Whether you’re a complete beginner picking up the guitar for the very first time, an established player looking to expand your library of skills and techniques, or you're heading to school or college and want to take your six-string prowess to the next level, the best online guitar lessons can give your playing a major boost.
There’s a growing collection of high-quality platforms available to you in 2024, all for a monthly fee that usually works out much cheaper than face-to-face lessons, each delivering a unique set of features and structured tuition content to help you master the instrument at home or on the go.
All you need to start using online lessons is an internet connection and a device that’s capable of getting online – a laptop, phone or tablet – so you don’t even need to leave your home to start learning. Some platforms offer a dedicated app designed to work seamlessly on your device, too.
For this guide, our experts have tested a range of options catering to all skill levels and budgets. Our tests focus on ease of setup, the quality of the content and tutors, the range of content available and, of course, the cost. Most platforms offer at least a 7-day free trial too, enabling you to try a selection before committing to a longer-term paid-for subscription. Right now our top choice is Guitar Tricks, which we found to offer the best of everything, for every level of player. We recently re-tested both Guitar Tricks and Fender Play to experience newly-added features and layout to ensure our existing opinions remained accurate.
If you want to get straight to our top choices, keep scrolling, or head to our how to choose and FAQ sections for more expert guidance on what to look out for when choosing the best online guitar lessons platform for you.
Our top picks
1. Best overall: Guitar Tricks ★★★★★
Guitar Tricks proved to be the best online lessons platform overall in our tests. They’ve developed their content over 25 years and with over 11,000 lessons and more than 900 song tutorials, we found more than enough to satiate every level of player – excellent entry-level content with clear learning paths, a huge range of intermediate lessons and a wealth of more advanced lessons, too. It’s all presented to a high quality by a range of pro tutors. The price is very competitive, too. Guitar Tricks also offers a 60-day money back guarantee if you're not totally into it. Regardless of your level, Guitar Tricks is the platform we recommend highest right now.
OFFER: Enjoy your first month of Guitar Tricks for a single buck at this link and start improving your playing for less than you'd pay for a cup of coffee. You'll get a free gift as part of the deal, too.
2. Best for beginners: Fender Play ★★★★★
We found Fender Play to be one of the highest-quality and most rewarding platforms for total beginners looking to learn the guitar online, with guided paths and lesson plans ensuring you’ll become proficient in what you want to learn. We found enough content to satiate more higher level players too, so you should see a smooth transition from beginner to intermediate. We love the dedicated app for its fresh design and clear layout. Fender Play is constantly evolving with new lessons, courses and songs added regularly, too, so most players will never be stuck for something to learn.
OFFER: Fender is currently offering a huge 50% off an annual plan to all Guitar World readers, dropping the price from $149.99 to just $74.99 for the whole year – that's just over $4 per month for excellent beginner lessons. Add the code guitarworld50 at checkout to apply your discount.
3. Best content volume: TrueFire ★★★★½
TrueFire has more lessons, tabs and jam tracks than you’ll ever realistically need (like, well over 50,000), along with a selection of well-respected teachers to learn from. This volume of content can be overwhelming at first, but as you get used to navigating the site, it becomes much clearer where to go. We’d recommend beginner players - who are well catered for - start with the structured learning paths. We particularly like the slow-mo and looping features, where you can single out a tricky passage and have it repeated slowly until you nail it. We’d like to see a stronger song offering, and it’s one of the priciest platforms here, but the content speaks for itself.
OFFER: Save 30% off an All-Access subscription and all courses with the exclusive code GWTF30.
4. Best for usability: Guitareo ★★★★½
Guitareo might be one of the newest kids on the block, but it contains a massive selection of videos and other resources that teach you how to play guitar, many of which are presented in super fun and creative ways, and by super friendly presenters. If you’re a complete novice, they’ll hold your hand right from the start, covering all the basic information without ever seeming patronizing. In our tests we found it to be well laid out and the easiest platform to navigate compared to others we’ve tried. It comes in at a very pocket-friendly price, too. See how they stack up in our price comparison chart.
OFFER: Guitareo is currently offering a 30-day free trial to all Guitar World readers. This is the longest free trial available from any of our featured platforms.
5. Best for star tutors: ArtistWorks Guitar ★★★★½
ArtistWorks goes big on the personal touch. As well as recruiting some world-renowned instructors to front their excellent content – including Paul Gilbert, Jared James Nichols, Keb' Mo' and Andy McKee – it enables you to submit your own videos for assessment with a real tutor. Your allocated instructor will review your playing and point out places you can improve with responses detailed and bespoke. It’s like having a one-to-one lesson, but without leaving the house. Of course, this level of access costs, but nothing beats getting guidance from the best of the best.
