1. Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks is an online platform that provides guitar lessons for both beginners and experienced players. It has been around for more than two decades and boast over 3 million guitar players who have used their services. So as far as credibility goes, it’s completely legitimate.
The program offers a wide range of services, most of which aim to help beginners learn the ropes. In addition, there are also guides towards becoming a better player by developing your muscle memory, work ethics, and fundamental knowledge of guitar playing in both theory and practice.
The prime element of this online guitar lesson platform is GuitarTricks’ Core Learning System, comprised of four separate steps that occur in two stages: Two levels of the ‘fundamental’ stage, and two levels of the ‘specialization’ stage. Of course, if you wish to become a versatile, well-rounded player, you can expand your knowledge by taking up to four additional classes and complete the Core Learning System in full.
Overall, the platform offers simple means of learning how to play while still touching on other interesting and important aspects. Among other things this includes differentiating between music styles, guitar playing techniques, routines, habits, and plenty of music theory knowledge.
How it works
As mentioned, the highlight of GuitarTricks guitar lessons is the Core Learning System. This is comprised of several steps that are designed in such a way as to help beginners tackle down the fundamental techniques – from holding the guitar properly, holding the pick in the most comfortable way, basic finger positioning to basic guitar maintenance. This is the ‘Level 1 Guitar Fundamentals’, or the first step in the Core Learning System.
‘Level 2’ is a logical continuation of the fundamental guitar playing techniques, but only this time it’s expanded, a bit more complex, and substantially more versatile. After figuring out the essentials, here you will have the opportunity to learn basic chords, scales, the gist of song building, and the final aspects of the most common guitar techniques.
The final steps of the Core Learning System are the ‘specialization level’ where you’ll be able to choose between taking Blues courses, Rock Courses, or Country courses.
Program features
- Core Learning System comprised of two beginner levels and two specialization levels.
- Learn Your Favorite Songs suite
- Guitar courses for more experienced guitarists
- Learn Guitar Styles section
- Artists Studies that cover break-down of techniques used by famous guitar players.
- Library of most popular guitar playing techniques
Estimated time needed
The Core Learning System is thorough, but it’s also very comprehensible and easy to follow. You get to choose how complex or how simple the learning process will be. In that regard, the time needed to learn how to play the guitar on your own may vary from a mere month to 2-3 months.
Pros and cons
- Simple learning systems
- Specialized classes for experienced players
- Huge libraries that break down techniques
- Rock, country, blues-specific classes
- Could use a 'Master Class' section
Bottom line
All in all, GuitarTricks is a remarkable and exquisite platform for guitar players by guitar players. People will have the opportunity to gain the basic knowledge of guitar playing rapidly while still being able to indefinitely expand their understanding of guitar techniques, styles, and genres of music.
2. Jamplay
Jamplay has an impeccable reputation and is considered one of the best online guitar lesson providers available. In a nutshell, what sets them apart from similar brands is that they provide free toolkits, they allow you to take a peek into the libraries, and they frequently offer discounts on new courses.
From guitar lessons for beginners to masterclasses, there’s pretty much something for everyone in the Jamplay store. This platform boasts over 6,000 lessons and over 200 instrumentation and style-building courses grouped into five categories, including Beginner, Genres, Skills, Songs, and Master Classes.
How it works
First, you’ll be prompted to pick your desired guitar learning course. The Beginner’s bundle is perfect for immediate starters while all the other courses are a bit more suited for experienced guitar players. Let’s break down each bundle.
The JamPlay Beginner Guitar Lessons are meant for immediate beginners, self-taught guitarists, and those who’ve simply hit a wall and think that they for whatever reason can’t move past their current level.
Essentially, these lessons start off by building the foundation blocks of guitar playing – you’ll learn how to properly hold your pick, position your hands on the fingerboard, learn the basic chores, strumming techniques, and learn how to maintain and tune your guitar.
The reason why these lessons are especially useful for self-taught guitarists is that you’ll get the opportunity to correct any mistakes and behavioral patterns you’ve developed while learning on your own. A good portion of the training includes pointing out the most common mistakes and bad habits players own make and develop, so you’ll easily fill the gaps in your technique.
Moreover, the lessons also dabble in simplified aspects of the basic music theory; this means that you’ll get to learn the essentials and a bit of harmony while you’re at it; the teachers explain at length what time signature is while reinforcing your timing habits, you’ll get to understand what ‘keys’ are and how to weave chords into chord progressions, which will ultimately become the staple of your songwriting process.
