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Justin Sandercoe
JustinGuitar Beginner Guitar Course
The free course to start with if you only try one. Justin Sandercoe's lessons go in a deliberate order and keep circling back to timing, clean chord changes and how to practice, rather than racing to the next shape, which is exactly what an adult who stalled before needs. The beginner course on the website is free. The companion Lessons & Songs app, made with Musopia, follows the same beginner Grades 1, 2 and 3 with play-along songs, though the full song library needs a paid Full Access subscription. Works equally well on acoustic or electric.
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Andy Guitar
10 Day Guitar Starter Course
The best answer to "I'm not sure I'll stick with this." Andy Crowley's free challenge teaches a new song each day for ten days, starting with two chords, with fretboard diagrams and strumming patterns on screen as you go. Taking longer than ten days is fine: the point is that you are playing recognizable music in the first week, which is what keeps a nervous adult picking the guitar back up. It is built around acoustic guitar; the site has a separate beginner electric course for anyone plugged in. Once it clicks, move on to a fuller course such as JustinGuitar or Andy's own beginner pathway.
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Guitar for Beginners: Play Chords and Simple Songs (Berklee)
For the adult who likes a syllabus. Taught by Thaddeus Hogarth, this short Berklee course feels like a college class: six modules running from choosing a guitar and accessories through tuning, picking, strumming and fingerpicking to power chords, barre chords and a first song with the pentatonic scale. Coursera estimates about two weeks at ten hours a week, so treat it as a solid foundation rather than three months of material. It enrolls for free, though some course materials and the certificate may need the paid option. Covers acoustic and electric alike.
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Fender Play
The polished paid option for someone who wants songs from day one. You pick acoustic or electric, then a style such as rock, blues, folk, country or pop, and Fender Play builds a path of short video lessons around riffs and songs in that style. That song-first design is its strength for motivation. The trade-off is depth: Tech Advisor's review found it aimed at people who want to play their favorite songs rather than read music or study scales, and the same basics are available free elsewhere, so you are paying for the structure and the polish. There is a 14-day free trial, which is long enough to see whether the format keeps you practicing. Bass and ukulele paths are there too if a partner wants in.
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Guitar Tricks
Core Learning System
Pick this if you want one subscription you will not outgrow. The Core Learning System walks a beginner through short, incremental videos, starting with Guitar Fundamentals and then branching out into styles such as rock, country and blues, with downloadable tabs and, on lessons that have them, jam tracks to practice over. The app promises actual songs from the very start, and the library behind it runs to thousands of lessons, so the first year is covered too. The catch is the interface: the site can feel crowded and hard to navigate, and a newcomer has to resist wandering off the core path. A free trial lets you test the first lessons before paying.
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Yousician
The app for people who need a score to chase. Yousician listens through your phone's microphone and grades each note for accuracy and timing, which turns daily practice into something closer to a game and makes it easy to keep a streak going. That feedback is also its blind spot: it hears whether a note sounded on time, not whether you got there with a death grip, a collapsed wrist or a pick angle that will cause trouble later. Use it as the practice partner, not the teacher. The free tier gives limited daily lesson time; a subscription unlocks the rest.
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Simply Guitar
A gentler listening app than Yousician, built around strumming along to songs you already know rather than chasing high scores. Simply Guitar hears you through the microphone and gives real-time feedback, works on acoustic or electric, and lets you go at your own pace. It suits the adult whose main goal is to play chords around a campfire or under a singer, since its lessons teach the chords and riffs behind popular songs. It runs out of road sooner than the bigger courses, and like every listening app it cannot see your hands, so check your posture and fretting against a video lesson now and then. Practice in a quiet room, and play an electric through an amp near your phone so the app can hear it.
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Rocksmith+ (2022)
Released
For the adult who grew up on video games and will practice for an hour if it looks like one. Ubisoft's Rocksmith+ has you play along to official recordings with real-time feedback, at a pace you can adjust until a song comes together. It works with any acoustic or electric: a phone can act as the microphone, or an electric plugs straight in with the Real Tone Cable. The song-chasing is brilliant for motivation and weak on fundamentals, so beginners get the most from its step-by-step lessons on holding the guitar and fretting notes before diving into the songs. A free trial lets you check it works with your setup.
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Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 with Audio (1995)
Published
The classic method book, and the one to choose if you want to read music rather than just tab. Will Schmid and Greg Koch's first volume covers tuning, first-position melodies, the C, G, G7, D7 and Em chords, rhythms up to eighth notes and strumming, with traditional songs such as Greensleeves and When the Saints Go Marching In. The tunes are folk standards rather than radio hits, which can test an adult's patience, but the reading skills last. The current edition's online audio can be slowed down without changing pitch and looped, which makes it far easier to practice alone. A left-handed edition exists.
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Lessons With a Local Guitar Teacher
The one option that can watch your hands. A good teacher spots the tense thumb, the flat fingers and the strumming from the elbow in the first lesson, long before they harden into habits that no app will catch, and a weekly appointment gives you a reason to practice when motivation dips. It costs the most, and quality varies, so ask for a trial lesson and look for someone who teaches adults, sets a clear plan and lets you choose songs you care about. Even a handful of lessons alongside a free course such as JustinGuitar is money well spent. Online lessons over video work too if no one good is nearby.
