving the string for the body to fight it.

If your own cello does this, the answer is not the tuning pegs — the cello tuner explains why, and why retuning to chase it only makes things worse.

Arco, pizzicato and con sordino

Arco is the bow, and the default. Pizzicato is the same strings plucked with a finger, and on a cello it is a much bigger sound than on a violin: the strings are long and heavy and the top is large, so a plucked C blooms for seconds. It is how a cello section plays a walking bass line, and it runs through the same body the bow does, so it sounds like the same instrument being plucked rather than a different one.

Con sordino means “with the mute”: a small clamp on the bridge. It adds mass where the strings meet the body, so the bridge’s own resonance drops and is damped, and the note keeps its warmth and loses its edge — the veiled sound composers ask for in slow, quiet movements. Same bow, same sustain, same slides; only the colour changes.

Four strings, numbered from the top

A cello is tuned C2–G2–D3–A3, in perfect fifths, exactly an octave below a viola and an octave and a fifth below a violin. The A is the first string — cellists often write it as I, down to IV for the C — and it sits at the top here, the way every fingering chart draws it. The C string is the lowest note in a string quartet.

There is one tuning on this page. The famous exception, the scordatura of Bach’s Fifth Suite, drops the A string to G; it is left out because nothing on this site reviews it yet, and a tuning is a fact about a real instrument that should be checked before it is drawn.

Songs, an octave down

The song library is written in a violin’s register, and a cello playing a melody sits an octave below that. So the songs here are read an octave lower than written, which puts almost every tune between the G string and the middle of the A string, where a cello sings — and every song in the library fits the neck. Pick one and press Play to hear it, then try it yourself in practice mode, where the page waits for each note, or guided play, where a ring shows you where and when. Going Home, the Largo from Dvořák’s New World Symphony, is a good first choice: slow, low, and made of long notes that reward holding on.

What the sound is made of

Nothing here is a recording, and that is why the note can be as long as you want it. A bowed string sticks to the hair, is dragged sideways, slips back and is caught again, sixty-five times a second on the open C; the force that puts on the bridge is a sawtooth, and that is the source here — the same physics as on a violin. Bowing harder makes the note brighter, not just louder, and the start of each note has a little grip of bow noise in it, heaviest on the low strings, which take a moment longer to speak.

What makes it a cello rather than a violin played low is the box. A cello body is roughly four times the volume of a violin’s, so its resonances sit far lower: the air resonance through the f-holes near 100 Hz, the two main wood modes a little above it — the stronger of them is where the wolf lives — and a broad, gentle rise around a kilohertz from the bridge. All of them are in the model, along with the roll-off just below the open C.

What is not claimed: that this is any particular cello. Every one of those resonances differs by tens of hertz between two good instruments, and the wolf is unique to each one — that variation is most of what people mean when they say one cello sounds better than another. The notes, the tuning and the positions on this page are checked against reviewed charts; the body is a plausible cello rather than a measured one, because there is no such thing as the cello body to measure.

Playing it with a keyboard

The letter shown on each string sounds it open, and the note lasts as long as you hold the key — let go and the bow comes off. Hold two keys for a double stop. Stopped notes need a pointer or a finger: there is no key for “three semitones up the D string”, the same gap the virtual violin has, because on a fretless instrument the interesting half is the continuous one.

Once you have a real one

This page is for playing a cello you do not have. If you have one, the next thing you need is on the other side of the site: the cello tuner reads C2 at its real octave, explains the geared pegs and fine tuners, and deals with the two problems that fool cellists into retuning a string that was already right — a slipping endpin, and the wolf.

Questions

Does the note really last as long as I hold it?

Yes. Hold a string and the bow keeps going, for as long as you keep your finger down; let go and the bow leaves the string and the note stops, with only the short ring of the body after it. Nothing is a recording. That matters more on a cello than almost anywhere, because the instrument is loved for its long, slow notes — and a sampled virtual cello hands you a note whose length somebody else chose, which is exactly the thing a cellist spends a lifetime learning to control.

Why are the cello positions so close together?

Because a cellist’s hand covers so little of the string. On a violin the four fingers span a perfect fourth; on a cello, whose string is roughly twice as long, they span only a minor third, with the fingers a semitone apart. So the hand has to move far more often, and the positions sit a semitone apart through the whole lower half of the neck: half position, first, lower second, second, third, upper third, fourth. The markers here follow exactly that ladder, checked note by note against a published cello fingering chart.

Are cello positions the same as violin positions?

The names overlap and the ladder does not. Both instruments call the first finger one whole tone above the open string first position, and both put third position on the fourth and fourth position on the fifth. But the cello names semitones the violin skips — lower second, upper third — and its fifth position puts the first finger a minor sixth above the open string, where the violin’s puts it on the major sixth. Drawing violin positions on a cello neck would be wrong from fifth position up, which is why this page has its own set.

What is thumb position?

Past the octave, the body of the cello is in the way and the hand can no longer sit behind the neck, so the thumb comes up and lies across the strings, acting as a movable nut — the fingers then play from it the way they play from the open string. It traditionally starts on the octave harmonic, exactly halfway along the string, which is where the gold line sits on this neck. The drawing carries on above it to the twelfth, a third of the way from the bridge, so you can play up there rather than just see where it begins.

What is the wolf tone, and why would I switch it on?

A wolf is one note on a cello where the body resonates so strongly with the string that the two fight: instead of speaking cleanly, the note stutters and growls, a few beats a second. Almost every cello has one, usually somewhere between E and F♯ in the middle of the range, and it is the reason cellists fit a small weight — a wolf eliminator — to a string behind the bridge. It is off by default here, as if an eliminator were fitted. Switch on Wolf tone and bow F3 — the D string in first position — then slide slowly through it and hear the stutter start and clear.

Can I play two strings at once?

Yes — put fingers on two strings and both sound. That is a double stop, and it is everyday cello writing, from Bach’s suites to the open-string fifths that open half the cello repertoire. On a computer keyboard, hold two of the letter keys. What you cannot do is sound two notes on one string: the bow is one point of contact, and landing on a string stops whatever it was doing.

Why do the songs play so low?

Because that is where a cello sings. The song library is written in a violin’s register, and a cello playing a melody sits an octave lower, which puts almost every tune between the G string and the middle of the A string. At written pitch the top of several songs would need the A string above what this neck draws; an octave down, every song in the library fits.

Why does the open C sound less deep than I expected?

Because a real cello cannot radiate it fully either. The open C is about 65 Hz, and the lowest strong resonance in a cello body — the air moving through the f-holes — sits around 100 Hz. The note sounds low because of its harmonics, not because the box is pumping out 65 Hz. Phone speakers make it thinner still: most cannot reproduce anything below about 150 Hz at all, so the bottom of the cello is one place where headphones make a real difference.

What does con sordino do?

It puts a mute on the bridge. The mute adds mass to the bridge, which lowers and damps the bridge’s own resonance, so the note keeps its body and loses its edge — the veiled sound composers ask for in slow movements. It is the same strings and the same bow, which is why it is offered beside arco and pizzicato rather than as a sound effect.

Can I learn the cello on this?

You can learn a lot about it: where the positions are and why they are so close together, how far the hand reaches, what a shift feels like to the ear, what the open fifths sound like, where thumb position starts and why a wolf tone is nobody’s fault. What no screen can give you is the bow arm — weight, speed, contact point and the change of bow are most of cello technique, and none of them has a gesture on glass. Use this for the geometry and the ear, and a teacher for the arm.