Other training courses are also available, such as Style & Genre lessons, Skill Building lessons, and the Interactive section with on-screen tablatures.
The Style & Genre lessons are slightly more advanced than the Beginner’s course as they focus on tips and tricks that aim to help you step up individual techniques, such as speed, improvisation, singing along the guitar, tackling down instrument maintenance, developing your sense of rhythm, and so on.
What’s more, the Skill & Style section offers a ‘quick start’ guide of sorts for studio engineers and is based on creating a home studio environment, the fundamentals of mixing, and such.
Once you’ve got on your feet with these two lessons, you can proceed to the Genres training course. Essentially, this online guitar lesson program is based on a concept of understanding established music styles; it covers more than 20 music sub-categories, including blues, jazz, R&B, gospel, rock, funk, metal, country, and numerous others.
The opportunity to combine everything you’ve learned from the previous lessons arises with the ‘Learn Songs’ training course. This portion of the JamPlay online guitar lessons features a vast catalogue of popular songs that were hand-picked in such a way that they sport a presence of all the essential techniques interpreted in different styles.
Program features
- Beginner Lessons program comprised of the most basic and essential playing techniques.
- 'Learn Styles' program that covers over 20 music sub-genres.
- 'Refine Skills' program designed to improve the existing knowledge of the basics.
- 'Learn Songs' feature that features a huge catalogue of songs tabs from popular artists.
- Master Classes held by professionals that break down prominent guitar player's technique and style.
- Vast libraries of chords, scales, licks, riffs, progress reports, and training games.
- Free 'toolkits', which are essentially trial versions of JamPlay online guitar lessons.
The JamPlay program embodies everything you need to know about your chosen instrument, and what’s best about it is that you’ll get to choose how you approach the learning process. There are several training courses at your disposal, and it’s up to you to determine in which order you’re going to take them.
Estimated time needed
JamPlay offers dozens of individual training courses that complement each other, so in that respect, following them through and through will most likely require months of persistent practice. However, these lessons are meant to set beginners on a path to become professionals one day, so you won’t really need that much time to actually feel comfortable playing the guitar on your own.
If we take the ‘Beginner’s Lessons’ as the core of this training regime, we estimate that you’ll need a month or two tops. The teachers invested a lot of intention into details, but the overall feeling is that the lessons are comprehensive, yet easy to follow.
Pros and cons
- Big industry names are guitar teachers here
- Thousands of online guitar lessons
- New courses are popping in every day
- Huge catalogue of chords, scales, and more
- Some beginners might find the extreme amount of content intimidating
Bottom line
Simply put, JamPlay is one of the best online guitar lessons provider for numerous reasons; first and foremost, this website offers so much content that you’ll have to learn something new every day; secondly, you can specialize in certain styles (or genres) or become a well-rounded player by following JamPlay programs.
Although it might feel a bit overwhelming at times, it’s absolutely phenomenal and we highly recommend checking it out.
3. mySongBook
MySongBook is a service that’s been around for some time. So it’s no wonder that it appears in the talks about online guitar courses. But compared to some other more educational-oriented services, this one focuses mostly on guitar pro tablatures and learning through them.
It features a pretty wide collection of songs and offers interactive tablatures, which is especially useful for beginners or just amateur players. Aside from famous rock songs, you’ll also find special arrangements which serve both as lessons and alternate versions that you can learn how to play.
Aside from the guitar stuff, you can also find ukulele tabs, bass tabs, and even banjo tabs. Of course, some of it is available for free, but it’s mostly a paid service. Nonetheless, it found its popularity and use among guitar players, mostly due to the accuracy of the tabs and sheet music.
How it works
Overall, this service is pretty straightforward and it’s simple to use. First, you’ll need to create an account. When you create the account, you’ll be able to find a tab of a song that you’re interested in using keywords, and then read and listen to the preview. You can search using different ways, depending on the instrument, artist, genre, songbook collection, and, of course, the song name.
You can then check whether it’s good enough for you. After that part, you’re free to purchase the individual tab. At the same time, you can also purchase the full access to the website and have all the tabs and sheet music that you want with a monthly fee.
Of course, in order to play these interactive tabs and sheet music, you’ll need to have the latest version of Guitar Pro. You can get Guitar Pro through the website as it links directly to the program’s download page.
Program features
The entire mySongBook service is pretty simple. In fact, it’s not a program or a service like some of the others that we mentioned, but rather just a collection of professionally made Guitar-Pro files. However, the service will offer useful directions, like using difficulty ratings, as well as comment sections that will help you figure things out.
