Wednesday, December 11th
2024 Guitar Lesson Program Reviews
Fender Play
- Monthly ($19.99/month) and annual plans ($149.99)
- 2-week free trial
- For beginner and intermediate players
- Progress tracking
- Practice and feedback modes
Fender Play provides on-demand video lessons for guitar, bass, and ukulele. The company doesn't provide much information about their history, their instructors, or anything else we usually look for in a company. Instead, they have a basic landing page where they encourage students to sign up for their lessons and see what they're all about. They also list that they've been recommended by Nylon, Today, Forbes, Teen Vogue, Guitar World, and Vice.
Sign up to see
Fender takes a song-based approach to their teaching so that students are more excited and engaged in their lessons. They don't show a lot of detail about their lesson plans or what exactly the teaching style is like unless you sign up. We wish they gave us more screenshots or demos in advance so that we didn't have to jump through hoops and provide personal information to use their site before seeing how it all works.
Bite-size lessons for beginner and intermediate players
After a little searching, we found a help page that provided answers to a lot of questions we had about the platform. The company says that their material is for beginner and intermediate guitar players. This means that if you have a lot of experience under your belt, you probably won't find any of the lessons here challenging enough. Fender Play says they have thousands of instructional videos and practice activities to create a learning path based on your musical preferences and goals. Each lesson is "bite-sized” so that they don't take up much time, but after every few lessons, you should be able to play something new.
Pre-recorded lessons
Fender Play is a guided online learning program where all the lessons are pre-recorded. This means you won't be scheduling in-person lessons or feedback sessions with real instructors. Instead you'll watch videos, do hands-on exercises, and follow the curriculum at your own pace. There is progress tracking as you learn new songs and techniques to keep you motivated as you go along. There are also different modes for practicing and feedback to help you fine-tune whatever you're learning.
Billed monthly or annually
You can't even see Fender Play's pricing until you sign up, which we were bugged by. They have annual and monthly plans, so you can choose one and then you'll be asked to provide your name, email, and create a password. We initially chose a monthly plan and were shown that the cost is $19.99/month and includes a 7-day free trial. We were disappointed since everywhere on their site they advertise a 2-week free trial. We realized the 2-week free trial is only for the annual subscription, which is $149.99/year ($12.50/month). After this, the company makes no mention of refunds or satisfaction guarantees, but we assume and hope that with the monthly subscription you could at least cancel at any time and you won't be charged at the next billing cycle.
Scant reviews
There are no unfiltered customer reviews on Fender Play's website, nor do they have a rating from the Better Business Bureau. All we were able to find from Fender Play are their self-published 5-star testimonials. We run into this a lot with online guitar programs, so if you're willing to sign up, we recommend trying their free trial to see if this is the right program for you. You should quickly be able to tell if it fits your learning style and makes you excited about learning guitar.
Looking for more transparency
We wish that Fender Play was a little more transparent about what their platform looks like and what their pricing is. We understand them wanting to hook people in and encourage them just to sign up, but if you're considering other options or not wanting to recklessly spend money, it's nice to know what you're getting into beforehand. This was the biggest downside of Fender Play for us. We also realize some people really benefit from a little bit more hands-on help from an instructor face-to-face and that's not an option here. Because of this, Fender Play has earned an average rating from us.
More Guitar Lesson Program Reviews
The 10 Best Guitar Lesson Programs
Where is the Best Place to Take Guitar Lessons?
There are a lot of incredible musical instruments you could choose to learn, but the guitar is a crowd favorite for quite a few reasons. It's easy to tote around and bring a song to life at a moment's notice. It goes beautifully with so many other instruments and if you are able to sing, then you're a walking performance. Whether you're casually jamming with friends, playing at a formal event, or just finding solace by yourself and enjoying a melody, having the talent to play the guitar is invaluable.
No matter if you have a young kid interested in learning to play the guitar or you're getting up in age and still have a zest for developing new hobbies, there are easily-accessible guitar lessons perfect for your level. Even those who have taken years of guitar lessons and play quite a few songs can continue to learn and move up in their skills. Online guitar lessons can meet you where you're at and provide the convenience of learning on-the-go whenever you have time.
Guitar Lesson Program FAQ
Continued from above...
There are quite a few platforms that offer guitar lessons online. They all take on a variation of teaching styles, so what works for one person might not be the best choice for another. Maybe you want to work one-on-one with a teacher online for constructive feedback and to hold yourself accountable to someone. Or maybe you're the type of person who just wants to learn behind closed doors on your own timetable and go at your own pace. Luckily, a few companies out there offer free trials to give you a taste of their platform and choose the one that will benefit you most.
From online guitar lessons, you'll learn everything you'd learn in-person with a teacher. Plus, it's usually much more affordable. You'll cover hand positions, how to find different notes and string them together, strum patterns, and how to read music. You can usually choose your favorite songs and learn to play those, which makes the process much more exciting.
We've done a lot of the important research regarding some of the best online guitar lesson options, but we recommend you keep a few things in mind when you're differentiating between companies:
- Cost. Some companies charge subscription fees for their program while others collect a one-time fee for unlimited access to their material. Check if the company offers a free trial for you to take advantage of before signing up for anything. You'll be saving money by taking lessons online no matter what, but you still want to get the best deal possible while maximizing the resources you have access to.
- Quality. Is the company frequently updating their material, adding new songs, and making their website modern and user-friendly? Or are you going to be dealing with a company that created a platform years ago and never touched it again? Ideally, you'll want to sign up with a company that is still putting effort into their company and keeping it up-to-date. This also ensures that you'll have a better experience with customer service if you need to work with them.
- Return policy. If you sign up for a subscription and change your mind about the platform partway through, can you get a refund for the unused portion of your lessons? What about getting a refund for your lessons if you paid a one-time fee for them? Is the company flexible enough that you don't feel completely locked into anything if you aren't learning as much as you hoped?
The experts at Top Consumer Reviews have researched the most important things you'd need to know about choosing a guitar lesson program and ranked some of today's popular options. We hope this information helps you find a company that provides great resources for learning the guitar and builds your confidence as you improve your skills!
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