10 Best + Free Guitar Courses & Certificates [2026]
- 1. Guitar for Beginners [Coursera] - Best Free Course
- 2. Beginner Guitar Course (Classic) [JustinGuitar] - Best Practical Course
- 3. Beginner Guitar Lessons [YouTube] - Best Crash Course
- 4. Ultimate Beginner Guitar Masterclass (2021 Update) [Udemy] - Best Paid Course
- 5. Beginner Guitar Lessons [YouTube] - Best NEW Course
- 6. Tasty Guitar Lessons [Tasty Guitar] - Best Advanced Course
- 7. Guitar Tricks [Guitar Tricks]
- 8. How to Play Guitar | Learn Guitar [Yousician]
- 9. Play Guitar for Life [GuitarZoom]
- 10. The Professional Guitar Masterclass [Udemy]
Learn guitar with this comprehensive list of the web's best guitar courses, ranked by 1,000+ student reviews.
- Udemy and Eduonix are best for practical, low cost and high quality Guitar courses.
- Coursera, Udacity and EdX are the best providers for a Guitar certificate, as many come from top Ivy League Universities.
- YouTube is best for free Guitar crash courses.
- PluralSight, SkillShare and LinkedIn are the best monthly subscription platforms if you want to take multiple Guitar courses.
- Independent Providers for Guitar courses & certificates are generally hit or miss.
Provider
University
Tags
Rating
Duration
Difficulty
Publication Year
Language
Complete Guitar System - Beginner to Advanced (2021)


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- Course does a great job of getting students playing something recognizable on the guitar very quickly.
- Includes valuable exercises to develop technique.
- Course is more thorough than most beginner tutorials.
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- Going from beginner to advanced takes thousands of hours of practice on any instrument. This course makes a promise it cannot keep.
- Course clunkily combines a beginner course with an intermediate course.
- Some content seems to be out of order.
1 )
Guitar for Beginners (2015)


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- Covers just enough music theory to build a foundation without burdening students.
- Course does not stop with just a few chords. It teaches students enough to expand their abilities.
- Great mix of technical and musical knowledge.
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- Course focuses too much on peer reviews. From beginners.
- Pace picks up dramatically in the second half. True beginners may struggle.
- Students dont touch the guitar for the first two weeks.
2 )
Beginner Guitar Course (Classic) (2019)


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- Course is designed to integrate any songbooks you might already have.
- Comes with a Beginner Song Course App that adds dimensions to the learning process.
- Course material is arranged by grades that make it easy to see when the difficulty is rising.
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- Courses have transitioned from an older template, and there are rough edges because of it.
- Course does not offer much advice on where to go when the basics are covered.
- Course claims to cover improvisation, but it leaves much to be desired on this front.
3 )
Beginner Guitar Lessons (2010)


