Do you have a song that you really like but it’s really hard to play?
Well, thanks to the websites such as Guitar Tricks, you don’t have to build your ear training skills so hard as they have a bunch of interesting videos that will show you exactly how to play them.
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Table of Contents
Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons
What is Guitar Tricks?
Guitar Tricks were established in 1998, and nowadays they are one of the biggest websites for online guitar learning, providing you with numerous professional lessons for learning guitar on your own.
If you find any struggle, you can ask Guitar Trick teachers and solve the problem directly.
Photo credit: musiciantuts.com
Who Provides the Lessons in Guitar Tricks?
There are almost 40 teachers available at the moment on Guitar Tricks. Most of them are trained music teachers who are teaching their favorite music genres or instruments and some of them are also appearing in the Core Learning System when needed.
In both cases, you have a 60 day money-back period included in both memberships.
How Many Lessons Are on Guitartricks?
The main lessons are organized into 10 courses, but besides those lessons, every teacher has a set of unique lessons suitable for a certain genre, so for example, if you want to find out a bit more about Funk Guitars, check Joel Van Dijk’s profile. Be prepared to navigate among 11,000 of both theory and song lessons.
Photo credit: medium.com
Does Guitar Tricks Teach Theory?
Yes, Guitar Trick has specific lessons that show you how to apply theory in practice. Here’s a short insight what you may expect to find with full Membership:
- Country Style Music Theory
- Minor Triads and Inversions
- The Secret Power of I, IV, and V
- Harmonic Variations: Substitutions
How Much Does Guitar Tricks Cost?
Guitar Tricks have two options regarding the membership fee. If you want to pay monthly, the price will be $19.95. But, if you opt for an annual subscription, you will pay only $179 which means you will get a 25% discount, plus additional packs of songwriting toolbox, chord theory, and 60 tracks of blues and rock jam tracks so you can play along once you build your playing technique.
Photo credit: appliedguitartheory.com
Does Guitar Tricks Offer a Free Trial?
Yes, Guitar Tricks offers a 14-day free trial period. However, credit card or PayPal information is required so after the initial 14 days of trial membership are over, the monthly membership will renew automatically unless you cancel it.
Fortunately, the cancellation process is simplified, so you shouldn’t have any problems with unwanted transactions.
What Devices Can You Use Guitar Tricks On?
Guitar Tricks can be used respectively on Win and Mac computers and it extends even further towards Android and iOS handheld devices, but we still recommend you to use a desktop or laptop browser for the best user experience.
Guitar Tricks
PROS
CONS
Pros
Here are the positives of Guitar Trick:
Fastest and Easiest Learning System
Guitar Tricks learning system is mostly focused on people who are just starting or they have a lot to learn or rework about their guitar playing. They have a streamlined learning experience so thanks to the Core Learning System, newbies won’t feel lost once they log in.
First, the Core Learning System teaches you the bare essentials in two easy, comprehensive, and friendly courses, and then, based on your personal preference you’re picking between the four most usual guitar music paths.
Many Songs Analyzed
We love how detailed the Guitar Tricks database is. So many contemporary songs are analyzed in detail and you have both basic, amateur-friendly songs and those extremely demanding songs from Dream Theater, Megadeth, Pantera, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Killswitch Engage, and many others.
The categorization of these songs is worth mentioning, too. Besides simple browsing by the band or entering a keyword search, you can also browse them by using descriptive and comprehensive sub-genres, so you can pick rock songs from the ‘80s for example, or just focus on the most famous rock riffs throughout history.
Photo credit: wearemausi.com
In-depth Artist Analysis Course
If you have a favorite band, let’s say AC/DC, you can watch the special course dedicated to their guitar work only. It’s not just about how to make a sound or how to play lead like Angus Young. Guitar Tricks are covering artists’ mindset at first so you can understand how their song arrangements are done in the first place.
Such a course approach is truly unique on the market and once you understand their workflow it will be much easier to cope with what they are playing as you will be a bit more connected.
Affordable Way to Learn Guitar
Private guitar lessons can easily become extremely expensive. With Guitar Tricks, for the price of the six or seven average private hours, you’re getting annual access to all lessons Guitar Tricks has available. Plus, there is always an option to contact the teacher and ask him about specific lesson advice or additional tips.
All Content is Downloadable
Besides the option to download notation, lyrics, and well-made play-along jam tracks, you can also download any lessons you need and take them with you anywhere you go.
This feature will be convenient if you plan to practice on any vacation where being online is a bit of a luxury.
Cons
Drawbacks includes:
Electric and Acoustic Guitar Choice Should Be Included
Not all players have both acoustic and electric guitars at home so while the Core system is quite intuitive, teachers switching from one to another type of guitar might be a bit awkward as the neck size and the string action isn’t the same on those two model types.
No Kids-Oriented Courses
Guitar Tricks did a great job with making whole progress streamlined for newbies, but it’s a pity that they didn’t provide kid-friendly content. Kids can handle the basic Core courses, of course, but real kids-oriented lessons would be much more appreciated, especially as some of Guitar Tricks teachers have a great methodical approach.
