Whether you’re a complete beginner picking up the guitar for the very first time, an established player looking to expand your library of skills and techniques, or you’re heading to school or college and want to take your six-string prowess to the next level, the best online guitar lessons can give your playing a major boost.
There’s a growing collection of high-quality platforms available to you in 2024, all for a monthly fee that usually works out much cheaper than face-to-face lessons, each delivering a unique set of features and structured tuition content to help you master the instrument at home or on the go.
All you need to start using online lessons is an internet connection and a device that’s capable of getting online – a laptop, phone, or tablet – so you don’t even need to leave your home to start learning. Some platforms offer a dedicated app designed to work seamlessly on your device, too.
For this guide, our experts have tested a range of options catering to all skill levels and budgets. Our tests focus on ease of setup, the quality of the content and tutors, the range of content available, and, of course, the cost. Most platforms offer at least a 7-day free trial too, enabling you to try a selection before committing to a longer-term paid-for subscription. Right now our top choice is Guitar Tricks, which we found to offer the best of everything, for every level of player. We recently re-tested both Guitar Tricks and Fender Play to experience newly-added features and layout to ensure our existing opinions remained accurate.
If you want to get straight to our top choices, keep scrolling, or head to our how to choose and FAQ sections for more expert guidance on what to look out for when choosing the best online guitar lessons platform for you.
Our top picks
Best overall
The best online guitar lessons platform online right now
Specifications
Price: $19.99 monthly, $179.99 yearly
Free trial: 14 days
Dedicated app: Yes
Key features: 11,000 lessons; extensive core studies; song lessons; artist and genre studies; chord and scale charts; maintenance tips; tone advice; with amp guitar settings
Reasons to buy
Comprehensive learning path
Large roster of professional instructors
Beginner modules taught with maturity
Sizeable library of content for intermediate to advanced players
Eclectic style songs and tutorials, covering genres like surf and classical
Excellent resources, including a video feedback service and live lessons
60-day moneyback guarantee
Reasons to avoid
User interface isn’t as contemporary as some competitor sites
Heavy rock and blues bias, but at least other genres are represented
Who is this for?
🫵 Everyone! There’s so much content available on Guitar Tricks – and it’s always growing – that you should have no problem finding something to learn every time you sit down with your guitar, regardless of your level. It’s affordable, too.
At a glance
✅ Buy if you’re an intermediate player: Got the basics down? Guitar Tricks has loads of great beginner content, but for us it’s the logical choice to introduce you to more advanced theory and techniques.
❌ Don’t buy if you want to learn pop songs: While the song library is substantial, pop is a pretty overlooked genre with artists like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber absent.
Ratings
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★☆
Overall ★★★★★
As we all know, learning guitar is an ongoing process – you’re never truly done. This is something Guitar Tricks has obviously had in mind as they’ve developed their content over the last 25ish years, and it continues to improve and grow.
With over 11,000 lessons and more than 900 song tutorials, Guitar Tricks has a lot more to offer beginner through to pro players – with a heavier lean towards beginners and intermediates – than many of its counterparts, probably because they simply have more content than most of them.
They certainly nail the beginner material. They offer an extensive core plan that takes you from learning how to hold a guitar to playing barre chords, all presented clearly and without rushing key concepts. They’ve recently re-filmed their Core Learning System and Guitar Fundamentals Courses and re-calibrated their entire beginner offering, so if you’ve never picked up a guitar before, you’ll get up to speed via excellent 4k videos.
We found the song lessons and genre studies in particular to be impressive, offering not only bite-sized, easy-to-follow tutorials, but also full songs note-for-note from start to finish. You also get accurate advice on getting the tone right; including which pickups to select, amp settings, and what pedals you could use. They cover 12 genres all in, even dipping into some niche territory with the likes of surf and rockabilly.
Our only reservation is that the biggest chunk of lessons falls into rock, metal and blues, with much less focus on contemporary artists in genres like pop. Even with one of the biggest song libraries out there, they don’t touch many of the biggest acts, such as Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish. They may be missing a trick here – especially with younger people who may have recently been inspired to pick up the instrument – but overall, you can’t blame them for wanting to focus on more prominent guitar genres.
One of the big things we love about Guitar Tricks is the fact they don’t try and move you through the gears too quickly. Lessons are sequential, with each lesson following the previous one in a sensible and progressive way, designed to build on what you’ve already learned. Some other platforms we’ve tested don’t follow this approach, meaning we can be watching a lesson that includes a technique we’d not been shown yet. This can be jarring, particularly for new players.
Guitar Tricks’ additional features mean it really is a one-stop-shop for your guitar learning experience and is the truest alternative to face-to-face lessons we’ve tried. On-site and within the app you’ll also find a chord chart, metronome and tuner. Custom Lesson Plans and 1-on-1 lessons are also available to Guitar Tricks users for an additional cost, helping tailor your tuition to an even deeper level. And if you’re guilty of forgetting to practice, you can set up email or text message reminders. If you’re ready to get serious about your playing, Guitar Tricks is the one to beat.
