Best Online Guitar Lessons
Complete Review Guide to the Top Step-by-step Online Guitar Courses
Don't you have time for face-to-face lessons? Online video lessons might work great.
Do you recognize yourself in one of the following situations?
- John has a job, family, and kids and has no time for a fixed guitar lesson schedule.
- Billie can't find a jazz instructor in the area where he lives.
- Steve has just retired, and does not feel comfortable in taking lessons from a Guitar Center kid.
- Zoe is sicked of her superstar 1000-notes-per-second private instructor that taught her nothing.
If you're like these people, online guitar lessons can help you a lot: it's a flexible and cheaper alternative to in person lesson; no wasted time, you can learn when and where you want.
This guide will show you the best online guitar lessons that you can find on the Web, ( free trials included ); they will help you advance your guitar skills, in the comfort of your home.
Author: Gianca, founder of FaChords Guitar since 2013, guitar teacher, software engineer.
Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review.
Table Of Contents (hide/show)
The best websites for learning guitar | 2020 updated
Here are the top online guitar courses available today.
And the best part is that the top 2 choices, by far the best complete courses for most people, at the moment both have a free trial .
I recommend you take advantage of while they're still available. Just click on the green buttons!
Website | Free Trial | Beginner Lessons | Intermediate Lessons | Advanced Lessons | Song list | Music Styles | Best Feature | Detailed Review |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Guitar Tricks
| 14 Day Free Trial | 10/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | Excellent | Rock, Blues, Country | Awesome song lessons library | Review |
Jamplay
| 30 Day Free Trial | 9/10 | 8/10 | 8/10 | Good | Many | Live lessons and community | Review |
TrueFire
| - | 8/10 | 9/10 | 10/10 | Many | Many | Intermediate and advanced lessons | Review |
ArtistWorks
| - | 7/10 | 7/10 | 6/10 | No song lessons | A few | Video Exchange System | Review |
Fender Play
| - | 8/10 | 5/10 | 4/10 | Nice | Not many | Easy to use | Review |
Yousician
| - | 7/10 | 4/10 | 4/10 | Not many | Not many | Gamification | Review |
Top Websites
#1 Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks
has great beginner courses, and more advanced content for intermediate
and advanced players. It is clear
if
you
have never played guitar
you can get started right away on this website.
They begin with the foundation explanations of tuning and holding positions and build into various styles of playing and picking.
They work on country and blues first as these are often the easiest for a beginning student. Their lesson library is huge (11,000 lessons)
Learn more in our Guitar Tricks Review
The Pros
- You will not find an easier course than Guitar Tricks
- Thousands of step-by-step lessons structured in a logical way
- Massive library of lessons on popular songs (with accurate tabs and multi-angle videos)
The Cons
- Not the best for advanced students
- Some oldest lessons have less video quality.
#2 Jamplay
With Jamplay you will learn
many different genres and techniques
. Rock, Jazz,
Heavy
Metal, Flamenco and
much more.
Among their teachers, you'll find big names such as Ron Thal BumbleFoot, Steve Stevens, Don Ross .
I'm a member of this website for a long time, and I have to say that I've learned so much. I've particularly found useful the lesson series Chord Alchemy, taught by John March , a former Ted Greene student.
It is the best choice for those who want to learn new things and expand their horizon.
Read the Jamplay Review here.
The Pros
- You learn a great variety of genres, styles, and techniques
- You learn with famous artists (Steve Stevens, Phil Keaggy, Andy Wood, Bumblefoot and many more)
- Live lessons, chat and personalized feedback from instructors
The Cons
- Not many lessons for bass
- Song lessons list not comprehensive as Guitar Tricks
#3 TrueFire
TrueFire has a vast catalog composed of 40.000 video tutorials, spanning every genre and style.
Probably it's not the best choice for a beginner , because it does not have a clear step-by-step learning path, unlike GuitarTricks and Jamplay .
Such an impressive amount of guitar knowledge could be overwhelming for those who are at the beginning.
