Recommended Guitar Sites
This is a review of an online guitar training website that I have been a member of since 2007. I hope my review can help you make an informed decision about learning guitar.
It’s the oldest guitar learning websites that I know of. It started back in 1998 and has been growing every year since.
Ask yourself this question: “Since I’m teaching myself country guitar online, wouldn’t it be best to learn from a site that’s been around for years?”
What’s Inside the Members Area?
Over the years new additions have been added to improve the membership areas along with new videos being added almost daily.
A view of the members area once you login.
Where Do I Start?
When you login for the first time it may seem a bit overwhelming. As you can see, there is a lot going on.
There are different categories of guitar on the left, a 
section with the newest tutorials, a section for the most popular lessons and a play list on the right side.
Your play list may be empty. As you begin going through helpful lessons you’ll add more and more for quick access.
What I recommend that you do is click the bright yellow button in the top-left corner where it says Where do I start?
This will take you to a page that will help guide you to some lessons that would be good for you based on your skill level.
For example – there is a section that has video tutorials and lessons teaching the absolute basic fundamentals of the guitar.
This is the place to start if you want the easiest and fastest way to learn guitar.
The Core Learning System
You may have noticed that graphic on the left side of the picture above that says Core Learning System.
This is a new feature that is very helpful for the new guitar player.
When you click on that graphic, you will be sent to this page:
The Core Learning System
The Core Learning System will show you the recommended path that you should take for the style of music you want to play.
For our case we would follow the country guitar route.
If I was an absolute beginner that had no clue how to play guitar, I would first click on the Guitar Fundamentals Level 1 button shown above.
This will then take me to a new page where the course begins. There are 5 chapters in this course and each chapter has 5 to 8 videos with a total of 33 videos in the course.
So, there will be a lot of learning and playing material for you in Guitar Fundamentals Level 1.
Once you have gone through Level 1, you can move on to Level 2 of the Guitar Fundamentals series.
You will be presented with another course consisting of over 40 videos teaching you more techniques and exercises to help you improve your guitar playing.
This system is designed for beginners that have just joined the website and are looking for a road map.
For the purpose of this review, we will now move on to the Country Style Level 1.
There are over 30 videos in each section teaching you techniques, chords, picking styles, rhythm and plenty of country songs.
You can spend your first couple of weeks as a member going through the Core Learning System and you’ll learn more than any guitar book or program out there.
The Instructors
Once you’ve been getting used to the Guitar Tricks website, you will start to find a number of instructors that you enjoy watching. This is what makes the Instructor page great. I often find myself coming back to watch the same instructors over and over because I really enjoy the way this particular instructor teaches and you will enjoy the way other instructors teach.
The Instructors of Guitar Tricks
This is only a top view of the page, but as you scroll down you will see more and more instructors. I counted 24 on the first page. Each instructor usually has their own style of guitar playing that they focus on – rock, blues, country, metal, jazz, etc.
I have always had fun going through the different instructors and watching their videos. I recommend you do this after you have gone through the Fundamental courses.
Jam Station
This is another section that has been updated recently and I think it is really cool. Guitar Tricks provides you with backing tracks that you can play along with to practice your improvisation skills.
The Guitar Tricks Jam Station
With your guitar in-hand, you simply select your style of music below, bringing up a list of songs to play. Once you click on a song, it will start playing from your computer speakers allowing you to play along and improvise on your own guitar.
Improvisation is a very important skill to practice as a guitar player. Being able to play and improvise with other musicians will be a vital asset to your musical abilities and guitar playing when you begin to grow more and more experienced.
The Guitar Tricks Forum
The last section I’m going to review is the Forum. Here is where you can talk about anything to other fellow members of Guitar Tricks and the instructors as well. You can ask questions about lessons that you may have been having trouble with or simply request new videos that you would love to see made.
A Glimpse of the Guitar Tricks Forum
As you can see, it is a pretty active community of musicians like you discussing guitar techniques, exercises, chords, songs and more. I have found myself asking questions to the instructors hoping to have them make videos on topics that I am struggling with.
There are individual sections on the forum for each instructor on the site. This way, you can direct your questions or suggestions straight to the instructor. That is pretty neat!
Conclusion
Ok… I must admit that after being a member for several years I really enjoy the ease of use and the quality of the video lessons and the amount of videos that are on the site.
For learning the guitar online I have found it to be far more useful than other training websites like Jamplay (which is still my 2nd favorite guitar training website).
The amounts of video lessons (over 3,000) and high quality teachings from the instructors makes this one of the most quickest and easiest guitar training programs online, if not the best.
At $14.95 per month, Guitar Tricks may not be accessible to everyone. This is why they have decided to offer a 14 day full access free trial. You can everything on the site free for 14 days. To me, this is an offer you can’t refuse…
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tip about the importance of learning scales, and the need to really understand what’s going on!
Theory can sure be boring, but it is really vital if you wish to get past a certain level.
Will definitely come back to read your country guitar lessons, as this is a style I’m very fond of. Very fulfilling, but also hard to nail just right.
Thanks Torbjorn, I usually tell beginners to play and have fun, learn songs, etc. and to not worry about theory until they’re ready to move on to the advanced levels. Guitar Tricks has a ton of info on theory which makes it much easier to learn than from a guitar book.