Online Guzheng21 strings · Jianpu practice

8 lessons · about 70 minutes · free, no sign-up

Beginner guzheng lessons

A short course for absolute beginners, built around the virtual guzheng on this site. Each lesson explains one idea, then gives you an original exercise that opens straight into practice mode. Work through them in order — every lesson assumes the one before it.

How to use these lessons

  • Read, then play. Each exercise button loads that lesson's sheet into 🎼 Sheet Play on the main page.
  • Start in Own pace. Every note waits for you — no timer, no score, no missed-note penalty. Move to ⏱ Timed only once the notes are automatic.
  • Loop the hard part. Set an A–B loop over two bars and repeat them rather than replaying the whole exercise.
  • Slow is the shortcut. Raise the tempo by about 6 BPM only after two clean run-throughs in a row.

This site cannot teach you posture, nail attachment or right-hand shape — those need a physical instrument and ideally a teacher. What it can teach you is the note layout, jianpu reading, and the sound each technique is meant to produce.

  1. Lesson 01 · 5 min

    Meet the 21 strings

    Learn what the numbers on the strings mean, find middle 1, and play the pentatonic scale up and back down.

    What you'll learn

    • Jianpu (简谱) writes pitch as the numbers 1 2 3 5 6 — do re mi sol la.
    • The guzheng repeats those five notes across all 21 strings, so the same shape works in every octave.
    • A dot above a number means one octave higher; a dot below means one octave lower.

    Do this

    1. Look at the string labels. The colours cycle red, orange, yellow, green, blue — one full group of five is one octave.
    2. Find the green 3 strings. Counting back two strings from any green 3 lands you on a 1, the home note of the scale.
    3. Play 1 2 3 5 6 slowly upward, then 6 5 3 2 1 back down. Say the numbers out loud as you play them.
    4. Repeat the same five notes one octave higher, then one octave lower. Notice your hand doing the identical shape.

    Exercise — Pentatonic ladder

    Play it in Own pace first — each note waits for you. Switch to Timed at 60 BPM once the shape is automatic.

    Watch out: Do not chase speed. A beginner who plays five notes evenly at 60 BPM is further ahead than one who plays twenty unevenly.

  2. Lesson 02 · 8 min

    Right-hand basics 托 / 抹 tuō / mǒ

    The two strokes that carry most guzheng playing: the thumb pushing outward and the index finger pulling inward.

    What you'll learn

    • 托 (tuō) is the thumb striking away from you, towards the higher strings.
    • 抹 (mǒ) is the index finger pulling in towards you.
    • Alternating them lets you play a fast line without the same finger having to move twice.

    Do this

    1. On the app, every click or key press is one stroke. Decide before each note which finger it stands for.
    2. Play the pattern 1 – 5 – 1 – 5 and imagine 托 on every 1 and 抹 on every 5.
    3. Keep the volume even between the two. On a real instrument the thumb is naturally louder, so beginners practise holding it back.
    4. Turn Keys on and use the keyboard once the pattern is comfortable — it forces steadier timing than the mouse.

    Exercise — Alternating strokes

    Timed at 72 BPM. Aim for identical loudness on every note rather than a high score.

    Watch out: If one note is consistently louder than its neighbour, slow the tempo until both match. Evenness is the whole point of this drill.

  3. Lesson 03 · 8 min

    Octave leaps 勾搭 gōu-dā

    Pair a low bass note with the same number an octave up — the sound most people recognise as “guzheng”.

    What you'll learn

    • 勾 (gōu) is the ring finger playing a low string; 搭 (dā) answers with the thumb an octave above.
    • Because the tuning repeats every five strings, the octave of any note is exactly five strings away.
    • Alternating low and high keeps a melody moving without adding new notes.

    Do this

    1. Pick any 1. Count five strings up — that is the same number, one octave higher.
    2. Play low, high, low, high. Listen for the two notes ringing into each other.
    3. Repeat starting from 5, then from 6. The five-string distance never changes.
    4. Try the same idea two octaves apart for a bigger, more open sound.

    Exercise — Low–high pairs

    Own pace to learn the jumps, then Timed at 66 BPM.

    Watch out: Let the low note ring — do not damp it when you reach for the high one. The overlap is the effect.

  4. Lesson 04 · 6 min

    The glissando 刮奏 guāzòu

    The sweeping run across many strings that opens and closes so much guzheng music.

    What you'll learn

    • A glissando is one continuous motion across consecutive strings, not a series of separate plucks.
    • Because the tuning has no half steps, every sweep is automatically in key — this is why it sounds good immediately.
    • Downward sweeps (high to low) usually settle a phrase; upward sweeps usually launch one.

    Do this

    1. In Free Play, swipe across several strings on a touchscreen, or drag with the mouse held down.
    2. Start slowly enough to hear individual strings, then speed up until it becomes one gesture.
    3. Practise stopping the sweep exactly on a chosen note — landing precisely is harder than sweeping.
    4. Try a long descending sweep followed by a single low 1 held for two beats.

