Studies show that up to 16 million people, or 7% of the US population, picked up a guitar for the first time during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic. With in-person lessons largely off the table, the online lessons market exploded. There are more options now than ever before for beginning guitar players just starting out on their guitar journey.
That’s great and all—but where does that leave the rest of us, the intermediate and advanced guitar players who are yearning for new, challenging content to bolster our repertoires and keep our creativity stimulated? That’s where TrueFire comes in. Players seeking intermediate and advanced online lessons may find just what they’re looking for in TrueFire’s massive vault of online content.
I’m a musician with over 20 years of experience playing and teaching guitar. While I think in-person lessons are generally the best way to learn guitar, that’s not always an option—they’re pricey, for one thing, and it can be really hard to find a reliable instructor in your area. I set out on a mission to find the best online guitar lessons out there so people who don’t have access to in-person instruction can still have a chance to learn how to play the guitar.
In this review, I’ll help you determine whether TrueFire would be a good choice for your needs. Together, we’ll examine its curriculum, content structure, and more to hopefully give you a good idea of what to expect. I’ll also go over a few alternatives to TrueFire in case you think there might be a better online guitar lessons platform for you.
Let’s take a look at TrueFire guitar lessons and see what they have to offer.
TrueFire Review: What Is TrueFire?
TrueFire was founded way back in 1991—the early days of the internet, to say the least (did you know there was an internet in 1991? I didn’t), as a site providing video lessons and other multimedia content and resources for guitarists.
Cut to today, over three decades later. TrueFire has evolved into one of the leading online guitar learning platforms, boasting one of the most massive and comprehensive troves of guitar education content compiled online to date.
TrueFire guitar lessons are based around their massive assemblage of high-quality video lessons, which cover a wide range of topics, including technique, theory, improvisation, song tutorials, and more. One thing that’s unique to TrueFire’s approach is that the courses are presented by some of the top names in guitar—like Tommy Emmanuel, Pat Martino, and Steve Vai—so you’re truly learning to play like a pro.
And not only do they offer 30+ years’ worth of video content—TrueFire has embraced technology to evolve into one of the most unique online guitar learning experiences available. In addition to a wide variety of video lessons, TrueFire has interactive jam tracks, discussion forums, and many more resources to aid you in your learning process.
There are thousands of individual courses, ranging from beginner to advanced lessons, all of which encompass a diverse range of genres and styles. In contrast to many of its competitors, TrueFire offers intermediate and advanced students a way to take their learning into their own hands, granting them much more agency than the more beginner-oriented platforms.
So if you’re a more experienced guitar player, and private lessons just aren’t within your budget, I think TrueFire is likely to be a very compelling choice for online learning that will keep you advancing on your guitar journey.
Quick Overview
TrueFire guitar lessons are based around their massive assemblage of high-quality video lessons, which cover a wide range of topics, including technique, theory, improvisation, song tutorials, and more.
Intermediate to advanced
Celebrity instructors
On the pricier side
How Much Does TrueFire Cost?
An All Access membership to TrueFire can be yours starting at $29/Month, billed monthly, or $99.99/Year, billed annually. All Access grants you access to TrueFire’s incredible vault of online guitar lesson content—over 1,500 courses, 30,000 tabs, and 20,000 jam tracks can be yours at your fingertips with a subscription.
One thing that’s pretty unique to TrueFire is that you can browse the site freely without purchasing a subscription—it doesn’t have the paywalled feel of some competitors—so you can take advantage of some free content and get a feel for the service before making a commitment.
You can also buy individual courses a la carte, but this isn’t really going to be the best use of your money—one course alone can run you up a tab equivalent to a month’s worth of unlimited content, so you’re better off just subscribing, even if only on a monthly basis.
Plus, TrueFire offers a 14-day free trial with their All Access subscription, cancellable at any time free of charge within 14 days. This should be sufficient to give you an idea of whether or not TrueFire is right for you, so we encourage you to take advantage of this offer if you’re interested!
What You’ll Need to Get Started Using TrueFire
All you’ll need to get started using TrueFire is your instrument (acoustic or electric guitar—but you’ll want to have both to get the most out of the platform’s content library) and a computer or mobile device with access to the internet.
TrueFire is accessible via either a desktop browser or iOS/Android mobile app, so you can learn on the go as well as at home or in the studio.
TrueFire Review: What’s Included in the Curriculum?
As I mentioned above, TrueFire has an incredibly comprehensive content library offering everything under the sun, from beginner lessons to advanced content.
But the real value with TrueFire is in the variety of the content provided. It’s worth noting that there’s a heavy emphasis on technique and style over lessons for specific songs; in fact, many players will find the song selection severely lacking in comparison to many competitors. So if your goal is simply to jam along to your favorite songs, you might be better off looking elsewhere.
