Updated September 26, 2022
Aimed primarily at beginners, Guitareo is designed to get you playing as soon as possible through great content with a strong focus on making the whole process easy – and fun.
Note: For the purposes of this article I was allowed unrestricted access to Guitareo to make sure you get a complete, first-hand and unbiased review. As some links are affiliated, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Guitareo Summary
Editor’s Rating
(4.3 / 5)
What We Like
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- Tons of well-focused content
- Teachers are personable and thorough
- The emphasis is on fun and feedback
- Highly interactive and community oriented
- Constantly adding new materials
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What We Don’t Like
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- A couple of sections are currently still in development
- Lacks celebrity players you might find in other programs
- Has a way to go to match the archives of competitors
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Guitareo Prices and Membership Offers
Why anyone wouldn’t want to start with the free month option is beyond me – it’s a good deal.
When you consider it’s only $10.58 a month on the annual plan, it’s an even better good deal.
Still, the relatively low price points reflect a highly competitive market – that’s very good news for you as a consumer. Whether they can be sustained over the long term is a different story.
Editor’s Note: The entire Guitareo platform is currently going through a massive update – for the better.
Guitareo’s parent company, Musora Media Inc is unifying all their offers – guitar (Guitareo), drums (Drumeo), piano (Pianote) and voice (Singeo), under one roof.
The verdict is – if you’re interested in the program at all, get in and grab the free month deal while you can!
Steve B.
Interestingly enough, Guitareo occasionally offers a Lifetime Membership. Considering the platform’s growth trajectory, this should be a serious consideration for anyone who likes the program and wants the absolute best value you can get.
At the very least, it’s worth joining their email list should it, or any new opportunity come up.
How Does Guitareo Compare to Other Programs?
Here’s a quick cross reference of how other online lessons programs rate at the highest level:
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Service |
Cost |
Rating |
Offer? |
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$19.99 per Month |
(4.1 ) |
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|
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$29.00 per Month |
(4.3) |
|
|
|
$35.00 per Month |
(4.1) |
|
|
|
$0.00 per Month |
(4.2) |
|
|
|
$9.99 per Month |
(4.0) |
|
|
|
$19.99 per Month |
(3.9) |
In Reddit’s subreddit on guitar, users tend to favour the Justin Guitar program. This may be because it’s free, and who doesn’t like free? But it is just one guy, which automatically stifles the ability to absorb perspectives from different personalities.
What Makes Guitareo Different?
Whether you’re interested in learning acoustic or electric guitar, Guitareo’s strength lies in the quality of its instructors and its core offering: the Guitareo Method.
The “Method” itself is logically graduated to allow a new guitar student find their way as easily as possible.
The emphasis here is on fun and taking the time to make sure topics are covered fully.
As with other platforms there is an underlying history built on proven principles developed over time. This is very much the result of Nate Savage’s work with guitarlessons.com for many years.
if you’re musically inclined, you’ll find instant familiarity with Musora’s other offerings – particularly Drumeo.
As mentioned, Guitareo is actually part of a larger family of specific instrument courses offered by Musora Media Inc.
The benefit for you as a student is in Musora’s ability to draw intelligent feedback from a number of musical disciplines within their network.
For instance, Drumeo’s Method is instantly familiar in layout. Moreover, there’s no doubt Guitareo is based on the same overall design, but for guitar of course.
Considering Drumeo’s long standing history of providing excellent instruction from a long list of world class instructors, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar future for Guitareo.
Who are the Main Faces of Guitareo?
While Guitareo does have a good number of instructors, there are two main personalities you’ll find in the primary content and across most of the marketing materials: Nate Savage and Ayla Tesler-Mabe.
Nate Savage of GuitarLessons.com
Nate Savage has been cultivating a guitar lessons system for many years – over 13 years in fact.
With his inclusion into the Guitareo family, that patience and persistence has paid off for everybody.
A quick scroll through Guitareo’s Youtube channel revealed literally hundreds of Nate’s instructional videos in the archives. That resource alone represents an extraordinary treasure trove of free lessons.
Ayla Tesler-Mabe: The Guitareo Girl
Still in her early twenties, Ayla Tesler-Mabe is direct, knowledgable and a very good teacher.
Following in Fender Play’s decision to capitalize on an under-served market, Ayla has taken on the responsibilities of putting a friendly female face on what was becoming a rather dusty collection of all-too-familiar male faces.