Finally, for the budget-conscious, Guitar Tricks‘ offers a 60-day money back guarantee. So, if you find you don’t gel with GT in your first couple months and you alert their support team within 60 days, you will receive a full refund.
Not sure whether to choose between Guitar Tricks or Fender Play? Read our Fender Play vs Guitar Tricks comparison feature.
Read our full Guitar Tricks review
> Get one month of Guitar Tricks for just $1, plus a free gift
Best for beginners
The best platform for beginners from the biggest name in guitar
Specifications
Price: $19.99/£19.49 per month or $149.99/£144.99 per year
Free trial: 7 days
Dedicated app: Yes
Key features: Bespoke paths for learning, quick lessons, loads of popular songs, a breeze to navigate and use
Reasons to buy
Intuitive user experience with broad appeal
In-depth lessons for novices and intermediates
Step-by-step tuition keeps engagement high
Professional production values, including multi-cam video
Diverse song library to suit most tastes
Reasons to avoid
Little here for advanced players
Some repetition in tuition content
Who is this for?
🫵 Beginner players who want affordable lessons from a trusted name in guitar, all presented in a fresh, contemporary way that’s easy to use.
At a glance
✅ Buy if you’re a total beginner: Fender Play offers a growing selection of high quality entry-level content and song lessons to get you on your way.
❌ Don’t buy if you’re intermediate or above: Once you move beyond the beginner zone, Fender Play is fairly light on more advanced content.
Ratings
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★☆
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★★
As one of the first names people come up with when they think of guitars, Fender needed to get it right when it came to developing an online guitar lesson platform. And during our tests we found that Fender Play is one of the highest-quality and most rewarding options available for learning the guitar online right now. Videos are excellently presented with fantastic production value, including multiple camera angles.
Primarily it’s most suited to total beginners, with guided paths and lesson plans holding your hand and ensuring you’ll become proficient in what you want to learn.
There’s plenty for the more experienced players to sink their teeth into, too – and that content area is ever-growing – but if you fit into the early-intermediate to advanced category we would suggest looking elsewhere for a truly comprehensive and exhaustive mix of content. Our #1 pick overall is Guitar Tricks.
A lot of Fender Play’s lessons are bitesize – 3-5 minutes each – which some would say is not long enough. But we found this approach was enough to on-board the guidance we needed on each topic. Considering the target demographic, attention span is going to be limited – and possibly overwhelmed by too much information, jargon or chatter – so delivering the information, clearly, concisely and quickly is a winning strategy. Lessons can also be viewed in Practice mode which slows them to 75 or 50% of the original speed to help you master the part. We found this to be extra helpful on trickier parts or more technical riffs.
Fender recently added Feedback mode, which adds more of an interactive element to your learning, providing feedback and scores on your performance, using your device’s internal mic. It reminded us of the more gamified approach of platforms like our #6 pick Simply Guitar. It’s still in beta, but works pretty well.
Song lessons are another of Fender Play’s strong suits, with an expanding collection of contemporary tracks to learn, with a range of difficulties, from the usual rock and metal icons, to modern guitar inspirations such as Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. Lessons are “simplified and shortened” versions of songs, ranging from basic chord progressions to full riffs. If you’re there to learn a full song from start to finish, then you may need to look elsewhere, but for getting started with playing famous riffs, it’s excellent.
It clearly benefits Fender to start building brand loyalty right from the start of a new player’s journey, but with Fender Play there’s nothing cynical or half-hearted about their lessons. It’s simply the best online guitar learning tool for beginners right now – and that’s saying something in the face of some very stiff competition.
Read our full Fender Play review
> Get 50% off an annual Fender Play subscription with code ‚guitarworld50′
Best for content volume
Best for content volume
Specifications
Price: $29/£21 per month, $249/£178 per year or $2,499/£1,800 for a lifetime
Free trial: 30 days
Dedicated app: Yes
Key features: 40,000 lessons, 30,000 tabs, 20,000 jam tracks and new courses uploaded weekly
Reasons to buy
Huge spectrum of courses
Impressive variety of genres
Tuition standard is very high
Celeb educators
Reasons to avoid
Overwhelming at first
Premium content costs extra
Song library is weak
Who is this for?
🫵 Players with time on their hands. There is so much content available through TrueFire that you will never be short of lessons to learn and content to absorb – as long as you have the time to find what you’re looking for.
At a glance
✅ Buy if you want content and lots of it: As long as you know what you’re looking for, TrueFire has the biggest collection of lessons online right now. 80,000 and counting…
❌ Don’t buy if you want a cheap option: Although not extortionate, TrueFire is costlier than our other recommendations; in some cases it’s double the price. We’d suggest taking the 30 day trial before you commit to this one.
Ratings
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★☆
Overall ★★★★★
While many of us will have spent time on YouTube lapping up as many free lessons as we can, there are plenty of guitarists out there who would happily pay for something a bit more structured – let’s face it, structured content is the modus operandi of most of the online lessons platforms in this guide. And we would certainly recommend going down the structured route rather than cherry-picking lessons from different tutors online. You may miss out on learning critical skills, especially if you’re a beginner.
TrueFire is a great option, with more lessons, tabs and jam tracks than you’ll ever realistically need – the highest volume of content out of all our recommendations – along with a selection of well-respected teachers and star tutors to learn from.