But I get the feeling that this is by design. TrueFire instead opts to focus on teaching players to immerse themselves in whole genres of music, aiming to ultimately provide a much more comprehensive foundation than mere song lessons can offer.
The material, which in a cool twist is taught by some of the biggest artists and educators in the game, consists of healthy doses of the guitarists’ bread and butter: blues, rock, jazz, country, folk, and even surf and rockabilly are represented in TrueFire’s trove of high-quality video lessons.
The videos themselves are supplemented by synced tablature and notation, animated fretboard diagrams, multiple angles, slow motion, and looping, so you can get the most out of each video lesson. Plus, there are jam tracks to put your new knowledge to the test in real time.
Again, beginners might be put off or even intimidated by jumping headfirst into TrueFire’s content library. There are so many courses, so much content, and so many playing styles covered that a beginner might have a hard time knowing where to start, let alone gauging what material might be suitable for them. Read on to the end of this review to find my suggestions for beginner online guitar lessons.
How Is TrueFire’s Course Content Structured?
Fortunately, TrueFire does offer a solution to the potentially overwhelming nature of their massive vault of content: TrueFire Learning Paths. While this is probably the best place for anyone to start, it should prove especially useful to beginners.
Learning paths are essentially a means of organizing TrueFire courses into a logical and coherent learning trajectory. Users can select the learning path of their choosing from Jazz, Acoustic, Blues, Country, Rock, and Bass.
Each learning path has five levels, from beginner to advanced, so you can jump in where you need to be after assessing your current level of play. You’ll then start playing through a course of TrueFire’s high-quality video lessons, personalized to your specific learning path.
While the learning paths are made up of a set of core courses, there are recommended supplementary courses as well to ensure that you are getting the most out of your learning path. And TrueFire tracks your progress so you know just what you’re accomplishing and what you could use a little more work on.
While TrueFire still requires a bit more self-discipline than most online platforms, which tend to hold your hand a bit, I find that this approach is ideal for more experienced and passionate players who have no problem finding motivation to play guitar. If you’re hungry for knowledge, you’ll have a field day with TrueFire’s library.
And once you’ve exhausted the learning paths, or if you simply want to go your own way, you can always navigate using the courses tab, which contains all the courses TrueFire has to offer. Select whatever course catches your eye and go to town!
Additional Features
TrueFire is not all video lessons and learning paths—it also features one of the most comprehensive sets of extra features on the market.
Perhaps most compelling among these are their In The Jam interactive jam tracks. These are multitrack video jam sessions where you can control the mix of instruments to your liking, allowing you to zero in on parts and jam along with pro musicians for an exciting simulated jam session.
There’s also a TrueFire blog with featured lessons, announcements, favorites, inspiration, gear, lists, and interviews, as well as their Riff Journal quarterly magazine, which features all kinds of guitar-related articles and content.
Finally, there’s a student forum, as well as an active Facebook group, both of which are a great way to establish a sense of community with your fellow players, exchange tips, talk gear, and more.
TrueFire Review: Who Is This Course Best Suited For?
While a case could be made for TrueFire’s appeal to beginners, TrueFire plays a far more important role in the online lessons landscape as a potential home for intermediate and advanced learners looking to hone their high-level guitar-playing skills.
Yes, beginners can get a lot out of TrueFire, especially by using the Learning Paths feature. And, if one were to keep at it, they could eventually work their way up into the more advanced levels. But in this model, it could be years before you are truly getting your money’s worth.
That’s why I think TrueFire is uniquely situated as a platform that’s ideal for already-experienced intermediate and advanced guitarists. It’s hard to find enough stimulating and engaging content for this subset of players, so it makes more sense for a member of this group to pay a premium for content.
What I Like About TrueFire
As an advanced player myself, I find TrueFire to be a lot more appealing to me personally than a lot of the other guitar lesson platforms and apps I’ve tried. There’s just a lot more substance there for a player who wants to be a well-rounded musician and not just a hobbyist guitar player. It’s a great resource for players who are looking to fill out their repertoire and skill set with techniques from across the board (and taught by some bonafide legends, no less).
Standouts include their In The Jam feature, which, again, is an awesome way to get the feel of a live jam at home. Not to mention the quality of the individual lessons, featuring trustworthy first-hand wisdom from experienced artists, and the huge library of courses featuring an unmatched variety of material.
I also appreciate the somewhat freewheeling structure of the content—while you can follow a strict learning path, you can also chase down your inspiration and find lessons to suit whatever mood you’re in, which is ideal for more experienced players who don’t want to be confined by repetitive lessons.
What Could Be Improved
TrueFire is a fantastic platform, but that’s not to say it’s without its drawbacks. Most glaringly, perhaps, is its relative dearth of song tutorials. If you’re looking for a platform to teach you specific songs, especially contemporary ones, let’s just say TrueFire is not the one for you.
