Instruments › Veena

Play the veena

A clickable fretboard. Tap a fret to hear that swara on a veena. The synth uses real Carnatic tuning calibrated against Chitti Babus recordings. Play free, then try the step-by-step lessons below.

261.6 Hz

Step-by-step lesson 1 / 5

Lesson 1: Three notes

Streak: 0

Tap the swara shown in the highlight box. Get each one right to advance.

Step 1 of 3

Sa

Tap the first fret on the Sa string. This is your tonic (Sa).

Virtual Veena

⏳ loading...

Click any fret on any string to play that swara. Try a Mōhanam phrase: Sa Ri2 Ga2 Pa Ṡ — Sa Ri2 Ga2 Pa Ṡ. The veena responds to mouse, touch, and keys 1–7 for frets andQ/W/E/R for strings.

○
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
S̲
Sa (lower)
S
Sa
P
Pa
Ṡ
Sa (high)
🎻 Veena· Sa = 261.63 Hz· Try clicking a fret

How to play

  • Click any fret/string intersection to play that swara. Strings left-to-right are Sa (low), Sa, Pa, Sa (high octave).
  • Touch works the same as click on mobile. Try dragging across frets to play a phrase.
  • Keys: 1-7 for frets on the focused string; Q/W/E/R jump to the open string of each string.
  • Sa is tuned to 261.63 Hz (your saved Sa from onboarding). Use the Tampura Drone above to set a different one.

Rāga phrases to try

Mōhanam (any 5-note scale): Sa Ri2 Ga2 Pa Da2 — Sa. Kalyāṇī inserts a Ga3 between Ri2 and Pa. For a full list of allowed swaras per raga, see the raga catalog.

Play Veena — Karunattu