Free
$0 forever
Find your feet. Play your first notes.
- Five lessons on your instrument
- Five music theory lessons
- Tuner, metronome, and note reader
- Saved progress
Yours to keep. No card needed.
Start freeOnline music lessons
Learn strings,
step by step.
Arco offers guided violin, viola, cello and double bass lessons, music theory and exam preparation.
Start learning with Arco
Today’s listeningCello · Original miniature
A little lift
Listen once. Can you hum it back?
Press play. Take a breath. Just listen.
A small beginning · Try a note
Read it
Hear this key
Play the string
Explore the strings. Replay the note.
After your free lessons, keep going for $15 a month. Per instrument
Working towards an exam? Packages are $25 a month. See pricing.
Guided string lessons for violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Your first lessons are free. About Arco
Live taste
Your next practice, planned for you.
- 5 min
Prepare
Tune, settle the bow, and make the first sound of the night a good one.
- 4 min
Review
Bring back a pattern you already own, so tonight starts from something solid.
- 8 min
Learn
The next exercise in your lesson track, waiting where you left it.
- 5 min
Focus
The bar that keeps going wrong, slowed down until it stops going wrong.
- 4 min
Apply
Put the repair back into the piece you are actually working on.
- 4 min
Perform
Play it through once, whole, the way you want it to sound.
Today · Cello · example
30 minutes · Balanced practice
- PrepareOpen-string resonance5 min
- ReviewRevisit a familiar shift4 min
- LearnThe next lesson exercise8 min
- FocusPractise a clear, timely entrance5 min
- ApplyOne repertoire goal4 min
- PerformPlay the complete phrase4 min
See it. Find it. Hear it.
What's inside
634 lessons across five tracks
See each note on staff, keyboard, and fingerboard.
Guided lessons show the same note on the staff, keyboard, and your fingerboard, with real string sound. Start with five on your instrument and five in theory, free forever.
Triptych lessonsNo account needed
Name this note
Who it's for
A plan for tonight, plus free tools.
- Tonight's plan for your instrument
- Try a free lesson sample
- Open the free tools
A place for every stage.
Start with a little curiosity. Keep going at your own pace.
Instrument
$15 /month
Build a practice you look forward to.
- Your full instrument curriculum
- Shared music theory
- Practice and composition tools
- Saved progress and a daily plan
Or $150 a year. Save $30.
Choose your instrumentExam preparation
$25 /month
Walk into your next exam prepared.
- Exam planner and weekly tracking
- Full published question banks
- Practice and timed question sessions
- Supported boards and grades on your instrument
Or $250 a year. Planner and full published banks included.
Explore exam preparationPaid packages are per learner and instrument. Exam preparation is a separate package from instrument lessons. Published question banks currently cover violin and cello across ABRSM, Trinity, and RCM grades 1–5. Explore the available exams.
Ready when you are
Begin with a single note.
Save your lesson progress and follow your next practice step. Five instrument lessons and five theory lessons stay free.