6. Best for gamers: Simply Guitar ★★★★½
Simply Guitar proves that learning guitar doesn't have to be complicated, and practice time need not be dull. Presented as a friendly iOS/Android app with a fun gamified approach, Simply Guitar holds your hand all the way, from first asking you whether you even own a guitar, right up to teaching you how to master the fretboard. We found this to be a particularly great option for younger learners, as the game-style approach incentivizes them to keep coming back. While we don’t think this will engage them beyond those early stages, it’s a great first stepping stone for kids who have shown interest in playing the guitar.
OFFER: Sign up for a year and save $30/20%, dropping the annual cost from $150 to just $120. At $10 per month after the discount, this is amazing value.
7. Best advanced lessons: JTC Guitar ★★★★½
If you’re well into your playing journey you’re probably seeking out online lessons with a little more meat on their bones than the often beginner to intermediate-focused platforms. JTC Guitar is the ideal option for you, then. It has a lean towards heavier styles, but if that’s your bag, the caliber of tutors on the books is impressive – Jeff Loomis, Gus G and Guthrie Govan all feature on the tutor roster. The feature we love most is how much customization there is within the video interface, including the option to remove guitars from backing tracks.
Ready to test your mettle? Sign up for a 14-day free trial.
8. Best free lessons: Justin Guitar ★★★★½
If you really don’t have budget for lessons, but find the breadth of content available on YouTube too much to fathom, Justin Guitar is an excellent free resource for structured lessons from a well-respected tutor and one of the OGs of the online lessons world. Sure there’s great beginner content, but for more advanced players we love the tutorials and downloadable practice resources. You can pay for some additional, more in-depth content, but there’s plenty on the main (free) part of the site to keep you occupied for some time.
Sign up to Justin Guitar for free here.
Best overall
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Everyone! There’s so much content available on Guitar Tricks – and it’s always growing – that you should have no problem finding something to learn every time you sit down with your guitar, regardless of your level. It’s affordable, too.
✅ Buy if you're an intermediate player: Got the basics down? Guitar Tricks has loads of great beginner content, but for us it's the logical choice to introduce you to more advanced theory and techniques.
❌ Don't buy if you want to learn pop songs: While the song library is substantial, pop is a pretty overlooked genre with artists like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber absent.
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★☆
Overall ★★★★★
As we all know, learning guitar is an ongoing process – you’re never truly done. This is something Guitar Tricks has obviously had in mind as they’ve developed their content over the last 25ish years, and it continues to improve and grow.
With over 11,000 lessons and more than 900 song tutorials, Guitar Tricks has a lot more to offer beginner through to pro players – with a heavier lean towards beginners and intermediates – than many of its counterparts, probably because they simply have more content than most of them.
They certainly nail the beginner material. They offer an extensive core plan that takes you from learning how to hold a guitar to playing barre chords, all presented clearly and without rushing key concepts. They’ve recently re-filmed their Core Learning System and Guitar Fundamentals Courses and re-calibrated their entire beginner offering, so if you’ve never picked up a guitar before, you’ll get up to speed via excellent 4k videos.
We found the song lessons and genre studies in particular to be impressive, offering not only bite-sized, easy-to-follow tutorials, but also full songs note-for-note from start to finish. You also get accurate advice on getting the tone right; including which pickups to select, amp settings, and what pedals you could use. They cover 12 genres all in, even dipping into some niche territory with the likes of surf and rockabilly.
Our only reservation is that the biggest chunk of lessons falls into rock, metal and blues, with much less focus on contemporary artists in genres like pop. Even with one of the biggest song libraries out there, they don't touch many of the biggest acts, such as Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish. They may be missing a trick here – especially with younger people who may have recently been inspired to pick up the instrument – but overall, you can’t blame them for wanting to focus on more prominent guitar genres.
One of the big things we love about Guitar Tricks is the fact they don’t try and move you through the gears too quickly. Lessons are sequential, with each lesson following the previous one in a sensible and progressive way, designed to build on what you’ve already learned. Some other platforms we’ve tested don’t follow this approach, meaning we can be watching a lesson that includes a technique we’d not been shown yet. This can be jarring, particularly for new players.
Guitar Tricks’ additional features mean it really is a one-stop-shop for your guitar learning experience and is the truest alternative to face-to-face lessons we’ve tried. On-site and within the app you’ll also find a chord chart, metronome and tuner. Custom Lesson Plans and 1-on-1 lessons are also available to Guitar Tricks users for an additional cost, helping tailor your tuition to an even deeper level. And if you’re guilty of forgetting to practice, you can set up email or text message reminders. If you’re ready to get serious about your playing, Guitar Tricks is the one to beat.
Finally, for the budget-conscious, Guitar Tricks' offers a 60-day money back guarantee. So, if you find you don't gel with GT in your first couple months and you alert their support team within 60 days, you will receive a full refund.