Navigation System Could Be a Bit Better
While everything is streamlined for complete beginners, we found some odd organization problems.
Like, when you login, you will find an easy way to select either what Core course you want, but there is no page where we could find the list of all lessons. Even the tab called “Learn the Style of Guitar” isn’t intuitive enough so we were wondering where we could find the list of all lessons at first.
Photo credit: theguitarlesson.com
What Buyers Report
Buyers comment that Guitar Tricks lessons are very easy to follow while newbies say that they made real progress with the Core Learning System and feel like the subscription fee matches the content they are getting. This goes especially for video quality which is very often described as outstanding.
They are also glad that teachers tend to repeat important stuff whenever it’s necessary so you won’t have to rewind the lessons. The idea of showing “how” first and “why” later when you have playing skills formed seems to be a terrific approach for many first-time players.
Customer support seems to be very responsive and reliable, and there were no real records found about refund issues. People especially like that their requests about song requests are being heard.
The only complaint is addressed to the lack of an interactive lesson approach. For them, it feels like the Guitar Tricks system is a bit too theory oriented so you may lose interest quickly unless you’re devoted to learning how to play the guitar. Missing the auto-scroll function for the notation system is also a bit of a technical let-down.
Also, some guitar playing styles lessons may have a bit of a knowledge gap if you’re advancing directly from beginners’ lessons so be prepared to work hard.
How Do Guitar Trick Lessons Work?
On the homepage, you can pick the course that suits you the most. Two upper fields are dedicated to Beginners and Experienced courses of Core Learning System and beneath there is a tab for Song and Playing Technique courses based on a genre you’re interested in.
Whatever course you pick, the experience is pretty much the same. You play the lesson and watch multi-video content. The video can be altered in speed up to 2 times faster or slower. On the right, if it’s available for a particular lesson, there will be a notation. This panel can be hidden if necessary.
On the bottom left there is an info tab about the course and tabs for notations and jam tracks. On the other side tutorial content is listed along with the progress bar and options to mark the lesson as favorite, download the lesson or the notation files, and the alternative view.
Types of Lessons By Guitar Tricks
There are four types of lessons available on the Guitar Tricks:
Beginner’s Core Learning System
There are two fundamental courses that you need to master until you move to the next segment. How to hold a guitar, learn the basics about finger positioning, learn various strumming, and picking patterns, and so on.
These lessons are general and relate to any genre and both acoustic and electric guitar.
Experienced Core Learning System
This is where the real fun starts - based on the music preferences you may choose blue, rock, country, or acoustic style and learn the techniques often used in those genres. These lessons should make you close to the advanced guitar player level.
Photo credit: guitargrit.com
Song Courses
Song lessons are very detailed and they are organized either by band name or by a very intuitive subgenre. Guitar Tricks is breaking the song down into smaller portions so you can master piece by piece and then play all together.
Guitar Styles Courses
There are a bunch of nice lessons that couldn’t fit into the Core Learning System. Those lessons are organized based on the guitar playing style. Within those lessons, you will also find various Artist Study courses.
When Would Guitar Tricks Be the Best Choice?
We feel that Guitar Tricks would be the best choice for all beginners. The system they have organized is made so well, so you can focus on playing instead of browsing appropriate lessons for your level.
Once your playing skills evolve, you will have an option to pick a course based on the genre that’s related to you the most. And the membership price seems to be alright - if you find guitar playing is not for you or you want to take a break during holidays, the monthly fee won’t break your bank, unlike other guitars online learning websites.
Photo credit: zinginstruments.com
How Does Guitar Tricks Compare?
Let’s check what makes Guitar Tricks different from the rest of the competition.
Guitar Tricks vs Jamplay
Both websites provide a huge amount of lessons for various music genres.
However, Jamplay seems to be more detailed and for genres, it feels metal oriented a bit too much.
As for pricing, Jamplay provides an annual subscription only. This subscription option may feel a bit too much for newbies.
So unless you’re an advanced player interested in learning and polishing your skills, Guitar Tricks is a better call. It will provide a much larger professional song database, too.
Photo credit: top-guitars.co.uk
Yousician vs Guitar Tricks
While Guitar Tricks take a standard video teaching approach, Yousician is more like playing Guitar Hero using a real-life guitar. Or should we say Duolingo for guitar?
This might be an ideal way of teaching for the youngsters and we’re sure it will be a lot more fun than Guitar Tricks. But it’s the progress you should be interested in eventually.
While Yousician can be a great learning tool, on a monthly subscription it’s as expensive as Guitar Tricks so the value per money is much higher with Guitar Tricks.
But, the Yousician free version might be a good way to start for the first month or two combined with some basic YouTube videos.
Fender Play vs Guitar Tricks
Fender Play provides about the same type of services as Guitar Tricks or JamPlay. So what’s different, then?
Well, a lot of effort is invested in creating a working handheld platform. It’s one of the best apps out there.
