Hear guitar sheet music played back
Musaica is a free online sheet music reader. Upload a PDF or a photo of guitar music, choose the Guitar voice, and it plays the recognised score on a sampled acoustic guitar with a cursor that follows each note. It suits classical guitar pieces, method-book studies, fingerstyle arrangements and melody lines: anything written on a five-line staff.
Upload standard notation, not tablature. The recognition engine reads notes on a staff. It does not read guitar TAB, so a TAB-only page will not work, and the TAB lines under a combined staff-and-TAB score may be ignored or misread. If your edition has both, the staff above the TAB is what gets played.
How guitar notation works
Guitar music is written in the treble clef, but the guitar sounds an octave lower than written. Writing it an octave up keeps most notes on the staff instead of on ledger lines below it. Some editions show this with a small 8 under the treble clef; many simply use a plain treble clef and leave the octave understood.
In standard tuning the open strings sound E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 and E4, from the lowest (sixth) string to the highest (first). A classical guitar with 19 frets reaches about B5; electric guitars with more frets go higher.
| You see | It means |
|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3, 4 next to a note | Left-hand finger (index to little finger) |
| p, i, m, a | Right-hand thumb, index, middle and ring finger |
| A number in a circle | The string to play the note on |
| Roman numerals (V, VII) or C/B with a line | Position on the neck, or a barre at that fret |
| Stems up and stems down on one staff | Melody and bass played together, as in fingerstyle pieces |
These technical markings are not played back and may be dropped during recognition. Keep your printed copy beside you for fingerings and string choices.
Which octave you will hear
Playback follows the pitches in the recognised score. When a guitar part is written in a plain treble clef, as most are, it plays at the written pitch, which is an octave above a real guitar. The melody, rhythm and harmony are the same; only the register is higher. If you want to hear exactly what your guitar should sound like, listen for the shape and timing rather than the octave.
The microphone intonation check ignores octaves and judges each note by its name, so playing an octave below the written pitch, as you will on guitar, does not count against you.
Learning a guitar piece with playback
- Hear it first. Play the piece through and follow the cursor so you know how the melody and bass fit together before you work out fingerings.
- Loop one shift at a time. Select the two bars around a position change or barre and loop them slowly until the move is smooth.
- Slow it down without guessing. The practice page plays from 10% to 200% speed, so you can learn a fast scale run at a tempo you can actually play.
- Lock in strumming and syncopation. The rhythm counter shows "1 e & a" counts, bars or a circle view. Count aloud with it, then turn on the metronome.
- Check single-note lines with the microphone. On a fretted instrument the intonation check mostly tells you whether you hit the right note cleanly, and whether the guitar is in tune. While playback is stopped it works like a tuner.
What to expect from recognition
Single-line melodies and clean classical guitar editions recognise well. Fingerstyle pieces with two or three voices on one staff are harder: a bass note held under a moving melody can be read with the wrong length, or a rest can attach to the wrong voice. Chord diagrams, chord symbols and lyrics are usually dropped, so a song sheet will play only the notated melody. Harmonics, slides, bends and hammer-ons are not reproduced. For best results, follow our guide to scanning sheet music, and if an edition prints TAB under every staff, crop the TAB out of the image before uploading.
Free, honestly. Uploading and playing scores is free and ad-supported. Without an account you get an instant preview; a free account (we email you a sign-in link, no password) unlocks the full score and saves it to your library. The paid plan, Musaica Basic ($5.99/month), removes ads and adds Smart Playback, Band Mode, MusicXML export and HD audio renders.
How to hear guitar sheet music
- Upload standard notation. Drop a PDF, PNG or JPG of guitar music on a staff. Crop out TAB lines if your edition prints both.
- Choose Guitar. Pick Guitar from the instrument menu in the player.
- Play and follow along. The cursor follows each note so you can match the sound to the page.
- Practise the hard bars. Loop a position change, slow it down, then bring it up to speed with the metronome.
Frequently asked questions
Can Musaica read guitar tabs?
No. It reads standard staff notation. A TAB-only page will not be recognised, and TAB under a staff may be ignored or misread. Upload music written on a five-line staff.
Why does the playback sound higher than my guitar?
Guitar music is written an octave above how it sounds. When the score uses a plain treble clef, playback follows the written pitch, so it sounds an octave higher than a real guitar. The notes and rhythm are the same.
Can I hear guitar notes slowly to learn a piece?
Yes. Open the passage on the practice page and play it at anywhere from 10% to 200% speed, looped over any bar range.
Does it play chord symbols from a song sheet?
Chord symbols and chord diagrams are usually dropped during recognition, so you hear only the notes written on the staff.
Does it reproduce bends, slides or harmonics?
No. Playback uses recordings of single plucked notes, so it gives you the pitches and rhythm, not playing techniques.