Not sure whether to choose between Guitar Tricks or Fender Play? Read our Fender Play vs Guitar Tricks comparison feature.
Read our full Guitar Tricks review
> Get one month of Guitar Tricks for just $1, plus a free gift
Best for beginners
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Beginner players who want affordable lessons from a trusted name in guitar, all presented in a fresh, contemporary way that’s easy to use.
✅ Buy if you're a total beginner: Fender Play offers a growing selection of high quality entry-level content and song lessons to get you on your way.
❌ Don't buy if you're intermediate or above: Once you move beyond the beginner zone, Fender Play is fairly light on more advanced content.
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★☆
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★★
As one of the first names people come up with when they think of guitars, Fender needed to get it right when it came to developing an online guitar lesson platform. And during our tests we found that Fender Play is one of the highest-quality and most rewarding options available for learning the guitar online right now. Videos are excellently presented with fantastic production value, including multiple camera angles.
Primarily it’s most suited to total beginners, with guided paths and lesson plans holding your hand and ensuring you’ll become proficient in what you want to learn.
There’s plenty for the more experienced players to sink their teeth into, too – and that content area is ever-growing – but if you fit into the early-intermediate to advanced category we would suggest looking elsewhere for a truly comprehensive and exhaustive mix of content. Our #1 pick overall is Guitar Tricks.
A lot of Fender Play’s lessons are bitesize – 3-5 minutes each – which some would say is not long enough. But we found this approach was enough to on-board the guidance we needed on each topic. Considering the target demographic, attention span is going to be limited – and possibly overwhelmed by too much information, jargon or chatter – so delivering the information, clearly, concisely and quickly is a winning strategy. Lessons can also be viewed in Practice mode which slows them to 75 or 50% of the original speed to help you master the part. We found this to be extra helpful on trickier parts or more technical riffs.
Fender recently added Feedback mode, which adds more of an interactive element to your learning, providing feedback and scores on your performance, using your device’s internal mic. It reminded us of the more gamified approach of platforms like our #6 pick Simply Guitar. It’s still in beta, but works pretty well.
Song lessons are another of Fender Play’s strong suits, with an expanding collection of contemporary tracks to learn, with a range of difficulties, from the usual rock and metal icons, to modern guitar inspirations such as Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. Lessons are “simplified and shortened” versions of songs, ranging from basic chord progressions to full riffs. If you’re there to learn a full song from start to finish, then you may need to look elsewhere, but for getting started with playing famous riffs, it’s excellent.
It clearly benefits Fender to start building brand loyalty right from the start of a new player’s journey, but with Fender Play there’s nothing cynical or half-hearted about their lessons. It’s simply the best online guitar learning tool for beginners right now – and that's saying something in the face of some very stiff competition.
Read our full Fender Play review
> Get 50% off an annual Fender Play subscription with code 'guitarworld50'
Best for content volume
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Players with time on their hands. There is so much content available through TrueFire that you will never be short of lessons to learn and content to absorb – as long as you have the time to find what you’re looking for.
✅ Buy if you want content and lots of it: As long as you know what you're looking for, TrueFire has the biggest collection of lessons online right now. 80,000 and counting...
❌ Don't buy if you want a cheap option: Although not extortionate, TrueFire is costlier than our other recommendations; in some cases it's double the price. We'd suggest taking the 30 day trial before you commit to this one.
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★☆
Overall ★★★★★
While many of us will have spent time on YouTube lapping up as many free lessons as we can, there are plenty of guitarists out there who would happily pay for something a bit more structured – let's face it, structured content is the modus operandi of most of the online lessons platforms in this guide. And we would certainly recommend going down the structured route rather than cherry-picking lessons from different tutors online. You may miss out on learning critical skills, especially if you’re a beginner.
TrueFire is a great option, with more lessons, tabs and jam tracks than you’ll ever realistically need – the highest volume of content out of all our recommendations – along with a selection of well-respected teachers and star tutors to learn from.
Beginners may be overwhelmed by the amount of content as the site isn’t laid out in the most easy-to-navigate way and finding what you need can take time. But once you locate and access the right course for you we found the content itself to be first-rate. We’d recommend starting with the Learning Paths, which are a structured route into learning. They’re very beginner-friendly, going right back to basics. If you’re more advanced, the search bar is your oyster!
We particularly like the slow-mo and looping features within the videos, where you can single out a tricky passage and have it repeated slowly until you nail it. It’s a simple trick, and not exclusive to TrueFire, but one that we use a lot and will work wonders on your playing.
TrueFire isn’t the cheapest option on this list – especially the ‘lifetime’ membership which would buy you a secondhand car – but it’s a tool that will see you far beyond those first baby steps on the instrument.
