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Online-based guitar lessons have become increasingly popular over the last decade. With changes in lifestyle, many people are finding great success in learning the guitar via the internet.
Many online lessons tend to cater to beginners because there are more beginners than not. What about if you’re an advanced player?
You’ve come to the right place! We are going to outline some of the best lessons available for advanced guitar players that you can find today.
Table of Contents
TrueFire – Best Overall
When it comes to guitar lessons, especially for advanced players, TrueFire is one of the best out there. This platform has a long history of providing lessons taught by some of the most famous guitarists in existence.
No matter what style of music you play, TrueFire has lessons that can suit your needs. In disbelief? Here are some of the genres that TrueFire covers:
- Blues
- Blues Rock
- Funk
- Fingerstyle
- Rock
- Jazz
- Jazz Blues
- Rockabilly
- R&B/Soul
- Metal/Hard Rock
- Flamenco and other world music
- Singer-songwriter
- Country
- Acoustic
- Americana
- Classical
With these genre-specific offerings, TrueFire essentially offers lessons on every guitar-based music genre known to man.
Advanced players tend to become more specialized in the areas of the guitar they are most interested in. As such, TrueFire works very well for advanced players due to the nature of its model.
A membership with TrueFire will give you access to everything that this massive platform has to offer. You could easily spend a lifetime learning every single lesson offered on TrueFire.
Even if you don’t wish to subscribe to the platform, you can still benefit. TrueFire allows you to purchase any of its courses, allowing you lifetime access to the teachings.
Having this kind of access should not be taken for granted, especially if you’re serious about the guitar.
There are not many places that offer what TrueFire has available on its platform. For that reason, TrueFire is perhaps the best platform available for advanced guitarists.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn directly from the masters, you must check out this resource. You will not leave without seeing something that catches your eye.
What Lessons Does TrueFire Have To Offer?
When using TrueFire for a learning platform, the world is essentially yours. You have the choice to learn whatever your musical heart desires.
Many platforms tend to follow a pathway-style of lesson structures. This guides people into learning the guitar in a sort of organized way.
With TrueFire, the organization model is more à la carte. You can choose a specific course covering a certain skill or topic as you need.
The best part is that all of these lessons are taught by masterful guitarists themselves. This allows you to not only pick up on their own tendencies but digest their philosophies as well.
Some of the instructors include:
- Dweezil Zappa
- Tommy Emmanuel
- Andy Timmons
- Pat Martino
- Redd Volkaert
- Johnny Hiland
- Chris Buono
- Greg Koch
- Joe Bonamassa
- Robben Ford
- Oz Noy
No matter what genre you are studying, you can find lessons that apply to your needs. For instance, there can be found lessons for:
- Soloing
- Applied Theory
- Chord Melody
- Exercises and Workouts
- Arpeggios
- Slide Guitar
- Improvisation
Each of these concepts is offered in nearly every single music genre context. This allows you to really specialize in the genre of your choice.
To make it even better, TrueFire has a massive library of song-based lessons in their library. You can find songs within each genre offered on TrueFire’s platform to build your musical repertoire.
TrueFire’s video lessons feature multiple camera angles so you can really get a good look at the guitar. Each lesson comes with extra material such as tabs and other notes regarding the lesson.
This platform also has tools to help you with improvisation with different offerings. One allows you to jam with the instructor, while another is similar, but without the instructor. With these, you can control the mix of the instruments involved.
JamPlay
Compared to other guitar lessons platforms, JamPlay is one of the oldest. Since 2007, JamPlay has helped millions of guitarists on their learning journey.
Despite its age, JamPlay has continually built its library, which keeps things fresh and interesting for everyone. As the library has expanded, so too, has the production value of its lessons.
So, even if you’ve used JamPlay in the past, consider revisiting the site. You’re bound to find something worthwhile that you didn’t know you needed to know.
If you’re a returning student, you’ll find that not much has changed in its layout over the years. You’ll have no issue navigating the site to find what you are looking for.
JamPlay is often recommended for those who are not in advanced levels of play. However, JamPlay’s structure model is perfect for the advanced player.
Rather than follow a structured pathway, JamPlay gives you the freedom of choice as to what you learn. This sort of à la carte style works best for advanced players as the musical foundation is already established.
Let’s take a closer look at what JamPlay has to offer. You’ll see why it’s worth your time as an advanced guitarist.
What Lessons Does JamPlay Have To Offer?
One of the biggest advantages of JamPlay is that it has a large number of different instructors contributing lessons. This allows you to digest different points of view and become highly specialized in your own manner.
Across the entire site, there are over 7,000 different lessons available. Of course, as an advanced player, this number gets whittled down a little.
JamPlay offers lessons oriented towards specific genres as well as different techniques. Within the genre-specific lessons, there are nearly 4000 lessons with over 140 courses available.
Some of the genres offered on JamPlay include:
- Blues
- Fingerstyle
- Metal
- Rock
- Bluegrass
- Country
- Classical
- Jazz
- Folk
- Acoustic Rock
- Jam Bands
- Brazilian
- Pop
- Gospel
- Reggae
- R&B/Soul
- Flamenco
- Funk
- Surf
- Celtic
- Hawaiian Slack Key
Having access to this many genres really allows you to add different musical elements into your playing. This can really add quite a bit of character to your musical personality as a whole.
