About this site

This is a free, independent English companion to learning the guqin (古琴), the seven-string Chinese zither. It's built by a beginner, as the tool I wanted while learning.

What's here

• A complete 42-lesson path, from the first right-hand stroke through the classical repertoire, following a free public video course.
• Original English write-ups of each lesson — the technique, the common mistakes, what to listen for.
• Per-lesson progress tracking and practice notes, saved privately on your own device.
• A growing jianzipu notation reference and a tuning guide.

How the videos work

The lesson videos are embedded from their creators on YouTube using YouTube's own player — they are not hosted or re-uploaded here, and full credit and views go to the original channel. If you're a creator and would prefer a lesson not be embedded, please get in touch.

About the writing

All lesson notes and explanations on this site are written originally. Where this site draws on outside material, it uses only what is legally open: public-domain classical sources (like the 1425 Shenqi Mipu facsimiles), openly-licensed references, and its own study. Commercial books and teachers are cited as further reading, never reproduced. The excellent scholarly archive at silkqin.com is worth your time if you want to go deeper.

Not affiliated with any teacher, publisher, conservatory, or channel. Corrections and suggestions from more experienced players are genuinely welcome.