Read our full TrueFire review
> Save 30% off an All-Access TrueFire with code GWTF30
Best for usability and navigation
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Players who like to supplement their core lessons with unique, interesting content to help them think outside the box and become a more well-rounded player.
✅ Buy if you're on a budget: Guitareo is one of the most affordable platforms out there.
❌ Don't buy if you're a beginner who doesn't know where to start: With so much content on hand, there's a touch of option paralysis when you first join, so beginners should tread carefully.
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★☆
Features ★★★★☆
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★½
Newcomer Guitareo contains a massive selection of mostly bite-sized videos and other resources that teach you how to play guitar. If you’re a complete beginner, they’ll take you right from the start, covering all the basic information you need, without it ever seeming patronizing. The aim is to get you playing straight away – regardless of your age – and from our experience using the platform they’ve done a good job of making it both fun and easy to understand.
If you want to look into things like ear training and theory, then you can do – we found that there are loads of resources on Guitareo that cover these areas. The more you search through what Guitareo has to offer, the more you realize how much information is in there.
There are separate sections on the website that help you in different areas; there are courses in particular genres, key guitar method lessons, a section for learning 500 songs in 5 days, cool features like how to prepare for a recording session and more. And this is something we really love about Guitareo – they don’t just go for the tried and tested lessons, they inject plenty of thought, creativity and fun into their content, presenting budding players with exciting challenges and interesting concepts to explore.
Of course, if you just want to be taught how to start playing the guitar, then you can simply go through the step-by-step lessons.
One the most striking things for us was that it was well laid out and easy to navigate. It’s possible to feel a little overwhelmed by everything at first, but we quickly settled into how the site worked and found it to be really intuitive and simple.
Read our full Guitareo review
> Trial Guitareo for 30-days, exclusive to Guitar World readers
Best for big-name tutors
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Guitarists who like a bit of star power with their lessons and who enjoy getting feedback on their playing.
✅ Buy if you want feedback from famous faces: There's no better way to play like your heroes than to learn from them. And ArtistWorks' star tutors – like Paul Gilbert – will personally assess your playing.
❌ Don't buy if you're on a budget: While personalized feedback from pro players is super cool, you will pay more than standard for the privilege. It's up to you if you think the extra outlay is worth it.
Layout/design ★★★★☆
Usability ★★★★☆
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★½
One thing you can miss out on with online learning is the feedback you’d get from a real-life instructor. It’s all very well plugging away on your own, but it’s handy to have an experienced player point out something seemingly insignificant in your technique – a stray finger here or a different pick angle there – that will stop bad habits forming further down the line.
ArtistWorks goes big on this personal touch. Not only do they harness the expertise of renowned instructors – including Paul Gilbert, Andy McKee and Jared James Nichols – users can also submit their own videos for assessment. Your allocated instructor will review your playing and respond with a full and detailed video, pointing out places you can improve. This level of feedback is invaluable and in the past has only been available through face-to-face lessons.
To top it off, there’s also a community of students and teachers that you can reach out to with your questions.
Star tutors are not exclusive to ArtistWorks, but it is at the core of what they do, and there is still something we find very exciting about getting insight from the players we idolize.
The courses themselves are comprehensive, extensive and go deep on key topics. They’ve clearly left no stone unturned and certainly require commitment to see them through. So, if you’re typically more of a bite-sized lessons consumer, this may not be the platform for you. We would have preferred more camera angles in the videos we watched, but other features such as being able to slow sections down are welcome.
Read our full ArtistWorks review
Best game-style learning
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Younger guitarists and beginners who spend most of their days with a video game controller in their hands. This app-based tool delivers game-style functionality to make learning more engaging, fun and challenging.
✅ Buy if you're a gamer who wants to learn the guitar: The animated fretboard is really engaging, adds a competitive element and makes learning fun.
❌ Don't buy if you're not a beginner: If you're intermediate or above you won't find much to help you here. This is very much a beginner-focussed platform.
Layout/design ★★★★☆
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★½
Simply Guitar proves that learning guitar doesn't have to be complicated, and practice time need not be dull. It's a friendly iOS/Android guitar app that holds your hand all the way, from first asking you whether you even own a guitar, right up to teaching you how to master the fretboard.
At its core is a fun gamified approach that relies on an animated fretboard. Provided you play the correct notes as the scrolling fretboard delivers them you'll unlock more, exciting content including Simply Guitar's impressive library of contemporary songs (over 1,000 songs and counting, which is very competitive in this space).
Instant feedback lets you know when you mess up, and the app will return you to tricky passages that need more work. It's clever stuff and we had a lot of fun putting it through its paces. One of the drawbacks of online learning is the lack of feedback you’d usually receive from in-person lessons, so we found this approach really gratifying and inspired us to keep working through the lessons.
