Alexis Kestler
Learning to play guitar can feel like an impossible mountain to climb at first. But with the right guidance and tools, anyone can go from complete beginner to strumming songs in no time.
As someone who picked up the guitar later in life, I know the struggles first-hand. I tried using just YouTube videos and song tabs at first. Without structured lessons or feedback, I ended up developing a lot of bad habits. My progress was painfully slow.
That all changed when I discovered guitar learning apps. The best apps provide personalized lessons, gaming features, and smart tools that finally allowed me to advance my skills.
In this guide, we’ll uncover the benefits of learning guitar with apps and review 12 top options for both beginners and experienced players. I’ll share the features I loved about each app based on my own trials. My goal is to help you discover the perfect guitar teacher to put on your smartphone!
Why Learn Guitar with an App?
Mobile apps can be transformative for mastering the guitar. Here are some of the biggest advantages over just using free online videos and tabs:
Personalized Lessons
Apps provide structured lessons that adapt to your skill level. They start with basics like holding the guitar properly and build up to advanced techniques systematically. Having a personalized learning path kept me advancing efficiently.
Games and Challenges
Practice gets boring quick. Apps incorporate games and challenges that test your skills while keeping things fun. Seeing scores and hitting milestones along the way was hugely motivating for me.
Get Feedback Instantly
Rather than play for months reinforcing bad habits, apps can listen to you play and provide instant feedback. This accountability helped me self-correct early before mistakes got ingrained.
Immersive Experience
Apps like Rocksmith make learning feel like a real game by responding to your playing in cool ways. The interactivity kept me engaged for hours.
Tools in One Place
You get tools like a tuner, metronome, chord library, and tab player integrated seamlessly. Tabs in a YouTube video? No more pausing and jumping between apps.
Convenience
You can practice small bursts whenever you have free time. Apps enabled me to advance my skills in spare moments I would have otherwise wasted.
Self-Confidence
There‘s something about positive feedback and leveling up that builds a sense of self-efficacy. I felt like I was making measurable progress which gave me the confidence to keep practicing.
While in-person lessons also provide these benefits, apps give you similar features and interactivity at a fraction of the price. Let‘s look at some top options for both beginners and experienced players.
Top 12 Guitar Learning Apps
For Complete Beginners
Just starting out with guitar myself, I tried a number of apps aimed at absolute basics. These 3 stood out from the crowd:
Fender Play
Fender Play offers the cleanest interface and structure for beginners in my experience. The step-by-step video lessons start by getting you comfortable just holding the guitar properly.
I loved how they sprinkled in music theory concepts along the way. This gave me a foundation to build on rather than just memorizing chord shapes. Lessons cover both electric and acoustic.
Standout Features:
- Simple structured path
- Clear visuals of hand positioning
- Excellent instructors who teach fundamentals well
Justin Guitar
Justin Guitar starts with a module called Beginner‘s Course that provides everything a newbie needs to start playing actual songs within a couple weeks.
I liked the focus on a logical progression. You learn just enough music theory to understand chord construction. Practice sessions emphasize changes between common chords to build muscle memory.
Unlocking access to the song bank kept things fun by letting me try easy versions of popular tunes.
Standout Features:
- Minimal theory upfront – just enough to be useful
- Guide for transitioning between basic chords
- Song unlock system
Yousician
Of the beginner apps I tested, Yousician gamified the experience the most. Challenges, quests, and rewards made tedious practice kind of addicting.
The Path feature creates a customized lesson plan. I liked how it focused on my weak areas so I could level up skills evenly.
The roster of instructors is top-notch. They teach concepts in digestible ways, not just showing chords.
Standout Features:
- Path personalization
- Addicting game elements
- Quality video instructors
For Intermediate Players
Once I developed some basic guitar competence, I looked to apps to advance my skills and technique in genre-specific ways. Here are 3 that worked for me:
Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks has the sheer volume of lessons intermediate players need – over 11,000 on everything from theory to fingerstyle.
I love how they distill concepts down into Core Learning Systems. This allowed me to fill in gaps in my knowledge efficiently.
Standout Features:
- Core Learning approach to build competencies
- Tons of material to expand skills
- Genre-based paths
Rocksmith+
Rocksmith+ is like Guitar Hero meets a serious teaching tool. It makes learning so much fun that I practiced for hours without getting bored.
The dynamic difficulty adjusts so I could play simplified versions of songs at first, then more advanced arrangements later. Seeing the notes fall on screen and hearing how I‘m meant to sound is super helpful.