For intermediate/advanced students, TrueFire could be an endless source of knowledge. I personally enjoyed gems like the Steve Vai Alien Guitar Secrets course .
To learn more, read our TrueFire Review .
The Pros
- Great variety of lessons
- Superstar instructors
- Awesome intermediate/advanced topics
The Cons
- Too much options for a complete beginner
#4 Artistworks
ArtistWorks is an online music school that covers several instruments.
For the guitar courses, it hires amazing instructors such as Paul Gilbert and Bryan Sutton .
The unique feature of ArtistWorks is their Video Exchange System: you can submit your recorded videos directly to your instructor and get personalized feedback from him.
Learn more in our ArtistWorks Review
The Pros
- Artistworks teachers are first-class pro musicians
- The Video Exchange system is a great idea
The Cons
- No song lessons
- The interface is a bit old-style
#5 Fender Play
Fender Play has been
launched in 2018
by the famous guitar manufacturer.
Its lessons catalog is smaller than the other websites listed on this page, but beginner guitar players could appreciate the intuitiveness of the interface and the simplicity to use .
Fender Play also provides online lessons for bass and ukulele in the same membership.
Learn more at the following link: Fender Play Review
The Pros
- Very easy to use
- Ukulele and bass lessons included
- Nice selection of song lessons
The Cons
- No advanced lessons
- Lack of interaction: no forum/no chat
- Not so much content
#6 Yousician
Yousician is an
interactive app
(for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows) that will help you
learn guitar,
bass, piano, ukulele, or singing.
The app also picks up the sound you are playing and you feedback on how you are doing.
Yousician teaches you guitar with a game-based learning process.
Learn more at the following link: Yousician Review
The Pros
- Many instruments to learn
- Gamification makes learning fun
The Cons
- Learning process too simplified
- Game-based learning is not for everybody
#7 Justin Guitar
Justin Guitar
is a one-man band business,
created by
Justin Sandercoe
, and of course is not fair to compare it to the
professional
tuition
websites listed above, that have big staff and funds.
However, it's worth a mention, because it provides you with a good series of free online guitar lessons.
Even if you are not required to pay anything if you watch his free guitar lessons, the website works on an " honor-based system ", so, if you use Justin Guitar, you should buy his books in exchange.
#8 Pickup Music
Sam Blakelock started the Instagram page @pickupjazz in 2015 to allow jazz musicians from around the world to connect and share live performances. Subsequently, he expanded the page to
include all genres and instruments, leading to live shows, meet-ups, and challenges.
By 2018, Pickup Music had become one of the largest musician communities on social media, with over 1 million members.
That same year, Pickup Music launched its membership program, which gives members access to modern guitar sounds, such as neo soul, RnB and jazz, and helps over 20,000 students worldwide to improve at guitar. you should buy his books in exchange.
Can I learn guitar with online lessons?
Definitely yes! Online guitar training has some interesting advantages :
- You can choose teachers precisely focused on genres and styles you like
- You can learn the songs you want to, not the ones your teacher wants you to play
- You can learn guitar in the comfort of your home , at your own pace
- You can watch and rewatch to the lessons as much as you need
Online guitar training is not for:
However, learning guitar online is not for everyone. Even the best guitar learning website won't be useful if you:
- Lack self-discipline and if you're bad at getting it done by yourself
- You are looking for a push button way of mastering a skill
With online guitar lessons, there are some rules you should follow. In-person guitar instructors usually set your learning pace and give feedback on your improvements.
With online-based lessons, is up to you finding the focus and motivation, even if online guitar enthusiast communities are a huge help.
Here are 4 tips for getting the most out of your online lessons:
-
Practice in small, high-focused
sessions
We live in the Era of Distraction and information overload (how many time have you checked your phone while reading this guide?).
Here's a tip for making your practice sessions effective: set a timer for 25 minutes , turn off all the notifications, and focus only on the lesson.
Your brain (and your fingers) works at its best if you focus on one single thing .
When the timer stops, you can relax and even surf a bit the Web.
