Guitar Tricks Review

Guitar Tricks is an online community of 10,000's of guitarists. It was founded in 1998 by Jon Broderick, a San Fransisco Bay area guitarist, who created the site to provide aspiring guitarists with more in-depth guitar lessons, no matter what their skill level or favorite style of music to play on guitar.

One of the coolest parts of GuitarTricks.com is that it's so cheap. It comes with unlimited access to over 3,000 ready-to-watch video lessons, from 45 professional instructors, for only $14.95/month (less than the cost of 1 half-hour lesson with only one teacher, or even just a nice set of guitar strings)!

While Guitar Tricks can be overwhelming, and it can get distracting talking to other guitarists on the forums, it's a fun place to hang out and boost your skills from home. Click the button below to get 24 FREE lessons to try it out:

Not sure if GuitarTricks.com is what you're looking for? Check out this comparison to the top 3 courses...

JamPlay Learn and Master Guitar Guitar Tricks Jamorama Overall Rating 9.8/10 9.2/10 8.7/10 7.4/10 Lesson Quality Value for Price Support Teaching Style Lesson Variety Ease of Use Entertainment Learn More Read Review Read Review Read Review Read Review Product Online Community & 1,000+ Videos DVD's, Book, CD's & Forum Online Community & Videos PDF's, Videos & Software Delivery Instant (Online) 3-14 Days Instant (Online) Instant (Online) Guarantee 7-Day, 100% Money-Back 60-Day, 100% Money-Back 60-Day 100% Money-Back 60-Day, 100% Money-Back Instructors 34 1 45 1 Beginner Intermediate Advanced Song Lessons Lowest Price $19.95/month* $249 $119 $14.95/month $49.95 Check it out:

Guitar Tricks Review

OVERALL RATING: Lesson Quality: Value for Price: Support: Teaching Style: Lesson Variety: Ease of Use: Entertainment: Product Community: 3,000+ Videos Price: $14.95/month Delivery: Instant Guarantee: 60-Day, 100% Will GuitarTricks.com work for you? Some people pay a private guitar instructor $15-$20 (or more) for each 30-minute lesson, which adds up to $100-$200/month, for 8 lessons or so, from one teacher. Other people (like me) pay $14.95/month for unlimited access to over 3,000 high-quality video lessons online, from 45 instructors. To me, it's a no-brainer, except for the getting less 1-on-1 attention. GuitarTricks.com is a great place to talk to & learn from other guitarists, and watch videos to help you learn songs, master the basics (tuning, reading tabs, chords, scales, etc.), and even get into more advanced styles like heavy metal or classical finger-picking! Here's what you'll get when you join Guitar Tricks: Unlimited access to over 3,000 high-quality video lessons Community Support (Huge forum & help from 45 instructors) Tons of tutorials from professional guitarists JamStation software: Customizable backing tracks The "Technique Reference Library" Ultimate Metronome & Reference Tuner software While it's easy to get distracted by the 1,000's of video lessons & tutorials, they do a pretty good job of organizing them so they flow from beginning, to intermediate, to advanced skill levels. In the end, Guitar Tricks is tough to beat on value for price. At $14.95/month, you couldn't get more than 1 half-hour lesson from a single instructor, but with this membership you could watch 10 video lessons/day and practice along the whole time, at your own pace, in your bedroom. Pretty sweet, I have to admit... Check out GuitarTricks.com to get 24 FREE video guitar lessons:

GuitarTricks.com Pros

Here are some of my favorite things about being a member of Guitar Tricks:

• The video lessons are high-quality
• It's cool meeting, talking to, and learning from 10,000's of guitarists around the World
• The membership is insanely cheap for what you get ($14.95/month for unlimited access)!
• There are 45 instructors to learn from, covering tons of styles & genres
• JamStation is pretty cool for designing backing tracks to solo and/or sing over
• Ultimate Metronome is a good way to increase dexterity by boosting the tempo of exercises
• I love being able to learn & practice at home, whenever I want

GuitarTricks.com Cons

Though it's awesome overall, there are some things I do NOT like about Guitar Tricks:

• Ever spend like 3 hours on YouTube? With so many lessons, it's easy to get distracted here too
• Some of the lessons focus too much on beginners, moving too slowly for intermediate players
• Since there are so many instructors, sometimes it's tough to switch mindsets for their teaching styles
• It'd be really cool if they offered more video guitar tabs for specific songs (though there are quite a few)
• JamPlay has a much cooler community and tools for guitarists

I've realized that if you follow the flow of their lessons, and stick with 1-3 instructors at a time, it's a lot easier to sort of master one skill or technique, then move on. Plus, to be honest, I try to avoid the forums unless I'm sick of practicing or just really tired, just to make sure I don't get too distracted, which helps. Overall, I definitely recommend Guitar Tricks.

Screenshots of GuitarTricks.com

Click the images below to see screenshots of the Guitar Tricks members area:

How Guitar Tricks helped me...

I have been a guitarist for over a decade now, but I had always learned from guitar tabs. I gradually built up my skills by pushing myself to master tougher songs, but I never really dove in to get formal training. I never really knew any of the specifics of playing guitar, any of the advanced techniques, or any of the "Why's" & "How's" of the instrument.

