Are you having a hard time finding the right way to learn how to play the guitar? There are a ton of different sites where you can receive the best online guitar lessons, but Guitareo claims to be in a league of its own.
In this article, we're breaking down Guitareo as an online guitar-teaching website to see how much you can really get out of it.
We'll cover what Guitareo is, how the platform works, their membership plans, what's included in the curriculum, and more.
Guitareo looks to give their users video lessons that can be taken at their own pace, creating one of the best online music teaching platforms for beginners and advanced players alike.
Keep reading to see how exactly Guitareo can take your strumming patterns to the next level.
What Is Guitareo?
Guitareo, in their own words, is "an online platform that offers an organized guitar lesson curriculum, artist courses on popular topics, 1000+ songs transcribed note-for-note, and a supportive global community of students and teachers."
In short, Guitareo is an online guitar teaching platform that claims to have entry-level guitar lessons and advanced lessons as well.
Guitareo comes with two versions for their users to buy: a standard Guitareo version and Guitareo+. Guitareo+ comes with all the bells and whistles of the standard version, plus the ability to play over 1,000+ songs transcribed onto the site.
This is a great addition for someone looking to experience all the lessons the site has to offer.
The site immediately displays its coaches and teachers on the front page, detailing what exactly you can learn from their instruction.
Some students may want a coach who focuses on creativity while other students may look for online lessons that are centered on the fundamentals. Luckily, Guitareo seems to provide both.
The Instructors
While the site isn't centered around any one person, Ayla Tesler-Mabe is featured heavily. For those who don't know, she's a former member of the band Calpurnia and a current Fender and Ernie Ball artist.
The site also features popular YouTuber Rob Scallon, who runs a channel with over 2.4 million subscribers.
One of the biggest benefits of using Guitareo and its video lessons is the wide array of teachers you can learn from. You can log in and learn a new guitar technique from renowned music instructor Nate Savage or try an acoustic guitar course from a graduate of the Musicians Institute, David Becker.
Membership Options - Plans and Pricing
While writing this Guitareo review, one of our favorite features of the site is its upfront, no-nonsense pricing. The site claims to offer two plans, one for their standard version and another for Guitareo+, but we could only find one price for one of the plans.
Guitareo offers a $30 monthly membership to access all of their site, or you can save $10 a month by buying a year outright for $240.
While it was nice to see a price without having to create an account, we wonder how much the standard Guitareo is. We've seen other sites say $15 a month, but without any evidence, there is no way to confirm.
Guitareo+ seems to be a good deal at both $20 and $30 a month, depending on how long you need to learn. Getting a membership with Guitareo unlocks their sister sites as well: Drumeo, Singeo, and Pianote. These are sites that will help you learn to play the drums, or piano, or learn how to sing.
If you want to learn how to play your favorite songs, the Guitareo platform seems to be able to help you.
What You'll Need for Courses and Lessons
Guitareo is a website that specializes in teaching guitar, so you'll need a guitar to get the most out of the site.
You don't need to be an expert guitar player or worry about cramming in more advanced lessons before you hop on the site, as anyone can use Guitareo to learn guitar online.
To get the most out of Guitareo, all you'll need is a good computer and internet connection that can handle a video lesson and an open space for your practice sessions.
How Does Guitareo Work?
Guitareo works in a relatively straightforward way. You first log into the site, select which of their four main lesson groups you'd like to start with, and then take one of the video tutorials. You can take classes based on creativity, technique, and style.
Each of the lessons comes from a professional guitarist who gives you technical exercises that you can use to glean everything you can from the learning process.
The goal of Guitareo is to give you a quality learning experience through lessons focusing on everything related to the guitar.
Learning guitar should be easy for players at just about every level at Guitareo, as the courses page includes private lessons for beginning and advanced players alike.
What’s Included in the Curriculum?
Guitareo offers a 10-level curriculum featuring music theory at varying levels from a variety of teachers. The curriculum includes practical assignments and guided workouts to give you a hands-on experience.
If you don't like the curriculum, Guitareo does offer a 7-day free trial through their 7-day money-back guarantee. If you think you got a bad Guitareo lesson experience, you have a week to get your money back with no harm done.
Lastly, the curriculum includes downloadable videos and personalized support, including live lessons and jam tracks from an extensive song library.
How Is the Course Content Structured?
Guitareo's course content isn't structured in any one way. Instead, by getting a membership, Guitareo allows you to enroll in any of their classes.
You can stream lessons live or download them for later. While other sites may use a more linear system, Guitareo lets the user decide where they want to start and where they want to go.
Their lessons page contains every lesson they offer, including different guitar techniques and ways to approach a practice session.
We like that Guitareo gives their users independence in their lesson plans. Everyone takes a different learning journey whenever they decide to become a guitar player, and Guitareo reinforces this with their free-reign course content.