I also thought I’d point out that while one of TrueFire’s strengths is the massive store of content it has accumulated over the years, the flip side of this is that there is a fair amount of content that comes across as somewhat dated. This goes for the site design and some of the branding as well, if I’m being honest.
TrueFire Alternatives
So, whether it’s because you’re a beginner who might not want to shell out for a premium service straight out of the gate, or you’re a casual player with a good grasp of the basics who is just looking to learn how to play some of your favorite songs, you might be thinking TrueFire might not be the best platform for you.
If this is the case, I’m happy to tell you about a few alternatives to TrueFire that offer different approaches to online guitar lessons that might be better suited to your needs.
1. Guitar Tricks
SPECS
- Price: $19.95/month or $179 annually, limited free content
- Features: 11,000 lessons, high-quality videos with slo-mo and looping, wide range of genres, printable tabs, free content
If you’re looking for intermediate to advanced lessons with a more structured approach than TrueFire, Guitar Tricks and its Core Learning System could be the solution for you. Guitar Tricks’ lessons are focused on learning songs, riffs, and licks that will help you establish your guitar playing skills in a wide range of genres and at all skill levels.
There’s a wide variety of video lessons, from guitar fundamentals for complete beginners to creative guitar techniques for advanced players and beyond. Guitar Tricks has a special focus on more obscure genres like Rockabilly and Surf music in addition to the well-trod blues and classic rock music lessons.
Similarly to TrueFire, intermediate and advanced players will find a lot to enjoy and learn from Guitar Tricks. Guitar Tricks’ curriculum is comprehensive and wide-ranging enough to keep even experienced players coming back for more.
A Guitar Tricks subscription includes a 14-day free trial and tons of free lessons on their platform (as well as many more on YouTube), so you can see for yourself how it compares to TrueFire and choose for yourself. They also include a 60-day money-back guarantee if you decide it’s not the one for you!
2. Simply Guitar
SPECS
- Price: $9.99/month or $119 annually
- Features: iOS and Android app, step-by-step tutorials, direct feedback, song lessons
Simply Guitar is an app-based platform that uses a gamified approach to offer step-by-step lessons and teach essential skills, basic chords, and strumming patterns to help learners start playing songs quickly. This is definitely a platform geared more towards younger, tech-savvy aspiring guitarists.
With a focus on simplicity and ease of use, Simply Guitar offers learners an opportunity to practice at their own pace. The app’s interactive features include real-time feedback, a really useful and innovative tool that guides you on finger placement as well as strumming techniques as you go along, helping build good habits from the start.
Simply Guitar uses bright graphics and animations to make the learning experience fun and easy. Video lessons are accompanied by clear visual cues, demonstrating finger placement, strumming patterns, and more. While the gamey aspect may not be for everyone, it is sure to be a hit with kids and young beginners.
If you’re more of a beginner looking for an affordable way to get guitar lessons and learn some of your favorite songs online, head over to Simply Guitar now to take advantage of their 14-day free trial.
3. Fender Play
SPECS
- Price: $19.99/month or $149.99 annually
- Features: Custom learning paths, digestible short lessons, wide array of songs, simple, intuitive UX
Finally, if you’re a beginner but still looking for a premium experience, I recommend Fender Play, the wonderful platform from the good folks at Fender. This platform delivers the quality you would expect from one of the top names in guitar and amplifier manufacturing, and it’s great for brand-new players.
From the start, Fender Play applies an intuitive and simple method to help you get going. Select your instrument, experience level, and preferred genres, and Play will set a five-level path consisting of bite-sized video lessons, tabs, theory, and technique tips. Getting started playing guitar has never been easier.
The production value of the video lessons is a big part of what sets Fender Play apart. While they don’t feature celebrity instructors, the productions are slick, and the instructors are likable enough. Instructions are clear and thorough without being repetitive.
As a self-paced system, it is ultimately up to the player to get the most out of Fender Play. But with the easily digestible content and fun, simple interface, beginners won’t have any trouble getting hooked. Plus, at $19.99/month or $149.99 annually, you also won’t have any trouble getting your money’s worth.
Annual subscriptions include a 14-day free trial that you can cancel at any time, so head on over to Fender Play and give them a try!
TrueFire Review: Verdict
While TrueFire wouldn’t necessarily be my top recommendation for beginners, if you’re an intermediate or advanced player looking for a way to brush up on your existing skills and add some new ones to your wheelhouse, this platform is a great option.
TrueFire combines the freedom more experienced players need with a truly impressive content archive, spanning a wide range of genres and styles that will definitely keep passionate players coming back again and again.
Thanks for checking out my TrueFire review. If you think this sounds like the online guitar lesson platform for you, be sure to head over to TrueFire and sign up for their 14-day free trial.
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