Gibson: Learn & Play Guitar 4+

Why this app is not famous?

First, some ”psychological factors”: first, I was skeptical about this because the app has a lot less reviews compared with other apps. For that reason my mind automatically thought that it would not be worth it to download it. Second, I downloaded anyway because I liked the rock and row vibe of the app. Other guitar learning apps have these childlike interface, which turns me off. Besides the psychological factors, I think it is the best guitar learning experience someone can get in an app. It is intuitive, immersive, they don't take your intelligence for granted making ridiculous basic lesson. I don't understand why it's not more popular, but I am happy that I found this. I am just not sure how much silence on the background I need to practice, or if the problem is my headphones (the wired one that cokes with the Iphone 8), but I am able to get good feedback only if I am in a completely silent place. Summarizing, thank you for this app and for bringing the experience of playing real things from lesson one.

Kind of mid for a practice tool

Nice app, I’ve been playing guitar a long time and I would say I’m intermediate level. I love the app in that it looks professional and doesn’t looks like a kids toy. I like the way the app listens, it’s very accurate. I use AirPods to hear the tutorial and play with the live sound out of a real amp.
As a practice tool it’s kind of MID, this is not a quick tool and because of this you lose out on a lot of practice time waiting for the lesson to rerun or get to the part you want to practice. There really should be a seek and or loop function so one can practice and rehearse just the trouble sections. Not sure I’d want to spend this kind of money for an app that is not a useful practice tool.
Also it’s annoying, the pause feature works anywhere on the screen but to resume, you have to touch the dialog box, also the dialog box popup is displayed over the content and one can’t freeze and study the material when needed. This app has a 30 day trial, but you get bombarded with requests to join while trying to experience the app.
There seems to be a good selections of songs to learn but in order to experience them you have to be subscribed you would think the development team would provide a few free selections of songs to learn so that you could get used to learning and using the app before committing to a costly subscription.

Developer Response ,

Hi there, thanks for the great review! It’s very important for us to understand how users are experiencing our app and where we might be able to improve on our app! Currently within the app we do have a loop function that you can access by pausing the gameplay and creating a loop over the section you would like to practice. Please reach out to us at app.support@gibson.com if you have any other questions, comments or suggestions. Best regards, Matthew

Awesome learning experience, but seemingly limited

First, I absolutely love the app. It’s a great immersive learning experience. I really love the way the app integrates my playing with backdrop music, as it reduces the impact of my less than enjoyable output, while giving good feedback on my performance.

That said, I think the value could be better. That’s why I only gave it 3 stars. Unless I’m missing something, there is only a basic course for acoustic and electric (I’m only interested in acoustic). It’s been years since I’ve played guitar, and the basic course was highly beneficial to me. However, I’m past that now, and I’m ready to move on to intermediate level training. Unless I’m missing something, there is none. I went through the whole app trying to find the next level course (intermediate), and couldn’t find anything. Am I missing something? I hope so. The song library is fun, but not necessarily helpful from a skill learning perspective. For example, I loved the Tears for Heaven, Eric Clapton, song, but the level of fingerpicking involved was not covered in any of the skills training and took a long time to get down. It would be great if there were more courses on fingerpicking and other intermediate/advanced skills.

Developer Response ,

Hey there! And thanks for the review! Really appreciate the feedback. The app has two different paths, one for lead and one for rhythm guitar. New courses for both are in the making and will be released throughout this year. One such course being finger picking. We’re also working on a guide to finger picking which will be on an intermediate level. So many new courses and guides coming. In the meantime there are lots of songs you can learn in the song section of the app. And by learning songs you also continue practicing the skills you’ve already learnt while also picking up some new ones. Would be great to hear more of your thoughts and feedback, so if you want you can send us an email to app.support@gibson.com with any suggestion, feedback or request you may have. Thanks again! Best, Matthew