Learn the fundamentals of guitar playing.
Complete beginners
First time picking up a guitar? You've come to the right place. This learning pathway requires no prior experience.
3 months
Joey will guide you through 6 guided grades with step-by-step instruction and daily practice exercises.
Zero to hero
Develop a rock-solid foundation of rhythm guitar skills so you can play and jam along to any popular song.
Take the next step
Once you've tackled this course, keep learning with intermediate Master Classes and guided practice plans.
This crystal-clear learning pathway will get you playing right away as you build a rock-solid foundation for rhythm guitar.
This ultra-guided beginner pathway takes the guess work out of learning guitar. Throughout six step-by-step grades, you'll learn the fundamentals of rhythm & lead guitar as you develop the ability to play any popular song.
Get Playing
By the end of this Learning Pathway, you'll be able to play the chords any of your favorite popular songs.
To get you started on the right foot, Joey will guide you through the absolute fundamentals of lead guitar. You'll tackle simple melodies and play along to a series of songs so you can start jamming right away.
Strum
From here on out, we put the focus on rhythm guitar. You'll kick off this grade with simple one-finger chords that are a breeze to play but still sound lush.
By the end of this grade, you'll be jamming along with iconic songs by Van Morrison and Ben E. King.
Jam
Here, you'll continue developing your rhythm guitar toolkit with fundamental open chords.
As you add new chord shapes to your vocabulary, you'll jam along with Joey using songs by Jimi Hendrix and Journey as your musical backdrop.
Grades 4-6
To cap off your beginner guitar education, you'll take your rhythm skills to the next level by learning colorful singer-songwriter chords and tackling the almighty bar chord.
By the end of this Learning Pathway, you'll have the skills to jam along with any of your favorite popular songs.
Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.
Grade 1. Get Playing
Take the first steps in your guitar journey.
When you're just starting out with guitar, it's crucial to establish proper technique. To kick off this Learning Pathway, Joey will guide you through the absolute fundamentals of guitar playing – from holding the guitar to playing your first notes.
Then, over the next 10 days, you'll take a tour through various guitar styles, including blues, rock, country, and calypso, as you hone basic lead guitar skills and jam along to backing tracks.
At the end of the grade, you'll have the opportunity to assume the role as lead guitarist with a live-recorded backing band as you apply what you learned in a musical context. Once you learn a song with the band, you can submit a video of yourself playing it to our team of pro guitarists for personalized feedback.
Grade 2. Strum
Build a rhythm guitar foundation with open chords.
For the next leg in your guitar journey, Joey will guide you through a foolproof way to start playing chords. You'll start with one-finger chords and work your way toward fundamental open chords. To keep things fresh, you'll strum along to iconic songs like Despacito, Stand by Me, Perfect, Brown-Eyed Girl.
At the end of the grade, you'll once again have the opportunity to jam out with a live-recorded backing band and get personalized feedback on your performance from the Pickup Music team.
Grade 3. Jam
Expand your rhythm guitar foundation with open chords and learn your first "bar chord".
By now, you'll have developed a solid repertoire of open chords that'll enable you to start jamming out to a ton of real songs. In this grade, we put the focus on making music with songs by Jimi Hendrix & Journey.
As you strum your way through more fundamental chord shapes, Joey will teach you colorful bluesy chords and teach you how to play a tiny bar chord.
As always, you'll have an opportunity to get feedback on your playing after you jam out with the Pickup Music band.
Grades 4-6
Wrap up the first leg of your guitar journey by polishing your rhythm guitar skills.
Grade 4. Colorful Chords
In this grade, you'll tackle colorful singer-songwriter chords as you strum your way through iconic songs like Kiss Me, Californication, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and Thinking Out Loud.
You'll also learn how to add bassline movement to your chordal playing with slash chords At the end of the grade, you'll get to jam out with the Pickup Music band and get personalized feedback on your playing.
Grade 5. Bar Chords
This is where the rubber meets the road! In this grade, you'll tackle the almighty bar chord – rich chord shapes that pack a punch and will unlock 99% of popular music for you.
With Joey's tried-and-true teaching approach, learning these challenging chords will be a breeze. You'll work your way up from simple power chord shapes to the full bar chord. As always, you'll cap off the grade by jamming out with a live-recorded backing band so you can get personalized feedback on your playing.
Grade 6. 5th-String Bar Chords
There's only one hurdle left in the Learning Pathway: 5th-string bar chords. Learning to play these shapes is the last piece of the rhythmic puzzle. 5th-string bar chords make it easy to play songs by giving you economy of movement when changing chords within a progression.
