Which Is a Better Guitar Lesson Tool In 2022? | Yousician Vs Guitar Tricks

These are very different platforms for learning guitar. Straight up, I can tell you that I prefer Guitar Tricks. This platform has a lot more variety to cater to more learning styles. It boasts sequential video lessons that break down complex topics into easy-to-understand chunks. 

Comparatively, the main classes through Yousician are more like a game. Yet, there are a few other things to consider when pitting Yousician vs. Guitar Tricks.

I would recommend trying the free trial out for each and making the decision yourself. Both of these lessons have a decent trial period to give them a crack.

If you are a beginner, give Guitar Tricks a run first. It will provide you with a few extra knowledge bites to hit the ground running with your Yousician trial. This will allow you to get the best impression of both courses.

Check Them Out Here.

Yousician is an online platform that allows you to learn how to play a musical instrument. The business is located in Helsinki and was founded in 2010 by Mikko Kaipainen and Chris Thür. Initially, it was named Evelin, but soon the name was changed to a brighter name that reflected the application's personality better.

The creators state that the concept behind the program is to learn music as fun a way as possible. In the few years since its inception, the number of consumers increased. In 2016, Yousician reported they had over eight million monthly users.

Yousician stands out from other platforms as it allows you to play your instrument along with the program, and it gives you feedback in real-time akin to games like Guitar Hero ad Rocksmith. 

Yousician received critical acclaim for its fun spin on the guitar learning aspect upon its release.

As of now, Yousician can be found on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

If you play video games, you will enjoy your time with this application as it listens to you play and gives you live feedback on your performance. Several game modes are available with this application for varying skill levels and developmental stages.

If you're looking to use this software, there's a free trial that you can use that allows you to test drive the software before you actually put your hard-earned money into buying a subscription. 

Although, the free version does limit the number of songs you can play.

One great thing about Yousician is that it allows you to learn multiple instruments simultaneously. If you get bored quickly, you will find this software extremely entertaining.

The software is kid-friendly and is aimed at novices. But, it doesn't provide too many options for advanced players, which means it's pretty limited in scope. There is no human link in Yousician like there is in Guitar Tricks, so you will need to do the research on your own if you have any queries.

The main appeal for this software is that you can learn a bunch of different instruments if you have a premium account. Yet, if you are just starting to get into music, I would recommend starting out with one musical instrument so you don't stretch yourself too thin.

It is reasonably easy to move to a related instrument such as bass guitar or ukulele once you have the basics down. Conversely, hitting up piano lessons at the same time as trying to learn guitar could slow progress for both instruments.

Use your head when deciding which instruments you want to conquer.

The second benefit of Yousician is that it's fun! If you are familiar with Guitar Hero or Rocksmith the interface will feel familiar for a Yousician guitar lesson. The main difference is that the notes scroll sideways instead of from the front. A small white ball guides you and helps you find your timing as the fretboard is marked to tell you where to play.

There are also other games that will help you learn chords and how to strike notes among other new skills.

Although this is a fun way to learn guitar, it has its downsides.

It's not an ideal way to learn for an absolute beginner.

You have to have a basic understanding of how the instrument works before you get started with this kind of lesson. You could be playing completely wrong.

You could also be getting the notes right, but holding the instrument wrong. You'd get away with this for the early lessons but run into trouble as you progress. It is very important to have good posture while you play guitar too. This is not something addressed in Yousician.

A second downfall is that you don't have much interaction with sheet music or guitar tablature. When you want to learn a song outside of the app you will need to be familiar with at least one of these. Using a guitar tab is straight forward and the Yousician app games should provide a basic understanding. But, without consistent exposure, it will limit your progress.

Who Should Use Yousician Over Guitar Tricks?

• People who have trouble with motivation will appreciate the fun style of learning. The lack of formal lesson structure will be very appealing to such individuals. Having trouble at school may be a good indication you'd prefer this type of lesson.
  
  
• If you have picked up a guitar before and just want to learn a ton of new songs Yousician is a great way to do it.
  
  
• Intermediate guitarists that can read ultimate guitar tabs but have timing issues would benefit greatly from using Yousician.

Experienced musicians who want to learn more than one instrument will also have a good time with this app.

Who Should Not Use Yousician Over Guitar Tricks?

• Those that want a formal video lesson for each concept and song.
  
  
• Absolute newbies will struggle a bit more with much weaker introductory lessons on this platform.
  
  
• Very experienced guitarists won't get a lot out of these lessons.
  
  
• Difficult skills that you need to drill or have explicitly explained such as sweep picking or tapping are not well represented

Guitar Tricks is a website that allows you to increase your guitar playing skills through structured content. Guitar tricks was first founded in 1998, meaning they have had a lot of time to grow over the years. Undoubtedly, this is one of the best options available if you're looking to learn to play the guitar.

Like most other sites, Guitar Tricks' primary focus is to provide lessons to aid beginners. To this day, they still add new lessons, teachers, and music that will increase the learning capability of their students. However, guitar tricks also has classes aimed at a much more experienced audience.

Guitar tricks is the nearest thing to having a real-life instructor guide you through the process of learning the guitar. 

This platform also has classes laid out by genre, tunes, and various difficulty levels.

It also gives its users the ability to download courses so you can view them online without the need for internet access. Besides this, Guitar Tricks also provides its users with handy tools like a metronome, chord book, backing tracks, and interactive video games.

Guitar tricks is perfect for helping you go from a beginner to an intermediate level. 

This platform is a great tool for beginners, which provides you with more than tips and tricks. 