Each level is introduced by an often-quirky explanatory video that's delivered with good humor, bad jokes and a great deal of professionalism. The rest of the content is predominantly animated but we found it engaging to the point of being addictive.
If you're a beginner who treasures simple pleasures, you're going to love this app (particularly with the 7-day free trial up front). If you're an advanced player we’d suggest you look elsewhere – to either our #1 pick Guitar Tricks, or our pro choice #8 JTC Guitar – for more depth.
If you’re looking to learn songs, there’s plenty to delve into with Simply Guitar. And it’s not just the tired old rock and blues artists, either. SG knows its demographic and there’s plenty for fans of pop and other contemporary genres too, with artists including Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish all represented. It’s great to see the diversity of artists that are now deemed a gateway to new players and we had fun learning some more modern tracks.
It’s an app-only platform, so you’ll need to make sure you have a compatible device.
Read our full Simply Guitar review
> Save 20% off an annual Simply Guitar subscription
Best advanced lessons
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Guitarists who are deep into their playing journey and are looking for more challenging online content to sink their teeth into. If you’re a fan of metal then even better!
✅ Buy if you want more pro content: JamTrackCentral offers a high volume of lessons packages created by pro players, aimed at intermediate to higher-level guitarists.
❌ Don't buy if you'd prefer to use an app: There's no JTC app at present, so if you're anti-browser then you'll want to avoid.
Layout/design ★★★★☆
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★☆
Overall ★★★★½
Not everyone who looks for an online guitar lessons provider is at the very start of their journey. It’s quite common for intermediate and advanced players to hit a glass ceiling with their playing and look for ways to help them break through. JTC Guitar (which used to be known as Jam Track Central) is almost entirely geared towards coaching this demographic of players up to the next level.
You will find beginner content here, but there’s less hand-holding for new players and it’s easy to be blinded by content you’re not ready for yet.
We found there was a heavy weighting towards rock, metal, fusion and more progressive styles, which is ideal if this is your bag, bit we found the acoustic, country and blues content to be on the light side.
There are some great teachers included, like Guthrie Govan and Jeff Loomis, along with a terrific selection of materials you can download so that you’re not staring at your screen the whole time.
One of our favorite elements is video interface itself, where you can choose to display tab, a piano roll or visual fingerboard, depending on how you prefer to learn. What's more, you can remove the guitar from the backing track leaving you to play over it yourself, unhindered.
Read our full JTC Guitar review
Best free lessons
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
🫵 Players with zero budget who want to learn from an expert, trustworthy source who has structured content appropriately.
✅ Buy if you want free content that's actually good: A large proportion of JustinGuitar content is free, but we can 100% vouch for the quality.
❌ Don't buy if you want a range of tutors: Justin Sandercoe has a mellow presenting style and is tutor you will see the most on the site. You'll need to look elsewhere for livelier presentation.
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★☆
Songs ★★★★☆
Overall ★★★★½
If you’ve ever searched YouTube for guitar lessons, you will have doubtless come across Justin Sandercoe. The guy is a legend in guitar circles, so it’s only right we include him in this list. He is by far the best purveyor of genuinely free online guitar lessons, so if you’re short on cash but still want access to quality, well structured lessons, Justin is your man.
For total beginners, Justin offers one of the best introductory experiences going, and it’s all free. For more advanced players, there’s loads in the way of tutorials and downloadable practice resources, meaning there’s something for everyone.
The quality of teaching second to none – Justin has been around for years and is well known in tuition circles – while the presentation is first-rate and the quality of videos is impressive. You will still find the odd video that’s looking dated by now, but in recent years Justin has re-organized, and re-shot, much of his content, bringing with it more logic for younger players and a brilliant sheen. Did we mention this is all free?
There’s a healthy batch of songs to learn – approaching 700 – and the lessons are great, but there are more abundant song libraries on other platforms.
YouTube gave Justin the platform to spread his good word to the masses, but his premium lessons are well worth the extra outlay too.
Read our full JustinGuitar review
Price comparison
Want to see how our top choices compare for price and value? We've compiled this comparison chart for an easy visual. All $ prices are correct at the time of writing. Some £ prices have been converted from $ as they aren't explicitly available on the platform's site.
| Service | Free trial | Monthly | Yearly | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guitar Tricks | 14-days | $19.99/£15.99 | $179.99/£141.99 | N/A |
| Fender Play | 7-days | $19.99/£19.49 | $149.99/£144.99 | N/A |
| TrueFire | 30-days | $29/£21 | $249/£178 | $2,499/£1,800 |
| Guitareo | 30-days (with GW promo) | $15/$12 | $120/£95 | $1,200/£945 |
| ArtistWorks | Sample lessons | $35/£25 (3-month plan), $30/£21 (6-month plan) | $279/£198 | N/A |
| Simply Guitar | 7-days | $9.99/£9.99 | $119.99/£109.99 | N/A |
| JTC Guitar | 14-days | $25/£19.99 | $224/£179.99 | N/A |
| Justin Guitar | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Also tested
So those are our top picks, but we've tested (and continue to test) plenty of other great options in the process of compiling and maintaining this guide. These all offer something a little different and worth your consideration.