Just as before, you'll start with a simple chord shape and build into the full bar chord from there. After a jam session with the Pickup Music Band and an interactive quiz, you're ready for the big leagues.
Hear from REAL students
Your Instructor
Joey Weidner
Begin your guitar journey or build up your rock skills with Joey's straightforward, music-first library of step-by-step guitar lessons.
Explore LessonsStart your free 14-day trial today.
Cancel anytime.
Recommended
Annual Plan
All-inclusive access to every course.
$149.99
/yr billed annually
You save $30 per year.
1,426 people started a free trial in the last 30 days.
Annual plan includes:
See what a Pickup Music membership is all about.
14-day free trial
Guided learning
Know exactly what to practice at every step of your guitar journey.
Personalized feedback
Know exactly what to practice at every step of your guitar journey.
Progress tracking
Monitor your guitar gains.
New releases every week
Never run out of lessons to work on.
Interactive TAB
Follow along with every note.
Multiple HD angles
Get an up close and personal learning experience.
Supportive community
Get into the holiday spirit with step-by-step guitar lessons covering your favorite songs.
Members-only forum
Unlimited personalized learning support from our team of pro guitarists.
SAVE 17%
Unlimited access for less than 1/2 the price of one private guitar lesson per month.
Monthly Plan
All-access to online guitar lessons to level up your playing.
$14.99
/mo
1,426 people started a free trial in the last 30 days.
Monthly plan includes:
See what a Pickup Music membership is all about.
14-day free trial
Guided learning
Know exactly what to practice at every step of your guitar journey.
Personalized feedback
Know exactly what to practice at every step of your guitar journey.
Progress tracking
Monitor your guitar gains.
New releases every week
Never run out of lessons to work on.
Interactive TAB
Follow along with every note.
Multiple HD angles
Get an up close and personal learning experience.
Supportive community
Workshop your playing, get feedback, and perform live in our online practice groups.
Members-only forum
Unlimited personalized learning support from our team of pro guitarists.
SAVE 17%
All-inclusive access to every course.
If your questions aren’t answered below, please chat with us.
Is Pickup Music right for me?
Do you feel like your guitar playing has hit a plateau?
Are you stuck in a guitar rut where you're just playing the same old chords and licks?
Are you looking for fretboard freedom?
At Pickup Music, we specialize in:
How do we do it?
Finally, we give you support and feedback through an exclusive members community and live practice group sessions with other members. This focused approach to learning guitar will help you bust through the beginner basics, break out of the intermediate plateau, and level up your playing.
This guided learning approach is the fastest way to make real progress on the guitar.
What makes Pickup Music better than other guitar lesson sites?
We're glad you asked! So many things:
What's included in my Pickup Music membership?
Everything! You’ll have unlimited access to every lesson on Pickup Music from every instructor. That means every Learning Pathway, Master Class, SongSquad, Licks Package, 5-Minute Lesson... we could go on, but you get the idea. It's an all-inclusive membership for one affordable price.
How long are the lessons? How long will it take me to complete them?
Pickup Music's lesson plans are designed to suit the amount of time you have available to practice.
Only got a few minutes? Try our 5-Minute Lessons to quickly add a new skill to your toolbox.
Got half an hour? Try one of our Essential Lick Packages or SongSquads to expand your vocabulary in different genres.
Got a couple of days? Try a Master Class with one of our world-renowned artists. Each class is broken up into short, digestible modules focused on one topic. We encourage you to complete the exercises for each lesson video before moving on to the next one because the lessons typically build on each other.
Ready to really commit to a multi-week program? Try one of our Learning Pathways. Over 6 weeks, these detailed courses will take you on a day-by-day journey to master each level in the genre. Learning Pathways include daily practice exercises so you know exactly what to focus on. These courses are the best way to make lasting progress.
Whichever approach you choose, we recommend building the exercises you learn into your daily practice schedule. The best way to improve as a guitarist is through a consistent practice routine rather than sporadic, longer sessions. Learning guitar is a day-by-day, life-long journey!
I'm brand new to guitar. Is Pickup Music the right choice for me?
Absolutely! We make learning the guitar made fun & simple – the way it should be.
Too many people get frustrated with guitar because they develop bad habits and poor technique. Avoid these costly and time-consuming mistakes by taking Pickup Music's structured and step-by-step approach to learning guitar.