You'll be surprised how this simple technique is useful for improving your guitar skills. -
Be consistent with your
practice
When you are playing the guitar, you use your short term memory and long term memory.
The best way to train memory is through repetitions. Neuroscience researchers taught us that the so-called spaced repetitions are the key for a great long term memory.
Try to follow a regular practice schedule , and your memorization skills will surprise you! -
Practice slow and
perfect
Once I attended a masterclass with Steve Vai .
It profoundly changed the way I see guitar practice.
Awareness : the most important thing. You should always be aware of every note you play.
Go slow, play each single note perfectly, enjoy it, feel it, and, if you make a mistake, try to understand what happened there.
If you keep your brain focused on a perfect practice, you'll achieve better results in a shorter time. -
Record yourself while playing and
re-listen to it
I learned this trick from Guthrie Govan , and I have to say that is incredibly valuable.
When you are practicing, your brain is busy getting the exercise right, so you risk not to be aware of some mistakes or imperfections.
By re-listening to your performance , you'll benefit from an impartial and objective evaluation, precisely like your in-person guitar teacher would do!
Learning guitar is a never-ending adventure , but the most important thing is that is fun and rewarding!
Can I learn guitar on Youtube?
One could be tempted to skip paid guitar lessons websites because " I can find any lesson for free on Youtube ".
Yes and no.
It's true that there are millions on free lessons out there, but the problem is to find the right one .
Search engines try to give you the best match for a given question but often fail .
How many of us have spent hours trying to find a tutorial for learning a song, with the only result of getting a long, pointless video with a wrong guitar tab ?
Another big problem is the lack of structure.
Your only worry should be to enjoy the lessons and practice the homework that your online teacher assigns, not wasting time jumping from a video to another ( waiting for the overlay advertisements end ).
The advantage of professional guitar learning system is the access to a structured, step-by-step learning program prepared by professional teachers. A clear path that if you follow will significantly increase your possibility of success on guitar .
Lastly, professional websites have the economic resources to create HD videos, with multi-camera angles , licensed official tabs and interactive tools for the best learning experience.
The Bottom Line: What are the best remote lessons for me?
We have just seen the
top guitar lesson sites
on the Web.
So many things to learn, so little time!
Wondering what's the right website for you?
Always keep in mind that most of the websites above offer a free trial , so that you can try them them all for free.
Having that said, before buying a membership, you should consider your current experience level .
Here are some final thoughts to help you decide the best lessons website for you:
You starting from scratch or you are a beginner
If you are starting from scratch or you are a beginner, Guitar Tricks is a great choice .
You are a beginner/intermediate player
If you are already a beginner/intermediate guitar player and you want to study improvisation, chords harmony, soloing, explore various musical styles and other advanced techniques, Jamplay is the course for you .
P.S. If you have hard-time deciding between Guitar Tricks and Jamplay, you'll find useful this Jamplay Vs. Guitar Tricks comparison
You are a intermediate/advanced musician
If you are at intermediate/advanced level, and want to expand further your musicianship, TrueFire has a lot to offer, for electric and acoustic guitar both.
How And Why I Made This Guide
I've decided to create this guide because many of you often ask the same questions :
- "What is the best way to learn guitar online?"
- "Where to find the best online guitar lessons?"
- "What's the best guitar learning website?"
So I've wrote these pages to help you pick the complete guitar course right FOR YOU .
The quantity of videos and tutorials out there is huge: on Youtube, Reddit and other places there exist thousands of guitar lessons useful to teach yourself guitar for free, some good, some less.
With such a load of information, it's easy to feel overwhelmed or confused, but overall the significant risk is to not being able to discriminate a helpful lesson from a bad one.
And this is a big waste of time or, worse, could teach you wrong habits that will cause injuries . With the resources listed on this page, you can safely teach yourself guitar in a fun and effective way.
References used
I've put a
lot of hours researching and testing
a significant number of
different
guitar
lessons websites and
learning systems.
I've also collected feedback from guitar students of all levels , and also from independent review companies such as Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot .
I'm 100% are sure that on this list you find only the highest quality guitar tuition platforms.