Beginners may be overwhelmed by the amount of content as the site isn’t laid out in the most easy-to-navigate way and finding what you need can take time. But once you locate and access the right course for you we found the content itself to be first-rate. We’d recommend starting with the Learning Paths, which are a structured route into learning. They’re very beginner-friendly, going right back to basics. If you’re more advanced, the search bar is your oyster!
We particularly like the slow-mo and looping features within the videos, where you can single out a tricky passage and have it repeated slowly until you nail it. It’s a simple trick, and not exclusive to TrueFire, but one that we use a lot and will work wonders on your playing.
TrueFire isn’t the cheapest option on this list – especially the ‘lifetime’ membership which would buy you a secondhand car – but it’s a tool that will see you far beyond those first baby steps on the instrument.
Read our full TrueFire review
> Save 30% off an All-Access TrueFire with code GWTF30
Best for usability and navigation
Best for usability, navigation and fun!
Specifications
Price: $15 per month, $120 per year
Free trial: 7 days
Dedicated app: Yes
Key features: Loads of videos, great presenters, different sections for guitar method, lessons and courses, teaches you 500 songs in 5 days, live videos
Reasons to buy
Comprehensive
Multiple likeable presenters
Teaches in a fun way
Well laid out
Updated regularly
Reasons to avoid
Some may be overwhelmed by all the choice at first
Who is this for?
🫵 Players who like to supplement their core lessons with unique, interesting content to help them think outside the box and become a more well-rounded player.
At a glance
✅ Buy if you’re on a budget: Guitareo is one of the most affordable platforms out there.
❌ Don’t buy if you’re a beginner who doesn’t know where to start: With so much content on hand, there’s a touch of option paralysis when you first join, so beginners should tread carefully.
Ratings
Layout/design ★★★★★
Usability ★★★★☆
Features ★★★★☆
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★½
Newcomer Guitareo contains a massive selection of mostly bite-sized videos and other resources that teach you how to play guitar. If you’re a complete beginner, they’ll take you right from the start, covering all the basic information you need, without it ever seeming patronizing. The aim is to get you playing straight away – regardless of your age – and from our experience using the platform they’ve done a good job of making it both fun and easy to understand.
If you want to look into things like ear training and theory, then you can do – we found that there are loads of resources on Guitareo that cover these areas. The more you search through what Guitareo has to offer, the more you realize how much information is in there.
There are separate sections on the website that help you in different areas; there are courses in particular genres, key guitar method lessons, a section for learning 500 songs in 5 days, cool features like how to prepare for a recording session and more. And this is something we really love about Guitareo – they don’t just go for the tried and tested lessons, they inject plenty of thought, creativity and fun into their content, presenting budding players with exciting challenges and interesting concepts to explore.
Of course, if you just want to be taught how to start playing the guitar, then you can simply go through the step-by-step lessons.
One the most striking things for us was that it was well laid out and easy to navigate. It’s possible to feel a little overwhelmed by everything at first, but we quickly settled into how the site worked and found it to be really intuitive and simple.
Read our full Guitareo review
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Best for big-name tutors
Best for big-name tutors
Specifications
Price: Three-month plan $35/£25 per month, six-month plan $30/£21 per month, or annual plan $23.25/£16.50 per month
Free trial: Sample lessons available
Dedicated app: No
Key features: Over 50k video lessons
Reasons to buy
Video Exchange feedback is remarkable
Top quality tuition
Big-name teachers
Reasons to avoid
Not cheap
Subscription limited to one ’school‘ at a time
Who is this for?
🫵 Guitarists who like a bit of star power with their lessons and who enjoy getting feedback on their playing.
At a glance
✅ Buy if you want feedback from famous faces: There’s no better way to play like your heroes than to learn from them. And ArtistWorks‘ star tutors – like Paul Gilbert – will personally assess your playing.
❌ Don’t buy if you’re on a budget: While personalized feedback from pro players is super cool, you will pay more than standard for the privilege. It’s up to you if you think the extra outlay is worth it.
Ratings
Layout/design ★★★★☆
Usability ★★★★☆
Features ★★★★★
Songs ★★★★★
Overall ★★★★½
One thing you can miss out on with online learning is the feedback you’d get from a real-life instructor. It’s all very well plugging away on your own, but it’s handy to have an experienced player point out something seemingly insignificant in your technique – a stray finger here or a different pick angle there – that will stop bad habits forming further down the line.
ArtistWorks goes big on this personal touch. Not only do they harness the expertise of renowned instructors – including Paul Gilbert, Andy McKee and Jared James Nichols – users can also submit their own videos for assessment. Your allocated instructor will review your playing and respond with a full and detailed video, pointing out places you can improve. This level of feedback is invaluable and in the past has only been available through face-to-face lessons.
To top it off, there’s also a community of students and teachers that you can reach out to with your questions.
Star tutors are not exclusive to ArtistWorks, but it is at the core of what they do, and there is still something we find very exciting about getting insight from the players we idolize.
The courses themselves are comprehensive, extensive and go deep on key topics. They’ve clearly left