The technique-oriented lessons allow you to build the skills your chops desperately need. There are over 80 courses and 1700+ lessons covering some of the following topics:
- Lead Concepts and Techniques
- Tips and Tricks
- Singing With Guitar
- Speed and Technique
- Music Theory and Improvisation
- Ear Training
- Production
- Rhythm Guitar
Each lesson is shot in high definition, often featuring multiple camera angles. Supplementary material is always provided with each lesson. You can even slow videos down to custom speeds!
JamPlay also offers Master Classes, which come included with a subscription. These classes allow you to take a deep dive into the mind of different players in a musical setting.
There are also a number of song-based lessons to be found here though not as many as on other sites. A library of jam tracks is also available to allow you to practice your improvisation.
Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom
Have you ever wanted an education from the Berklee College of Music? We all know that a college education can cost a pretty penny.
If you’ve ever found yourself in these shoes, your dream has come true. You can take lessons from Tomo Fujita, one of the best-known Berklee guitar instructors.
Tomo Fujita has been teaching guitar since 1993 and has had many students pass through his curriculum. One of his most famous students happens to be a guy by the name of John Mayer. In fact, it was Tomo Fujita who encouraged Mayer to pursue a career as a pop musician.
Fujita has gained quite a following in recent years, largely due to his YouTube channel. He is very active on that platform, continually offering free lessons in addition to Guitar Wisdom.
Anyone who has ever seen Tomo Fujita play knows he is a masterful guitarist in his own right. He has a special blend of funk, jazz, and blues wrapped into a rock music context.
For the most part, the lessons offered on Guitar Wisdom primarily fall within his area of expertise. So, if you have a specific interest in these genres, you’ll find massive benefits here.
When taking lessons on Guitar Wisdom, you’ll find yourself being continually challenged. Within each lesson, Fujita imparts quite a bit of knowledge.
At times, he is almost hard to keep up with, but the benefit of video lessons allows you to rewind.
Do be prepared to take responsibility for yourself and the information in each lesson. Unlike other sites, you will not be provided with tabs here.
Advanced players will be right at home with Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom. Let’s explore some of the offerings available on this platform.
What Lessons Does Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom Have To Offer?
Compared to TrueFire and JamPlay, the number of lessons offered here does pale a bit in comparison. This is mostly due to the fact that the content library has only one contributor: Tomo Fujita.
Within Guitar Wisdom, Fujita imparts his knowledge across the different genres he has a specialty in:
- Jazz
- Funk
- R&B
- Neo-Soul
- Blues
- Jazz Blues
Despite being the only contributor, Fujita does spend a good amount of time providing artist studies. You’ll find a wide number of lessons available that highlight different guitarists’ playing tendencies.
If your sight-reading skills are not up to snuff, Tomo will whip you into shape. He has several series dedicated purely to sight-reading music on the guitar. This will prep you for playing in any setting that uses sheet music.
Fujita also has a number of courses dedicated to Music Theory and Foundational skills. Even if you consider yourself well-trained, these are worth exploring.
Quite often, these courses have advanced topics that you might not consider to be foundational. However, once you learn them, you’ll understand that these concepts are foundational to Fujita’s style.
There is also a detailed course covering lead guitar soloing concepts. These lessons cover techniques as well as some habits of well-known guitarists.
Also included in Guitar Wisdom are a number of different backing tracks. These are recorded by Fujita himself, and designed to help you in an improvisational setting.
Guitar Wisdom will really challenge you. This is mostly due to the fact that you are left to your own devices when knowledge is being imparted. It is up to you to take notes.
If you need any help, there’s an online message board to be found on the site. This can quickly connect you with other players on the platform.
Guitar Gate
YouTube is flooded and a bit oversaturated with a large number of different guitar teachers. However, one teacher in particular that stands out is Michael Palmisano.
Michael Palmisano is actually featured on some of these other platforms mentioned in this list. You’ll find some of his teachings on JamPlay especially.
His credentials make him a worthwhile instructor to learn from. Plus, he has a very straightforward way of explaining things that makes even difficult topics easy to understand.
Palmisano is an alumnus of The Guitar Institute Of Technology, having graduated with high honors. He has used his knowledge base to provide guitar lessons, which he has been teaching for over 15 years.
The lessons on Guitar Gate are more oriented towards helping you develop your own musical personality. After all, we are all unique individuals with our own musical voices.
If you’re a fan of Michael Palmisano’s YouTube channel, you’ll feel right at home at Guitar Gate. The lessons are a bit more formal than his somewhat informal YouTube channel.
In fact, Guitar Gate allows you to become a part of his community. You can request specific songs for him to analyze on his platform.
Advanced players will find that the latter half of Guitar Gate’s material will be worthwhile. However, you might discover that you have some gaps in your knowledge.
If you do have some knowledge gaps, Guitar Gate’s lessons will easily allow you to fill the cracks. You can be sure you’ll have the strongest foundation possible after completing these courses.
