When it comes to learning to play guitar, many people can’t afford the time to travel to a guitar lesson, and that’s where this article will come into play.
For those who have funds available, and those that don’t this post should help you. We’ll show you a list of the top paid guitar websites, top free guitar sites, and guitar tab sites.
Contents
Top Paid Guitar Sites
As we all know, paid lessons tend to be focused, to the point, and contain more information than free ones do. These sites will cost you a bit, but you’ll gain the same amount of learning that you pay for.
GuitarTricks
The first on the list is GuitarTricks.com. With monthly fees around $15/month, it’s easily affordable for any eager guitarist who wants to fast-track the learning process. They have online instructors, videos, and songs for all members to use, and they offer a 2-week free trial period as well.
Read our full review on GuitarTricks here.
JamPlay
JamPlay.com is another great paid guitar learning site. It offers much of the same functionality as GuitarTricks, but the videos and site is a lot more polished, and the editing is of higher quality. Coming in at around $20/month, it’s a little more pricey, but you’re paying for the aesthetics, so it’s up to you to choose whether you prefer your lessons to look nice, or if it’s pure functionality that you’re after.
TheGuitarLesson
If you go onto TheGuitarLesson.com, you will find a pay-to-use website that offers a range of features and learning for any newbie guitarist. The price is up to $9/month, so that makes it the most affordable option in the list of paid guitar learning sites. The lessons offer videos, as well as online tablature and chord diagrams, so it’s perfect for beginners.
GuitarInstructor
Second last site on our list of paid guitar sites, is GuitarInstructor.com. This site has plenty for all, and the price is affordable too! Coming in at $9.99/month (or less), with a full subscription, offering access to 100s of instructors, guitar tabs, videos, and lessons. This site is definitely one to look at if you’re thinking about starting, but not sure about the price of expensive lessons.
ArtistWorks
One of the most professional of the sites in the list, ArtistWorks.com is great for anyone looking for professional online guitar lessons. This site is definitely the most expensive in this list (up to $30/month), but the benefits outweigh the costs in this case. There are videos to learn from, songs to play, and (if you pay for it), the ability to send your own video submission to the instructors for review, a feature that isn’t boasted about on any of the other sites. For the professional guitar player-to-be, this is the one to go for.
Read: Our Most Recommended Acoustic Guitars
Top Free Guitar Sites
For those who can’t afford it, or aren’t sure whether they want to pursue a career in guitar, that’s where free guitar learning sites come into the picture. These sites are perfect for “dabblers” in guitar, as they don’t require any commitments other than free membership signups. You might ask “why would someone teach for free?”. Because for some, guitar is a passion that they want to share with the world, free of charge. That’s why.
JustinGuitar
Hailed as one of the top free guitar lesson sites, JustinGuitar.com is a well thought out, intelligently structured guitar learning site. Due to it being a free site, the quality of the video editing won’t be as good as one of the paid sites, but it’s still top quality for any beginner guitarist. For those that are huge fans, JustinGuitar also does sell DVD’s of the lessons online, for any who are interested.
GuitarLessons
GuitarLessons.com is another free online guitar lesson site, with the option for paid lessons too. They offer online videos, chords, and tabs, as well as various tips and tricks for any beginner guitarist wanting to learn. The paid quality isn’t on par with some of the other paid sites listed above, but as a free site, it’s great for anyone wanting to learn.
ChordBook
Although not a site that offer lessons per se, ChordBook.com is one of the most useful websites for anyone wanting to learn chords to play their favorite songs. This site offers chord diagrams, but not just the basics. You can select any variation of any chord, and the site will show you where your fingers go, and how to play it. Definitely a site to add to your bookmarks list.
Tab and Song Sites
When it comes to guitar, learning how to play isn’t enough. You also need to add to your mental guitar repertoire, and learn a few songs. Where are the top sites to learn songs? Read below, and see for yourself!
Ultimate-Guitar
Ultimate-guitar.com is a stock-standard site for any guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, or band member. They offer chords, tabs, GuitarPro tabs (see later in this post for more info), and more. If the song exists, then chances are, you’ll find it here. And the best part, it’s free! This site also has a forum for guitarists to share tips with each other, as well as share songs they’re currently enjoying playing.
911Tabs
911tabs.com is extremely useful for all guitarists. How does it differ from Ultimate-Guitar? Because it’s a search platform, rather than a database. This site goes through the internet, and puts together a list of results based on your search parameters, but the results come from separate sites. A larger range of search results means more variations can be found on that song you like, and all guitarists LOVE variations when it comes to playing songs.
Guitar Pro Tabs
As mentioned earlier, you can find something called “Guitar Pro Tabs” on ultimate-guitar, but what are they? Guitar Pro is a paid software, that not only allows you to compose your own guitar music, but it’s a cross-instrument tool. You can add piano, drums, strings, guitars, and synths to a multi-track, midi player. This means you can also download tabs that others have made, and play them on your computer. The playback functionality makes it fantastic for any beginner guitarist who wants to hear a lick before they play it.
Top Guitar Blogs
Sometimes what a guitarist needs though, is not a place to teach the basics, but a forum where experts can share their more advanced tips and tricks of the trade. That’s where guitar blogs come in to the picture. They act as a platform for the aforementioned experts, as well as beginners who are sharing what they learn, as they learn it.
PremierGuitar
The first in our list has earned its place as a respected guitar blog. This blog covers all genres of guitar playing, from jazz, to pop, to rock, to funk, to fusion. If you want to learn about it, this blog covers it. PremierGuitar.com not only has posts on how to play guitar and guitar tips, it also features news in the guitar world, such as new tech and guitars that are on the market. With over 20 new posts per week, it’s no surprise that this blog made it onto our list.
Reddit | Guitar
Now you might be wondering why an online forum is listed as a blog, and if it were any other topic, you’d be justified in your questions. However, reddit.com/r/Guitar is an exception to that rule. You see, it’s made up of other like-minded guitarists, who are eager to share what they’ve learned.
This means that not only will you be able to read what they’re struggling with, but also what can help you avoid problems that you may encounter. Also, due to the sheer volume of guitarists on there, there can be well over 150 posts per week. Definitely something to look at if you’re wanting to learn about guitar from beginners like yourself.
GuitarWorld
The third guitar blog on our list worth reading and subscribing to, is GuitarWorld.com. This blog has a more professional feel and look, as it features interviews with musicians, and instrument specialists. Over and above that, it features lessons, guitar tips, tricks, and music videos. Perfect for any budding guitarist looking to enter the world of professional musicians.
Honorable Mention
This list of online guitar lessons wouldn’t be complete without mentioning one more site. The site that deserves an honorable mention is none other than YouTube. You might be scratching your head at this, thinking “why is a music video site on a guitar post?”. Remember that YouTube is a video sharing platform, and it’s one of the largest collections of online guitar lessons you can find, all for free.
YouTube has everything from general guitar lessons, such as “how to play a C chord”, to more advanced topics, such as “the best finger exercises to speed up guitar shredding”. Because of the range of videos and topics to choose from, that’s why it’s on this list.
About The Author
Hello, I am Austin and my biggest passion in life is guitar. I am playing since my childhood and now I want to meet new people and exchange the experience. Playing the guitar nowadays becomes a little bit mainstream, that’s why I am trying to experiment with sound and music to create something unusual and cool.
You might also consider Quora’s Mastering Guitar space https://masteringguitar.quora.com, with 453,000 members. This doesn’t fit any of the categories above, but it might just be what someone needs. It’s about beginner, intermediate and advanced guitarists sharing learning, and follows a question/answer format to support people in moving up to the next leve.