Fender Play also hits the sweet spot between those interactive tutorials like Yousician have and real teaching that comes with Guitar Tricks. We love the “path” system and how progress bars look.
Pricing is also on Fender's side. It’s the cheapest service among those learning platforms so while it may not give you that excessive song library or not so in-depth lessons, it will still have enough content so you can learn how to play the guitar using the Fender Play app only. It’s also worth mentioning that you can use it for bass and ukulele learning as well.
Photo credit: guitarniche.com
JustinGuitar vs Guitar Tricks
JustinGuitar offers free guitar lessons and it should be okay for starting. It comes with video format lessons just like Guitar Tricks and will have enough content to teach you guitar basics.
But, as we know, nothing is free online. So while the lessons are fine and the ads are not problematic, there is still a constant temptation to buy some DVDs from the offer. We find this a bit misleading because for the price of one DVD you could pay two months of membership on GuitarTricks and end up learning much more.
Nevertheless, JustinGuitar can be a great tool if you’re short on money at the moment. It may also work great for initial training, so, once you decide to move forward, websites like Guitar Tricks can jump in.
What Makes Guitar Tricks Stand Out From the Competition?
Guitar Tricks is one of the most profound guitar learning websites. Courses have very detailed lessons and the production behind those videos is truly professional.
It feels like they have put extra care to provide you with quality content instead of focusing on quantity. This is especially noticeable on courses made for total beginners. If you belong to this group, we couldn’t recommend a better website.
But, if you still need quantity, the song lessons collections available at Guitar Tricks are pretty much up-to-date so you will probably find most of the songs you need.
Guitar Tips for Beginners
If you’re still uncertain should you join Guitar Tricks, here are some tips that may help you meanwhile. Most of those tips are based on the lessons you will find there:
Take Your Time
You don’t have to play a complete version of your favorite songs at once. Find beginner’s versions and just jam along.
As your skill develops, you will understand what parts should be played differently.
Play in Time
Photo credit: guitarrepairbench.com
Playing with a metronome is probably the best advice you will ever find. If you implement metronome from the beginning you will be two steps ahead of any other guy. Being “on time” is something you will get only if you practice properly.
It will also help you a lot when the time comes to hit the stage.
Save Your Money
If you have a guitar that has a proper intonation and decent fretboard, the only thing you should invest in the proper set of strings. Having an expensive guitar won’t make you sound pro. If you’re unsure, please go ahead and give your instrument to any guitar player you find more advanced than you and take a listen.
Conclusion
Learning to play the guitar has never been easier. You won’t have to leave your home at all. Instead, you can practice in silence as long as you like without feeling ashamed because of your modest beginnings.
And what seems to be the best part, with Guitar Tricks, you’re getting a lot of value for the money.
Photo credit: musicgroupies.com
People Also Ask
There are many questions about guitar theory and lessons, so let’s find some that could be relevant for your Guitar Tricks course and see what does, power or barre chord means and let’s remind you why Guitar Tricks is good for beginners and what kind of lessons you should expect there.
How Long Should a Beginner Practice Guitar?
While even the 15 minutes can be enough, the best results are acquired if you practice for at least 45 minutes every day. There is no limit to how much you can practice everyday, just don’t push yourself too hard - it won’t help anyone, especially not your learning progress.
What is a Root Note?
The root note is the first note of every scale and is also found in the name of the chord. So, for the C major chord, the root note will be C.
If you're uncertain what chord you’re playing, the root note should be the lowest tone you’re playing on your guitar.
What is a Power Chord?
The Power Chord is a chord that’s using only two or three strings using only root notes and fifths combined. Those chords are called “power” because they are frequently used as the foundation of many rock songs combined with the distortion and overdrive effect.
Photo credit: guitartricks.com
What is a Barre Chord?
Barre Chord is a handy trick where you’re using your index finger instead of a capo. It covers all the strings simulating an open string position so the rest of your fingers will have an easier task of pressing the corresponding strings to form a particular chord.
Is Guitar Tricks Good for Beginners?
Guitar Tricks is our favorite platform for beginners. Their approach seems to have a slight edge over other websites on the market as the whole system feels more organized and biased towards complete beginners. It seems there will be a smaller chance to get lost between all the courses and options.
Does Guitar Tricks Teach You How to Set Up a New Guitar?
Guitar Trick has certain lessons that talk about setting up a guitar from the aspect of a specific genre, but there are no general lessons available at the moment. Luckily, there are many videos available on YouTube that could help you with issues like these.
Is Guitar Tricks Worth it?
We can’t find enough good words about Guitar Tricks service. If you’re devoted to becoming a guitar player, it will be hard to find a better value for money ratio. We’re pretty sure it will save you a lot of money for paying personal teachers.
How Old Do You Need to Be to Take Guitar Lessons on Guitar Tricks?
It’s pretty much individual as kids grow up at their own pace. Bear in mind that those lessons weren’t tailored for kids specifically, so, in general, we wouldn’t recommend basic lessons to kids under the age of 10 while some advanced lessons will require at least the age of 15.
