The Best Online Guitar Lessons
The Programs You Wished You Joined Yesterday
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The days of heading to guitar lessons every Tuesday and Thursday night are over.
No one travels to see their guitar coach.
No one pays per lesson.
"The times they are a changing".
Those statements might be a bit extreme, however more and more people are learning guitar these days with apps and online lessons. And the truth is, they are amazing.
Bang for your buck, you will never get the same amount of training from a real coach as you do with these programs.
Learn any style of guitar. Learn any song.
No matter what your skill level is, you will improve, guaranteed.
Hey I'm Tyler the author of this website.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you find these website reviews useful. I've tested them all, and I still use my top recommendations.
Wishing you success in improving your guitar skills. All the best!
The 6 Best Websites for Online Guitar Lessons
Here is my list of the best online guitar lesson websites available in 2023.
In my opinion, the top 2 choices in this list are by far the best options for most people.
Here's the deal:
What's great is that they both have excellent free trials which I recommend you take advantage of while they're still available.
Just click "Yes" in the free trial columns for picks 1 and 2.
Rank | Website | Logo | Skill Level | Price Per Month | Best Features | Free Trial | Detailed Review |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Guitar Tricks | Beginner to Advanced | $19.95 | Best step by step beginner program and largest selection of song lessons. | Yes | Review | |
2. | JamPlay | Beginner to Advanced | $19.95 | Awesome guitar community and live lessons which are ideal for intermediate players. | Yes | Review | |
3. | Artist Works | Beginner to Advanced | $35.00 | Access to 1 on 1 instruction through their Video Exchange feature is what makes them unique. | Sample Lessons | Review | |
4. | TrueFire | Non Beginners | $19.95 | Has the most guitar learning content on the Internet. Courses are best for non beginners. | Yes | Review | |
5. | Justin Guitar | Beginner to Intermediate | Free with limitations | A lot of free content, but expenses on promoted products can add up quickly. | N/A | Review | |
6. | Jamorama | Beginner to Intermediate | $9.95 | It's one of the cheapest guitar membership websites available. | Yes | Review |
All prices are cheaper with yearly subscriptions. Find all the reviews and comparisons here.
1. Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks is my top recommendation.
I personally use this membership because I find their step by step lessons to be the most useful. I recently upgraded to a year membership.
I've tried every website listed here, along with a few others, as well as DVD courses and guitar learning apps. Bottom line, Guitar Tricks is a better product, especially for beginners.
What's great is that you don't need to take my word for it, simply get started with your own free trial.
In my opinion, Guitar Tricks is one of the best programs for learning. Period.
There are some other resources out there, however if you really want to learn this instrument properly, I would recommend sticking with Guitar Tricks.
You may have seen all these new guitar apps that are available. Some of them are very convenient, and you can certainly get some good results, however they're more of a game than a real learning tool.
For me, I found myself memorizing how to play a game, or use an app, as opposed to really learning the guitar. Apps and games are fun, but they don't have that real in-person lesson feel that you get with this program.
With Guitar Tricks, you literally have hundreds of instruction videos at your fingertips which go into detail and show you exactly how to play all your favourite songs and types of music. This is way better than mastering an app or video game in my opinion.
Get started with a 14 day Free Trial of Guitar Tricks - Click Here
2. JamPlay
JamPlay is another top recommendation.
Anyone who’s looking for a super high quality guitar membership website should consider JamPlay. You can learn as a beginner, and progress through their Phases to much more advanced lessons.
I would say it’s just as good as Guitar Tricks, and offers a few differences. If you're interested in the whole "community" side of learning the guitar, and want to take some live lessons, then JamPlay must be considered.
JamPlay is another one of the best learning websites out there.
Choosing between this and Guitar Tricks usually comes down to personal preference, and this is why I recommend you test both of them out through the free trial links.
JamPlay is set up a bit different in the way they supply their beginner lessons. It's based on instructors creating their own courses, rather than a step by step Core Learning System which Guitar Tricks has.
JamPlay does offer the most amount of style and genre lessons, and for this reason it is sometimes recommended more for intermediate players.
Their community and live lessons are extremely beneficial for those who really want to take their skills to the next level.
3. ArtistWorks
ArtistWorks is a bit different for a few reasons.
They offer their lessons in a different format. Instead of joining a website and paying a membership fee for full access, you instead purchase a membership to a specific instructor or "school".
If you want to learn rock guitar, then you sign up with Paul Gilbert's program. If you want Blues guitar lessons, you sign up with Keith Wyatt's program, and so on. You purchase 3, 6, or 12 month plans to a specific instructor's course. So it's much more specialized.
All the courses are very high quality, and the instructors are excellent. There are sample lessons you can try to see if you like how the instructor presents the material.
The other thing that's different about ArtistWorks is that they have what's called a Video Exchange feature.
