The Best Guitar Learning Apps of 2024
Written by: BestApp.com App Testing Team - Updated: Mar 18, 2022
We’ve determined that Justin Guitar is the best guitar learning app thanks to its renowned instructor, extensive songbook, and advanced features. But even with these advantages, Justin Guitar might not be the best option for you — depending on your specific needs. That’s why we’ve also reviewed nine other guitar learning apps that are well worth checking out. Here are the best guitar learning apps for iOS and Android.
Top 10 Guitar Learning Apps to Try
- Justin Guitar — Top Pick
- Ultimate Guitar — Best Free Version
- Yousician — Best User Interface
- Fender Play — Best Songbook
- Guitar Tricks — Most Advanced Tools
- ChordBank — Best for Learning Chords
- Songsterr — Best for Learning Tabs
- GuitarTuna — Best for Tuning Guitars
- Guitar Jam Tracks — Best for Learning Scales
- Guitar Pro — Best for Writing Tabs
How We Chose the Best Guitar Learning Apps
To decide which guitar learning apps deserved to be included in this guide, we looked for features such as a chord/tab library, guitar tuner, and metronome. You’ll also find that most of these apps offer a free version or free trial — that way, you can test them out before you commit to a subscription.
Choose the guitar learning app that’s right for you
The best guitar learning app for one user may not be the best for another. For example, some apps are designed for beginners, while others are better suited for users who already have some guitar playing experience. You should make sure the guitar learning app you choose is a good fit for your specific needs.
Find an app that includes your favorite songs
If a guitar learning app forces you to sit through a bunch of dull, repetitive exercises, you’ll probably give up before you learn much of anything. So, we prioritized apps that can show you how to play popular songs — this is one of the most effective methods for keeping guitar students engaged throughout the learning process.
Our Guitar Learning App Reviews
Justin Guitar — Top Pick
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
Justin Guitar offers everything you need in a guitar learning app, including interactive lessons, a guitar tuner tool, and much more. The app is named after instructor Justin Sandercoe, who’s well known for his friendly and engaging teaching style. You can play along to over 1,000 hit songs, and there’s also a feature that makes it sound like you’re playing with a real band and backing vocals.
Notable features:
- Free version available
- In-app purchases: $4.99 – $299.99 per item
- Support available: Email, Help Center/FAQ, Community Forum
| Justin Guitar Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Interactive lessons | Most features are not free |
| Guitar tuner tool | |
| 1,000+ songs | |
Ultimate Guitar — Best Free Version
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
The free version of Ultimate Guitar includes the chords, tabs, and lyrics for more than 800,000 songs as well as features like offline access, left-handed mode, and dark mode. By upgrading to the premium version, you’ll be able to take advantage of additional features such as backing tracks, synchronized lyrics, a metronome tool, and a guitar tuner tool.
Notable features:
- Free version available
- Subscription plans: Pro: $9.99/month
- Support available: Email, FAQ, Forum
| Ultimate Guitar Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Feature-rich free version | No live customer support |
| Metronome tool | |
| Guitar tuner tool | |
Yousician — Best User Interface
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
Yousician’s interface makes it especially easy to learn guitar — the app listens while you play and provides instant feedback on your accuracy and timing. Step-by-step videos will guide you through beginner lessons as well as more advanced topics, and weekly challenges allow you to compete with other users.
Notable features:
- Free version available
- Subscription plans: $19.99/month or $89.99/year
- Support available: Email, Help & FAQs, Ticket
| Yousician Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| User-friendly interface | Premium version is relatively expensive |
| Lessons for wide range of experience levels | |
| Fun weekly challenges | |
Fender Play — Best Songbook
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
As you may have guessed from its name, this app was developed by Fender, one of the most trusted brands in the music industry. Their extensive library of on-demand video lessons allows you to learn hundreds of guitar chords, scales, songs, and riffs at your own pace. Fender Play’s songbook is particularly impressive, as it includes hits from top artists such as The Beatles, Rihanna, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Pink Floyd. With thousands of song lessons available, Fender Play is the complete online learning app for guitar, bass, and ukulele.
Notable features:
- Free trial available
- Subscription plans: $19.99/month or $149.99/year
- Support available: Email, Help Center/FAQs
| Fender Play Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Developed by major guitar manufacturer | No free version available |
| Variety of top artists featured in songbook | |
| 3,000+ video lessons | |
Guitar Tricks — Most Advanced Tools
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
Guitar Tricks offers a variety of useful tools for learning how to play guitar, including a scale finder, chord finder, reference tuner, fretboard trainer, and downloadable tabs. While you’ll need to subscribe to the premium version to access most of these features, Guitar Tricks does provide a rotating set of free lessons you can use to sample their software.
