Although Fender probably spent a lot of money to develop a step-by-step program that mimics what you\u2019d get from an in-person guitar tutor, it seems like they\u2019re far more interested in selling guitars as opposed to having people play them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that should be apparent with 0.5 seconds upon arriving at the home page, where you\u2019ll see a banner ad proclaiming their cross-platform marketing approach: \u201cLearn to play and get 10% off guitars, amps and gear.\u201d Here\u2019s the carrot, and here\u2019s the stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beginner Lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Taking an exceedingly basic approach to level-based learning, hundreds of Fender Play video lessons walk beginning players down a Learning Path shaped by their musical preferences \u2013 styles limited to Rock, Pop, Blues, Folk, and Country. You\u2019ll learn essential skills and techniques in your chosen genre by playing popular songs, which have been integrated into the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play is easy because it focuses on playing popular songs and having fun, as opposed to acquiring any sort of tangible, real-world musical abilities. You won\u2019t be trudging through a lot of theory and technique \u2013 unless you want to. And in that case, what are you doing at Fender Play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One lesson that is pretty cool is the two-part \u201cGuitar Speak\u201d series, explaining the difference between a riff vs. a vamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your learning path isn\u2019t set in stone, so if you get bored strumming Folk songs, you can jump around the levels and learn about the Pentatonic blues box, or get down with some power chords. However, most of the intermediate and advanced material is found by digging through the dropdown menus. But don\u2019t worry, like everything related to Fender Play \u2013 ease prevails. That said, if you do find yourself looking for next-level techniques, that\u2019s a good sign that you\u2019ve outgrown Fender Play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s only so much you can say about stone-cold beginner acoustic guitar lessons<\/a>. Do they show you the Open Chords? Can you hold the pick properly? Are you getting the strumming patterns? OK, great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play does a very good job of fulfilling their promise \u2013 you will be taking the easiest road possible \u2013 and based on simplicity alone, I haven\u2019t seen another exceedingly better method of learning. The Play chord charts are offer seven different ways of playing an A major chord. That\u2019s plenty for most people. If you\u2019re interested in highly advanced chord inversions, you\u2019re in the wrong place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try Fenderplay today<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n And frankly, if you come out of the learning path with the ability to do what you want on the instrument, it\u2019s a win-win scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems counterproductive \u2013 from a teaching standpoint \u2013 to have people playing songs \u2013 or just the riffs from songs \u2013 without an understanding of basic song structure. Just learning the main riff from \u201cI Can\u2019t Get No Satisfaction\u201d doesn\u2019t mean you know the whole jam. Therefore, any serious student of\u00a0electric guitar\u00a0should avoid learning the Cliff\u2019s Notes version of music. Some of us had to learn this the hard way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It must have been said before, but everything you see on Fender Play can be found elsewhere on the internet for free. They\u2019re not reinventing the electric guitar lesson wheel. So don\u2019t believe the third-party marketing hype that Fender Play lessons put free YouTube lessons to shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play\u2019s bass lessons are suitably adequate. They have a full suite of lessons as they do for acoustic and\u00a0electric guitars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Fender Play stands above the crowd in any aspect \u2013 other than presentation \u2013 it\u2019s probably their ukulele section. More about that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from the glossy marketing gimmick to keep kids buying branded gear, at the risk of redundancy, ease of use is the gold standard at Fender Play \u2013 seriously impressive ease of use. The lessons are doled out in bite-sized morsels, a chimp could navigate the website, and, well, it\u2019s not rocket science. Lessons come on a split-screen, player-perspective approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Above all, it\u2019s supposed to be fun. And generally speaking, scrolling through as a series of dropdown and sidebar menus to find whammy bar techniques isn\u2019t a lot of fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try Fenderplay today<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In thinking back on my own musical upbringing, I learned to play guitar in a remarkably similar way to the Fender Play method \u2013 minus the associated digital devices involved. The first thing I learned to play \u2013 by ear \u2013 was a single-fingered version of the verse section of \u201cThe Spirit of Radio\u201d by Rush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play has a pretty decent selection of the most popular songs. Levels of difficulty range from one guitar pick (Easy) to three guitar picks (Advanced).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent additions include: \u201cPiece by Piece\u201d by Kelly Clarkson, \u201cCherub Rock\u201d by the Smashing Pumpkins, and \u201cPumped Up Kicks\u201d by Foster the People. You also have recent hits from Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift to name a few. Generally speaking, there are no surprises in the catalog. As for my personal litmus test: Do they have \u201cRoundabout\u201d by Yes? Indeed, they do. Three picks, by the way \u2013 the hardest things get at Fender Play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play focuses on Rock, Blues, Folk, Funk, Country and Pop. There are other style resources available, but these don\u2019t match what you\u2019ll find at\u00a0Guitar Tricks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cool, stylish and well-groomed post-college graduates just chilling at home and plunking around on a guitar. If it seems like every single lesson video and marketing photo shows somebody playing guitar while sitting on an IKEA couch in the living room of a well-appointed, upper-middle class suburb of Orange County, California, it\u2019s just a figment of your imagination. There are shots of people sitting on beds and seated in chairs, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play doesn\u2019t come right out and say it, but there\u2019s a heavy \u201cdon\u2019t quit your day job\u201d vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, the program and materials are cohesive and consistent for achieving your intended goal, something all online lesson platforms are shooting for. The good thing about branded content is its predictability. We like Coca-Cola because we know exactly what we\u2019re gonna get, every single time we crack open a bottle or can of Coca-Cola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is absolutely nothing cheesy or contrived about Fender\u2019s overall marketing vision \u2013 from guitars to accessories to online lesson apps. The cohesion is pleasantly overwhelming, like a blanket. Everywhere you click, the content, scope, and vision of the Fender brand is locked in step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The toolkit contains apps for tuning and getting tone. The mobile apps are fully integrated with branded content for all formats. You get: Pro Tuner, Rhythm, Chords, Scales apps to choose from. And of course, everything is iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS friendly. One should expect nothing less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try Fenderplay today<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Never having any personal instruction on guitar, I\u2019m likely to estimate teachers by personality, based on a completely different set of criteria that has nothing to do with guitar. It\u2019s not so much: \u201cWould I want to learn guitar from this person?