Price: $19.99 monthly, $179.99 yearly, free 14 day trial Key features: Guided paths; digestible lessons; comprehensive song tutorials which include amp and guitar settings; artist and genre studies that cover all the basics of a range of styles; additional resources such as scale charts and maintenance tips. Genres: Acoustic, Rock, blues, bluegrass, classical, country, jazz, funk and soul, rockabilly, surf, world Platforms: Desktop, iPhone, iPad, Android Contact: Guitar Tricks
For the purposes of this review, Guitar Tricks granted us full access to their online lessons platform. We've recently updated this review having tested the latest features and content to ensure our review is up-to-date with the latest information.
To say Guitar Tricks ‘has plenty going for it’ is to woefully understate the sheer volume of content this online guitar lessons platform has to offer. There’s more than 11,000 video lessons and 800 songs, served by 44 tutors teaching 12 different genres. Then there’s the five different learning paths, each split into two levels. We’re guitarists, not math majors, but even we can appreciate that adds up to a significant amount of material.
Of course, quantity means nothing if the platform falls short on quality. Guitar Tricks has been around since 1998, which goes some way to explain how it’s amassed such a massive library of guitar tutorials. Does that mean it’s full of grainy, badly lit, legacy vids from the early noughties? Fortunately, no. I’m sure they existed once upon a time, but over the decades Guitar Tricks has followed a program of continuous improvement, evolving and re-shooting videos as soon as they start to date. You may find a few in HD, but most of the content is 4k.
Admittedly, the UI – in fact the entire site – does look slightly dated compared with more recent platforms, such as the bright, colorful, gamified Yousician or the cool, contemporary Fender Play. On the plus side, this lends Guitar Tricks an air of authority. You won’t find whacky cartoon characters or day-glo, bouncy animated fretboards here. Just pro musicians teaching quality classes.
Testament to that quality is Guitar Tricks’ 60-day money back guarantee. If you don't chime with it within your first couple months, then contact its support team for a full refund.
Guitar Tricks review: How does Guitar Tricks work?
Signing up for Guitar Tricks is simply a matter of entering your email address to create an account, or alternatively you can use your Google, Apple or Facebook credentials. You’re not necessarily required to enter credit card details – there are a limited number of free tutorials – but the 60-day guarantee should provide students with enough confidence to sign up for full access.
Guitar Tricks runs within a browser on your computer desktop, or you can download the Guitar Tricks app for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Android. The user experience is similar, so most of this review was conducted using the desktop version on a Mac.
On signing up you’re presented with a relatively busy home screen that shows thumbnails of Guitar Tricks newest tutorials, Guitar Insider – the platform’s Weekly Q&A series - and a carousel of Collections, which are song tutorials grouped by theme. For example, ‘80s Hair Metal’ and ‘Classic Blues Rock’. There’s also a top menu bar and another on the left-hand side.
However, the real meat of Guitar Tricks is revealed via the three large panels at the top of the page entitled Beginner Lessons, Experienced Lessons and Song Library. Let’s explore them.
Beginner lessons
This is the foundation of Guitar Trick’s Learning Paths, conveniently split into two levels named Guitar Fundamentals 1& 2. The first level covers off the real basics – everything from tuning and simple open chords to easy strumming patterns – before moving on to major and minor scales, power chords and some blues and rock riffs. Level two takes it up a notch with fingerpicking skills, 7th chords, barre chords and more.
Both levels are split into about half a dozen chapters, comprising four or five lessons of half a dozen tutorials or more. Each tutorial lasts between three and six minutes, so that’s a lot of content. There are no mandatory songs within these levels, instead at every chapter Guitar Tricks recommends a variety of suitable songs for you to practice. I like this approach, there’s nothing worse than being forced to play songs for which you have zero appetite.
For complete beginners, or guitarists returning to the instrument after a long break, these fundamental levels serve as a comprehensive foundation that will pay dividends as your learning progresses to more advanced areas. Which brings us neatly to Experienced Lessons.
Experienced lessons
This is where, after completing the fundamental Beginner Lessons, you can choose to specialize in one of four genres – Blues, Country, Rock or Acoustic. These advanced modules follow a similar format to the beginner lessons, with two levels ascending in difficulty, comprising multiple chapters, lessons and tutorials.
Taking the Blues path as an example, the first level teaches 12 bar forms with variations, rhythm patterns and groove, major and minor blues progressions plus a more in-depth look at power chords and barre chords. The second level covers licks, the Blues Scale, an Albert King/B.B. King/Freddie King style breakdown, soloing and, among other things, introductions to slide and various regional blues styles.
There is, of course, nothing to stop you beginning a second, third and fourth path after completing the first. Why restrict yourself to Blues when you could master Rock and/or Acoustic too?
