This Guitar Tricks Review will tell you everything you need to know before you buy it.
Guitar Tricks gets rave reviews from guitar websites. But is it worth the hype?
Yes and no. Read on to find out why…
Pros:
- More challenging for intermediate and advanced players.
- We’ll-structured beginner and intermediate courses
- Long free trial and money off your first year
Cons:
- Poorly structured advanced courses
- Limited song selection
Score
Lessons: 7/10
Quality: 8/10
Tools: 8/10
Songs: 5/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Overall score: 7.2
Guitar Tricks was the first online guitar lessons platform I used. I had it for two years.
Although it improved my guitar technique I felt that it had a few limitations that let it down.
Let’s take a look at how the different elements stack up.
Lessons
Guitar Tricks has a great structure for beginners and intermediate players.
Complete beginners start off taking the two-part fundamentals course before choosing a style to focus on.
They can choose from rock, blues, country, or acoustic. Each style then also has a level one and two.
You can also get courses on other styles. But these are more like a loose collection of lessons.
Guitar Tricks’ lessons offer a much broader range of difficulties which makes it more suited to experienced guitarists.
Unfortunately, the lessons don’t knit together very well once you get to level two which lets it down.
I took the blues course and found myself learning various phrases with no clear idea of why or how to use them.
But they are pretty challenging and I found they helped improve my general technique
Quality
Guitar Tricks isn’t as polished and slick as Fender Play. But it’s still very professional.
Most of the lesson videos are good quality, with multiple camera angles and clear explanations. The teachers are excellent.
Some videos feel very dated – however, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the lesson itself isn’t good.
Tools
Guitar Tricks comes with the usual interface – you can slow it down, speed it up, or view as tab.
It comes with a good selection of tools including jam tracks, metronomes and a tuner. The tools are no thrills than Fender’s but that’s a good thing – they are practical and functional.
Progress tracking is there but is nowhere near as compelling as other platforms – there’s no gamification like on Fender Play.
Songs
This is where Guitar Tricks really falls flat.
It’s got a lot of songs, but a poor selection of artists – they’ve got plenty of big names in there but a lot the most popular guitar songs are missing.
I tried looking up some songs that I needed to learn for my rock covers band and couldn’t find 90% of them.
One benefit Guitar Tricks has over Fender Play is that the songs teach the whole song – not just the basics – once again, this makes it better for more advanced players.
Value for money
Guitar Tricks is pretty good value for money.
The free trial is excellent – you get full access for a full month.
After that it’s $19.95 per month or $179 per year.
It also often has special offers. For example, first-timers are usually offered 20% off an annual subscription.
It also offers a 60 day money back guarantee – which is useful.
One very interesting feature is that you can pay an additional $39 for a fully personalized lesson plan. I haven’t tried this, so I’m not sure how good it is.
Conclusion
Guitar Tricks is an excellent platform for learning guitar. It aims to have something for all levels of ability.
But other platforms are better for beginners and Guitar Tricks’ offering for advanced players isn’t as polished – this means most people will be able to find more suitable lessons.