Fender Play and Justin Guitar are two of the most popular guitar learning apps on the internet today. They’re both good in their own ways. Picking the right app and getting the most out of them depends a lot on your preferred learning style and how you want to learn. Today, we’ll talk about each app and do a deep dive into each app. We’ll look at how each app teaches power chords to help you decide which app is best for you.
Differences Between Fender Play & JustinGuitar.com
The first, most obvious difference between Fender Play and JustinGuitar.com is cost. Fender Play is a subscription service, while the basic lessons on JustinGuitar are free.
| Fender Play | JustinGuitar.com | |
| Cost: | Fender Play is $19,99/ month or $12.50/ month for the annual subscription. Look out for seasonal and promotional discounts. (Get the latest at www.Fender.com.) | The lessons on JustinGutar.com are free. |
| Services: | All the lessons, exercises, reference materials, tablature, songs, exercises, and online tools are included as a part of the Fender Play subscription. | JustinGuitar.com lessons do not include access to songs, exercises, tablature, or additional practice materials. |
| Access: | Fender Play is available through the Fender.com website, and on The Fender Play iPhone/iPad app, and Android app. Your progress will synchronize across the website, tablet, and phone app versions of the service. | JustinGuitar.com is available on the website only. Justin Guitar does sell a variety of web and apps. The apps that Justin sells are completely separate products that DO NOT sync with each other. |
Power Chords Lesson Deep Dive
We’ll be looking at how Justin Guitar and Fender play teach power chords as a way to illustrate the differences in how each app teaches this basic technique. Power chords are a simple and common guitar chord shape frequently used in punk, rock, and heavy metal. The power chord shape is extremely flexible and can be moved up and down the neck to create power chords with different root notes.
How Fender Play Teaches Power Chords
Fender Play’s teaching style is step-by-step and structured. It’s ideal for completely new guitar learners who prefer a clearly scripted and methodical approach to learning guitar. Fender Play breaks down fundamental guitar concepts like power chords into multiple lessons. Fender Play divides Power Chords into 6 concepts. Those concepts are taught using 13 videos that run from 5 to 15 minutes in length. The videos are paired with 13 metronome timed practice exercises. The practice exercises are traditional exercises designed to give students a basic mastery of the technique before starting practice songs / riffs.
Sometimes the practice exercise will also have a feedback exercise. Feedback exercises are exercises where Fender Play listens to your practice and gives you a visual grade on how well you were able to keep up with the timing and play during the exercise.
There are 10 practice songs / riffs using power chords. Each practice song / riff has a 7 to 15-minute video reviewing how to play the song / riff, a visual metronome timed practice song tab, and a feedback exercise.
Fender Play students who stick with the program and master the practice exercises and songs will have spent a significant amount of time learning fundamental guitar techniques like power chords. More importantly, that mastery will come with a focus on developing a strong sense of timing through the timed metronome exercises, practice songs, and feedback practice. (Read my blog post to learn more about the kinds of lessons and practice in the Fender Play power chord curriculum.)
How Justin Guitar Teaches Power Chords
Justin Guitar is a free service and as such, it doesn’t offer the same level of depth as Fender Play. JustinGuitar.com’s lesson is concise and deeply informative. The JustinGuitar.com power chord video lesson is short and quick. Within the first 15 minutes of his power chord video, he has completed his technique lesson. The rest of his 25-minute video is dedicated to Justin’s practice song recommendations. This makes Justin Guitar a great refresher resource for more experienced players and players looking for a fast, easy to digest reference video.
For those who are looking for a comprehensive, one place with everything lesson, you’re going to have to start paying for Justin Guitar’s pay services, like his $7.99/month Justin Guitar Tabs website subscription. If not, you’ll need to invest time in finding free versions of the practice song guitar tabs to practice with. Even if you find free versions online, they won’t always match what Justin covers in his video lessons. I use the free lessons and do this. It is time consuming.
Conclusion
Both Fender Play and Justin Guitar offer valuable lessons on power chords, but they cater to different types of learners.
- Fender Play is ideal for beginners looking for a streamlined, fast-paced learning experience with a focus on applying power chords to real songs right away. It’s complete all-in-one package of lessons, clean interface and bite-sized lessons make it perfect for those who prefer efficiency and practical application.
- Justin Guitar is better suited for more experienced learners, looking for a faster, easy to access reference to help you practice and polish up techniques. .
In the end, the best platform for you depends on your personal learning style. If you’re looking for quick results and enjoy a step-by-step song-based learning method, Fender Play is a solid choice. If you’re looking for a fast comprehensive lesson to help you reference and learn guitar techniques, Justin Guitar might be the perfect fit.