Is There a Member Community?
From what we can find doing research for this Guitareo review, the site doesn't currently have a member community or forum for users to communicate.
Who Is This Course Best Suited For?
In our opinion, this course is suited for beginner guitarists and experienced guitarists alike. Guitareo offers several different lessons and courses that help anyone with their guitar playing.
An advanced guitar player can learn just as much as someone who has never played before. In addition, to advance faster, you can also get one of the popular guitar learning apps.
It's a great course for all players because Guitareo doesn't put any limits on learning. Once you have a membership, you're free to view as many courses at any level whenever you'd like.
You can play all the songs the site offers right away as well. If you're unsure if Guitareo can give you what you're looking for, you can always try the 7-day free trial as well. Or, check out the Guitareo YouTube channel to get a better feel for the site.
What We Like About Guitareo/ What Could Be Improved
Guitareo looks to be a great site for people who want to learn how to play guitar. Here are a couple of highlights we found in our Guitareo review:
- No Hand-Holding Here: We love that Guitareo gives you free rein to use the site as you'd like. Once you get your membership, you're free to start playing guitar right away, or you can slow it down and start with chord charts. Either way, Guitareo lets you choose how you want to use their site.
- Wide Range of Teachers: Guitareo features a wide selection of teachers and instructors to choose from. They offer Grammy Award-winning artists as well as newer recording artists who all bring their own unique teaching style to the music industry.
- 1,000+ Songs: Guitareo has one of the largest song libraries out of any online guitar teaching website. Each of these songs is transcribed onto the site so you can download chord sheets and take them on the go. If you're going to have an online teacher for music, you'll want the ability to play songs on your own time.
While there's a lot to like about Guitareo, it isn't perfect. Here are a couple of things we found could be improved upon during our Guitareo review:
- Difference Between Plans: Guitareo doesn't offer two different prices in their plans but claims that there are indeed two plans. This could be an error on our part, but we'd like to see some clarification between their plans.
- Built-In Community: We think Guitareo and its users could get a lot out of a community-based page. A forum or any other type of built-in community would benefit the site greatly.
Alternatives to Guitareo
Guitareo looks to be a great site for teaching anyone about playing songs on the guitar. They aren't the only site to teach guitar, however, and some other sites may offer something Guitareo doesn't.
Guitareo vs. TrueFire
TrueFire is one of the oldest online guitar-teaching websites around. They offer a 14-day free trial, twice as long as Guitareo's, and feature more teachers and more lessons to boot. While Guitareo has dozens of great instructors, TrueFire has hundreds.
With 300+ artists on their site, TrueFire has a range of teachers Guitareo can't compete with. TrueFire also has over 50,000+ lessons you can choose from. Again, Guitareo doesn't have anywhere near as many lessons. Frankly, we don't know who does.
Our final reason you may consider picking TrueFire over Guitareo is their separation between genres.
TrueFire does a better job of separating their classes into genres, so people who want to play the guitar in their country band have an easier time finding country-specific songs that fit their needs.
Guitareo vs. Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks is another website where you can learn to play the guitar. They offer a much more streamlined site than Guitareo, which can be a huge benefit for someone who needs a little more guidance when learning guitar.
Guitar Tricks offers its classes in levels, so beginners have an easier time progressing through a structured system.
They also offer a variety of genres, like TrueFire, that make it easy for genre-specific learners to find what they're looking for. Guitar Tricks is also a great place for the acoustic guitar or electric guitar, teaching guitar chords with flair.
We'd recommend Guitar Tricks over Guitareo for their structured content curriculum, which we believe makes online learning much easier for newcomers.
Guitareo vs. JamPlay
JamPlay offers an extensive video library of over 70,000+ video lessons filled to the brim with chord progressions, new songs, and all the bar chords a student could ask for. JamPlay makes online learning a breeze for anyone, with hundreds of artists to choose from as well.
Like the other two alternatives we're covering in this article, JamPlay does a great job of separating its genres into different learning paths for its users to follow.
JamPlay student reviews rave about the site, highlighting the ease of use and diverse video library. We recommend JamPlay for their defined learning paths that offer newer guitar players an easier time learning their favorite instrument.
Conclusion
Guitareo is a great online platform for entry-level and experienced guitar players alike to learn more about their instrument and how to play it, and it's one of the best online guitar lesson platforms available. If you're looking to hone your guitar skills on your own time, Guitareo might be the site for you.
The site offers a wide range of teachers to choose from, offering different teaching styles across a litany of genres. Guitareo is also relatively cheap at $30 a month, and once you have a membership, you have access to the entire site.
If you want to learn how to read sheet music or master chord progressions, Guitareo can help. They also offer a 90-day money-back guarantee so anyone can feel safe trying the site out.
Click here to check out Guitareo for yourself and learn the skills to become a guitar master.
