Full Guitareo Review and Rundown (updated for 2022)

I remember watching Nate Savage's instructional videos on YouTube quite a few years ago (he still has a lot) and finding them really helpful. For awhile he ran guitarlessons.com, which was acquired by Musora Media before eventually launching the Guitareo platform.

Since that program has been around for awhile now, I thought I'd dig into the seven-day free trial and check it out for myself, in order to run it through our ratings system and provide potential buyers with a full Guitareo review.

In this review I'll do a ratings breakdown first (which I setup after writing the entire article) then go through pricing, signup, and program's interior.

If you have questions, feel free to drop those in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Compare to Similar Programs

If you're looking for more help, information about other the recommendations mentioned above or other options, I've cataloged a lot of information about online guitar lesson resources I recommend that might be helpful to you.

Guitareo Pricing and Membership Options

Guitareo has reduced their monthly and yearly price, now offering two different subscriptions, which you can find at the bottom of their membership page:

You have basically two different subscription/pricing choices:

1. A monthly membership: $15/month
2. A yearly membership at $127/year

What about a free trial?

Guitareo does offer a free trial which can easily be accessed via the home page or on this dedicated free trial page: Choose Your Trial

From there, you'll setup a simple user account:

Once you click the green place order button, you're good to go. You'll be redirected to a new page that starts your Guitareo lesson experience.

Using the Program

Guitareo gives you several different ways to start browsing their content. The Method section is where most people will want to get started (gets you into beginner content right away). However, there's also a lessons, courses, and songs section, which makes it fairly easy to find your way around. 

The Dashboard

The home dashboard and welcome screen for each lesson video has been completely redone and - as I mentioned - is incredibly easy to navigate. On a desktop computer, all of your parent categories are on the left-hand side, with the three major options (methods, songs, and coaches), prominently featured out front. 

All of this keeps you much closer to the content core, allowing you to get where you needs to go in two to three clicks, at most. 

Courses Section

The courses section has also been revamped with more content in each course, usually between five and 15 videos per course. These can be filtered by level, topic, or instructor. 

While there's still some gray area in terms of where to go or what would apply to you most, the Method section alleviates most of the beginner "fog of war" that you might experience after logging in.

The courses section itself is great for browsing around to different topics after you've gotten through the core material in the Method section.

In this regard, Guitareo actually makes a good pitch as an intermediate guitar lesson tool. 

Given the filters and sorting tools, you can't really complain about finding your way around. Overall, the courses page has gone through some major improvements, considering what we're used to seeing. 

Lessons and Video Player

When I review online guitar lesson programs, I like to spend some time focusing on the video player and what the experience is like for the user. With Guitareo, you'll start by first choosing a course, perhaps from the courses or Method page. 

From courses, I'll select "Surf Guitar 101."

While the video player has a simple interface, it looks great and is fairly intuitive. Once you're done with a video, simply click the next lesson button to move on.

If you scroll down through the page you'll notice some additional course navigation and a comments section.

This comments section is well-designed and has made some significant improvements since we last reviewed Guitareo. I also noticed that instructors for each video seem to be consistently interacting with the comments section, which can be great for people that want a more feedback-oriented learning experience.

Nate, Ayla, Kent and the other instructors on the site (there are about seven total) are great in front of the camera and have done an excellent job of producing the videos. 

Volume of Content and Comparing to Other Programs

The breadth of the content is less than sites like Guitar Tricks and JamPlay. Moreover, some videos are fairly short and don't cover topics as in-depth as I would like to see.

Though it's also fair to say that some of this is just a factor of time. Other sites have had longer to build up content, while Guitareo is a fairly new production.

Guitareo's content seems to fall more in-line with Fender Play, which has a similar issue of being a young program with not as much depth to their content.

Still, the site is designed well and instructors do a good job of patiently walking you through the topics they do cover. Explanations of material is clear, concise and demonstrated with good camera angles in a way that's easy to digest. I'd just like to see a more thorough curriculum, which is something they're actively working towards.

Guitareo's Song Section

Their song section is an area where Guitareo weirdly seems to over-promise and under-deliver. The songs page title is "500 songs in eight days" but then only lists eight videos, which are focused on things like chord progressions, using a capo, and playing in different keys.

Once you start scrolling down below these videos, you have a ton of popular songs that each provide chord sheets but no actual video or lesson on the song.  

This is certainly a disappointment, especially when the large "500 songs" text (which we see multiple times before getting to this page) leads you to believe that you're getting full song lessons and not just PDF chord sheets.

Not that chord sheets are bad, but this is an area where Guitareo could still improve a lot. 

It's a big detraction, even when priced somewhat lower than Guitar Tricks and JamPlay, which have thousands of licensed song lessons. 

The Play-Along Tracks

If you continue onto the Play-Along Tracks page you'll see that Guitareo has spent a lot more time building these kinds of lessons as opposed to full song lessons. The play-along tracks are lessons "in the style of" certain popular artists, usually mentioned in the lesson description.

It's essentially a fun way of going through the process of building chord progressions, melody lines, and learning how to improvise.

But again, the material feels very basic and limited.

Many of the videos are short, without a ton of focus on the original artist. I like that Nate does a good job of explaining the process, but he just leaves a lot of information off the table, much of which would be inside the purview of his material.

Chords and Scales Section

Guitareo keeps a section called "Chords and Scales" which - as far as I can tell - only includes chord diagrams. When you click on the diagram, it takes you to the video lesson that teaches you how to play that particular chord. It's essentially another way of sorting through the material. 

Again, scales are conspicuously missing from this page, yet the quick access to videos for each chord is somewhat helpful.

Live Sessions and Archives

The last feature I'll cover, Guitareo Live, might be one of the site's stronger sources of appeal. Instructors will do Q&A and answer questions from users live, where the content is then posted to the "Archive" section. This material is much longer and often more nuanced than a lot of the course material.

Now, it's important to note that these are very informal, podcast-style resources. But, they do give you an opportunity to access instructors directly, which is a component that's often missing from other online guitar platforms. 

Conclusion

Instructors on Guitareo are consistent and do a good job delivering educational content. The website itself is well-designed, easy to use, and has been significantly improved over the past couple of years. It's also worth noting that Guitareo doesn't pander to you with an over-marketed product like Fender Play tends to do.

There have also been tremendous improvements to the site's navigation and beginner content.

Even the courses have been improved since the early days of Guitareo. This is due in part to an influx of new instructors, where it used to be mostly just Nate. These additional instructors have improved the interaction and social aspect of the site, especially in the comments section.

At the same time, there are still some segments of Guitareo that feel unfinished and incomplete, though this is somewhat mitigated by the decrease in price (going from $20 per month to $15). The biggest example of this is the song section, which is still mostly just a repository of sheet music. 

That's the area where Guitareo could most dramatically improve their value going forward.

But despite its shortcomings, Guitareo has given you a handful of good reasons to use their program:

• A significant reduction in price
• Streamlined beginners content
• Dramatically improved roster of instructors and online interaction
• New content and more consistent updating

If you're a beginner and you want a simple place to get started, the Method section of Guitareo is a great place to land. I'd also recommend Guitareo for those moving past the beginner stage, who might like to jump around the courses section and do some spot learning. 

Questions about our Guitareo Review

Do you have questions about my Guitareo review or other programs I've mentioned here? If so, feel free to leave them in the comments section below, and I'll do my best to help out.

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