The courses are fun, which is a far better choice than fundamental sheet music. You can re-do lessons at your leisure so you don’t have to worry if you’ve had some lazy days.

This program has over 11000 lessons and 1000 song tutorials for guitar. With so many lessons and a variety of ways to learn it should be easy for anyone to find something that suits them.

Whether you are looking for an absolute beginner lesson, to improve your music theory, or master a difficult guitar skill there is something for you.

There are many different ways you can approach the platform. You can go through a guitar course that follows genres, pick out individual lessons, or just learn your favorite song from the huge variety of popular songs.

The guitar tricks app is pretty decent and has the whole platform on it. It's not quite as interactive as the Yousician app but offers enough for it not to be a weakness.

In spite of its huge range of lessons and tools, GT does not have any interactive play-along songs like Yousician. If you specifically want this type of lesson you may have to look elsewhere.

There is so much to unpack about this platform as it is HUGE. Check out our full Guitar Tricks Review to get a more thorough understanding.

Who Should Use Guitar Tricks Over Yousician?

• Anyone who wants 'proper' lessons. The teachers for this platform are awesome and explain everything in great detail. It may seem a little overwhelming to begin with, but you will adapt over time.
  
  
• Serious musicians will get a lot more use out of these lessons. There is a lot available to improve small skills as well as broad courses for fast progression if coupled with consistent practice.

Who Should Not Use Guitar Tricks Over Yousician?

• People that don't enjoy a typical lesson structure and just want to pick up and play are probably not well suited to GT. There are still plenty of ways to do this on this platform but the bulk of the platform is dedicated to video lessons.
  
  
• Guitar tricks do not include any other instruments. Not even bass. So, if you want to learn any other stringed instrument Yousician is a better choice.

Yousician Vs Guitar Tricks

Now let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Here are some direct comparisons for important factors that will influence your decision.

Amount of Lessons

Even though you should always prefer quality over quantity, we still need to ensure that the lessons provided are enough to get a beginner started.

Guitar Tricks provides more than 11,000 classes and more than a million songs to learn. They also offer frequent updates to the app. 

Yousician, on the other hand, doesn't provide the data about the songs, but it's safe to assume that the number does not come close to Guitar Tricks.

However, there's a reason that both companies sell memberships rather than a one-time purchase. There are more than enough lessons to keep you occupied for a long time, especially as a beginner. However, Guitar Tricks does have more material for you to go through.

Types of Courses

On Guitar Tricks, the lessons are only available for the guitar, which means if you're someone who wants to learn several instruments at the same time, you're out of luck. You can choose between electric and acoustic guitar, but that's pretty much it.

The quality of the lessons is exceptional, but Guitar Tricks not having different instruments might be a deal-breaker for some.

Yousician is a game-like software and does not have any sort of teachers. Still, one edge over Guitar Tricks is that they offer classes for different musical instruments such as the bass guitar, piano, ukulele, and vocals.

This means that you can switch over to any other instrument whenever you want, which makes Yousician the clear winner in this category.

Player Skill Levels

One of the most important things to consider is the skill level of the player that the software caters to. Both of these platforms are focused on beginners, but this doesn't mean that you can’t rely on them if you know a thing or two about playing the guitar.

Guitar Tricks is suited for all skill levels, and it is possible to find classes for beginners. However, there are several courses past that. As the website has existed for over 30 years, there are numerous fantastic lessons regardless of your ability levels.

Similarly, Yousician also has levels or varying difficulties, and you can get a lot out of the app no matter what level you're on.

If you're well versed in the world of guitar, then I would recommend using Guitar Tricks as it caters more to beginners, intermediate, and advanced players. Yousician is more game-like which may not be as appealing to experienced guitarists.

Comparing The Cost

Let's face it. Cost is an unavoidable determining factor. They're priced similarly. Here's the breakdown:

Monthly

Guitar Tricks $19.95
Yousician $19.99

It's easy to see which is better priced for a monthly subscription. If you account for all the extra features that Guitar Tricks has, it more than justifies paying the same.

Yearly

Guitar Tricks $179
Yousician Premium+ $200

GT is cheaper for its yearly subscription and is heavily discounted when compared to its monthly option.

With a yearly membership from Yousician, you get access to lessons for all the extra instruments though. It is worth the cost if this appeals to you.

Refund Policy

After the 14-day all-access trial, GT also has a huge 60-day window for a no-questions-asked refund. That gives you a whopping 74 days to try out the system risk-free.

Yousician has a much shorter "cooling off period" of 14 days. Not quite enough to get a feel for the program unless you play every day.

Yousician Vs Guitar Tricks FAQ

Hopefully, these answers satiate your burning questions. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

Which Is Better For Beginners?

Guitar Tricks, for sure. The platform eases you into playing a lot slower and will prevent you from forming any bad habits early on.

Should I Use Online Lessons As An Advanced Guitarist?

Yes! There is a huge range of lessons on GT, JamPlay, and Fender Play among other platforms that cater specifically to difficult skills.

I had a lot of trouble learning certain skills and used lessons to overcome plateaus - I'm sure you are familiar with those perceived skill ceilings. Practice, practice, practice with a little guidance is the way to conquer them.

Final Word

Guitar Tricks is hands down a better system for learning guitar properly. Yousician is more for mucking around and learning to play at home for your own benefit. It is a lot more fun for this purpose and has a lot to offer in terms of learning extra instruments. However, it lacks severely when compared to all the tools and lessons available on Guitar Tricks.

If you want to compare more guitar lesson providers check out our big review here.