Standout Features:
- Addictive game-like experience
- Dynamic difficulty
- Huge catalog of popular songs
Fret Flip
For building chops, I found Fret Flip great for drilling scale patterns and chord shapes.
The visualization maps everything clearly on an interactive fretboard. Quizzes and speed trials track how accurately you‘re memorizing the patterns.
I improved my technique rapidly once muscle memory kicked in. This is a specialty app, but incredibly useful for building intermediate skills.
Standout Features:
- Interactive visualizations
- Quizzes to build muscle memory
- Speed trials
Apps with Specialty Functions
Beyond core learning, some apps provide awesome specialty tools. Here are 4 worth checking out:
Guitar Tuna
Forget carrying around a separate tuner. Guitar Tuna provides the most precise tuner right in an app, plus metronomes for speed training.
The tuner works by listening to notes played. I always have it on hand for quick tuning checks before I play.
Standout Features:
- Listening tuner
- Metronome tools
- Quick access
Ultimate Guitar
Ultimate Guitar shines for its absolute mammoth catalog of guitar tabs. It has accurate tabs for basically any song you could want to learn.
Tabs display notes, timing, and techniques used. I loved supplementing lessons with quality tabs for hit songs.
Standout Features:
- Massive tab database
- Accurate community tab submissions
- Tab playback tools
Songsterr
Similar to Ultimate Guitar, Songsterr specializes in tablature – but with added perks.
I especially appreciated the full sync of tab scrolling with synthesized audio playback. Looping smaller sections for practice is really useful as well.
Standout Features:
- Synced tab and playback
- Looping capability
- Player customization
Smart Chords and Tools
If you want every guitar tool under the sun in one app, Smart Chords and Tools fits the bill. It has a tuner, metronome, massive chord library, and more.
I keep this installed as a Swiss army knife of guitar utilities. It‘s an impressive all-in-one toolbox.
Standout Features:
- Chord library for 1,000+ songs
- Metronome with rhythm trainer
- Scales, arpeggios, and fretboard learning features
Which App is Best for You?
With so many excellent guitar learning apps available now, which one is right for you? Here are the key factors I‘d consider:
- Skill level – are you a complete beginner or intermediate player?
- Music tastes – what genres do you want to learn?
- Learning style – do you prefer tab, videos, games, etc?
- Goal – casual or want to seriously advance skills?
- Budget – free or willing to pay a subscription cost?
It also helps to download free trials when available so you can get a feel for the teaching style and features before committing.
Making the Most of Guitar Apps
Based on my experience, here are some tips to get the most value out of guitar learning apps:
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Use apps as a supplement – Don‘t give up human teachers entirely if possible. Apps are great for practice between lessons.
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Focus on one app – Stick to a single app for core learning so your skills build methodically. Add others later for specific techniques.
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Practice consistently – Try for at least 15-20 mins daily. Apps can teach you anything, but consistent practice is how skills improve.
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Isolate problem areas – Use reporting features to identify weaknesses. Go back and work on lessons for those skills specifically.
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Have fun with it! – Apps that gamify learning help motivation tremendously. Enjoy the journey!
Applying Skills Outside of the App
While apps provide tons of value, don‘t get trapped just playing songs in the app. It‘s important to apply your new skills in real life too:
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Play without assistance – Try songs you learned in the app unplugged. Focus on accuracy and timing without prompts.
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Perform for others – Ask friends to listen to songs you‘ve mastered. This develops confidence in your abilities.
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Improvise – Noodle to backing tracks and see what you can come up with solo. This builds creativity.
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Join a band – Nothing will accelerate your progress like jamming with other musicians. Look for beginner-friendly groups.
The most rewarding moments will come from sharing your guitar skills with the world. Apps provide the perfect training ground to reach that stage.
Learning Guitar Takes Time – Stick With It
As a beginner, I often got frustrated that my skills weren‘t advancing quicker. I had to keep in mind that becoming a skilled guitarist requires tremendous patience and persistence.
Having quality lessons and tools via apps helps efficiency tremendously. But it still takes hundreds if not thousands of hours of practice to become truly proficient.
My advice is to set small achievable goals each week. Maybe you want to master 2 new chords or finally nail a chord change smoothly. Celebrate these micro wins along the way.
Over time, those micro wins compound into a set of skills that lets you strum your favorite songs fluidly. If you stick with it, you‘ll get there!
So download a great learning app, grab your guitar, and let the journey begin. I hope this guide gave you some helpful recommendations to start rocking out. Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to chat more about learning guitar.