This feature allows you to record and submit a video of yourself playing the guitar, and have the instructor give you personal feedback. So it's almost as if you're getting real in person lessons.
There is also a large archive of other students who have submitted their videos, so you can watch and learn from their submissions and feedback as well.
Each "school" is made up of hundreds of high quality lessons you will have full access to as long as your membership is up and running.
If you like the sound of this Video Exchange feature, and you're willing to pay a bit more for it, then it's worth checking out some of the guitar schools offered here.
You can view all the different guitar schools and specific instructors by clicking here.
4. TrueFire
TrueFire is the biggest resource for guitar lessons.
It has something like 25,000 video lessons and it continues to grow.
But is it right for you?
I've ranked TrueFire #4 because for most people, the above choices are clearly better. If you're a beginner, or you want to learn guitar songs specifically, stick with my #1 pick above.
So who is TrueFire best for? In my opinion, TrueFire is best for advanced players.
Yes they have beginner lessons, but they don't compare to Guitar Tricks' step by step course. TrueFire's courses are more suitable for advanced players.
They have tons and tons of courses on so many guitar topics, but unless you have a good handle on the guitar, you'll get frustrated and get a sense of information overload.
If you're advanced and want to grow and expand your skills, then you'll be really impressed. But if you're just starting out, then stick with Guitar Tricks or JamPlay.
5. Justin Guitar
Justin Guitar is a "free guitar lesson" website.
It doesn't have a paid membership feature, so it might seem like the best place for most people to learn guitar, because who doesn't like free stuff, right?
But consider these two points. Firstly, the quality of the lessons and videos just don't compare to the membership websites listed above. You truly get what you pay for.
The lessons for Guitar Tricks, JamPlay, and TrueFire are produced in a music studio, with HD cameras, by many great guitar instructors. The lessons are constantly updated, and the courses range from specific songs to fingerstyle techniques. Free lesson at Justin Guitar just can't compete.
The other consideration is that if you're not careful, you could actually end up spending more at Justin Guitar than the price of a full year membership from the websites listed above. How you ask? Well, all the free lessons at Justin Guitar lead you towards buying a guide book or DVD course. So it's free, but with strings attached. That's how most things work on the Internet.
If you don't want to spend a cent, and you're not concerned with quality, then yes you'll find some useful material on Justin Guitar. It's a great resource. But if you're willing to pay, the other options are more useful in my opinion.
See how Justin Guitar compares to JamPlay and Guitar Tricks here.
6. Jamorama
I was torn whether to include Jamorama on this list.
It's not that Jamorama is bad, it's just up against some tough competition. With Guitar Tricks and JamPlay, your guitar lessons will be updated constantly. That's what a membership is supposed to do. With Jamorama, you're just not going to get the same quality.
But perhaps that's why you won't pay as much. Jamorama has the lowest priced membership out of all these recommendations ($4.95 - 9.95 per month).
What's great about all these websites is that you can actually test them all out for free. I obviously don't recommend you try Jamorama first, however they do offer a free trial. If you're not impressed with my suggestions above, then you can certainly give it a test.
If you're interested, you can access a free trial from Jamorama here.
Recommended Programs
- Step By Step Beginner Course
- 2 Million Members
- Largest Selection of Song Lessons
- 14 Day Free Trial
- 60 Day Money Back Guarantee
- Best Video Quality
- Over 5000 HD Videos
- Great Live Lesssons
- 7 Day Free Trial
- Money Back Guarantee
- Video Exchange Feature
- Very Specific Lessons
- Free Sample Lessons
- Music Theory Courses
- Higher Prices
Guitar Tricks vs. JamPlay (Video Comparison)
There are actually more resources out there for learning the guitar than what is listed here, however for online lessons and instructions, these top two are clearly the best.
There are free lesson websites, DVD courses, books and tabular websites, apps, and the list goes on.
But after researching so many of these other tools, it becomes so clear how beneficial both Guitar Tricks and JamPlay truly are. Why spend 50 to 100 dollars on DVDs and books, when you can literally get full access, 24/7 to thousands of high definition videos and live lessons.
There’s honestly no comparison. Whenever I research and review other tools, it always comes with a recommendation to check out these video lesson courses because they’re so valuable in my opinion.
But I have started to do a lot of reviews and comparisons of other programs and courses, and I will continue to do more as new products come out.
You can find all the info under the guitar section of the blog.
Bottom line, get started with Guitar Tricks or JamPlay today.
What are the Benefits of Online Lessons?
The benefits of learning any instrument on the internet are huge.
You save a ton of money: Online courses are a fraction of the cost of real in person lessons.
Get access whenever you want: The convenience of these programs is by far one of their best features. Practice and learn whenever you want, for as long as you want.
Get a ton of information: There are literally videos and explanations to help you learn any song, and any genre of music.
Get training from professionals: You probably don't have a master guitarist in your neighborhood to help you learn. But with these programs, you have access to hundreds of teachers.