You'll start with Pickup Music's introductory program Beginner Learning Pathway. Over three weeks, we break down everything from simple chords and melodies to rhythm and lead playing. By the end of the program, you'll be able to play any simple pop or rock song (and even write your own).
Most importantly, we make sure you don't get stuck in the beginner's plateau - a common pitfall for guitarists who are just starting out. You'll keep making progress through Pickup Music's guided Learning Pahtways. These programs are designed to quickly take you from a beginner player to an intermediate one who feels comfortable across the whole fretboard.
What the difference between the annual and monthly plan?
The only difference is that the annual plan saves you $30 a year.
Both options come with a free 14-day trial. That means, we won't charge your card for the first 14 days - you can cancel anytime before then.
With an annual membership, we bill you once a year up-front, and you save 17% as a result. We'll send you reminders before we bill you each year so that you don't accidentally forget about it.
With the monthly membership, you pay month to month. It's a subscription, so we bill you each month until you cancel.
Cancelling your plan at any point is very easy to do online - no tricks, emails, or phone calls required. Just click a button on your account page.
Is a Pickup Music membership worth the money?
When you first start learning guitar, it's okay to bounce around with random free lessons on YouTube and searching for TABs online.
That approach is going to make you an OKAY guitar player, but it's not going to help you take that leap to becoming a serious guitarist - a player who can:
To become a serious guitarist, you need a clear learning pathway to get to the next level. You need to free your mind and unlock your fret board - you can do this with Pickup Music's expert step-by-step instruction. Having this clear learning pathway is key to making real progress on the guitar.
What about the price? Is it worth it?
Private lessons will cost you about $50 per lesson or $2,600 a year. Going to a music academy will cost you about $40,000 a year.
A Pickup Music membership costs just $150 for the whole year. That works out to 41 cents a day!
Signing up for a Pickup Music membership also means that you can stop wasting your time and effort trying to guess what you should practice next. Our guided programs eliminate the guess work so you know exactly what you need to focus on each day and week to make lasting progress with guitar. This will increase your efficiency and speed up your progress.
Is it easy to cancel?
Absolutely! You can cancel at any time (although we'd be sad to see you go). Cancelling is easy, no tricks. Just go to your account page and click a button.
You won't be charged anything if you cancel during your 14-day free trial.
If you cancel after your 14-day trial, you won't be billed again at your next billing cycle. Your membership will remain active until it expires on the day it was originally set to renew.
Once your membership expires, you will no longer have access to the classes you were enrolled in during your time as a member, but you can easily restart your membership at any time. Just log in to your account and renew a monthly or annual membership to pick up where you left off.
Can I buy lessons individually?
We don’t sell lessons individually. But the good news is you get access to every single lesson on Pickup Music through the one membership. If you’re only interested in one lesson, you could purchase a monthly membership and cancel when you’ve finished it – we have a hunch you’ll want to stick around though :)
Can I cancel my membership at any time?
Yes! All you have to do is click a button on your account page. No tricks, no emails, no calls. It's a straightforward process.
You won't be billed again at your next billing cycle. Your membership will remain active and you'll continue to have access to the site until your membership expires on the day it was originally set to renew.
You can easily restart your membership at any time. Just log in to your account and renew a monthly or annual membership to pick up where you left off.
Note: Once your membership expires, we'll save your progress on your Dashboard if you decide to rejoin at a later date.
How does the 14-day free trial work? What is your refund policy?
Your credit card won't be charged for the first 14 days
When you first sign up to a Pickup Music membership, your credit card will not be charged for 14 days. That means that if you decide to cancel within 14 days of signing up, you won't pay anything.
If you decide to cancel after that, you won't be charged at your next billing cycle
That means: if you’re a monthly member, you won’t be charged for the next month. If you’re an annual member, you won’t be charged for the next year.
We don’t offer refunds for payments that have already gone through. But if you choose to cancel, you will retain full access to the membership until it expires on the day it was originally set to renew.
Will I be automatically charged each month / year?
The membership is a subscription. After the 14-day free trial, you'll be automatically charged monthly or annually (depending on which plan you choose). We send you reminders before your annual subscription renews so you don't accidentally forget about it. You can easily cancel by turning off auto-renew at any time in your account page.
How do I restart my membership?
It’s easy to rejoin Pickup Music and we’d be thrilled to have you back! We even saved all of your lessons for you while you were gone on your Dashboard.
To restart your membership, simply head to this page, select the plan of your choice, and sign up with the email address you used to sign up the first time around.
Get your 14-day free trial.