7 Of The Best Apps For Learning Guitar & Bass
Picking the right guitar for you is only half the battle — now you have to learn to play it. If you're like countless others, there's a good chance that the guitar you bought a while back and that you swore you'd master has been gathering dust in your closet. As much as many of us would love to become a guitar or bass virtuoso, committing to learning your instrument over time isn't always easy or practical. After dealing with the everyday hustle of school, work, and life in general, it's hard to muster the energy needed to sit and teach yourself a new skill. Nevertheless, learning bit by bit each day is the only way to get better. While there are plenty of great in-person options out there to learn one-on-one or in a group setting, finding the time or money can be hard.
Thankfully, the solution to finally mastering your guitar or bass could be in your pocket, as there's no shortage of fantastic apps available to teach you. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, a fan of classic acoustic brands or iconic electric guitars, there's an app out there that will get you to where you want to be. The following list contains apps chosen based on a variety of factors, which we explore in more depth at the end of this article.
Ultimate Guitar
Long before the days of smartphones, the Ultimate Guitar website had established itself as a trusted resource among musicians of all experience levels. Its best-known and beloved feature is its extensive tab library, consisting of millions of songs and lyric sheets, with the majority uploaded by community members. If there's a song you want to learn, you're almost certain to find it on Ultimate Guitar.
You can also customize your experience based on your interests and skill levels, with the ability to find and create personalized collections of songs and tabs. Similarly, you can upload performances and see others created by fellow creators. The community aspect of Ultimate Guitar is one of the biggest reasons to get the app, helping you to grow with others at your skill level while getting guidance from those with more experience. Keep in mind that with user-generated content, there are inconsistencies with the overall quality of tabs.
The app itself contains some handy features, including the ability to go into dark mode while performing at gigs or practicing with the lights off, a left-hand setting, and offline access to your tabs. However, to access Ultimate Guitar's features such as auto-scrolling, chord variation selection, song transposition, and advanced courses, you'll need to upgrade to a Pro account for $25 a month or $99 a year. Whichever route you choose, you'll be joining a widespread community all aiming to learn, improve, and encourage one another. The app is available on both the iOS App Store and Google Play.
Fender Play
It can be intimidating to know where to start if you're a newcomer to the world of guitar or bass playing. Even if you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, certain lessons may either be too limiting or overwhelming in their scope, making it difficult to stay motivated. With Fender Play, however, users take a more straightforward route that remains engaging throughout.
Crafted by professional music education experts from a range of prestigious institutions, Fender Play is designed with beginners and intermediate players in mind. After signing up on the app, you simply choose what kind of instrument you're working with and the genre you want to learn. From there, Fender Play gives you access to five different levels with video lessons tailored to your desired path. The simple, user-friendly interface is made to keep newcomers from being overwhelmed, with many of the videos even showing different angles of the instructors playing to give users a good view of the fretboard in action. Along with its collection of thousands of hit songs, there are also features such as focused skill sessions to help you improve the technical aspects of your playing.
For more experienced players, Fender Play may not be the best option, but if you're seeking an easy way to get into playing guitar that's easy to personalize, this is a good choice for both iOS and Android users. To access all its features, you can choose between a $19.99 monthly subscription plan or a $149.99 annual one.
Simply Guitar
As its name suggests, Simply Guitar isn't the most complex guitar-teaching app you'll find. Nevertheless, if you're teaching guitar to your kids or respond better to visual learning, then this app has plenty to offer.
Developed by JoyTunes, creators of similar education apps such as Simply Piano and Simply Draw, Simply Guitar makes it easy to get you going on a path that's best for you. The app allows you to choose between learning lead or chords, progressing from basic to more advanced levels. It delivers these lessons through the use of eye-catching videos and animations that play along with you and indicate what notes to hit — playing more like a video game, and adding an extra layer of fun and challenge to your lessons — as opposed to sticking to the learning structure of similar guitar-learning apps.
It's also a slightly more budget-friendly option than some of the other picks on this list. After a seven-day free trial, you can pay to access the premium service for $9.99 a month or $119 annually.
Once again, this is not an app for advanced players, and some of its limitations can be frustrating. Additionally, some users have reported inconsistencies with its performance, with the app incorrectly indicating that you've hit the correct note. You can find it on the iOS App Store and Google Play.
Justin Guitar
Bringing a more personal touch to a guitar-learning app can be difficult, as most are developed by teams of developers and music experts. While this is certainly a valid way to educate yourself, others do best with a one-on-one teaching style. The Justin Guitar app provides just that, with its lessons and structure coming from one of the most trusted and well-established guitar teachers working today.
With over 20 years of experience teaching millions of people how to play, Tasmanian-born Justin Sandercoe has a well-earned reputation for his teaching methods, accurately identifying where beginners often go wrong and guiding them on the right path. It should come as no surprise that his extensive experience of teaching online would eventually enter the mobile space, and the app features a team of experienced instructors in addition to the eponymous Justin.
