Hi,
my name is Kyle, and I've been playing guitar since I was 11 years old.
Like many guitarists, I learned most of what I know by figuring out how to play songs. I never really laid a solid foundation with awesome guitar lessons, so I decided to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, I found out that the average cost of guitar lessons is about $16 per 30-minute session, 2x each
week, which works out to around $128/month, or $1,536/year! That's a lot of money...
So,
I looked online and found some decent free guitar lessons. Eventually, I bought some courses since they are so much cheaper than private lessons, and found some of them to be really helpful. Now, I review guitar lessons to help people find the best way for them to learn guitar on this website. Check out the best guitar lessons below:
Disclosure: If you buy guitar lessons through a link on this page, I will earn a much-appreciated commission for taking the time to write this review. You won't pay a penny more for the course, but a portion of the proceeds go to funding this 100% ad-free site (and my music collection), so thanks for your support and have fun learning guitar!
As you will see from the chart below my personal recommendation is Jamplay followed by a very close second, Guitar Tricks. If you are looking for an at home guitar traning kit on CD then Learn & Master Guitar is your best choice.
Video Tour of JamPlay.com
Click the play button below to take a quick tour through my account to see if JamPlay is right for you: Be sure to compare the features in the chart below the video to ensure it has what you are looking for.
Click the link above and enter the code to save 25% on your first month of guitar lessons!
Quick Summary of My Guitar Lesson Reviews:
There are dozens of courses online, but out of all of them the only ones I recommend to friends & family are:
JamPlay: My #1 pick for anyone wanting to learn to play guitar, hands down. For about $20/month, you get unlimited access to 1,000's of high-quality video lessons, from 46 professionally-trained guitarists, covering everything from Classical, to Blues, to Rock and Heavy Metal. Plus, their Chord & Scale libraries are awesome!
Guitar Tricks:
Another cool online community, they offer 3,000+ video lessons from 45
instructors, but their lessons, tools and community benefits aren't as nice as the ones you'll find in our JamPlay Review.
Learn & Master Guitar:
Best home study DVD course, by far! Great for beginners &
intermediate guitarists looking to improve their skills. About the cost
of 5-10 half-hour lessons, but lasts 6-12 months at least. Much more
convenient and cheaper than private lessons, and the DVD's & CD's
are very well-produced.
Jamorama:
Cheapest course for beginners. Do NOT buy this unless you're just
getting started, but it's nice if you are. Fun software games, PDF
ebooks and 148 videos cover the basics really well.
Wondering
what they're all about? Want to see pros & cons of each course to
figure out which one is best for you and your goals with playing
guitar? Read on to learn more about each of my favorite guitar lesson
programs.
JamPlay.com is a fantastic community for aspiring guitarists to boost their skills from home. In fact, after trying & reviewing over 10 courses and communities, it is my #1 pick!
Alright, so here's what I like about JamPlay:
1,000+ high-quality video guitar lessons
Tons of genres, techniques & songs covered
44 professional instructors
Over 20,000 guitarists have used JamPlay!
Active Forum and Live webcast Q&A lessons
Incredible Chord, Scale & Riff Libraries!
Online Guitar Tuner with tons of options
Video Q&A: Ask a question, get a video answer!
Here are some things I don't like about JamPlay:
It's $19.95/month (That's cheap compared to lessons though)
Money-back guarantee is only for 7 days (Maybe that's because barely anybody ever asks for their money back...)
Information overload: There's a LOT to learn from, which can be overwhelming at first. Good thing it's all organized.
Overall, after rejoining and seeing some huge upgrades, I can't deny that JamPlay.com is the best deal for guitar lessons out there:
Check out JamPlay, and don't forget to enter the code above:
While searching for online guitar lessons, I ran across Guitar Tricks. It's $14.95/month for full access to over 3,000 video guitar lessons & over 40 professional guitar instructors.
They've been around since 1998 and they give
away 24 FREE video lessons, BUT this site is not as high-quality as JamPlay.com overall.
The instructors have different teaching styles, which can be nice, but it's tough switching mindsets sometimes.
You have to pay $14.95 every month to stay a member.
The forum isn't as nice as JamPlay's
They don't have live webcasts or Q&A sessions
All in all, I'd say Guitar Tricks is a nice website, but you might want to check out JamPlay before you go off and spend your $14.95, because its recent updates have made it much better in my opinion.
If
you like learning guitar with video instruction, you don't want to
spend a lot upfront, and you want to learn a wide variety of styles, Guitar Tricks is a good choice overall:
The
average price for a 30-minute guitar lesson is about $16, which means
taking the typical 2 lessons/week adds up to $128+/month, or
$1,536/year!
On top of
that, you can't do the lessons over again until you get them (you know,
like rewinding a DVD). In my opinion, both of these things make Learn and Master Guitar an awesome choice over shelling out so much cash for guitar lessons.
Steve is the only instructor, so he's the only one you get to learn from (similar to getting private guitar lessons).
The forum could be cooler and more active than it is...
You have to wait for shipping.
Since I had been playing for so long, some of the lessons moved a too slowly for me (gotta love fast-forward!)
The lessons could use some more variety.
The 1st 10 DVD's will definitely help you learn guitar, but not master it. The 2nd set of DVD's get more advanced though...
When I got Learn & Master Guitar,
I picked the "Deluxe Edition", which at the time cost $249 (now it's
$149), but I still saved a ton of money compared to private guitar
lessons.
Overall, I
highly recommend this course if you're just getting started, or if
you've been playing guitar for a while without training.
If you'd like to learn guitar from home to save $1,600+ every year on lessons, check out Learn & Master Guitar here:
There
are like a million of these cheaper guitar products out there online,
because they're digital and made by one guy (so they must not have high
costs). BUT, out of all of them, Jamorama is the only one I found that's even decent!
Even though it's the best in its class, I would NOT recommend it over JamPlay by any means!
That said, there are some cool things about Jamorama:
It's only $49.95 one-time.
It's digital, so you get it right away online.
It comes with 148 basic video lessons for beginners.
It includes software games for tuning, keeping time, learning music by ear, and learning notes & chords.
It's great for total beginners, and it has a slightly advanced PDF ebook with more content (for reading, not exercises).
Unless you're a complete beginner, it moves too slowly.
The software games are cool, but they get boring.
It's not made to be a complete course. It's just designed to get total beginners started in the right direction.
So
there you have it. Jamorama is a solid beginner's course, and nothing
more. Even still, I would recommend getting a 1-month subscription to JamPlay.com (saving over $30)!
Check out Jamorama if you just want a simple software-based course on learning the basics of guitar for cheap:
Here's a quick summary of my favorite guitar lesson reviews:
If you want access to a bunch of professional instructors, 1,000's of high-quality video lessons all organized by skill level, genre and broken up in courses, JamPlay is your best bet.
If you'd prefer to learn guitar with DVD's, a traditional lesson workbook and jam-along CD's, Learn and Master Guitar is the only DVD course I'd recommend.
Overall, the best value for the money by far is a membership to JamPlay. To start watching video lessons and get access to their awesome chord & scale libraries (and save 25% on your first month), head over to JamPlay.com and enter 86C6CC at checkout:
Disclosure: As an independent and unbiased critic of guitar lessons products, I personally purchase the courses I evaluate. If you decide, as a result of the in-depth reviews you read on my website, to purchase one of these products, I will receive a commission as compensation for the time, energy & money I have spent evaluating these courses. This does not affect the price you pay, or my opinion of the product, and I make my best effort to provide truthful evaluations of each product I review to help you find the best guitar lessons.