Estimated time needed
Along with these tabs, you’ll need to do some learning and research on your own. This will prolong the learning time, but you’ll still be available to learn some basic songs and build a small repertoire in a relatively short period, anywhere between one and four months. We recommend either looking into one of the other more extensive lessons or getting some local beginner classes.
Pros and cons
- It's really simple to use
- Interactive tabs work really well
- Fairly cheap
- You'll need to do some learning on your own
Bottom line
In the end, the whole idea behind mySongBook is to have a collection of professionally transcribed tablatures and sheet music. You can then purchase an individual file or pay for monthly access using any credit or debit card. It’s a useful tool, but you’ll need to do some learning on your own if you want to figure out the music theory and some techniques behind it.
4. Fender Play
Fender is a name that millions of people associate with ‘guitar’, not just because this is a leading manufacturer, but also because they’ve redefined what the term means time and time again.
This brand has so many professional guitarists in their team that they can’t even compare to most educational guitar lesson platforms. What most people like about Fender Play is that even their website is interactive and engaging; of course, the lessons are too, but one of the main problems of most online guitar lesson platforms is the clunky design of the user interface.
How it works
Just like with any other guitar training platform, you’ll be prompted to choose your subscription tutelage plan. Fender also offers a free trial, so before you start typing in your credit card details you might want to try it out first.
Aside from the free trial, you’ll also gain access to numerous instructional videos on the Fender Play official website, including Guitar 101, Play Some Notes, and Play a Riff. Basically, these clips are meant to show you the very basics of guitar playing in less than 7 minutes time.
The program has so many interesting features, including progress trackers, the Fender Play application, and the ‘speed-run course’. Of course, you’ll also get to meet your teachers before you even start the course so that you can make a better choice.
You’ll be prompted to pick a ‘style’ (acoustic, electric, rock, jazz, and such), which will transition you to the first level of ‘your path’ (progress tracker). All the lessons are ordained in a very logical order and feature detailed descriptions (whether it’s a skill course, a technique course, and such).
After completing the initial five levels, you’ll then proceed to learn actual songs. The Fender Play library features thousands of songs, including both hits and deep cuts from pop, rock, blues, funk, R&B, country, bluegrass, fusion, blues, and jazz artists.
Program features
- 1-month free trial
- Progress tracker
- Learn Popular Songs feature
- Fender Play Application
- Video-based guitar learning sessions
Estimated time needed
Nearly everyone who works for Fender is a guitar player, and nearly every professional teacher that works for Fender is a world-renowned guitar player. That being said, it’s more than obvious that you’ll be able to tackle down the basics in record time, presumably under a month’s time. However, you’ll have the opportunity to learn at your own pace and access lessons and training courses whenever you deem fit.
Pros and cons
- One of the most reputable industry names
- Interactive interface, fun and engaging to use
- Simplified training courses
- 1-month free trial with limited access
- Slightly pricier than average
Bottom line
If you’re insecure about your guitar playing skills and want to get better, checking out Fender Play might be the best course of action. They offer the best online guitar lessons and the most versatile and well-rounded guitar training regimes, so you’re virtually risking nothing, especially due to the fact that they offer a free trial version of their program.
5. Truefire
TrueFire is one of the veteran guitar lesson companies founded in 1991 by Brad Wendkos in Florida, United States. They mainly operate on streaming platforms and feature a vast database comprised of over 40000 guitar lessons, more than 30000 tablatures and notation content, over 20000 jam tracks, dozens of guitar courses, and a ton of premium (and exclusive) content.
It’s also one of the few educational platforms that offer ‘lifetime’ program options, which is highly unusual, but also very beneficial for both beginner and experienced players.
How it works
The first step is choosing a tuition plan between monthly, annual, and lifetime. Each plan offers different benefits and access to different kinds of content, so you should check out their official website to find more about the details.
What’s really interesting is that TrueFire also offers a 1-month free trial. If you opt for the free trial, you’ll gain access to the basic lessons, tabs, and jam tracks, but you’ll also have access to streaming. You won’t be able to download content, though.
If on another hand, you decide to go with a paid plan, you’ll get to choose between Beginner Guitar lessons, blues guitar lessons, jazz guitar lessons, rock guitar lessons, country guitar lessons, and acoustic guitar lessons.
Some of the most prominent features of TrueFire online guitar lesson program are 1080p HD video communication, progress tracking, slow-motion and looping tools, as well as a huge tablature and jam track database.
