Simply Guitar Alternatives: Where to Go When You Outgrow It

August 18, 2026by OpenFret Team

Simply Guitar is good at one job. It takes somebody who has never held a guitar and gets them changing between a few chords, and it listens through the phone microphone so it knows when you fumbled. The complaint is remarkably consistent: you finish the beginner path and the app has nowhere else to take you, while the subscription keeps renewing. Where you go next depends on which part you liked.

If you liked being listened to

That feedback loop is the genuinely hard part to replace, and it is the reason free video courses feel like a downgrade at first. Guitar Quest keeps it: real-time detection through the microphone, in the browser, with nothing to install. The difference is where it goes afterwards. It carries on into fretboard notes, scales, modes, and theory instead of ending at the first four chords. It is also $30 once once rather than every month, and the demo costs nothing and will tell you in five minutes whether the detection likes your setup.

If you want a real curriculum after the basics

Beginner apps tend to be shallow on purpose, because depth loses casual users. Once you can change chords, you want somebody to sequence the next two years, and JustinGuitar does that for free through several grades. Our own 12-lesson series covers the same early ground with playable tab in the page, and the lead guitar series picks up where beginner material usually stops.

If you are actually teaching a child

Simply Guitar is not built specifically for kids, it just happens to be simple. The app aimed squarely at roughly six to thirteen year olds is Notey, which listens to real playing and picked up a technology in education award. Be clear-eyed that it is another yearly subscription. It solves the age-appropriate problem, not the billing one.

If you mainly want to play songs

Beginner apps ration songs to keep you inside the path. Nothing stops you leaving and learning the songs directly. Our chord library is free and covers every shape those first lessons introduce, and easy songs for beginners is a better next step than a fifth lesson on the same four chords.

If you are done paying monthly

You can assemble the whole thing for free plus one small purchase. A browser tuner, the metronome and fretboard explorer, a free course for the teaching, and something that listens for the feedback. The recurring charge on a beginner app is a business model, not a requirement of learning an instrument, and it is worth saying out loud because the apps do not.

The honest summary

If you have not yet finished Simply Guitar's beginner path and you are enjoying it, stay. It is doing its job. Start looking the moment the lessons stop getting harder, because that is the point where you are paying for a plateau. For the wider comparison, see the best apps to learn guitar. And if the microphone feedback is the part you would actually miss, that is the one thing Guitar Quest did not drop on the way past beginner. The demo answers that without signing up for anything.

Simply Guitar alternatives FAQ

Why do people outgrow Simply Guitar?

Because it is built to get an absolute beginner to their first few chords, and it does that well. Once you can change between them, the path runs out. The app keeps charging monthly while the material stops climbing, which is when most people start looking around.

What is a good Simply Guitar alternative for adults?

A free structured course such as JustinGuitar for the teaching, plus something that listens to your playing for the feedback. That pairing covers what the subscription was doing and does not cap out after the beginner path.

Is Simply Guitar good for kids?

It works, though it was not designed around children specifically. Notey is the app aimed squarely at that age range, listens to real playing, and has picked up an education award. It is also a yearly subscription, so it solves the teaching problem and not the billing one.

Can I learn guitar without any subscription?

Yes, and plenty of people do. Free courses cover the instruction, free browser tools cover tuning and reference, and a one-time purchase covers the part that has to react to your playing. The recurring bill is a business model, not a requirement of learning.