Song library
There are well over 800 songs in the Guitar Tricks song library. Each song is rated out of five for difficulty but instead of using stars, songs are awarded plectrum icons instead, which is a fun touch. Many songs have a ‘Made Easy’ version for beginners to get to grips with too. For example, the Beatles classic Let it Be is included as a one-plectrum easy tutorial taught by Mike Olekshy, as well as a five-plectrum advanced version taught by Anders Mouridsen.
Although the learning paths cover just four genres, the song library presents a dozen – Acoustic, Bluegrass, Blues, Classical, Country, Funk & Soul, Jazz, Metal, Pop, Rock, Rockabilly and Surf. Predictably, Rock and Blues are the best served by far, with more niche genres such as Surf barely getting a look-in. Even Pop is poorly represented with fewer than 30 songs, none of which are from the past few years. There is a token Ed Sheeran tune – Perfect – and Rihanna’s Stay but nothing from the likes of more recently established pop stars such as Billie Eilish or Dua Lipa. Admittedly, neither are known for featuring much guitar in their songs, but some Made Easy renditions of recent chart hits would help younger beginners. Guitar Tricks could try harder here.
However, it is good to see that tuition for some of the niche genres, where it exists, is of high quality. Many platforms make a complete hash of Classical, whereas Guitar Tricks tutor Christopher Schlegel does a sterling job.
Guitar Tricks review: Quality of tuition
Guitar Tricks has 44 teachers on its roster, with tutors such as Anders Mouridsen, Dave Celentano and Mike Olekshy the most prolific. We haven’t reviewed every tutorial from every tutor but from the multitude of lessons and songs we have completed, the tuition is consistently of a very high standard.
Open a song or a lesson and you’ll be presented with Guitar Tricks’ instruction page that features a prominent video player center top, below which you’ll find sections that will often include Description, Content, Lyrics, Notation and Q&As. The actual content varies depending on the nature of the tutorial, but it’s always exhaustive.
The notation isn’t live or auto-scrolling, so it won’t track your progress, but it does include both TAB and standard notation, which in my book is far preferable to an animated fretboard for demonstrating the nuances of timing.
Video production values and overall tuition quality is superb. Every lesson is taught in an easy-to-follow, considered way by teachers who genuinely know their subject matter and how to communicate it. On a technical level, most videos are now 4k and feature multiple camera angles plus controls for variable playback speed and looping.
Guitar Tricks review: Extras
In addition to the learning paths and song library, Guitar Tricks has a few neat features for its users. There are some predictable resources – a chord chart, metronome, scale finder, guitar tuner and so on. More impressive is the feedback service. Upload a video of your playing and a Guitar Tricks tutor will critique it for you via a private YouTube link.
Alternatively, you can book a 1-to-1 online lesson. About a dozen tutors appear to be contributing to this service, with costs starting from about $40 for 30 minutes.
For $99 dollars you can also commission a private tuition plan, aimed at helping you commit to the guitar long-term. Sadly, so many budding guitarists give up after just a few months.
Guitar Tricks review: Who is Guitar Tricks for?
With a few notable exceptions, such as Truefire, most guitar tuition apps and sites are only suitable for beginners to early intermediates. Guitar Tricks genuinely has enough quality content to satisfy novices, intermediates and advanced players.
Logic dictates that there’s less here for advanced players than beginners, but I’m yet to meet an experienced guitarist who doesn’t suffer from a few gaps in their knowledge. Guitar Tricks can plug these gaps, as well as providing plenty of entertainment along the way.
Unfortunately, despite all the sterling work that has clearly gone into Guitar Tricks, it is disappointing that there’s so much bias towards classic blues and rock standards. Guitar Tricks is for anyone looking to improve their skills as a guitar player. Whether that’s somebody who has never held a guitar before to those with extensive experience with the instrument and who are looking to sharpen their skills in specific areas or styles. Either way, there’s plenty on offer here.
Guitar Tricks review: Conclusion
Guitar Tricks is an exceptional guitar tuition platform that offers enough content to keep even advanced players busy for months, if not years. For complete beginners, it’s a superb choice that’s capable of taking you through your entire guitar learning journey.
It is particularly strong on the Rock and Blues genres but, sadly, rather weak in other key areas such as Pop. If we’re being picky, its user interface, while perfectly usable, does feel more dated than competitors such as Fender Play.
Guitar Tricks review: Spec
- Price: $19.95 monthly, $179.99 yearly, free limited account
- Free trial?: 14 days, or get 1 month for $1
- Key features: Guided paths; digestible lessons; comprehensive song tutorials which include amp and guitar settings; artist and genre studies that cover all the basics of a range of styles; additional resources such as scale charts and maintenance tips
- Genres: Acoustic, rock, blues, bluegrass, classical, country, jazz, funk and soul, rockabilly, surf, world
- Platforms: Desktop, iPhone, iPad, Android
- Contact: Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks review: Alternatives
- Fender Play vs Guitar Tricks: which is better?