Program features
- Full access to streaming content
- Over 40,000 guitar lessons
- Over 30,000 tabs and notation content
- More than 20,000 jam tracks
- 30-day trial version
Estimated time needed
TrueFire offers a monthly plan, which immediately translates to ‘they guarantee that you’ll be able to handle the basics with their 1-month tutelage’. Some people might not be able to pick up the pace and follow through the plan in its entirety within a 1-month period of time, but due to the fact that there are so much content and useful tools at your disposal, the chances are pretty high that you will.
Pros and cons
- Massive database with useful content
- Professional guitar players teach here
- Free trial, lifetime program available
- Six different specialization courses
- Limited access to non-members
Bottom line
TrueFire offers sure-fire means to learn how to play the guitar like a professional, no matter how untalented you think you may be. The professionals working at this reputable establishment are known to pull the best from people and push them to break through their boundaries in record times, so why not give them a go?
6. ArtistWorks
ArtistWorks is a relatively young education platform founded in 2008, but even still they’ve earned an impeccable reputation and have set out thousands of beginners on their way to becoming well-rounded players and performers.
They offer free video lessons, paid guitar lesson programs, as well as monthly/yearly packages that allow you to save up some money. This company has numerous professional teachers, including Nathan East, Mike Marshall, and even Paul Gilbert, so you can rest assured that you’ll be in good hands.
How it works
The main principle of how ArtistWorks actually ‘works’ is via video exchange. Every practice season is one-on-one between the teacher and the student and every lesson is in video format.
Simply put, once you choose your desired instrument plan (banjo, guitar, bass, etc), you’ll be assigned a teacher who will guide you through every step of the way. Once the session ends, you’ll still be able to stay in touch with your teacher via videos or e-mail, so in that sense, the communication is pretty flexible and dynamic.
Program features
- Acoustic guitar beginner program
- Rock, blues, country, jazz courses
- Acoustic Dobro & lap steel program
- Jazz Improv guitar course
- Music Certificate program
Estimated time needed
Basically, you’ll be able to choose between 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month plans; this basically means that the estimated time needed to finish your desired course (or courses) is at least 3 months. However, all the teachers are established and reputable professionals who have plenty of experience in sharing their knowledge, so it’s highly likely that you’ll end up being able to play on your own after a couple of weeks.
Pros and cons
- Huge selection of genre-based programs
- Acoustic and electric guitar courses
- Famous guitar players as teachers
- Music certificate program
- Platform is slightly confusing to use
Bottom line
Young educational companies are sometimes overshadowed by well-established platforms, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give them a chance. ArtistWorks offers a huge variety of training programs and courses and hosts dozens and dozens of prominent guitar professionals, so we highly recommend trying their services out.
7. LearnAndMaster
Learn and Master is a training course provided by Legacy Learning Systems. It covers a wide range of instructional art classes, including painting, piano, ballerina dancing, photography, and obviously, an assortment of guitar classes.
What should interest you the most in the context of Learn and Master online guitar lessons is that you’ll get to choose your specialization early on; their classes include Blues Guitar, Fingerstyle Guitar, Guitar Setup and Maintenance, as well as some ‘complimentary’ instructional guides regarding famous Song Hits and Rock Hits.
How it works
The highlight of Learn & Master’s online guitar lessons is the Blues Guitar Lesson. Essentially, the training begins with the promotional video showing you how the end result should look like before breaking it down into smaller fragments.
Steve Krenz, a professional guitar instructor and player, will lead you throughout the lessons, showing you the basics of finger positioning, strumming, chords, scales, and all things bluesy. Even though blues is generally considered to be one of the most complex guitar-driven ‘genres’, Steve explains the fundamentals in easy and practical ways.
Program features
- Six instructional DVDs that comprise more than eight hours of guitar lessons
- Jam-along CD with more than 20 songs
- Interviews with famous guitarists such as Jack Pearson and Johnny Hiland
- Downloadable E-Book
The instructional DVDs are lessons that follow the same thread logically, starting off with the basics of guitar playing, moving over to beginner techniques, and finish up with actual songs that combine all the elements together.
Apart from following the instructional DVD guidelines, you’ll also get the opportunity to test your new-found skills with the Jam-Along DVD. Essentially, this DVD features more than 20 blues songs that were carefully picked based on what techniques the guitar players were using in them.
Let’s not discount the importance of the complementary interviews. Professionals Jack Pearson and Johnny Hiland talk at length about their guitar playing roots, their road to becoming professionals; they also share numerous tips and tricks for beginners that are bound to help you out by the long run.
