Growing up with music was a blessing. Every family Reunion included singalongs to songs from the 'good ole days' and a guitar in everyone's hands. So no one was surprised that I pick up the guitar at the ripe age of six.
As I grew older so did my taste in music. From Johnny Cash toLed Zeppelin I tried to pick up my guitar and play along. Yet, I never was able to play the shredding solos I yearned for.
Now I don't know if you have seen these commercials for Yousician (a new app to learn to play guitar), but they suck. The ads seem like a bad Disney channel show that never made it to air. Even so, I decided to give it a try. I tried to follow what they "designed" for me after a very quick test.
I personally felt like I was place way to low on their "Level" scale, but I rolled with it. Now after a week here are my thoughts.
The first thing you should know is that if you buy premium you are locked in for a year. They tell you that it's $9.99 a month, but you have to sign a yearly contract. So if you decide that guitar is just not for you, or that you hate the app, you will still have to pay for a year.
The second is their weird finger designation. They give each of your fingers a color to show which finger to use.
Now I understand that you need to know which finger to use but their color scheme sucks! Half the time I would miss a note because I forgot what color my middle finger was. I think if they spent longer on teaching you their colors the process would go much farther.
Another thing I noticed was that the song selections are a little repetitive to start. I'm aware that at lower levels their are only a few songs that you can actually play but I'm sure there are more than Twinkle Twinkle rip offs.
One thing I will say is that I love their backing tracks. They sound good and are actually nice to listen to. I will also say that I think I am getting better.
My hand positions are becoming more comfortable and I am able to play for longer periods of time without my hands hurting.
They have just recently updated their app and added tons of cool songs that you can play. This is, I think, the best feature of the app. Being able to apply what people have learned at different levels.
Overall I think the app definitely leaves something to be desired. I almost want more videos to go along with the lessons.
As a visual learner this is something that could really help new and upcoming learners to look and actually learn the correct technique. Half of the videos they show are just one guy showing off for 30 seconds before the actual lesson.
I am definitely going to continue to progress though the app and see how my playing grows through the experience.
