The Gibson App Review: Is This the Best Guitar Learning App for Beginners?

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Introduction

This is my full review of the Gibson App, a well-thought-out platform designed especially for beginner and intermediate guitar players. Over the past few years, it has grown into one of the most popular apps for learning guitar, and after spending time with it, I can see why.

First Impressions and Quality

One of the first things you notice is the overall quality of the content. In today’s fast-paced, quantity-over-quality AI-driven world, it’s refreshing to find an app where each lesson feels carefully created by people who truly understand the struggles of learning guitar.

Guides and Lessons

The app features a carefully curated learning curriculum with thousands of lessons that take you all the way from playing your first note to open chords, barre chords, licks and soloing. After learning the absolute basics, you can explore different courses and skills within two paths – lead and rhythm. For a beginner, I recommend playing all the courses in both paths.

Once you have completed the curriculum (or whenever you feel ready for something new), there are tons of courses (they call them guides) where you can deep-dive into different genres and styles of playing. While these guides are for all skill levels, the main focus is on the beginner to intermediate player. Do you want to learn how to play in the style of Slash, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Hendrix or Joni Mitchell? Or do you want to explore genres like Jazz, Blues, Grunge, Folk, Funk, Rock, Reggae, Country, Minor Blues, Texas Blues, Chicago Blues and Metal? The choice is yours.

Song Catalog

Beyond lessons and guides, the app features a wide catalog of songs, ranging from rock to pop, country, blues, and jazz. Many songs are offered at different skill levels (simplified, intermediate or original versions), so you can start with what matches your ability and progress from there. Like with all guitar-learning apps, the exact songs availability depends on licensing deals, so if there’s one specific track you really want to play, check the catalog first (Song Catalog). Still, I found the selection strong enough that even if your favorite song isn’t included, you won’t feel let down. They also seem to add new songs every week.

How the Gibson App Works

The lesson interface feels familiar if you’ve ever played Guitar Hero. Each lesson is based on a song, with notes and frets displayed on the screen. As you play, the app listens to and provides real-time visual and audio feedback. It’s actually really fun, sometimes making you forget you are practicing and just feel immersed in the lesson.

The visuals help guide you, but it’s the audio feedback that really brings it to life. If you play a wrong note or chord you’ll see a gentle correction, but when you nail the right note, chord or phrase an audio effect blends seamlessly into your playing, making you feel like you’re part of the music itself. This is a great feature, especially to keep beginners and intermediates motivated for more. At the end of each lesson, you earn up to three stars based on your performance. To move forward, you need at least one star, which ensures you’ve built the skills needed for the next step.

Leagues and Motivation

A feature I really enjoyed was the “Leagues” system. Every lesson earns you XP, and the better you play, the more you score. These points determine your ranking in a league of about 30 players. Everyone starts in Bronze, and by placing in the top half, you can move up each week: Double Bronze, Silver, Gold, all the way to Diamond. It’s simple, but surprisingly effective at keeping you motivated to practice regularly.

Community Feature

The app has also introduced a community forum, allowing users from all over the world to connect, share advice, discuss lessons, celebrate progress, and suggest new features. Combined with the competitive leagues, this makes learning feel less isolated and more like a shared experience.

Your Own Digital Amplifier

On iOS, the app includes a built-in digital amplifier where you can explore both acoustic and electric presets. It also comes with six pedals you can experiment with, adding plenty of variety to your sound. Using the amp while playing lessons adds another layer of fun and makes the experience feel more immersive. It is not something you need in order to learn, but it definitely makes the app more enjoyable.

For the best results, I recommend using a guitar interface, a small device that connects your guitar directly to your phone (for example, an iRig, which costs around $20). This makes the amp feature sound and feel much better, and when paired with wired headphones, you get the most accurate sound and timing.

Pricing

The Gibson App is competitively priced. A Premium subscription, which unlocks full access to lessons and guides (the core features of the app), costs $129.99 per year or $19.99 per month.

If you also want access to the full library of famous songs, the subscription is $159.99 per year or $24.99 per month.

Both yearly plans include a 7-day free trial, so you can explore everything the app has to offer before committing. There is also a free version of the app, but it limits the number of lessons you can play each day. It is a good way to get a feel for the platform, though the paid plans are where the app really shines.

Who’s Behind the App?

Interestingly, the Gibson App isn’t built directly by Gibson. It’s developed and maintained by the Swedish company Zoundio. Their customer support is excellent. I got a helpful reply within 24 hours from a representative named Matthew - finally, an actual person to talk to instead of yet another customer service bot.

Availability

The app is available on both iOS (iPhone, iPad, and Mac with Apple M1, M2, M3, and newer chips) as well as Android. While the Android version includes all the core features of the app, it currently lags slightly behind iOS. For example, Android does not yet support the Leagues system or the AI-powered feedback you get every 7th lesson on iOS.

Final Verdict

Overall, I think the Gibson App is exactly what a new guitar player needs. Instead of bouncing between random YouTube tutorials, you get a clear, step-by-step path that takes you from absolute beginner to confidently playing full songs within a few weeks to months. For advanced beginners or early intermediates, there’s a lot of content available, and new lessons are added every week. With frequent content updates and the community inside, the app feels very much alive, which is cool and makes you feel like you are part of something.

If you’re just starting out with guitar, this app provides the structure, motivation, and community support to actually make progress. I can wholeheartedly recommend the Gibson App to anyone serious (or just even curious) about learning guitar, it’s one of the best tools out there to actually become someone who knows how to play the guitar.