We should also note that Fingerstyle online guitar lessons are also an option that Legacy Learning Systems offers. Although most beginners do feel a bit more comfortable learning how to play the guitar with a pick, using your bare hands might be a bit more challenging, but it’s also very rewarding.
This program is led by the same instructor (Steve Krenz), it features 9 DVDs, as well as a Jam-Along disc, just like the Blues Guitar program.
Estimated time needed
Given the fact that playing the blues requires a certain degree of talent and unwavering dedication, you will probably need at least a month of daily practice before you can actually put what you’ve learned to use by yourself.
On another hand, blues covers more ground in music theory (and guitar playing in general) than any other music genre (aside from jazz), which means that the time you put into following this program and its lessons will be well spent.
Pros and cons
- The lessons are neatly broken down
- Jam-Along CD
- The program is very easy to follow
- Interviews are icing on the cake
- Some lessons require a certain degree of talent
Bottom line
Legacy Learning Systems online guitar lessons are absolutely great. The basics are broken down in a very understandable way while the Jam-Along DVD gives you the means to try yourself out whenever you feel comfortable.
By all means, this is not ‘just’ a beginner’s guitar program. The training course progresses at a steady pace, giving you access to slightly more advanced lessons that touch on different rhythms, tempos, keys, and a variety of guitar-playing techniques that every player needs to have in their arsenal.
Summary
What learning format that suits you best depends on numerous factors. Naturally, every individual is different. Some people are very musically talented and will progress much faster than average. People who are born with the innate ability to understand the basic concept of an instrument (or instruments) will likely require substantially less time before they become capable of playing whole songs on their own.
On another hand, there are those who might not be natural-born talents per se, but still have the ability to process information faster than average. Even though the practical things might go a bit slower in this particular situation, people who ‘get’ things fast will undoubtedly be able to get the most out of online guitar lesson programs in the shortest time possible.
Even if we’re to completely forget about the fact that talent and information processing factor into how much time a person might need to learn how to play the guitar via online programs, the training courses themselves, as well as the platforms they’re based on are much different.
In this sense, it’s up to the teachers and their ability to present their knowledge of techniques and theory in a very general way. Again, since every individual is different, the same can be said about the teachers who have created online lessons. Charisma, expertise, knowledge, and proficiency with the given instrument play key factors in how these teachers share their experience and knowledge with the students.
All this considered, online guitar lesson platforms and websites typically state how much time they estimate a person might need to handle their initial training courses. While the statistics state that an average individual normally needs approximately three to six months to learn how to properly play the guitar on their own, most programs boast about being able to ‘beat’ that time.
But regardless of talent and previous skills, there are no substitutes for time and motivation. Even the most ingenious learning method will accomplish nothing if you don’t have the time to dedicate.
Free vs paid programs
In essence, free guitar learning programs can be great for people who have some experience with the instrument. Most free programs touch on specific aspects of guitar playing, and even though they’re not as versatile or as thorough as paid variants, they can certainly help you tackle the basics.
Of course, this requires plenty of time needed for the research, and you’ll often end up finding the same type of lessons that are just packaged a bit differently, which means that you end up ‘wasting’ a portion of your time invested.
On the plus side, you can play it safe by sticking with free programs provided by reputable and established companies. This is one of the most sure-fire ways to get as much value as you can from free lessons.
One of the potential pitfalls of free lessons is that they may be no more than ‘sneak peek previews’ of the paid lessons, meaning that you’ll get to experience only a small fraction of each course. If your question was ‘are free guitar lessons worth giving a shot?’ the answer would be ‘it depends’. Even though you won’t have to pay anything, you’ll be investing time – possibly only to find that you need to pay to proceed.
Paid Programs vs Learning from YouTube
YouTube has reached an enormous level of popularity and is currently the biggest media streaming platform with the highest number of registered users. As a matter of fact, it’s not uncommon to see people have multiple accounts, especially pop celebrities and rock stars.
Apart from allowing us access to our favorite songs and other content, YouTube is a place where you can find pretty much anything for free, including guitar lessons.
Now, as far as YouTube guitar lessons go, they are published by guitarists of varying skill levels and only rarely by professional teachers. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The worst-case scenario is that you change the channel a few minutes in. More often, you may pick up interesting perspectives on certain techniques that someone other than yourself might have figured out differently.
Generally speaking, beginners will have plenty of things to discover while intermediate-level players have the opportunity to enrich their ‘style’ of playing by watching thousands and thousands of different guitar players that put their own stamp on various techniques.
At the end of the day, YouTube might turn out to be a better source of information than some free tutorials and trial versions of guitar lesson packages.