Yousician ★★★½
$9.99/£7 per month or $119.99/£86 per year | 7-day free trial | Feature: Audio-recognition technology, 9k lessons, 1,800 songs
Proving there’s more to online lessons than a bank of videos, Yousician aims to introduce a sort of gamification into the mix, similar to Simply Guitar. If you’ve played Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you’ll be familiar with the concept. You use your smartphone or tablet to listen along to your playing, and the device listens to you and scores you based on how accurate you were. It’s a simple concept but we found it definitely works, particularly for younger players where that instant feedback and ‘one more go’ appeal is strong.
Can't decide between Yousician or Simply Guitar? We go deeper in our Yousician vs Simply Guitar comparison piece. And see how Yousician compares with Fender Play here.
Read our full Yousician review
Pickup Music ★★★★½
$29.99 per month or $179.99 per year | 14-day free trial | Key features: Graded learning pathways, daily exercises, personalised feedback, master classes, 5 minute lessons, artist lessons, downloadable exercises
There’s no denying that online lessons have their limitations when compared to face-to-face, but Pickup Music does everything possible to limit those and bring a level of personalisation and interactivity that many online learning platforms lack. The website is easy to navigate, but upon logging in, you’re greeted by a chat bot that can helpfully point you in the right direction, should you perhaps be overwhelmed by all the different options. The lessons aimed at beginners are great. They explain things clearly and concisely and, even in the first couple of lessons, you’re playing straight away. New features include 1 to 1 video feedback, weekly live lessons, and more Learning Pathways and Masterclasses.
Read our full Pickup Music review
Gibson: Learn & Play Guitar ★★★★½
$19.99 monthly, $119.99 yearly | 7-day free trial | Key features: In-depth learning path for novice to intermediate level players. Gamified, animated fretboard. Video tutorials with world-class teachers. Augmented reality amp feature
If you’re a novice guitarist with a taste for blues, classic rock and metal then the Gibson: Learn & Play Guitar app is one of the very best online learning platforms out there. Sadly, if you’re an intermediate player, or someone who would love to learn jazz, funk, country or any other genres, then it doesn’t quite deliver. Not just yet anyway. Like Simply Guitar and Yousician, the Gibson app uses a gamified approach to incentivize learning, one that involves working your way along a learning path. A notation-rich, animated fretboard – one of the finest executions we’ve seen – is where most of the action happens, but there are plenty of detailed video lessons along the way.
Read our full Gibson: Learn & Play Guitar review
Orange Learn ★★★★
Monthly/annual costs charged according to desired grade level | Free to join with various paid for courses once you're signed up | Key features: Accredited course for learners of all levels
While all the big guitar brands now offer some form of learning aid, Orange was one of the first with its Orange Learn tool. And where others focus on providing a vast barrage of content, Orange has instead gone for credibility. Here, you work through official courses with the goal of receiving an actual, graded qualification at the end. Lessons range from total beginner through to Grade 8, and there are even tutors online to help you whenever you get stuck on something.
Read our full Orange Learn review
How to choose the best online guitar lessons for you
Whether it's the guitar, ukulele, bass, drums or flugelhorn, learning an instrument is a hugely personal (and very rewarding) experience. Some people prefer to get a gentle nod in the right direction from a friend or teacher and then go and put in the hard yards themselves, while others need more regular attention and guided lessons. Whatever your preference for learning, there will be an online guitar lessons provider to suit your needs.
You might have had a scan around at some of the best online guitar lessons platforms already. If so, you’ll probably have noticed that they are quite similar in many ways. You sign up, decide which path you want to go down, and then a thread of videos opens up to you.
However, there are a number of small variations between them – plus many additional features such as direct feedback and live lessons – that could be the difference between you sticking with the lessons and giving up after a month. Let’s take a look at the key things you should take into consideration when choosing. These are also things we assess during our tests:
- Structure: Does the structure of each lesson and course make sense from a user standpoint? Is it clear, sequential and easy to navigate? And the same applies to the site/app as a whole; can you find the content you need quickly and easily?
- Quality of lessons: Are the lessons filmed in high quality and from multiple camera angles. If they’re shot from a single angle is it clear what the tutor is doing with both their hands? And as a general note, are lessons presented well and in a friendly manner, without being patronizing or condescending? Are key theories and techniques explained and demonstrated clearly, or do they leave you scratching your head?