\u201d as it is: \u201cWould I want to have a couple of drinks and a conversation with this person?\u201d It\u2019s only possible for me to say that so-and-so appears to be a good teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But you\u2019re here looking for guitar lessons and you have a different agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With 22 instructors in total, featuring no fewer than 8 ukulele instructors, the Fender Play roster of tutors features a well-rounded group of players with substantial credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, bass teacher Pete Griffin is a former member of Zappa Plays Zappa who also studied at Northwestern. Guitar teacher Sydney Ellen graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music and studied with Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson). Suffice to say, these folks all know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of curiosity, I wondered about the credentials of the ukulele teachers \u2013 do they even have ukulele courses at Berklee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katie Norregaard is an indie-folk musician with a background in teaching music classes to children, and currently performs on a musical improv comedy team. Abe Lagrimas, Jr. is primarily known as a jazz drummer and vibraphonist, yet has a thriving career as a ukulele player, and has written instructional ukulele books for Hal Leonard Publishing. And finally, Abby Lyons is singer-songwriter with a Master\u2019s in Music Composition from Cal Arts, with five years of experience on ukulele and a fondness for Harry Potter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fender Play doesn\u2019t offer any direct support with regards to its provision of lessons and curriculum. Also, there is no means to contact the teachers themselves with comments or feedback. Fender feels that there is enough content on the site for students to essentially crack on with learning the guitar themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, clicking on the Support tab in the header will bring you to a fairly comprehensive FAQ about membership and use. You can obviously contact them directly if you need support with billing related issues by creating a support ticket on the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try Fenderplay today<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n At a passing glance, Fender Play does not appear to host a dedicated community forum. On further inspection, you\u2019ll find Fender Play topics of interest on the main Fender forum website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buried within the riff-raff of the About Fender Play page, you\u2019ll find a bit talking about the Fender Play Beginner Community, a Facebook group that provides exclusive content and practice tips, and connects users and instructors and other newbies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remaining objective is my greatest challenge as a reviewer of guitar-related products, mainly because I\u2019m somewhat jaded and cynical, especially about the learning process. If it were up to me, I\u2019d say forget all these internet sites, get yourself a couple of Mel Bay chord and scale books, the songbook(s) of your favorite band(s), a decent stereo system, and licensed copies of your favorite artists\u2019 records, and dig in. You don\u2019t need a teacher or these costly online lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having Fender Play isn\u2019t much different than following my recommendation. The irony of the story is: they\u2019re right \u2013 it is easy. And because learning how to play guitar is simply overcoming a series of small challenges toward proficiency, there\u2019s really not much to it. The degree of difficulty involved in achieving excellence in guitar is comparable to the field of medicine. Anybody can put a Band-Aid on a minor wound, but there are fewer than 1,000 heart transplant surgeons in the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the free 14-day trial has expired, you can transition into Monthly ($9.99) and\/or Annual ($89.99 per) subscriptions. The mobile apps for Guitar, Bass and\u00a0Ukulele lessons\u00a0come with both subscriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For what basically comes down to 10 bucks a month, you\u2019re getting your money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourteen days \u2013 two weeks. Avail yourself song and skill lessons covering the basics (chords) through getting good tones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Warning: You\u2019ll want to educate yourself about the disparities between managing subscriptions from the website (fender.com\/play) vs. from the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Getting-Started-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Guitar-Speak-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIntermediate and Advanced Lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-techniques-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAcoustic Guitar Lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Electric Guitar Lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Electric-Guitar-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBass Lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ukulele Lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-guitar-type-selection-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEase of Use<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Songs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-songs-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nStyle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Vibe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Vibe-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Mobile-min.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTools and Mobile Apps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Instructors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Instructors-min-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Sydney-Ellen-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSupport<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Community\/Forums<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-pricing-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nValue for Money \/ Cost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-Free-Trial-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTrial Period<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Guitars-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Fender](\"https:\/\/www.knowyourinstrument.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Fender-Play-one-finger-chord-min.png\")
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