Best online guitar lessons
Which site will you learn guitar from in 2021?
This post appeared first at 5 Best Online Guitar Lessons Sites on TheGuitarLesson.com, thanks for reading.
So you just got your first guitar, and are looking for a way to learn to play?
Or you've been playing for a while, and want to take things to the next level?
Using the best online guitar lessons to learn guitar is a very efficient and cost-effective way to advance your chops, no matter what level you are at.
I have been playing guitar for 20+ years and teaching for 15+ years. I still use online tutorials to learn new things almost every day.
If you are interested in which online guitar teaching websites I use and can honestly recommend, and also which ones I stay away from, read on.
Top websites teaching guitar
This turned out to be a pretty long article, so here is a table summarizing the guitar lesson websites I can wholeheartedly recommend.
I have had accounts with each of these sites and have used them extensively for years.
Continue reading for a thorough review of them, with pros/cons of each and who they are best suited for.
| GuitarTricks | JamPlay | TrueFire | JustinGuitar | TheGuitarLesson | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Beginner Intermediate Advanced | Beginner Intermediate Advanced | Beginner Intermediate Advanced | Beginner Intermediate Advanced | Beginner Intermediate Advanced |
| Online tools | Chord library Scale library Jam tracks Metronome Tuner Guitar games | Chord library Scale library Jam tracks Metronome Tuner Guitar games | Chord library Scale library Jam tracks Metronome Tuner Guitar games | Chord library Scale library Jam tracks Metronome Tuner Guitar games | Chord library Scale library Jam tracks Metronome Tuner Guitar games |
| Songs | 600+ popular songs | 300+ not so popular songs | none | 300+ popular songs | 200+ popular songs |
| Price | Monthly: $19.95
Yearly: $143.20 after coupon | Monthly: $19.95
Yearly: $159.95 | Monthly: $19
Yearly: $150 after coupon | Ad supported + book purchases | Monthly: $9
Yearly: $108 (6 months free) |
| Discount? (August 2021) | Coupon codes and free trial | Coupon codes | Coupon codes | None | Built into pricing |
1. GuitarTricks.com
GuitarTricks was established in 1997 in San Francisco. It was one of the first video guitar lesson companies on the internet, and as such, basically invented the industry.
They have grown along with the internet, presently employing about 40 guitar instructors to record their videos.
GuitarTricks lesson structure
The backbone of GuitarTricks' offering is their "Core Learning System".
This is basically a collection of courses meant to take a complete beginner all the way to an upper-intermediate level.
It starts out with the most basic techniques and theory in the 2 levels of Guitar Fundamentals, and transitions the student to a specialized genre of their choice:
- blues
- country
- rock
- acoustic
These 4 genre courses are well thought out and structured, just like their beginner material. If you are a total beginner and have the goal of learning to play rock guitar, blues guitar, or country guitar, progressing through these lessons will get you to a strong intermediate level.
The lesson hierarchy is important, and each guitar course should be learned in sequence.
A lot of times, beginner guitarists will skip a section they find difficult. Don't do that. Practice as much as you need to before moving on to the next section, otherwise, you will have holes in your knowledge and get stuck later on.
Genres taught on GuitarTricks
Beside the 4 main genres of covered by the Core Learning System, GuitarTricks has mini-courses on several other genres as well.
These are not lengthy courses to teach you an entire genre. They merely cover smaller niche topics of a given genre.
For example, here are the lessons they have listed under Funk:
This is more of a collection of funk topics, rather than an A to Z course on funk guitar.
Songs to learn on GuitarTricks
Sometimes you don't want to sit through a course which will take weeks to cover.
Sometimes you simply want to learn a song you love. After all, that's why you picked up the guitar in the first place.
The song lesson collection of GuitarTricks is very strong.
They have a massive amount of very popular songs to learn from a large number of artists.
Private, live lessons on GuitarTricks
Some people say that taking private guitar lessons held by a live teacher is the best way to learn guitar.
While I disagree with this statement for a number of reasons (money, appointments, accessibility, etc.), there are times when it's nice to be able to have somebody to ask a few questions.
GuitarTricks takes care of this, as you can buy private, 30 or 60 minute online lessons from a few of its instructors.