- Useful tools: By this we mean the sort of features you can utilize to improve your ability to learn. Some sites offer things like a native metronome or tuner – although we would argue those are things you should already have in physical form. For us, the most helpful tools an online lessons platform can provide is the ability to slow down and loop key parts of a lesson, and on-screen TAB.
- Pacing: The pacing of the lessons is very important. If they move too fast you’ll become overwhelmed and demotivated. Too slow, however, and you’ll inevitably get bored. What's more, some new players want to learn the chords and scales that will enable them to write their own music, while others will prefer learning famous riffs as a means of getting used to the basics. Make sure your chosen platform delivers the approach that suits you best.
- Price: You probably already have plenty of monthly outgoings from your bank account, so how easily can you justify another one? Does the monthly cost of your chosen guitar lessons represnt good value, and what does value mean to you? Using free trials is a great way to gauge how you might use a regular subscription.
Whichever way you want to do it, learning the guitar is not an easy task and requires plenty of effort on your part. By making the decision to learn, you’ve signed up for months of seemingly slow process and, often, sore fingertips. Just keep in mind that it’ll all be worth it in the end!
How we test online guitar lessons services
The Guitar World online guitar lessons review process is editorially independent and not influenced by any third parties. For the purposes of our reviews we are either supplied with a free subscription by the platforms themselves, or we purchase our own subscriptions.
These services are ever-evolving, so we never just review something, never to return. We aim to re-evaluate and re-test online guitar lessons services whenever there has been a major update and we update our reviews and star ratings accordingly.
We have reviewed every online lessons service featured in this guide in detail. But our testing doesn’t stop there. We get hands-on with every new service that hits the market, but not all are included if they don’t meet our criteria. We have no interest in flooding this page with so many options that it’s hard to see which is the right one for you. We have deliberately kept our list short, highlighting our top recommendations only.
We take screen shots of the platforms we use during our tests and include those in our full reviews. Reviews are linked at the end of each product entry in this guide.
We test each service on multiple devices and explore content at every ability level, approaching each lesson from the perspective of a real user. Our testing team evaluates each platform in the following categories:
- Ease of registration/setup
- Quality of content/tutors
- Range of content
- Song library
- Other useful features
This enables us to produce accurate, well-balanced and real-life reviews to help you easily figure out whether the service you’re interested in really is the best choice for you.
Our testing criteria in detail:
- Ease of registration/setup: How easy is it to sign up for the service and find the right content for your preferences, playing style etc. If there's a free trial, is it easy to find, set up and cancel?
- Quality of content/tutors: Is the presentation of the video content clear and does it sound good as well as look good? Just as important are the tutors, so we look closely at the delivery of the content. Are the lessons easy to follow and understand, do the tutors play well and do they communicate the information in a friendly, engaging manner? If the platform offers playalong songs or downloadable PDFs, are they easy to use?
- Range of content: Some platforms offer content for all abilities while others are more focused in a particular area. We look at the total offering and look for strengths and weaknesses. We will always aim to recommend a platform for the right type of player.
- Songs: How many tracks are available to learn and do the lessons cover a breadth of genres? Are the lessons thorough, or bite-size, or a mix?
- Other features: How easy is the content to navigate in general? Is it clearly presented and are the learning paths obvious? Does the site offer live-streamed content or member feedback as part of its subscriber community? Are there any other useful features on offer such as the ability to slow down or loop video? Is the content available on multiple platforms (ie. web and mobile)? Is the content available to use offline?
Read more about Guitar World’s rating system, how we choose the gear we feature, and exactly how we test products.
Why trust us
☑️ 20+ online lessons services reviewed for this guide
☑️ Over 40,000 reviews on GuitarWorld.com
☑️ 30+ years of product testing at Guitar World
The Guitar World brand has existed since July 1980, when the print magazine was launched and quickly became the ultimate resource for guitar players. GW’s online home, GuitarWorld.com, was launched in 1994 and now reaches a global audience 3.8 million guitarists ever month, reporting on the latest guitar news and helping players find the right gear via reviews and buyer’s guides.
There are currently over 40,000 reviews on GuitarWorld.com and that number is growing each month.
Our testing team includes:
- Expert reviewers with decades of hands-on experience testing and personally owning a wide range of guitar products and services.
- Industry professionals who have worked in the guitar/music industry for decades. This includes guitar tutors and writers who have held positions at guitar companies and roles at leading guitar magazines and websites.
I've been playing since I was 10 years old, enjoying many of the highs and lows that come with being a guitarist. I started out with group lessons for the first year, before moving to private one-on-one lessons for the next five years, specializing in blues playing. After getting serious about the grades, my ability to play became severely hindered after I developed trigger thumb in both hands, requiring surgery and rehab. Despite this bump in the road, guitar continues to be a big part of my life and I've been able to work on a number of different live and recording projects since. I’m currently playing in a London-based independently-signed alternative rock band that’s just about to release its debut album. Outside of playing, since 2020 I’ve also been fortunate enough to thoroughly research, test, and review dozens of products for esteemed publications including Guitar World, from recording software and accessories, to the online lessons platforms featured in this guide.