It has garnered exceedingly positive reviews, with a near-perfect 4.9 out of 5-star rating average on the iOS App Store and a 4.5 on Google Play. Users have responded positively to the way Sandercoe's straightforward lessons have translated to a mobile app, with hours of video tutorials and play-along options that have helped newbies play songs by the end of their first day. However, some users have been unsatisfied with the limited genres compared to other apps. The subscription is somewhat bewildering, with 10 different in-app purchases ranging from $8.99 for one month's full access to $99.99 for "Justin Unlimited Access 1 Year."
Yousician
Yousician is a versatile teaching platform that uses an interactive method of teaching to get you where you need to go. After informing the app that you're playing either guitar, bass, ukulele, or piano, it gives you three separate tabs titled Song, Learn, and Challenges. As you can imagine, the Learn tab is where you'll go to access an array of tasks with a set theme. You'll also find workouts that can be used to touch up on additional skills.
You can get pretty specific when looking up songs on Yousician as well. If you can't think of a specific song among its extensive library, the app allows you to get more general by picking your desired genre and the level of difficulty. Once you've chosen a song, you can either play the song at its normal speed or change the tempo to suit your skills. Similar to Simply Guitar, Yousician's song playthrough is depicted through an animated fretboard that highlights where to place your fingers. There are even fun weekly challenges that allows you to connect with other users.
This is another great option for beginners seeking a fun way to get their feet wet. It can be somewhat pricey, with a one-instrument monthly plan starting at $19.99, and a single-instrument annual subscription costing $119.99. Given that the app is aimed at novice users, it may be hard to justify the investment. Similarly, those who prefer a more rigid educational path may find the looser structure of Yousician's lessons to be frustrating. The app is available from the iOS App Store or Google Play.
Guitar Tricks
Guitar Tricks has been around since 1998, providing thousands of lessons tailored to various skill levels and preferences. Along with getting access to more than 1,000 songs, there's a wealth of useful functions to take advantage of, including printable tabs, slow-motion, and metronome capabilities. But what makes Guitar Tricks stand out are its features aimed at speeding up your learning. From chord finders and fretboard trainers to progress systems and high-quality video playback, Guitar Tricks' developers claim the app has helped users learn twice as fast as with similar apps. One reviewer who gave Guitar Tricks five stars on the iOS App Store stated that they were able to progress through all the lessons in the fundamental levels within eight months, encouraging them to invest further in the hobby.
This convenience doesn't come cheap, however. You'll either be paying monthly payments of $19.99 or a $179.99 yearly subscription. Thankfully, there is a seven-day free trial you can access before deciding if it's the right fit for you. Being such an old service also means that a small proportion of its video tutorials are only offered in an outdated, low-resolution format. You can download the Guitar Tricks app from the iOS App Store or Google Play.
YouTube
Last, but certainly not least, is YouTube. The video-sharing platform has a strong reputation as a quality educational source where you can learn everything from making an omelet to changing your car's oil. Unsurprisingly, the site contains countless guitar and bass tutorials that cater to every experience level out there.
The most obvious benefit of using YouTube is that you get a diverse array of content completely free of charge. This is ideal for beginners, with the platform providing a risk-free way of kicking off your education and seeing what works before deciding if a more in-depth course is right for you. Some YouTubers, such as TrueFire and the aforementioned JustinGuitar Songs, offer more advanced courses of their own, meaning you won't have to stray far from your preferred creators or their teaching style.
Everyone has their own YouTube channel of choice, but a handful stand out from the crowd. Marty Music uploads daily lessons, tips, and song tutorials, as well as a monthly series of in-depth interviews with fellow guitar players. Anyone Can Play Guitar is a good source for more advanced players, with more expert-level tutorials and niche-centric subjects. If you're trying to master a specific song, GuitarZero2Hero offers an extensive variety of songs from artists including Taylor Swift, Linkin Park, Hozier, Foo Fighters, and more.
Why we chose these apps
In choosing the best guitar and bass learning apps out there, we took several factors into consideration. Among these was the overall versatility of each app. Given that all these apps except YouTube will require you to get a subscription to access all their features, we wanted to ensure that you'd be getting the best bang for your buck. Throughout the research process, we got a good idea of what musicians of different experience levels were seeking. We then sought out apps that contained as many useful features as possible for their desired skill set to better justify their cost. Some of these apps are well-suited for users of varying experiences, meaning you won't have to cancel one subscription just to start another one as you progress.
Similarly, we aimed to ensure that our picks received widespread positive reviews. All of our choices have high scores on the iOS App Store and Google Play, while also being well-reviewed by trusted industry platforms such as American Songwriter and Guitar World. Ultimately, what you consider the best will depend on your needs and specific experience level, so make sure you take the time to do some extra research before going all in one app.