Notable features:
- Free version available
- Subscription plans: $19.95/month
- Support available: Email, Mobile Application Help/FAQs, Ticket
| Guitar Tricks Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Developer has long history of online guitar lessons | Premium version is relatively expensive |
| Variety of useful tools for learning guitar | |
| 700+ song-based tutorials | |
ChordBank — Best for Learning Chords
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
This simple app is entirely dedicated to teaching users how to play chords. It includes step-by-step instructions for thousands of chords, and the in-app display allows you to practice directly on your phone. One notable drawback to ChordBank is that it’s less complete than most of the other apps featured in this guide. You’ll need to seek out additional resources to fully learn how to play guitar.
Notable features:
- Free version available
- Subscription plans: All Access: $4.99/month
- Support available: Email, FAQ
| ChordBank Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Extensive chord library | Limited set of features |
| User-friendly interface | |
| Supports left-handed users | |
Songsterr — Best for Learning Tabs
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
The free version of Songsterr offers access to more than 500,000 tabs and chords with interactive playback and high-quality sound. Songsterr’s tab player is exceptional — by upgrading to the premium version, you’ll unlock extra features such as mute current track (play along with backing track only), loop (repeat a section), and multispeed playback (slow down the track to help learn difficult sections).
Notable features:
- Free version available
- Subscription plans: Plus: $9.90/month
- Support available: Email, FAQ
| Songsterr Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Advanced tab player | No live customer support |
| Huge tab and chord library | |
| High-quality sound | |
GuitarTuna — Best for Tuning Guitars
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
Learning how to tune your guitar is one of the most fundamental aspects of learning how to play. GuitarTuna, which was developed by the same team as Yousician, makes it easy to tune your instrument quickly and accurately. A metronome tool is available with the premium version as well. There are also some features for playing songs, but these capabilities are pretty limited.
Notable features:
- Free version available
- Subscription plans: $4.99/month
- Support available: Email, Help & FAQs, Ticket
| GuitarTuna Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| User-friendly interface | Limited set of features |
| Metronome tool | |
Guitar Jam Tracks — Best for Learning Scales
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
Guitar Jam Tracks is similar to apps such as ChordBank and GuitarTuna that are dedicated to only one aspect of learning guitar — in this case, learning how to play scales. The scale charts in this app are quite easy for beginners to read, as they show you exactly where to place your fingers. There are five backing tracks included in the standard version for practicing your scales, and additional features are available through in-app purchases.
Notable features:
- Free version not available
- Subscription plans: $4.99/one-time purchase
- In-app purchases: $0.99 – $1.99 per item
- Support available: Email
| Guitar Jam Tracks Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Easy-to-read scale charts | No free version available |
| Includes backing tracks for practicing scales | |
Guitar Pro — Best for Writing Tabs
Download: Android ★★★★★★★★★★ | iOS ★★★★★★★★★★
Once you’ve got a handle on the basics of playing guitar, you might start coming up with some riffs or chord sequences of your own. Guitar Pro provides you with all the tools you need to write your own tabs, and it also includes features such as a metronome, multitrack player, and sheet music library.
Notable features:
- Free version not available
- Subscription plans: Android: $5.49/one-time purchase; iOS: $6.99/one-time purchase
- Support available: Email, Help Center
| Guitar Pro Pros & Cons | |
|---|---|
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Variety of useful features for writing tabs | No free version available |
| Metronome tool | |
Guitar Learning Apps: Feature Summary Table
| Guitar Learning Apps Comparison Table | ||
|---|---|---|
| App | Subscription Fees or In-App Purchases | Features |
| Justin Guitar — Top Pick | $4.99 – $299.99 per item | ✓ Lessons ✓ Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| Ultimate Guitar — Best Free Version | Pro: $9.99/month | ✓ Lessons X Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| Yousician — Best User Interface | $19.99/month $89.99/year |
✓ Lessons X Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library X Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| Fender Play — Best Songbook | $19.99/month or $149.99/year | ✓ Lessons ✓ Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library X Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| Guitar Tricks — Most Advanced Tools | $19.95/month | ✓ Lessons X Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| ChordBank — Best for Learning Chords | All Access: $4.99/month | ✓ Lessons X Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| Songsterr — Best for Learning Tabs | Plus: $9.90/month | ✓ Lessons ✓ Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| GuitarTuna — Best for Tuning Guitars | $4.99/month | X Lessons X Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |
| Guitar Jam Tracks — Best for Learning Scales | $4.99/one-time purchase $0.99 – $1.99 per item |
✓ Lessons X Songbook X Chord/Tab Library X Tuner X Metronome |
| Guitar Pro — Best for Writing Tabs | Android: $5.49/one-time purchase iOS: $6.99/one-time purchase |
X Lessons ✓ Songbook ✓ Chord/Tab Library ✓ Tuner ✓ Metronome |