Learning guitar mostly from prerecorded online video lessons and having the means to talk with your online instructors is the best of both worlds.
Pros of GuitarTricks:
- Great site structure and search
- Best video lessons on popular songs
- Downloadable videos (except songs)
- Yearly pricing is low ($143)
Cons of GuitarTricks
- Jam station tool should be downloadable (you can download individual jam tracks though)
- Monthly pricing a bit high (at $20)
Here is a video review of GuitarTricks, and a few screenshots below:
Who can get the most out of GuitarTricks?
Are you a beginner or intermediate guitarist?
Then I can honestly recommend GuitarTricks. Follow their lesson curriculum, be diligent, and you will learn guitar with this site.
If you are interested in signing up with GuitarTricks.com, make sure you have a look at this GuitarTricks discount, and their free trial offer as well. Just checked them both (August 2021), they are valid.
They have a 60 day money back guarantee, the longest in the industry.
2. Jamplay.com
Jamplay is another large guitar lesson website. It was established in 2006 in Ohio and features video tutorials from about 70 guitar teachers and music professionals.
Besides publishing a large number of video tutorials, they also focus on innovation. For example, they employ the largest number of camera angles out of any lesson site I've seen and they have great online guitar tools.
They also contract established musicians to create educational material exclusive to Jamplay.
Jamplay lesson structure
Jamplay categorizes its lessons into 4 main categories:
- Phase 1: Courses for beginners
- Phase 2: Genres and various guitar skills
- Phase 3: Song lessons
- Phase 4: Song writing
They take a vastly different approach as compared to GuitarTricks, I'll show you why in a second.
Let's have a look at the beginner guitar courses page on Jamplay.
They presently have 20 courses for beginner guitarists taught by different instructors.
Some are good, some are not.
I don't really think this approach is all that great though, because a guitar player who is just starting out needs a set path to follow, not 20 different paths to get lost on.
Genres taught on Jamplay
The genre sets are much better on Jamplay than their beginner tutorials in my opinion.
They take the same approach: offer themed material by a number of instructors.
This is not a distracting factor though, since intermediate players need the variety the methods of different teachers can offer.
Again, with this many instructors, there are good ones and bad ones. You can weed out the bad ones very quickly.
Beside the more popular styles of music, such as rock, blues and country, Jamplay also offers videot tutorials on more "niche" styles (Celtic, Hawaiian, etc.). There are not many videos in these courses though.
Song lessons on Jamplay
The song lesson database is much smaller on Jamplay, and the songs that they have are not as good as GuitarTricks' song lessons.
There are only a few famous artists to choose from, so this isn't one of Jamplay's strong points.
Tutorials for intermediate-advanced guitar students
This is where Jamplay really shines in my opinion.
They offer online guitar courses by real artists, which is great for advanced guitarists.
Also, they have a large number of lessons dedicated to mastering various skills on the guitar.
This is great, because I myself have struggled with speed picking in the past.
The solution?
Jamplay's Speed and Technique courses, of which there are 8 at the moment.
If you have been playing for a while and want to focus on targeted topics, they will definitely have a course (or several) to help you out.
Instructors on Jamplay
As you have probably noticed during your school years, a lot depended on your instructors. If the material is taught by a teacher who is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and maybe ever charismatic, it is much easier to learn a subject.
This is true with online guitar lessons as well.
There are many great instructors on Jamplay, but there are some that are not.
You will be able to weed them out very quickly though. All of them are good guitarists, but that does not always transfer to being a good instructor.
Live Webcam Lessons
You can interact with many of the instructors on Jamplay through their live webcam lessons. There is a set schedule with 2-hour lessons set for each teacher.
These are actual live lessons, but a bit hectic in my opinion. You can log on and ask any question you like via chat, and the teacher will answer.
Pros of Jamplay:
- Loads of lessons for intermediate-advanced players
- Great chord and scale finder tools
- Large collection of jam tracks with great filter feature
- Many instructors to choose from
Cons of Jamplay:
- Videos not downloadable
- More expensive pricing with "bundles" as upsells
- Beginners will find other sites better
Here are a few screenshots of Jamplay from my account panel.
This post first appeared on Beginner Guitar Lessons - TheGuitarLesson.com, please read the originial post: here