You’ll find that Guitar Gate promotes more of a personal experience compared to other platforms. It essentially combines the best of the internet lesson world and the in-person lesson world.
Let’s take a closer look at the offerings you can take advantage of at Guitar Gate.
What Lessons Does Guitar Gate Have To Offer?
The lessons you can find on Guitar Gate vary a bit in their scope. However, for the most part, each course follows a sort of structured path.
Each course builds upon previously taught material in other courses. This structure allows you to learn in a linear manner, rather than ping-ponging between different concepts.
Beyond the basic guitar fundamentals, you’ll find lessons on:
- Progressions
- Arpeggios
- Scales
- Fretboard navigation via triads
- Modes
- Extensions
- Non-Diatonic harmony
Each of these courses has numerous video lessons within. By the end of each course, you will feel confident in your understanding and application of the topic.
There are also lessons based around blues guitar as well as country guitar. If you don’t have a foundation in these genres, these courses can serve as an excellent primer.
Guitar Gate also has an interesting course regarding making a living playing in a cover band. Some might scoff at this, but this is an area of knowledge that can be applied to real-world living.
In fact, if you’ve ever wanted to make a living or supplement your income with music, check this out. It features over 20 video lessons alone covering different topics such as:
- Building a band repertoire
- Auditioning process
- Rehearsing as a group
- Navigating your community
- Marketing essentials for your band
- Booking gigs
- Money and contracts
- Using booking agents
An in-depth course is also available covering the tendencies of jam-legend Jerry Garcia. You’ll learn all about how to add some of his vocabulary and techniques to your own playing.
The community aspect of Guitar Gate is a definite highlight. You can submit your own videos for feedback directly from Palmisano.
Each lesson allows you to ask questions directly regarding the material. Plus, there’s even a forum to make new friends.
GuitarTricks
GuitarTricks is one of the most established guitar lesson resources on the internet. Since 1998, this website has been delivering content to fuel the learning guitarist’s journey.
Of course, today, GuitarTricks offers much more than it did in its modest beginnings. You can find just about any sort of lesson that you wish to find on GuitarTricks.
With that being said, the selection isn’t as diverse as, say TrueFire. However, there is enough here that will allow you to specialize in your own way.
You might think of GuitarTricks as being catered primarily towards beginner guitarists. In some ways, you would not be wrong.
Much of their marketing does seem to be targeted towards mostly beginner and intermediate players. In a way, this marketing does the site a bit of a disservice to itself.
There is actually a fair amount of material available for advanced guitarists. The site essentially allows you to build a solid foundation in many different genres of music.
That is, perhaps, the beauty of GuitarTricks, and maybe why beginner and intermediate players are primarily advertised to.
GuitarTricks gives you the benefit of having multiple instructors imparting their knowledge. There are 38 instructors, each with their own specialization, who have provided their own lesson series.
What’s even better is that you can schedule 1-on-1 lesson time with an instructor if you wish. This does have its own associated cost aside from the basic subscription fee.
Let’s take some time to explore the offerings found on GuitarTricks. You’re sure to find something of value here.
What Lessons Does GuitarTricks Have To Offer?
Outside of the foundational pathways on GuitarTricks, you have many different options to choose from. GuitarTricks has its lessons conveniently categorized into different groups, making it easy to find what you’re looking for.
Some of the different lessons include:
- Genre-specific styles
- Guitar techniques
- Practice-oriented exercises
- Chords and scales
- Studies of the playing habits of famous guitarists
- Material covering gear and tonal information
Within the genre-specific lessons, you’ll find that GuitarTricks has a varying amount of lessons. Certain genres have many more lessons to learn from than others.
However, even if you don’t have experience in certain genres, the site can help you immensely. Some of the genres with concepts to be learned include:
- Rock
- Metal
- Jazz
- Classical
- World music
- Rockabilly
- Surf
- Country
- Bluegrass
- Acoustic
- Blues
- Funk and Soul
The Artist Studies section of the website features quite a bit of lessons over many different guitarists. You can learn the styles of some of the following guitarists:
- Albert King
- Billy Gibbons
- Chet Atkins
- David Gilmour
- George Lynch
- Jeff Beck
- Joe Pass
- Tony Rice
Learning the tendencies of your favorite players allows you to incorporate them into your own playing. We are all influenced by others, so these lessons can really help add those ingredients to your sound.
If you are lacking in any sort of guitar technique, GuitarTricks has you covered. Nearly any type of commonly used guitar technique has a lesson within this library.
GuitarTricks makes it easy to see what the difficulty of the lesson is. Each lesson has a rating on a 1-5 scale so you know ahead of time what you’re getting into.
Where GuitarTricks really shines is in its offering of song-based lessons. There are well over 1000 songs in its library that you can learn and add to your repertoire.
Best Online Guitar Lessons For Advanced Players, Final Thoughts
As a guitarist, I have personally spent time taking lessons from all of the aforementioned resources. Each one has provided an extreme amount of value in each one’s own respect.
Because of my experience with these resources, I feel confident that you will also find value in these extensive libraries. Try them out for yourself, as many offer a free trial so you can see if they fit your needs.
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