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nostrademons
Best viewed with sound on.

Also, you can save and share your compositions. I'm not quite proficient with doodle-guitar, but here's a couple seconds of noodling around:

http://goo.gl/doodle/vN4K

somedude1234abc
Is this made with javascript?
catshirt
from a superficial look, it seems like the sound is actually being played through flash. it looks like the doodle is canvas though, which suggests the interface is in javascript.

too bad they didn't synthesize the sound with javascript as well. their web audio api is great. firefox has a (somewhat) equivalent api. :)

delinquentme
<iframe name="wgjf" style="display:none" src="/blank.html" onload="google.j.l()" onerror="google.j.e()"></iframe>

it doesn't look very "flash"

damncabbage
It creates a flash object on the fly with javascript:

  <object id="guitar11-sound-player" width="0" height="0"
   type="application/x-shockwave-flash" 
   codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave
   /cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" 
   classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000">
smackfu
It really doesn't seem like sound playback is there yet, except in Flash.
catshirt
look more into the apis i referenced. not only is javascript playback there, but even the synthesis is possible through javascript.
kprobst
It works on Chrome but not on Firefox. Interesting.
leviathant
It works in my copy of FF4 on Win7.
kprobst
Firefox 4.0.1 on Win7. No sound. Chrome works fine.
derleth
I've tried it on FF4 on both Linux and Mac OS X. Works just fine on both.
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r00fus
As other commenters mentioned, it requires flash for sound. Any flashblocker or clicktoflash will render the page mute (like on my Safari). Maybe you have one of those installed?
kprobst
Ah yes, Flashblock. I didn't see the little icon on the page, so it didn't cross my mind.

Thanks for pointing that out.

jabo
Wow, they've put in so much work just to amuse people! Saving the composition takes this doodle to whole new level. It should be interesting to see if the links to compositions remain valid after the doodle itself is taken down.
irahul
How did you save the composition? I can't figure it out.
jabo
Click on the black button with the red dot on the bottom right of the doodle.
chintanp
There is a record button hidden in second 'g' of Google doodle.
redthrowaway
Where? Care to point it out with a screenshot?
51Cards
I get the keyboard too, no ability to record or play back anyone's existing tunes.... odd. Thought maybe it was because I am in Canada? Tried in FF and Chrome.
dschobel
same here, no record or playback. Chrome 12.0.742.91 beta-m in Australia.
bfung
also has keyboard commands, across the rows:

  do re mi fa so la ti do re mi
  q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i  o  p
  a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k  l  ;
  z  x  c  v  b  n  m  ,  .  /
Edit: If anyone cares to figure out the recorded encoding scheme, could probably "record" or program a tune. ex:

http://www.google.com/webhp?tune=<encoded song here>

ex, do-re-mi from Sound of music http://www.google.com/webhp?tune=IAZxghAmCEEYYYZgQGAMMEMwARh...

ex: chopsticks http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tune=wIBgRTAigBHIOEAhg...

seems to be a big hash w/note+duration encoded. Would hack on, but need sleep & moving to SF in a couple days. G'nite HN!

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InclinedPlane
Note: I'm pretty sure the keyboard commands only work in record mode.
nostrademons
They work everywhere, but you have to give the doodle keyboard focus, otherwise you'll be typing into the search box. I think the only way to give it focus without clicking through to the [les paul] query is to hit record. Once you stop recording, though, you can still use the keys.
chrisa
I was also able to hit tab 3 times to give the doodle focus and use the keyboard
joshwa
too bad there's only the major scale. the full 12 tones would have been pretty fun...
kristaps
Fun for educated musicians, perhaphs, for ordinary users it would just mean a larger chance to hit the "wrong" notes.
nostrademons
I wish it had octaves above and below though. It's hard to play anything in a minor key, because the relative minor starts on the 6th and then you only have like 4 notes above that.
joshwa
the shift key could have worked... and frankly if it's Les Paul I think I should at least be able to play a few power chords ;)
mitjak
You are. Only one though.
nostrademons
I wish that the top row of keys would've given an octave higher, and the bottom row give an octave lower. That'd give you 3 octaves, enough to play a whole lot of songs.
evanrmurphy
Ah, thanks for exposing the keyboard interface!

You equipped me for this rendition of "Chopsticks": http://goo.gl/doodle/uAEhv

I made 9 takes trying to make the two parts sync as well as possible and to move at a good tempo. This is my best one.

irahul
Google is one of the few companies who would invest in this sort of PR.

It's good publicity for them and also an ultra creative way to garner people's curiosity and attention. It must have been a hell lot of work(unless I am missing something) but it's totally justified.

dermatthias
Best PR ever. Today, in every office around the world, there will be at least one person saying "have you seen the google logo today?". And everybody will have a good time. Totally worth the development cost (and such a thing will be enjoyed by everyone who develops it).
MartinCron
In the pre-Google era, I worked for a dot-com startup that was a community for senior citizens to get together and presumably chat about their grandchildren or whatever. I suggested that we do fun things with the logo like different permutations of the logo on different parts of the site, or changing the logo out for holidays or whatever.

