Learning to play guitar alone is a daunting task without a musical background. Sitting alone and fooling around with the instrument until you know what to do is impractical and inefficient. It’s not to say it’s impossible, but learning with the right tools would make a world of difference in your learning speed and experience.
Thankfully, the resources to learn the guitar are now available online. From tutorial videos, courses, apps, and platforms like Guitar Tricks, you’ll never run out of materials to learn from. But the trick is finding the right instructional resource that works best for you.
In this article, we’ll provide you with our Guitar Tricks review, one of the most popular guitar lesson websites online. We’re breaking down what the platform offers to beginner guitarists and help you decide whether Guitar Tricks is the perfect tool for your level. Let’s start!
Founded in 1998, Guitar Tricks is the godfather of all online guitar lessons. Since then, the platform has grown into a considerable resource, featuring an expansive library of over 11,000 guitar lesson materials. By now, Guitar Tricks has taught over 4 million people and counting.
Jon Broderick and Sanjay Sharma are the founders of the website. They’re both prolific guitarists and have found a way to share their knowledge through digital means. Twenty-six years later, Guitar Tricks continues to provide a fun, comprehensive, and affordable way for everyone to learn the instrument.
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So, what makes Guitar Tricks great? Well, Guitar Tricks offers tons of features regardless of your playing level. Here are some of the most notable features of the platform that’ll surely benefit your experience learning the guitar:
One of the challenges of learning the guitar, or any instrument, by yourself is you won’t know if you’re doing the practice correctly. Guitar Tricks, however, has over 30 guitar instructors on standby to help and guide you. These are experts with extensive experience in playing and teaching the instrument. You can even check their profiles on the website and pick the one teacher you want to learn from!
Knowing your progress is crucial to learning. So, Guitar Tricks provides a detailed presentation of your advancement based on the lessons you’ve taken. This feature allows users to track the courses, songs, and tutorials they’ve completed or are yet to finish. It’s a valuable tool, especially for people studying alone and having difficulties keeping up with their progress.
The Toolbox is an excellent addition that offers everything you’ll need in your guitarist journey. It contains helpful programs, such as a guitar tuner, metronome, scale finder, chord finder, fretboard trainer, and more. But the most exciting part of the Toolbox is the Jam Station, which offers over 1500 tracks you can use to practice your learnings!
The good thing about Guitar Tricks is its decades of experience in teaching guitar online. So, they’ve had enough time to calibrate their materials and identify which ones work best. The result is a comprehensive step-by-step program called the “Core Learning System,” which is the heart of the platform.
Guitar Tricks’ beginner lesson takes the student to the basics and has two levels. Here, you’ll learn to hold the guitar properly, play open and power chords, and read music. After mastering the fundamentals, they take you on a tour of the four playing styles: acoustic, rock, country, and blues. This course section covers the essential elements of each guitar style and additional resources for practicing.
Throughout your journey, you can access over 11,000 downloadable video tutorials. What’s more, unlike other guitar-learning platforms, you can go to the Jam Station and pick tracks you want to learn for practice. It makes your lessons fun and engaging rather than practicing drills and exercises mindlessly.
Of course, Guitar Tricks cater to experienced guitarists as well. This advanced course features a similar structure to the fundamentals but, as you’d expect, tackles more advanced learning content. Once you’re confident with your fundamental playing skills, you can move to this level and learn topics like tone guides, harmonics, hammers, and bends.
Are you considering Guitar Tricks for your first guitar lessons? It does provide some of the most comprehensive courses available online. But it’s not perfect. Here are some pros and cons of Guitar Tricks to think about:
Guitar Tricks is a well-made guitar lesson website overall. The comprehensive lesson plan, thousands of downloadable materials, and skilled instructors are a surefire way for beginners to master the instrument. Top it off with the most practical tools for guitar learning, and you’ve got everything you need. Plus, it’s compatible with virtually every device, from IOS, Android, TV, PC, and MacOS.
But that’s not all. Guitar Tricks also provides a space for all users and learners to interact through its forum feature. It’s a tremendously helpful addition to the program as it allows you to connect with others—sharing questions and insights—while studying. You can even communicate with your instructors through the forum.
One area of criticism many people point out about Guitar Tricks is its dense user interface. Because of its expansive content, it can be difficult for beginners to navigate compared to other similar platforms. So, new students could find it challenging to go from point A to point B.
Another aspect of Guitar Tricks that could use improvement is its track selection. Yes, it does offer numerous songs in its library. However, there’s a limited selection for some genres, such as pop music, which some users might want to learn more about.
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Guitar Tricks offers a flexible pricing option for everyone. The most affordable plan is the monthly subscription worth $19.95. It lets you access all the materials on the website—guitar classes, tutorials, songs, instructors, and other learning tools.
There’s also a yearly subscription plan for $179.99, saving you nearly $60 than if you opt for the monthly. It offers additional features, too. The add-ons include more music tracks to learn, such as blues and rock music.
On top of these subscriptions, you can opt for a one-on-one learning session. But it’s more expensive, costing $40 for 30-minutes and $60 for an hour of live lessons. For an additional payment, you can also pick the instructor you want.
Guitar Tricks is known for its extensive lesson library, experienced instructors, and structured curriculum. It also offers a user-friendly interface and a supportive community for learners.
Guitar Tricks regularly updates its lesson library with new content, including songs, techniques, and styles, ensuring that learners have access to fresh material.
Guitar Tricks aims to replicate the one-on-one instruction experience as closely as possible through video lessons and interactive content, making it a viable alternative to in-person lessons for many learners.
To get started, you'll need a guitar and an internet-connected device. For some lessons, having an amplifier and additional accessories can enhance your learning experience, but they are not always required.
Guitar Tricks offers a satisfaction guarantee, allowing you to try the platform risk-free for a specified period. That time period is 60 days.
Is Guitar Tricks worth trying as a complete beginner? Yes, it is. It’s a cost-effective tool with everything you need to master the instrument in one convenient platform. It offers plenty of benefits, from well-structured lessons, video tutorials, expert teachers, progress tracking, songs to practice, and more.
But it has a lot to offer to intermediate and experienced guitarists, too. From its expansive music library, useful guitar tools, and advanced classes teaching theory and techniques. Guitar Tricks is a must-try, regardless of your level as a guitarist!
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