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- Course covers technique in depth, which is great for beginners.
- Course gets surprisingly deep into chord progressions.
- Course includes hand stretches to promote healthy practice.
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- Format does not allow the tutorial to teach you specific songs you might want to learn.
- Lessons unintentionally skimp on tuning advice.
- Lessons are old. You will not be able to reach the instructor with specific questions.
4 )
Ultimate Beginner Guitar Masterclass (2021 Update) (2021)
Quality Score
Overall Score : 99 / 100
5 )
Beginner Guitar Lessons (2019)
Quality Score
Overall Score : 99 / 100
6 )
Tasty Guitar Lessons (2017)
Quality Score
Overall Score : 99 / 100
7 )
Guitar Tricks (2018)
Quality Score
Overall Score : 99 / 100
8 )
How to Play Guitar | Learn Guitar (2019)
Quality Score
Overall Score : 99 / 100
9 )
Play Guitar for Life (2021)
Quality Score
Overall Score : 99 / 100
10 )
The Professional Guitar Masterclass (2017)
Iam an award-winning GITgrad, a15+ yearprofessional guitarist with 70k+students, and the founder of Guitargate-sponsored by PaulReedSmithGuitars.
"This course will teach you how to master your fretboard, understand music theory, and most importantly, how to use these tools to craft your own unique sound."
*Watch lecture one (free preview) for a course introduction video
This course is a four part, interactive, step-by-step, all HD video course which teaches you everything you need to play with complete confidence and control in any genre of music!
Professional players don't "hunt and peck" or play without a plan. If you're getting paid to do studio work, tour with a working band, or even just play out in you local town, you need to know your instrument front and back, and know how to sound like you. This course is designed to give you exactly that.
Get beyond tabs. Get beyond memorizing note for note. Learn how to improvise and play with ease around the fretboard!
No tricks or gimmicks! If you follow the course and work hard, you will feel confident playing in any genre, over any changes, with anyone, anywhere, and be able to put your own personality into the music! It's really not that difficult if you try!
For the price of one month of private guitar lessons, you can have unlimited lifetime access to a world class guitar curriculum with real individual feedback from a professional instructor!
Lectures feature all HD videos with multiple camera angles (so you can easily see the neck), downloadable fretboard diagrams, custom jam tracks to play along with, and detailed lesson text. If you post a question or a video link in the discussion forum, I will personally respond with real individual feedback! I try to check it daily.
No matter where you are in your playing, this course will fill in the "gaps" and break down the neck and music theory in a simple, and most importantly, applicable way.
While this course is geared to players with at least 6 months of experience, you will go from the very beginning to playing over complex non-diatonic changes leaving no stone unturned. There isn't a more comprehensive course available anywhere.
After completing this course, if you wanted, you will have the tools to be a working professional guitarist... Or, you could just be a great guitar player and have a TON of fun. Either way, I personally GUARANTEE you won't find another course as streamlined, simple, and effective as this one. I've spent my whole professional life crafting this unique approach to the guitar, and I stand by it 100%.
The success I've had with my students has been nothing short of outstanding! Check out these student testimonials:
Gerard Bellini - "I attended Berklee online. Although they hit all the topics, you are the glue that puts it all together. My hat is off to you. Thanks!"Erick Plascencia - Washington, D.
C. - "I'm amazed at how good your program is. I've learned more in one week than I have ever taught myself in the 10+ years that I've "played" the guitar!"Bob Turitz - Eagle, CO - "Seriously, I have never learned so much in the past 25 years than I have in the last few months! I love your teaching style!"Graham Baughman - Louisville, KY - "Having played for 20+ years, all blues stuff, I am glad to finally learn the neck. Thanks for building a great way to learn! There is no other web site like yours! Thanks!"Jim Ferrie - Shrewsbury, England - "I've been playing guitar for 45 years and your lessons and style of teaching is second to none. It is my most important find in my quest to learn guitar! I have never been more motivated to learn!"Chris Reynolds - Hertford, England, UK - "I've been self taught for 12 years mostly by tabs and songs. I haven't seen theory explained in a way that makes so much sense, and I've spent many years looking!!"Ryan Endersby - Fredericksburg, VA - "I have improved my ability ten fold. I finally feel comfortable on the fretboard and having individual feedback is AMAZING! You will learn your instrument!"JC Senatore - Blacksburg, VA - "In 2 months, I've gotten better than I have in the past 2 years. No joke."Tristan Johnson - Concord, CA - "I love the site, and it provides an excellent value. After a decade of strumming and learning a lick here and there, my playing is blossoming and I'm inspired in a way I don't think I've ever been!"Donnie Eastman - Atlantic City, NJ - "I've had lessons for years and never understood theory and modes. In five minutes I felt that ah-ha" moment! Awesome!"
Lastly, I would like this course to be as interactive as possible, so if you wish to post videos completing lessons, or have a question about any specific lesson, please post the YouTube link or the question in the discussion forum and I will respond to you ASAP.
This is something you won't find on any other course anywhere! Again, I will try to check the forums daily. I hope to see you inside!
And remember, you have a no questions asked 30 day money back guarantee. I'm confident you'll see the quality of the course right away, but if you don't love it, that's fine too...
just send me a message and tell me how I can improve:)
Also, just to make sure you love it, you can preview the course for 5 minutes without purchasing. So take a look around!
Please Enroll Today!
Cheers,
Michael Palmisano
Practice hard, and I'm looking forward to watching your videos!!
Who this course is for:
Players who want to learn music theoryPlayers who want to fill in the "holes" in their playingPlayers that struggle with improvisingPlayers that want to "learn their neck"Not for students expecting to learn songsNot for students that want to learn specific licks or tricksPlayers that want to be able to play any kind of musicAmateur Players wanting the tools to play professionallyPlayers who want to feel confident playing with other people
What You'll Learn
- Develop your own unique voice on the guitar
- Understand and APPLY music theory
- Play any chord anywhere on the neck
- Understand the function of chords in progressions
- Know how to analyze and interpret chord movement
- Immediately know what scales to play
- Visualize the whole neck in a specific key
- Understand and internalize the function and sounds of different scales
- Understand the difference between key center, chord scale, and chord tone approaches
- Understand the CAGED System
- Play all diatonic and common non-diatonic scales anywhere on the neck
- Understand the available tonal options when improvising
- Analyze and solve advanced chord functions