FAQs
What are online guitar lessons?
Exactly as the name suggests, online guitar lessons are lessons that you access via the internet, either through a browser or a dedicated app. These usually come in the form of video lessons. For the purposes of this guide we are mostly looking at online guitar lessons that require a subscription to access the full suite of lessons and features.
These platforms usually deliver a structured curriculum of lessons that ensure you learn the right things in the right order and at the right pace.
Not all online lessons are created equal, however. A lot of content that's available for free online is subpar, lacks the structure of proper lessons and in some cases is just plain inaccurate – YouTube is a perfect example of this.
Do I need an internet connection for online lessons?
This is sort of a trick question as, of course, to access your online lessons you will need an internet connection, whether that's via home internet or your mobile data plan. That said, some platforms have the option to download content temporarily to your device so it can be viewed offline – great if you're travelling somewhere you won't have online access for a period of time.
How much do online guitar lessons cost?
Costs can vary wildly, depending on the subscription level and platform you sign up for. Monthly prices start from around $/£9.99, with annual subscriptions also commonly available – these will usually save you a little cash over a monthly sub in the long run. Some brands even offer the option to sign up 'for life' which is a one-off payment that gives you access for as long as the platform exists. It works out cheaper in the long-run, but you need to be committed for a number of years to truly see the payoff.
A monthly or annual subscription can feel like quite a commitment when it's a service you've not used before. This is why many online lessons providers also offer a free trial before you make a decision to go long-haul, giving you time to explore the content and the user interface to ensure it’s the right fit for your specific learning needs. Free trials can range from 7 days up to 30, depending on the current promotion – sometimes you'll see extended free trial periods around Black Friday and in the lead-up to Christmas, or during the back to school season – and some don't require any credit card details so you can sign up knowing you're not going to be charged if you forget to cancel. Other sites are free to join, but you pay to open up more content.
Don't forget, most online lessons subscriptions can be cancelled at any time too, so if you feel you've absorbed enough content to be working on for the time being, you can always take a month or two off and save a few bucks in the process, before picking it back up at a later date.
Compare these prices to the average cost of a face-to-face lesson – around $40-$60 per 1 hour lesson – and the cost of a monthly online lesson plan quickly pulls into focus.
Is it worth paying for online guitar lessons?
100%. Yes, there are plenty of free resources available online but, particularly if you’re a beginner, how do you know where to start, how do you know the tutor has the credentials to deliver the lessons in an accurate and considered way, and how do you ensure you don’t miss any critical steps in your guitar playing development? This is something that only a real teacher or a carefully constructed online lesson plan can deliver.
And what about direct feedback on your development, or a community of like-minded learners? Most online lessons deliver these sorts of community features.
As we've already said, with free trials available from most providers, you can try before you buy. This ensures that, once you do start paying, you can be confident you’re getting exactly what you need.
Are online lessons better than face-to-face?
There are pros and cons to both face-to-face and online lessons. There’s no match for the instant feedback you get with an actual tutor, but physical lessons can be cost and time-prohibitive. What’s more, some online providers also include feedback from a dedicated tutor within the cost, meaning you get the convenience of learning remotely, with the feedback you’d get from face-to-face lessons.
If the content in your online lessons is delivered in a clear and professional manner then it absolutely is possible to learn via remote lessons. The key is then to build on those skills by playing with other musicians, playing live and recording. In our opinion, these are the best ways to develop your talent and forge your own voice on the guitar. You could always choose the hybrid approach which is to support your online learning with semi-regular face-to-face lessons.
We go into more depth on the pros and cons of online vs face-to-face guitar lessons here.
Latest updates
Recent updates
08/06/24: We've completed a large update to this guide. Key changes include: after re-reviewing Guitar Tricks, we have promoted it to the 'best overall' position in this guide; added new star ratings boxes for each product, giving individual ratings for each of the areas we test, as well as an overall score; added a price comparison table to make it easier to weigh up the value of each service; added a 'who is this for' boxout to each product to make it clear the type of player each service is for; updated our FAQs, how to buy and how we test sections.
04/19/24: We updated the JTC Guitar entry to reflect the new name and also to add more depth to the entry. This coincided with us publishing our full JTC Guitar review.
02/16/24: We've added clearer labels to each of our top product picks to make it obvious which online service is aimed at which type of player.
01/25/24: This guide has been given a refresh for 2024 to make it easier to navigate and easier to find the right guitar lessons service for you. If you're in a hurry, we've added quick reference 'buy if/avoid if' boxes to each product entry so you can instantly see if a service is right for you.
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