    Exercise — Sweep and land

    This one is a Free Play drill — no sheet needed. Use the sheet below only if you want a target note to land on after each sweep.

    Watch out: Aim the sweep to end on the beat, not to start on it. The landing note is what the listener hears as the point.

  5. Lesson 05 · 10 min

    Tremolo 摇指 yáozhǐ

    Rapid repetition on one string, used to hold a long note the way a bow would.

    What you'll learn

    • 摇指 (yáozhǐ) is the thumb rocking back and forth on a single string, fast and evenly.
    • It exists because a plucked string decays quickly — tremolo is how the guzheng sustains.
    • In sheet JSON it is written as "technique": "tremolo" on a note.

    Do this

    1. Hold Shift while plucking, or rub sideways across one string on a touchscreen.
    2. Practise on a long note first: two full beats of steady tremolo before moving on.
    3. Keep the volume level from the start of the note to the end — the classic beginner mistake is a loud start that fades.
    4. Then try tremolo on a note in the middle of a phrase, moving in and out of it cleanly.

    Exercise — Sustained tones

    Timed at 60 BPM. Every long note is marked tremolo; the short notes are plain.

    Watch out: Evenness beats speed again. A slow, perfectly regular tremolo sounds musical; a fast ragged one sounds like a mistake.

  6. Lesson 06 · 10 min

    Press bends 按音 ànyīn

    Pressing a string left of the bridge raises its pitch — this is how the guzheng reaches 4 and 7.

    What you'll learn

    • The instrument is tuned to five notes per octave, so 4 and 7 have no string of their own.
    • Pressing the green 3 raises it a half step to 4; pressing the green 6 raises it a whole step to 7.
    • Any string can be pressed, not only the green ones — 1 rises to 2, 2 to 3, 5 to 6. Pressing is also how players shape slides and vibrato.

    Do this

    1. Hold Space (or the 按 button on touch) and pluck. Every string lights jade to show the bend is armed.
    2. Play 3, then bent 3, and listen to the half step. Then play 6 and bent 6 — a whole step, noticeably wider.
    3. Play the run 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 using bends for 4 and 7. That is a full major scale on a pentatonic instrument.
    4. Release the press while the string still rings to hear the pitch fall back — the beginning of a slide.

    Exercise — The full scale

    Own pace first. Cues that need a bend are marked with ↗ (or ␣ when Keys is on) — hold the bend as you pluck.

    Watch out: A bent note that is only half-pressed sounds out of tune, not expressive. Commit to the press before the string sounds.

  7. Lesson 07 · 8 min

    Reading jianpu rhythm

    Underlines, dashes and dots are the whole rhythm system — four marks and you can read most beginner sheets.

    What you'll learn

    • A bare number lasts one beat.
    • Each dash after a number adds a beat: 5 — is two beats, 5 — — is three.
    • One underline halves the note; two underlines quarter it.
    • A dot after the number adds half its length again — a dotted note.

    Do this

    1. Count out loud — “1 and 2 and” — while you play, so the beat lives outside your hands.
    2. Turn Metro on in Timed practice and match the click before you worry about the notes.
    3. Play the exercise below, which cycles through whole, half, quarter and eighth values on the same few pitches.
    4. Then look at any sheet you have loaded and name each note's length before playing it.

    Exercise — Four durations

    Timed at 60 BPM with Metro on. Every bar is four beats, filled differently.

    Watch out: If a bar does not add up to four beats, you have misread a dash or an underline. Counting the bar is the fastest way to catch it.

  8. Lesson 08 · 15 min

    Your first étude

    An original eight-bar study that uses every technique from the previous lessons in one short piece.

    What you'll learn

    • Techniques become music when they serve a phrase rather than being practised alone.
    • A phrase usually rises, reaches a high point, and settles — listen for that shape as you play.
    • Looping a two-bar section until it is clean is faster than replaying the whole piece each time.

    Do this

    1. Listen once with 👂 Listen so you know where it is going.
    2. Practise it in Own pace, with no timer, until every note is under your fingers.
    3. Use A–B loop on the two bars that give you trouble. Repeat them ten times before moving on.
    4. Only then switch to Timed at 60 BPM, and raise the tempo by 6 BPM once you can play it twice cleanly in a row.

    Exercise — Étude in D

    Own pace → A–B loop the hard bars → Timed at 60, then work upward.

    Watch out: Two clean run-throughs at a slow tempo are worth more than ten scrappy ones at speed. Stop while it still sounds good.

After lesson 8

Once the étude is comfortable, start bringing in music of your own. Convert a sheet you have the right to use into the app's JSON format, or write one note by note in ✏️ Sheet Editor. Add a YouTube backing track to a sheet and the app will transpose itself to the key you set, so you can practise against a real tempo.

Every exercise above was written for this site. They are technique drills built from the pentatonic tuning — not arrangements of anyone else's work — and you are free to use, copy and adapt them.

We do not host, bundle or link to copyrighted sheet music, and we will not add lessons built around a copyrighted piece. If you want to practise a specific song, transcribe it yourself or use a licensed or public-domain edition; your uploaded file never leaves your browser. See About for the full policy.