The CEO just berated the hell out of me. He said that was the worst idea he had ever heard, and that any serious and successful company NEVER EVER EVER changes how their brand looks and is presented and gave me all sorts of examples of how all "real" companies have elaborate and detailed documents explaining the only acceptable way to display the company's name and/or logo in every possible scenario.

So every time Google (or anyone else) does this sort of thing, I feel a small rush of vindication.

sahillavingia
Here's my attempt at Mary Had A Little Lamb: http://goo.gl/doodle/1tEs
z92
Recording and playback only works when one is browsing from the USA. I have tried from both sides. Only after loading it from a USA IP it played back successfully.
barrkel
I can confirm, doesn't work from UK IP but does work from USA.
cma
If Moe's can be successfully sued over using dead people's likenesses, how can Google get away with living people?

Do they have to get permission for each one?

nostrademons
Les Paul is dead. Died in 2009.

The only "living people" that get a doodle are you. Search from the homepage on your own birthday when you're signed in, and if your Google Account has a birthday associated with it, you'll get a special doodle.

forgingahead
La Vie En Rose: http://goo.gl/doodle/gSAz

It stops recording after a bit - I had the whole song too! Haha this is great

*Edit: Last part to complete the song, because it was bugging me: http://goo.gl/doodle/aEl1

And, quickie Imperial March: http://goo.gl/doodle/D6ce

revorad
I'm being extra slow this morning... errr how do you play back recordings?
bostonvaulter2
It should just play back as soon as you load the page.
revorad
Doesn't work for me (in the UK).
tudorizer
Doesn't work for me either (Germany)
fgblanch
Doesn't work for me either (Spain)
[dead] mconstanzo
Not recording here in Australia.. But it sounds awesome lol
mconstanzo
Not recording here in Australia.. But it sounds awesome lol
rsiqueira
Those are the keys to play LA VIE EN ROSE using Google's guitar doodle: i uyteiu ytequyt oiuyriu yteqiuy
51Cards
Adding another comment after my one below. I couldn't get the record button (just a keyboard button) and thought it might be because I am in Canada. To test I remoted into our server in Texas and opened the doodle from there... presto, a record button... on IE7 no less. Looks like Google is distributing different versions by region. Why? No clue.

Edit: This works on my Nexus One! Now THAT is cool.

BSeward
It looks like Alexander Chen played a large role in this. He was responsible for the NYC MTA conductor piece that made the rounds earlier this year: http://blog.chenalexander.com/2011/conductor-mta/

Cool to see how this concept and code have evolved into something new.

tzury
The problem with those amazing crafts is that they disappear the day later, and you cannot get a cached version of them.

at http://www.google.com/logos/index.html you only have a static version of it, (see Martha Graham's 117th Birthday for instance).

Dear googlers on HN, is there anything you guys can do about this?

Matt_Cutts
Some logos get their own page, e.g. http://www.google.com/pacman/

I'm sorry that posting this link may lower productivity for a bunch of people. :)

nostrademons
Most of them get their own page eventually. The limiting factor is just engineer-time; a backlog tends to develop when there're a bunch of interactive doodles in a row, because the engineer(s) in question are too busy working on the next doodle to put the previous one up.

I know how to do it and currently have nothing to do on my real project, so maybe tomorrow I'll ask the engineers in question if they mind me putting up standalone versions of some of the backlogged doodles.

DeusExMachina
Is there a list of these? It's hard to guess the names.
nostrademons
They're linked from the /logos page:

http://www.google.com/logos/

If you go back to May 2010, PacMan is there, as are all the other ones. The interactive ones get hyperlinked to a standalone page.

shin_lao
Lasting one day make them more beautiful.
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tudorizer
Something is not ok for me. On all my browsers, I can play the chords and hear the sounds, but I can not playback the recodings you guys shared. What gives?
tudorizer
Works now. I think the rest of the world got it with a delay :)
x-sam
Recording and replaying sounds works only for US IP addresses. Also Firefox 3.5.8 doesn't work.
davidcollantes
It wasn't making any sound for me, then I realized it needed Flash. Very nifty.
Bogdanp
This is great. Too bad recording/playback doesn't work for people outside of the US.

Here's the intro to "Redemption song" since I can't record it: a sd a fhgd asdg dgdas.

akaak
Simply brilliant. I am sure this doodle going to bring some good bit of PR and non-google search users (if there are any) to the Google home. They are marketing/pr geniuses in using the tech. In hindsight, the doodle patent (http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/google-doodle-patent/) looks very useful
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