Review Insights · App Store
Gibson: Learn to Play Guitar
Zoundio · 11,906 ratings · ★ 4.8
4.8
★★★★★
11,906 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 37 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"lessons"
9 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
2
"guitar"
8 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
3
"subscription"
8 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
4
"play"
8 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
5
"learn"
7 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck with headphones and phone mic. I’m not a fan of the game style learning. I was using another app like this a while back and realized that i was learning to watch a screen instead of listening to keep time. I’ll be bc stick with truefire and Justin. When I want to learn …" - Hotch84
6
"lesson"
7 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
7
"learning"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck with headphones and phone mic. I’m not a fan of the game style learning. I was using another app like this a while back and realized that i was learning to watch a screen instead of listening to keep time. I’ll be bc stick with truefire and Justin. When I want to learn …" - Hotch84
8
"better"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Timing off. The latency is still really bad I use my own eye don’t pay attention to the red green miss versus hit. Works a lot better. Can’t get an update either my phone don’t automatically update." - Dave Stanberry
9
"phone"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Timing off. The latency is still really bad I use my own eye don’t pay attention to the red green miss versus hit. Works a lot better. Can’t get an update either my phone don’t automatically update." - Dave Stanberry
10
"song"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stuck with headphones and phone mic. I’m not a fan of the game style learning. I was using another app like this a while back and realized that i was learning to watch a screen instead of listening to keep time. I’ll be bc stick with truefire and Justin. When I want to learn …" - Hotch84
11
"paying"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
12
"trial"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices. I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an …" - Golucid
📋 All 37 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Timing off
The latency is still really bad I use my own eye don’t pay attention to the red green miss versus hit. Works a lot better. Can’t get an update either my phone don’t automatically update.
Begs for reviews
If your app begs for reviews in the middle of doing what your app is supposed to do, then you get 1 star, regardless of how good the app is otherwise.
Stuck with headphones and phone mic
I’m not a fan of the game style learning. I was using another app like this a while back and realized that i was learning to watch a screen instead of listening to keep time.
I’ll be bc stick with truefire and Justin. When I want to learn a song I’ll use songster.
I’ll be bc stick with truefire and Justin. When I want to learn a song I’ll use songster.
Don’t Fall for Gibson’s Guitar Lessons App - Beautiful App, Crooked Billing Practices
I purchased a Gibson guitar subscription to learn how to play, initially signing up for what I believed was a single annual plan. After paying $129.99, I started the seven-day trial to evaluate the service. The very next day, I received an email from Gibson offering a “special” subscription for just $90.99. Grateful to stay within my budget, I accepted what appeared to be a better deal - and immediately canceled the original seven-day trial.
What followed was a textbook example of deceptive and predatory billing practices. Despite canceling the trial right away, it refuses to be removed from my account, and Gibson is now insisting on billing me the full $129.99. Meanwhile, I was also charged the $90.99. I am now saddled with two separate annual subscriptions-totaling over $220-neither of which I can cancel or access properly.
When I contacted Gibson directly, I was told they could do nothing. They’ve outsourced the service to some third-party company in Europe, and their hands are conveniently “tied” by contract. Despite my repeated emails to this mysterious European entity, I’ve received zero response. Gibson, a respected American brand, has effectively washed its hands of the entire customer service nightmare they created.
This is outrageous. While the app itself may be solid (it currently holds a 4.8-star rating), the company’s predatory billing tactics and complete abdication of responsibility are disgraceful. Trapping customers in non-cancellable subscriptions through opaque overseas partners - even after they cancel a trial in good faith - is not just poor business, it’s deeply unethical.
I’ve disputed the $90.99 charge with Apple Card, but fighting the original $129.99 is proving equally frustrating. At this point, I’ve been left with no choice but to abandon Gibson’s platform entirely and resort to free YouTube tutorials.
Consider this a warning: Gibson’s guitar training app may look appealing, but their billing practices are a nightmare. Think twice before handing over your money.