After investing in a home study course, I realized that I also wanted to be part of a community, to watch newly-added videos, talk with other guitarists, and learn more about specific genres.

I found 3 websites that had all of this, but GuitarTricks.com was the ONLY one I stuck with after trying them all.

Overall, I'm happy knowing that for less than the cost of a 30-minute lesson, I get an entire month's worth of improving my skills as a guitarist, all from home, without any pressure or need to practice stuff I don't like.

I get to learn at my own pace, and have fun with it. Plus, most of the books and home study courses I found didn't really get into specific techniques and styles like some of the video lessons they've created, and the ones that do would cost a lot of time & money to buy separately. If you like learning guitar from home (and saving money), Guitar Tricks is sweet!

UPDATE: After writing this review, I found another community called JamPlay. Overall, they're both excellent resources to learn from, but I prefer JamPlay because of its nicer website, higher-quality lessons, and dedicated instructors. The only trade off is that it costs a bit more ($5/month). Check out my Jamplay review to learn more...

YouTube vs Guitar Tricks: "Why should I pay for video lessons?"

So I've gotten quite a few emails asking about learning guitar with YouTube videos, and I agree that (like with just about anything nowadays) there are tons of videos out there to help you learn guitar. Most of the emails I've gotten about this are from guitarists concerned that they shouldn't have to pay for videos, when there are so many free ones available. I personally have learned a few songs from free videos on YouTube.com, so I understand the concern.

However, I will say that one of the biggest flaws with learning anything online, is that it's easy to get distracted. In fact, that's one of the "Cons" of GuitarTricks.com, compared to learning from an instructor or with books or DVD's alone.

That said, belonging to a community of aspiring guitarists and learning from 45 professional instructors by watching high-quality videos made specifically for instruction, is a bit different than seeing some random dude show you how well he can play "Free Bird", ya know? There's a HUGE difference between learning from random people, and learning from professionally-trained instructors.

While there are tons of cool free videos online, the biggest problem is that it's VERY difficult to stay focused, and next to impossible to go through a step-by-step process to learn the fundamentals, then build upon that solid foundation with more advanced techniques, all from pros, for free.

Oh yeah, and it's important to say that learning from books can not be compared to watching someone while they teach you something, so any videos designed to help you learn guitar will help you out. But, if you bought one book every month or so (like people had to do less than 20 years ago), you'd be spending more than the $14.95/month for Guitar Tricks.

As for private lessons: you couldn't get more than 30 minutes with an instructor for the cost of a 1-month membership with unlimited access to 45 teachers, so it's still a ridiculously good deal.

YouTube videos are cool, but you'll never learn as much from them as you could with professional guitarists teaching you specific techniques, a community of other guitarists to learn from, and killer guitar training software programs. Period. But, if you think scouring the Internet for hours & hours to filter out the lame stuff and find the videos worth your time, is really worth saving $14.95 (less than a large pizza), more power to you...=)

About the GuitarTricks.com Team

In 1998, a guy named Jon Broderick decided that the Internet didn't have enough high-quality guitar lessons, so he created a website called GuitarTricks.com, designed to focus on providing as much material as possible.

He gradually found over 40 professional guitarists trained in styles ranging from classical to heavy metal, and together they've created over 3,000 video guitar lessons.

There are over 400,000 guitarists that go to GuitarTricks.com every month, and many of them are active in the forums. Over time, more and more support has been added, along with more lessons being added every day, all to help as many aspiring guitarists as possible.

While there are many resources online for learning to play guitar, Guitar Tricks offers arguably the best value, charging only $14.95/month for unlimited access to their entire library of video lessons, tutorials, software programs, and massive community forum.

"Is Guitar Tricks right for me?"

If you're a complete beginner, I would at least sign up to get their 24 FREE video lessons. They're a great place to start, walking you through things like holding the guitar, tuning, the fretboard (guitar anatomy), notes, chords, scales, and more...If you've already been playing a while, Guitar Tricks is a cool, inexpensive way to expand your skills from home.

If you're an advanced player, most of the video lessons on this website probably won't challenge you too much, but the one advantage it has over home study courses is that the instructors dive deeper into advanced skills like fingerpicking, classical guitar and tougher styles like Flamenco. There aren't anywhere near as many advanced lessons as there are beginner or intermediate, but at least they cover the more difficult stuff, right?

While it's not the only thing you'll ever need as a guitarist, you definitely can't beat Guitar Tricks for $14.95/month.

$25 GuitarTricks.com Rebate Want $25 back when you sign up for Guitar Tricks? Already a member? Either way, click the play button below to see how you can get a $25 rebate just for writing a review! Here's the simple 5-step process: Sign up for Guitar Tricks (Current members can also participate) Stick around for at least 30 days Write a helpful review (At least 300 words) I'll post your review on this page Then, you'll get $25! (See video for details) Note: The most helpful review will get an extra $100! Thank you so much for your help, and I look forward to reading your Guitar Tricks review! Name: * E-mail: * Experience Beginner Intermediate Advanced Guitar Course: * JamPlay.com Learn & Master Guitar Guitar Tricks Jamorama Overall Rating: Picture (Optional) Payment * Paypal iTunes Amazon Review Details: *   Note: Your email address will NOT be published or used for anything other than sending your $25!