As they say, nothing stays the same forever, and this shift towards female inclusiveness in what has been a male-dominated industry is entirely refreshing.
Using the Interface
On Devices
Whether you’re accessing the course through a desktop or on your phone, the platform is instantly familiar.
At the time of this writing, there’s no Guitareo app in the traditional sense – the lessons and features work just fine in the browser-based format.
I wouldn’t be surprised though if, as the community and opportunities continue to grow, there may be an app version available down the road.
In fact, word is Musora is actively developing its own app, which would of course include Guitareo, due for release some time in 2023.
Video Players and Tools
Private membership videos are hosted by Vimeo. Chances are you’re already familiar with Vimeo controls which are similar to YouTube’s, and supports features such as playback speed etc.
There are a number of YouTube videos included which make use of the native YouTube video controls. If you’ve spent any time on YouTube (and who hasn’t), it’s a no-brainer to adjust playback speed and many other options.
If you have any experience with using lessons apps, you’ll find the player window features a number of familiar tools to help you learn the song as efficiently as possible.
Sections Layout
The site interface can be broken down into four main sections:
- Home – Your main point of entry including quick access to popular sections.
- Main Content – Courses, packs, lessons plus all the other meat-and-potatoes resources and materials.
- Forum and My List – As the section implies, here you can access Guitareo’s very lively forum, and keep track of you progress using the “My List” feature.
- User Profile – Your User icon. This is where you can adjust settings, account info, plus it’s your communications hub. There are also entries for the gear you use and a place to post a gear photo – which is great for sharing your problem with gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) but also good for the ego :)
Inside the Guitareo Program
Let’s have a more in-depth look at each section step-by-step:
Home
Once you login, you’re taken to the home page where you’ll find the latest and greatest program updates, quick access to the program’s core offerings, popular conversations and upcoming events.
Method
The “Guitraeo Method” is the platform’s core offering and is designed to be user-friendly especially for beginners.
Your primary instructor is Ayla Tesler-Mabe who is very personable and does an excellent job of explaining and demonstrating each topic.
The course itself is laid out in ten logical levels with each level broken down into individual lessons that cover each skill in detail.
The total number of individual lessons is 82 (yes, I counted them). And even though level 10 has yet to be released at the time of this writing, I can tell you the scope and breadth of what IS available is remarkable and extremely thorough – nice!
Before you begin the course, you might want to check out the “WHERE TO BEGIN” button at the top of the page. If you already have some fundamentals under your belt, this feature helps filter content that’s more appropriate for you.
Songs
Currently, the Songs section is sparse and looks underdeveloped. It also seems geared towards the upcoming Christmas season?
Still, a quick global search brings up tons of other song options which are easily filtered.
Coaches
In the Coaches section, we get to meet the individual personalities to learn from.
As with any human interaction, some personalities may work better for you. If you dig around a little bit, you should easily find someone you have an affinity for and fits your style.
Clicking on an individual coach will pull up their list of videos including seminars, Q&A sessions, and individual lessons. Some of these videos are from Guitareo’s YouTube channel, others are only available from within the platform.
Packs
The “Packs” section contains full courses assembled in comprehensive clusters which cover the topics in depth.
From a user’s point of view, the section represents an easy way to access some of the most valuable content on the site in one shot.
Guitar Quest – Something a Little Different
Where the majority of Guitareo’s training packs follow a more traditional approach to learning, Guitar Quest takes you on an entirely different ride.
Similar to the Method, you learn the basics of guitar but from a point of view that focuses exclusively on the fun factor.
Using creativity and musicality as driving forces, the Guitar Quest course is laid out in a very linear way via nine color-coded levels or “missions”.
If you’re into writing, recording or performance of any kind, Guitar Quest is designed to level-up your playing by applying what you just learned in a very practical and entertaining way.
For new students looking for something outside the box, or an approach that’s more similar to TikTok or even gaming, Guitar Quest offers an unconventional yet enjoyable method of learning guitar.
Check out the complete Guitar Quest review here.
Courses
In a nutshell, all courses in one place – and there are LOTS of them.
You will find a wide variety of topics including but not limited to strumming, scales, chords, techniques, exercises, reading music, music theory, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and more.
Guitareo’s Courses section
Luckily, the handy filtering section at the top of the page makes finding a particular course topic much much easier.