What followed was a textbook example of deceptive and predatory billing practices. Despite canceling the trial right away, it refuses to be removed from my account, and Gibson is now insisting on billing me the full $129.99. Meanwhile, I was also charged the $90.99. I am now saddled with two separate annual subscriptions-totaling over $220-neither of which I can cancel or access properly.
When I contacted Gibson directly, I was told they could do nothing. They’ve outsourced the service to some third-party company in Europe, and their hands are conveniently “tied” by contract. Despite my repeated emails to this mysterious European entity, I’ve received zero response. Gibson, a respected American brand, has effectively washed its hands of the entire customer service nightmare they created.
This is outrageous. While the app itself may be solid (it currently holds a 4.8-star rating), the company’s predatory billing tactics and complete abdication of responsibility are disgraceful. Trapping customers in non-cancellable subscriptions through opaque overseas partners - even after they cancel a trial in good faith - is not just poor business, it’s deeply unethical.
I’ve disputed the $90.99 charge with Apple Card, but fighting the original $129.99 is proving equally frustrating. At this point, I’ve been left with no choice but to abandon Gibson’s platform entirely and resort to free YouTube tutorials.
Consider this a warning: Gibson’s guitar training app may look appealing, but their billing practices are a nightmare. Think twice before handing over your money.
All fluff
Want to get strung along by a bunch of flashy BS? This is the app for you. This is like a budget airline with the nickel and diming, but worse. Buyer beware.
Color blindness
I love this app and use it all the time, but I’d really love to see a colorblind accessibility setting added. Some of the colors can be difficult to tell apart, and having a colorblind mode would make the experience even better and more accessible for everyone.
Bernie’s
I want Jazz theory for advanced player. Only beginner lessons here.
Timing is off
The app would be fine if the backing track aligned with the tracking. The app wants you to play notes about a half second before it fits the music. Terrible.
Cannot Log In on iPad app
I am unable to log in to the iPadOS version of this app, stating there is no user associated with my account. Although, I am able to log in on my iPhone and MacBook no problem.
meh
having to sign in after every update is a nuisance.
slow learners don’t make it thru all lessons; only fast learners with years of guitar playing experience will finish course.
we all pay the same, of course.
slow learners don’t make it thru all lessons; only fast learners with years of guitar playing experience will finish course.
we all pay the same, of course.
Up charges!
The premium subscription for 19.99 is misleading when you can’t even access the second lesson without being up charged 4.99.
Not impressed
New to guitar, starting learning from this app thought it was great. Up until I pushed play and passed a level without even touching the guitar. Was in a completely quiet room and the app was saying I was doing perfect, then too high, too low, missed. Showed I hit 45% accuracy and I didn’t even have my guitar in my hands. Trash
Disappointed
Really disappointed with the app, after I renewed my subscription many artists disappeared, Hendrix, nirvana, metalica, Beatles, foo fighters and others.
The website still show some artists that doesn’t exist in the library.
Costumer service doesn’t answer, it’s is a terrible experience.
100% regret of this anual subscription.
The website still show some artists that doesn’t exist in the library.
Costumer service doesn’t answer, it’s is a terrible experience.
100% regret of this anual subscription.
Broke People Can’t Use!!
I downloaded it and after the first few lessons they make you pay for everything else. You cannot learn ANYTHING without emptying your pockets!
don’t get it
you basically cannot do anything without paying for it. you get a lesson on ONE string then you can’t go further
Great during the trial
It is really cool at first. You think yeah it’s worth it. Then after you buy it unless you read closely you realize all the cool stuff you were learning goes away unless you pay a subscription fee. Seemed expensive to start with the.n to tack on a fee. Just disappointing. I am not one to complain what things cost. This just seemed unfair. Frankly I felt scammed..
Gibson
It’s really good but the tuning needs work
App is crashing
Currently the app is unusable because it crashes when starting a song. I just started a trial and this is not a good sign at all.
Completely Unstable
Great app when it works, but unfortunately its completely unstable and crashes anytime you try and do a lesson. Hopefully they push out an update soon to fix this bug. Deleting and reinstalling doesn’t work and it crashed on every device I have tried
Crash
I paid $200 for lessons on this app and it crashed every time it tries to listen to how I’m playing. I’m not that bad am I? Seriously. The app crashes before I can even play.
