Yousician is the real deal for music education—not edutainment pretending to teach, but an actual structured curriculum that listens to you play and gives instant feedback. Kids who stick with it report genuine progress, and educators give it solid marks.

The catch? The free version is basically a demo. You get 10-15 minutes of practice per day before hitting a paywall, and the premium subscriptions run $120-180/year. That's not outrageous for what you get (compare it to a few months of private lessons), but it means this only makes sense if your kid is actually committed to practicing regularly.

It won't replace a real teacher—no app can correct your hand position or give you personalized feedback—but as a supplement or for motivated self-learners, it's excellent. Just make sure your kid actually wants to learn guitar before dropping the cash on a subscription and an instrument. Otherwise you've got an expensive dust collector.