Quick Tips
Keeping with trend for information in a digestible short format, the Quick Tips section is not only highly practical, but lets you quickly drill down on the precise topics you’re interested in.
Student Focus
Probably one of the most underrated sections, Student Focus gives you the chance to drill down on areas you really need help with.
Split into two sections: Student Reviews and Q&A, this section acts as a portal giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions or submit a video directly to the staff.
This type of interaction with the teachers is indispensable when you’re, for instance, trying to figure out a certain approach or need clarification on a concept.
Live
Guitareo has a schedule of live streams that cover various topics you can jump in on once you subscribe to the calendar feature.
This is a great opportunity to interact with the teachers and other students in real time. But if you do miss a live session, no worries, you’ll find it in the archives later.
Play-Alongs
Play-alongs (one of my favourite sections) is where you get to test your chops and improvise.
They’re essentially jam tracks that are conveniently broken down into individual videos illustrating all the separate parts.
The beauty of this is you can cross-reference specific skills that make up a song or you may have a particular interest in. From picking, to strumming, chord work, breakdowns, song structure etc, this section lets you expand your abilities in a very comprehensive sense.
Lessons
In the Lessons section you’ll find a smorgasbord of courses, lessons packs, tips, and pretty much everything else Guitareo has to offer.
Luckily, the Topics section at the bottom of the page makes filtering for specific interests a breeze.
500 Songs
500 Songs in 5 Days is an ambitious attempt in getting a new player to realize just how far they can go with even a modest skill set.
You don’t literally get five hundred instructional videos – that would be nuts! But you do get instructions on the basic skills needed and downloadable pdf guides to get the job done.
Chords
As the name implies, the Chords section focuses on, well, the fundamentals – chords specifically.
Instead of a series of pdfs, you get a complete illustrative video that covers the item in full.
For the time being this section is very sparse and it’s unclear as to whether it will be properly populated in the future.
Note: This section is still very much in development. And you would think there would would be a similar section covering scales – which is curiously missing.
Should you be looking for help with scales though, you can easily find what you need using the global search function.
Archives
Here you’ll find all previous streams for the record including Q&A sessions, student collaborations, special guest appearances and more. Handy if you missed one or want to re-watch a particular episode.
Between the Archives and the Forum sections, virtually any question can be posed and answered.
Forums
If you’re familiar with forums, this is a no-brainer. The Guitareo forum community is lively, full of highly relevant topics and extremely helpful.
Of course, you also get to voice your opinions on how the site is working.
From a developer’s point of view, these interactions are gold nuggets that drive platform iteration into more meaningful territory for members.
My List
The My List section is broken down into 3 categories: Added, In Progress and Complete.
This section gives you a detailed overview of your current progress.
Account Settings
Other than the obvious, this section also gives you a chance to show off your gear by uploading a pic, provide details on your current rig and share your history (good or bad) with the guitar.
There’s also an option to switch the interface to dark mode – nice!
Shop
Clicking the Shop takes you to an entirely separate area where, depending on your enrolment status, you can purchase individual breakout courses or merchandise.
Personal Notes on the Guitareo Program
Guitareo might not have the same celebrity draw of other platforms but they make up for it in sheer value through content. There’s something for everybody.
With a focus on fun, feedback and patience, Guitareo takes a lot of the dryness out of common educational tasks such as learning theory and practicing. The end result being a thoroughly enjoyable musical experience.
With unique approaches to teaching guitar such as GuitarQuest, it’s obvious Guitareo is trying to re-think the whole approach to online guitar lessons. The focus is on making the process as fun (if at times a bit cheesey at times) and enjoyable as possible.
My only real complaint is that, due to the aggressive development some sections are glaringly underdeveloped. But after reading through some of the forum interactions with developers, it’s obvious the folks at Guitareo, and Musora in general, are focusing on an ambitious growth trajectory.
In closing, whether you decide to take advantage of Guitareo or not can be a matter of how you feel about it. Easy enough if you just ask yourself some critical questions:
- Does it seem like it can meet your basic needs or goals?
- Is it easy to use?
- Is the quality up to snuff?
- Is there enough material to challenge you and allow you to grow?
- Do you like the people that you deal with?
- Is the platform stale or innovating?
Considering the free trial offered, you really have nothing to lose by trying it out to get a sense of whether the program is right for you – or not!
Editor’s Rating 4.3/5
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