Crashes constantly
Tried the free trial and after each lesson the app crashes when trying to go the next lesson. I have to go back in each time and restart. Did that for about ten minutes but got too frustrated. That is annoying and enough to make me look at other options before buying paying.
App crash
Soon as I start a lesson the app crashes. I’ve went back in 10 times in a row trying to get a lesson going and crashes every time. Frustration is a bad part of trying to learn! I deleted the app and cancel trial after 10 minutes.
Hard App to Use
App is not easy to use. App uses phone speaker but it doesn’t often register what you are playing. Furthermore, the app is not fun and hasn’t taught me anything. I have played guitar in the past and wanted to get back i to it. There has to be better options.
Pricing????
After day 7 how much????
Not working for me
Just subscribed was very excited; however, nothing works for me I can not play songs or advance, it just keeps asking to subscribe. It will not do anything but the very first lesson nothing else. Emailed them not even a courtesy email back that they are working on the issue
Horrible
Constantly says too low no matter what adjustments I make. Contacted support for some help and was ignored. Regret that I wasted my money on this app
Can’t log in on new iPhone 17
I love the app, but I got a new iPhone 17 and I cannot log in. I am using the same userid and password that I use on the Gibson website.
It’s costly….. but….
Being transparent right up front. I give it two stars for the reason being the price for a year subscription, not having good/reliable phone/data service the app requires for a smooth experience and not having had much availability to use the app as I had hoped for.
In the last 10 months of having paid $139.09 for the year sub, I’ve probably spent less than 20hrs of use, maybe even less.
That’s no fault to Gibson. I just wasn’t expecting such a chaotic turn of events in life shortly after buying a guitar and then the app. But the high price of the yearly cost and what very little time I’ve been able to spend enjoying the app, it leaves me feeling regrettable for paying for the app when I did.
As well, the app does require a reliable data point. And where I had been living through the last ten months, My data service was awful only having 1 bar of signal. So the app would struggle loading videos and songs and practice material etc.
Again, no fault to Gibson. But simply another reason I feel regrettable for paying as much as I did for the app and not being able to use it without connection issues when I would get the time to sit down and use the app.
With that said, as far as the app itself. I feel like the app does bring a solid foundation to a beginner guitar player and up. The play along structure is well laid out and makes it easy to follow along and uses a good mix of switching patterns up as in once you start feeling good using a certain finger or or fret after a few similar measures, it switches it briefly using different frets or fingers then jumping right back to what you started feeling dialed in on, giving you a quick “are you sure you got it?” Type approach making it more likely you’ll retain the teachings.
Not only does it focus on a beginner approach, it also has extra video material that shows you how to take care of your guitar. How to restring, tuning and so on. The song you get to learn along with are songs most of us actually know. Not just some weird song just to play along with which brings more excitement into learning the guitar.
Gibson really is offering a wonderful app and I’d love to actually invest time into the app and feel as if I’m getting what I’ve paid for. My approach to this app being simply the price as I don’t have much of a disposable income sadly. But it’s what makes it a difficult choice if I want to renew my subscription come July or if I consider it a loss and use cheaper options or YT like many others.
If you find yourself having plenty of time to invest with the app, I believe you’ll truly learn a great deal from this app. You’ll also want to make sure you have reliable internet service on your device to avoid load failures as this app relies heavily on a good stable network connection.
In the last 10 months of having paid $139.09 for the year sub, I’ve probably spent less than 20hrs of use, maybe even less.
That’s no fault to Gibson. I just wasn’t expecting such a chaotic turn of events in life shortly after buying a guitar and then the app. But the high price of the yearly cost and what very little time I’ve been able to spend enjoying the app, it leaves me feeling regrettable for paying for the app when I did.
As well, the app does require a reliable data point. And where I had been living through the last ten months, My data service was awful only having 1 bar of signal. So the app would struggle loading videos and songs and practice material etc.
