What is the best guitar learning app for free?

Guitar learning apps have grown in popularity in recent years as an effective and accessible way to learn guitar. With the rise of smartphone and tablet usage, guitar apps provide a convenient method for beginning and experienced guitarists alike to hone their skills from anywhere at any time (The Brainy Insights, https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/report/online-music-learning-market-12706). These apps can supplement or replace traditional in-person guitar lessons, offering engaging, interactive lessons and tutorials. Key benefits of guitar learning apps include:

• Flexibility – Users can learn guitar on their own schedule, at their own pace
• Affordability – Many quality apps are free or low cost compared to private lessons
• Accessibility – Apps allow learning guitar anywhere with a mobile device and internet access
• Interactivity – Apps utilize multimedia to create an engaging, game-like learning process
• Feedback – Apps listen to users play and provide real-time feedback on technique
• Customization – Lessons are tailored to different learning styles and skill levels

With a wealth of great apps now available, guitarists have an easy and enjoyable way to improve their skills and musical knowledge.

Methodology

To determine the best free guitar learning app, I evaluated popular options based on key criteria like quality of lessons, user experience, and features. I drew from expert reviews on sites like Guitar Chalk and real user feedback on forums like Reddit to select the top free apps.

I installed each app on both iOS and Android devices, going through the onboarding process and initial lessons. I evaluated the lesson structure, quality of instructors, range of learning features, and overall user experience. This hands-on testing allowed me to assess the key strengths and weaknesses of each platform.

Based on expert recommendations and my own testing, I selected the top free guitar learning apps to compare in depth. I analyzed the lesson quality, learning tools, songs, convenience, and cost to determine which platform provides the best way to learn guitar for free.

Fender Play

Fender Play is an app created by the iconic guitar brand Fender as a way for beginners to learn guitar in a fun, guided path. Fender Play uses video lessons to teach skills ranging from basic chords and techniques to full songs. According to this Guitar World review, Fender Play excels at teaching guitar fundamentals in concise video lessons.

Some key features of Fender Play include:

• Step-by-step video lessons from professional instructors
• Interactive feedback to ensure you’re playing chords and techniques correctly
• A structured learning path that progresses from beginner to intermediate
• Chord charts and tablature to follow along with lessons
• Lessons covering multiple genres like rock, pop, blues, folk, and more

Overall, Fender Play aims to make learning guitar accessible and fun for everyone through high-quality video lessons, feedback tools, and a clear progression path. Its focus on fundamentals makes it a great choice for beginners looking to build a strong foundation.

Yousician

Yousician is a popular guitar learning app that uses real-time feedback to teach guitar. It listens to you play using a computer’s microphone or an electric guitar connected to the app, and provides instant feedback on your accuracy and timing (Source 1). Yousician has a structured curriculum covering technique, theory, and popular songs. It offers interactive lessons, exercises, and games that respond to your playing to identify problem areas and customize the experience. Features include:

• Step-by-step lessons for beginner to advanced players
• Detailed feedback on technique, rhythm, and pitch
• Thousands of songs to learn and play along with
• Games and challenges to make practice fun
• Progress tracking to see improvement over time
• Support for acoustic, electric, bass, and ukulele

Yousician gamifies the learning process by rewarding you with virtual coins for completing lessons and playing songs accurately. These can be used to unlock more content. Overall, Yousician aims to make guitar practice feel more like playing games than tedious exercises (Source 2).

JustinGuitar

JustinGuitar is one of the most popular free online guitar lesson sites. Created by British guitar teacher Justin Sandercoe, it offers a structured curriculum for learning guitar that takes you from beginner to advanced player. JustinGuitar has over 1,000 video lessons covering technique, theory, songs, and more. The lessons are well-paced and aim to make you a well-rounded guitarist.

Some key features of JustinGuitar include:

• Completely free access to all video lessons, no membership required.
• Lessons are organized into structured courses like Beginner’s Course and Intermediate Method.
• Justin is an experienced teacher who explains concepts clearly and patiently.
• Covers many styles including rock, blues, pop, folk, and classical.
• Practice routines, theory lessons, and song tutorials with tab.
• Active user forum for asking questions and getting feedback.
• Mobile app available for Android and iOS.

JustinGuitar excels at teaching guitar in an organized step-by-step curriculum. With over 1,000 free lessons covering everything from basic chords to advanced techniques, it provides a comprehensive guitar education.

Guitar Tricks

Guitar Tricks is one of the most popular guitar learning platforms, with over 11,000 video guitar lessons for players of all levels. According to Guitar World’s 2024 review, Guitar Tricks really excels when it comes to content for intermediate and advanced players. However, it also has plenty of great beginner content as well.

