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New Released in April 2026
The Best Guitar Games Use Your Real Guitar, Not a Controller
The best guitar games for learning have one thing in common: you hold your own guitar. A plastic controller with five buttons is a great party game, but none of it moves to six strings. ChordRunner, our game, listens to your acoustic or electric guitar through the microphone and checks every chord.
No account, no download. The demo has limited content. Advanced features are in ChordRunner Premium.
- MIDI keyboard
- Digital or acoustic piano
- Guitar
- Computer, phone or tablet
Controller or real guitar?
Button games train timing and are fun with friends. Real-guitar games train what you need: fretting a shape cleanly and changing to the next one in time. If the goal is to play guitar, choose a game that hears the strings.
What to check before you start
- It hears an acoustic guitar through a normal microphone, no cable needed.
- It hears an electric through an amp or a speaker.
- It shows chord names, so you learn to find the shapes yourself.
- Wrong chords cost you something, so mistakes are noticed.
- Levels add new chords only when the old ones are safe.
The Best Guitar Games Use Your Real Guitar, Not a Controller
ChordRunner is a browser game that teaches piano and guitar chords: a chord appears on screen, you play it on a real instrument, and your runner jumps.
Play the demoHow a run feels in ChordRunner
A chord symbol like G or Em runs toward your character. You strum it, the microphone hears it, and the runner jumps. Miss it and you lose a life. The first levels use open major and minor chords; later ones add sus chords, 7ths and 9ths, up to 13ths.
Honest limits
The game shows symbols, not fretboard diagrams, and it does not teach strumming patterns or songs. Learn a shape from a chord chart, then use the game to make it automatic.
The levels in ChordRunner
- Beginner: major, minor, augmented and diminished chords.
- Intermediate: adds sus2 and sus4.
- Advanced: adds 6th, 7th and 9th chords.
- Pro: adds 11th, 13th and altered chords; an adaptive mode adds the next family when you are ready.
Common questions
What are the best guitar games to learn guitar?
Games you play on your own guitar that check every chord through the microphone or a cable. Controller games are fun but train buttons, not strings.
Can a game hear my acoustic guitar?
Yes. ChordRunner uses the microphone of your laptop, tablet or phone. Sit close to it and keep the room quiet.
Is it good for complete beginners?
Yes, if you know a few open chords. Learn G, C, D, Em and Am from a chart, then the first levels test exactly those.
Which instruments work?
A USB MIDI keyboard, detected automatically, or a piano or guitar through the microphone. Everything runs in Chrome or Edge on a computer, tablet or phone.
How is this different from apps where you tap the screen?
Tapping trains your eyes and fingers on glass. Here you press real keys or fret real strings, and the game hears the actual notes, so what you practise is exactly what you will play on your instrument.
Is this an independent ranking?
No. ChordRunner is our game, so this page tells you what to look for and what ChordRunner does and does not do. Use the checklist on any option you try.
Is everything in the demo?
The demo has limited content. Advanced features are in ChordRunner Premium.
Your instrument is the controller.
ChordRunner is a browser game that teaches piano and guitar chords: a chord appears on screen, you play it on a real instrument, and your runner jumps. MIDI keyboard or microphone, both work.
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