Again, no fault to Gibson. But simply another reason I feel regrettable for paying as much as I did for the app and not being able to use it without connection issues when I would get the time to sit down and use the app.
With that said, as far as the app itself. I feel like the app does bring a solid foundation to a beginner guitar player and up. The play along structure is well laid out and makes it easy to follow along and uses a good mix of switching patterns up as in once you start feeling good using a certain finger or or fret after a few similar measures, it switches it briefly using different frets or fingers then jumping right back to what you started feeling dialed in on, giving you a quick “are you sure you got it?” Type approach making it more likely you’ll retain the teachings.
Not only does it focus on a beginner approach, it also has extra video material that shows you how to take care of your guitar. How to restring, tuning and so on. The song you get to learn along with are songs most of us actually know. Not just some weird song just to play along with which brings more excitement into learning the guitar.
Gibson really is offering a wonderful app and I’d love to actually invest time into the app and feel as if I’m getting what I’ve paid for. My approach to this app being simply the price as I don’t have much of a disposable income sadly. But it’s what makes it a difficult choice if I want to renew my subscription come July or if I consider it a loss and use cheaper options or YT like many others.
If you find yourself having plenty of time to invest with the app, I believe you’ll truly learn a great deal from this app. You’ll also want to make sure you have reliable internet service on your device to avoid load failures as this app relies heavily on a good stable network connection.
Decent
Good for beginners but needs more work for advanced. It jumps from super easy lessons to really hard ones with no rhyme or reason. The speeds are not very adjustable for practicing new licks. The slowest speed is faster than I’d like to learn a new complicated riff.
They have completely given up on lessons and thrown everything into guides which are often really boring to play through. They don’t release by skill level so again some are too easy then it’ll jump to difficult. The amount of lessons for intermediate guitar players is really lacking
They have completely given up on lessons and thrown everything into guides which are often really boring to play through. They don’t release by skill level so again some are too easy then it’ll jump to difficult. The amount of lessons for intermediate guitar players is really lacking
Great Guitar Trainer!
The app is no longer worth the subscription fee after they got rid of all the great songs they used to have in the library. How to do you call yourself a guitar app when you remove AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Metallica, Alice and Chains, Cream, etc from the app? They say there “licensing challenges” which really means that they cheaped out decided to bank the subscription profits rather than pay the licensing fees. I call BS. The song library on the Fender app is much larger and going strong.
Less Material for Experienced Players
More and more, the focus for this app is on beginner and intermediate players. It has become very rare to get a lesson with an “Advanced” version, which is their terminology for an accurate song lesson. Instead, they provide simplified versions where the parts and solos sound barely like the original songs, and are watered down to something that a less experienced player can play. They have also completely gotten away from the lessons with actual video showing the teacher play the song, and only provide a short audio narration prior to the simplified part’s tablature being played through. In fact, many of the legacy video lessons with fantastic accurate lessons on great classics were removed at the beginning of the year. There’s just not much for me here anymore.
Version 6.0.2
I have just updated the app and now all the lessons are gone those were the main reason for me paying the subscription don’t get me wrong it’s a great app but what the h*ll man all my progress has disappeared into the void I’m gonna need my money back if this isn’t fixed
Try it for a month first
This app seemed promising but after 3 weeks of daily lessons, I’m no better at guitar. I also did not like the “augmented reality” piece, which involves playing out of key notes in the name of an easier learning curve. This app is really well built and functions great! I just did not take to the teaching method. Ultimately, I’m glad I did not buy the annual subscription.
Ok
The picking up of the notes is not that good with a phone. It works sometime and sometimes it doesn’t
Needs to keep up with competition
There are plenty of apps out to learn. This one starts in beginners and jumps around in skill sets while lacking some of the options with the other paid apps
Don’t use for tuning
Tuning is super wonky, ended up breaking a string because of it. Didn’t use it as a learning app
Was Doing Well Until….
I got so far along and then the app just force closes on its own. Paid a lot of $$$$$$ for this.
Sentiment summary
95%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
3%
Negative (1-2★)