Simply Guitar - Learn Guitar

Review by eFreeware

If you have a guitar sitting in a corner and no clear idea how to start, Simply Guitar is built for exactly that situation. It is a free Android app from Simply Ltd that teaches guitar through video lessons and listens while you play, telling you whether you got it right. No prior experience is needed, it works with any guitar, and it is open to all ages.

That combination is what makes it interesting. Most beginner guitar material asks you to judge your own playing, which is hard when you have never done it before. Here the app takes on that job, so you get something closer to a teacher's ear without arranging lessons. I would expect that to matter most in the first few weeks, when small mistakes in hand position or timing are easy to repeat and hard to notice.

How the lessons and feedback work

The core of the app is a set of step-by-step tutorials made by music teachers, delivered as video lessons. Set the device nearby, play, and the app listens and reacts. That reaction is the feedback: it shows what is right and what needs work.

The developer describes the approach as a fast and fun way to learn, and the lesson structure supports that claim by starting you on chords and songs rather than theory alone. You are meant to be playing music early, not spending weeks on exercises before anything sounds like a song.

What appeals to me about this arrangement is that the app is doing two jobs at once. It is the instructor, presenting material in order, and it is the listener, reacting to what you actually play. A book or a video series can only do the first. That said, the feedback depends on your device hearing your guitar clearly, so where and how you set up will shape the experience.

The skills covered in the course

The curriculum goes beyond a handful of chords. It covers guitar fundamentals, reading and playing tabs, chord shapes, switching between chords, and strumming techniques. There are also technique-boosting exercises and what the developer calls invaluable tips for playing correctly, which suggests attention to the physical side of playing rather than just the notes.

Chord switching deserves its own mention because it is where many beginners stall. Knowing a chord and being able to move to it in time are different skills, and the app treats them separately. The same goes for strumming, which is often taught vaguely and benefits from the kind of repetition a lesson plan can enforce.

Alongside the lessons there is a tuner, described as a professional one, so getting the instrument in tune is handled inside the same app. Progress tracking is included as well, which gives you a record of what you have worked through rather than leaving you to guess whether you are improving.

Songs, updates and the practice loop

Songs are the reward structure here. The developer says the app lets you learn the songs you love and that new songs and lessons are added regularly, so the material is not fixed at whatever shipped on day one. For a learner, that matters: running out of pieces you want to play is one of the quickest ways to stop practicing.

The practice loop is straightforward. You work through a lesson, play along, get told what needs fixing, and move on. Progress tracking records the path. Because the app recognizes what you play in real time, the loop closes immediately rather than waiting for a weekly lesson.

There is also support from the company's musicians if you get stuck, reached through the app's menu. That is a useful backstop for the moments when the feedback tells you something is wrong but not why, which happens to everyone at some point.

What the app asks of you

The main practical requirement is a guitar. Any guitar works, which keeps the barrier low, but the app is not a substitute for the instrument. That shapes where you practice: a spot where the phone or tablet can sit facing you and pick up the sound.

The second thing to know is that the app is free to download and supported by in-app purchases. I would treat the free download as a way to try the teaching style before deciding how far to go. There are no ads, which keeps the lesson flow uninterrupted.

The third consideration is the nature of the teaching itself. Lessons come from music teachers in a fixed progression, with feedback from the app. That is a structured route to playing songs, and it rewards regular short sessions more than occasional long ones. Someone who wants to explore on their own terms, or who already plays and is looking for something else entirely, will find the format more prescribed than they need.

The team behind it and what that signals

The team has spent years building apps that listen to an instrument and respond, which is the hard part of this category. The guitar version applies that experience to a different instrument.

According to the developer, music teachers use the app widely, and its apps see more than a million songs learned weekly. It has also collected recognition including a Best Tool for Beginners award from NAMM, an EMI Innovation Challenge Award, and a win at the SF Music Tech Summit Startup Innovators Challenge.

None of that guarantees the lessons will suit you, but it does suggest the teaching method has been through some scrutiny. For a beginner choosing where to put their practice time, that is a reasonable signal to weigh alongside the free download.

Who gets the most from it

The clearest fit is an adult or teenager picking up the guitar for the first time and wanting a path to follow at home. The app handles the ordering of material, the feedback and the tuning, which removes most of the decisions that stall beginners. Being able to play songs early keeps motivation up, and progress tracking shows the ground covered.

It also suits someone returning to the instrument after a long break who wants to rebuild fundamentals in a structured way. The sections on tabs, chord switching and strumming cover the ground that rustiest players tend to have lost, and the exercises give a way to work on them deliberately.

Parents looking for something a younger child can use will find the all-ages framing and the no-experience-needed starting point helpful, particularly since the app works with whatever guitar is already in the house. The lessons being made by teachers, with support available from the company's musicians, adds a layer that a video series alone does not have.

A free starting point for new guitarists

Simply Guitar is a well-established option for learning the instrument on Android. It has more than 10 million installs and a 4.6 average from over 367,000 ratings, and it has been available since May 2021, with the most recent update in October 2026. Those numbers suggest a product that people keep using rather than abandon after a week.

The teaching model is the reason to consider it. Video lessons from music teachers, real-time feedback on what you play, a tuner, progress tracking and a growing catalog of songs cover the practical needs of a beginner without requiring anything beyond a guitar and a place to prop up your device. The in-app purchases are the main thing to keep in mind.

I would point this at beginners and returning players who want structure and correction as they practice at home. If that describes your situation, the free download makes it easy to see whether the teaching style clicks before you commit further.

What's new in version 9.7.45

The NEW way to learn guitar with guided video lessons & real-time feedback. No experience needed, Simply Guitar teaches you everything. Have fun & start playing now!