Some key features of Guitar Tricks include:

• Over 11,000 on-demand guitar lessons, covering techniques, songs, theory, and more
• Lessons for acoustic and electric guitar, as well as bass guitar
• Structured learning paths to take you step-by-step from beginner to advanced
• Chord and scale libraries to build your knowledge
• Jam tracks, riffs, and songs to play along with
• New lessons added every month

According to Deviant Noise’s 2023 review, Guitar Tricks provides a very comprehensive set of lessons in a guided progression. This makes it their top pick overall for the best online guitar learning program.

Rocksmith

Rocksmith is a popular guitar learning app developed by Ubisoft. The app features interactive lessons and games that aim to make learning guitar fun and engaging. Rocksmith uses proprietary audio recognition technology to detect what notes you are playing in real-time and provide feedback.

Some key features of Rocksmith include:

• A large library of songs to learn and play along to, spanning multiple genres like rock, metal, pop, and more. The song list is continually updated with new content.

• Dynamic difficulty that automatically adjusts to your skill level, helping you progress at your own pace.

• Guitarcade mini-games that teach skills like string skipping, slides, and bends in a fun arcade format.

• Detailed analytics on your accuracy, technique, and areas to improve.

• Supports electric, acoustic, and bass guitars.

Overall, Rocksmith aims to make mastering the guitar engaging and fun through game-like lessons, robust feedback, and a vast on-demand song library.

Comparative Analysis

When comparing the top guitar learning apps, there are pros and cons to each one:

Fender Play

Pros:

• Created by guitar manufacturer Fender, so high quality lessons and content
• Lessons focus on contemporary songs and genres like pop, rock and folk
• Well structured learning path for beginners

Cons:

• Limited song selection compared to other apps
• Can feel restrictive for intermediate players
• Monthly subscription required after free trial

Yousician

Pros:

• Uses audio recognition to listen and give real-time feedback during lessons
• Fun and game-like interactive lessons
• Covers multiple instruments beyond just guitar

Cons:

• Audio feedback feature may not work well with acoustic guitars
• Lessons can feel gamified rather than focused on core techniques
• Limited song selection compared to apps like Guitar Tricks

Guitar Tricks

Pros:

• Extensive library of over 11,000 guitar lessons
• Covers many genres including rock, blues, country, metal and more
• Great for both beginners and advanced players

Cons:

• Dated interface and video quality
• No interactive features like Yousician
• Monthly subscription required after free trial

The Verdict

After comparing the top guitar learning apps, Fender Play stands out as the best option for most beginners. Here’s why:

Fender Play offers high-quality video lessons taught by experienced instructors, covering a wide range of genres and playing styles. This makes it very versatile for learning. The step-by-step curriculum is designed for true beginners, starting with basics like holding the guitar properly, reading tablature, and playing simple chords/songs. The structured lessons and song-based learning ensure you build skills methodically.

While Yousician and JustinGuitar have solid free content, their offerings for beginners are more limited compared to Fender Play. The video lessons in Fender Play also provide better visual learning compared to just exercises in Yousician.

Unlike Guitar Tricks and Rocksmith which cater more towards intermediate and advanced players, Fender Play has a clear focus on starting from the basics. The interactive feedback during lessons sets it apart from just watching YouTube tutorials passively.

Considering the high-quality structured lessons, instructors, and content library tailored for new players, Fender Play is the best free guitar learning app for most beginners. The program excellently covers the fundamentals and gets you playing songs within just a few hours. This makes it very motivating and engaging for starting out on the guitar journey.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the best free guitar learning app based on this analysis is JustinGuitar. Justin provides comprehensive beginner and intermediate guitar lessons for free, with clear instructions, useful tips, and a structured curriculum. The lessons cover technique, theory, songs, and more. While the interface is simple, the content quality is exceptional. Justin is an experienced guitar teacher who brings a personal touch to the lessons, explaining concepts clearly and encouragingly. For a completely free app with no upgrades needed, JustinGuitar can take you from beginner to advanced guitarist.

Runners up like Fender Play and Yousician offer more interactive features and gaming elements, but lock key content behind paywalls. This limits their usefulness as ‘free’ apps. While they can be good supplements, JustinGuitar provides the full package for free. For those wanting more interactivity, Rocksmith is a great option, allowing you to plug in your guitar and play along. However, it lacks the comprehensive lessons and teaching of JustinGuitar. All in all, aspiring guitarists looking for a superb free learning platform need look no further than JustinGuitar.