There are several reasons that conventional music lessons aren’t for everybody. You may not have enough time dedicated to commuting and taking lesson. You also may not have the budget, since weekly lessons can get costly (especially if you are taking lessons from a qualified teacher).

But luckily technology can help us in this realm. There are plenty of free and high-quality premium apps that can give you the basics of guitar and be very fun and motivating at the same time!

If you are a motivated learner and eager to be a self-taught rockstar now is your chance to take your learning into your own hands.

Acoustic vs electric guitar

Learning acoustic guitar also has different applications then electric guitar. The acoustic guitar is generally more rhythmic and chord centered.

Acoustic guitars are also generally cheaper and don’t require cables or amplification to start jamming out.

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If you want to learn acoustic guitar you should first spend your time learning chords. Start with basic chords, chords that utilize many open strings.

But then move on to more complex chords and ones that have moveable shapes, so you can play the same shape all over the neck and you can get different chords.

So with that information let’s get down into learning about which guitar app you should download to start your journey on learning acoustic guitar!

Chord!

Chord! is a great app for learning acoustic guitar because it has thousands of user-friendly, easy to read diagrams of chords.

It also allows you to put different chords together and add lyrics if you are writing your own songs!

It comes with a ton of songs built-in with lyrics and chords so you can start singing and playing right away. If you don’t know a certain chord, just click the chord and a chord diagram will pop up telling you the finger placement.

This app also has features to analyze chords and tell you the theory behind them, making it a perfect app for introducing music theory, or taking it to the next level.

It is available for Apple or Android devices.

Guitar Tricks

If you prefer to learn by video, this app may be for you.

With this app, you can go through step by step video tutorials at your own pace and explore a wide variety of techniques and chord instruction.

From the very beginning, all you need to do is enter your skill level and the app will diagnose which videos are right for you.

You can also choose the route of just learning songs, which if you’re learning acoustic guitar for accompaniment (to someone else or yourself!) this is a great option. The more songs you know, the quicker you can master your guitar goals and the better you will be able to make up your own songs.

iReal Pro

If you want to learn jazz guitar, or at least sing some jazz classics over chords on your acoustic guitar you must get the iReal Pro app.

It has literally thousands of jazz standards and their chord progressions. Click any chord and it will show you different ways to play it on the guitar.

There is a playback feature as well, so you can hear the song and accompany it with your guitar. You can even choose to mute certain instruments, like the piano or guitar, and only play with the bass and drums for instance.

You can also edit and create your own jazz standards!

Songsterr Tabs & Chords

Songster is the perfect option if your goal is to learn as many songs as you can, and fast.

With a database of over 500,000 songs, there is no way you won’t be able to find the song you’re looking for.

This also comes complete with tabs as well as chords. Tabs are easy ways to locate your fingers on the guitar without learning too much theory and how to read notes.

This app isn’t any old tab app however, you can watch as it plays the tabs to a tempo, which is the missing ingredient in tab (i.e. rhythm).

The app also teaches you chords, and all the songs come complete with chord diagrams that you can play along to inside the app (slowing down or speeding up the song as needed).

Guitar Jam Tracks

This app is a great way to get started playing a little bit of lead guitar. It’s intuitive, you can easily change keys, and you can pick from a range of music genres.

Although acoustic guitar generally plays just chords, it is very useful to understand which notes go inside which chords (we call this music theory).

In this app we get a basic introduction to scales and playing over chord changes, starting simple and getting complex.

The app shows you all the scales you will need for improvising and the scales are broken into positions that are easy to memorize.

So even if you’re brand-new to the world of lead guitar—its got you covered!

Chordify

Chordify is a great app that allows you to analyze an uploaded tune and outputs a measure-by-measure chord chart. You can then play it back, edit it, and transpose the results.

This type of app is great if you want to learn songs that you can’t find a good tab version online. If it is a local band, or even a home recording, this app can generate really helpful results!

For beginners, this may not be my first recommendation since it has a niche use only some people may really need. But for those of us who were hoping for an app that could reverse the process of learning a song this has been a godsend.

It’s available as an app for both Apple and Android devices.