Comparison

TrueFire Guitar Lessons vs Ron Block Banjo Workshop

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

TrueFire Guitar Lessons

Access over 80,000 video guitar lessons, 30,000 tabs, and 20,000 jam tracks. Learn from hundreds of renowned artists and educators across all levels and styles, including blues, jazz, rock, and acoustic guitar.

Highlights
  • 80,000+ video guitar lessons
  • 30,000+ guitar tabs
  • 20,000+ jam tracks
  • Courses for all levels and styles
  • Instruction from 400+ top artists
  • 14-day All Access free trial
Features
Read full description

Play guitar or want to learn how to play guitar? Download TrueFire’s app to your iOS device for access to over 80,000 video guitar lessons, 30,000 guitar tabs, and 20,000 jam tracks at your fingertips. TrueFire’s library of 1,800+ guitar courses covers all levels, techniques, and styles of blues guitar, jazz guitar, rock guitar, country guitar, acoustic guitar, fingerstyle guitar, and other guitar styles. Whether you're a beginner just learning how to play guitar or you're an advanced pro, you can learn from the best in the biz: Matt Schofield, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Tommy Emmanuel, Steve Vai, Pat Martino, Stu Hamm, Alex Skolnick, Dweezil Zappa, Johnny Hiland, Mike Zito, Redd Volkaert, David Grissom, Andy Timmons, and over 400 other top artists and educators. New to TrueFire? Welcome aboard! Join TrueFire for free and get a 14-day trial of All Access - unlimited streaming access to all 80,000+ video guitar lessons, including tab, notation, and jam tracks. You'll also get a free downloadable guitar course, 10 Guitar Licks You MUST Know, for your offline learning pleasure. Questions? Please visit our support desk to review our knowledge base and/or contact us. Practice Smart, Play Hard. TrueFire All Access Subscription. Term: 1 month or 1 year. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase
. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period
. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to Account Settings after purchase
. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. Link to Terms & Conditions: https://truefire.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://truefire.com/privacy-policy At TrueFire, we pride ourselves on being able to offer the best music instruction to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world, including those with disabilities or impairments. We’re proud to announce that we’ve worked hard to update our app to make learning with TrueFire even easier for those who use the VoiceOver Accessibility feature.

About

Ron Block Banjo Workshop

Learn banjo from a Grammy-winning musician with comprehensive courses, mini-lessons, and song tutorials. Develop your skills from beginner to advanced with practical techniques and creative exercises. Access exclusive content and live Q&A sessions to enhance your playing.

Highlights
  • Beginner to advanced banjo courses
  • Mini-lessons for practice concepts
  • Song and tune tutorials
  • String bending techniques
  • Developing new licks
  • Live Q&A sessions
Features
Read full description

The Ron Block Banjo Workshop is a banjo instruction app designed for every level. Whether you’ve just bought a banjo, or you’re intermediate, or even if you’re an advanced player, there is plenty of material in the app for you. Ron has been playing banjo for over three decades with Alison Krauss & Union Station and has been encouraging and inspiring students in the U.S. and the U.K. for years. All material is designed to create a solid foundation and yet enhance your own creativity on the banjo. Courses: Beginning Banjo is designed to take you from knowing nothing about playing the banjo through chords, rolls, and a tune. Developing New Licks and Ideas shows how to take licks and change them around to make new variations. Creating Melody-Based Solos will give you tools to learn to find melodies quickly. Bending Strings in a Bluegrass Context explains Ron’s string-bending techniques. Mini-Lessons are short clips to give you solid concepts and ideas for practicing and playing. Song/Tune Lessons: “Man of Constant Sorrow,” from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack “Clinch Mountain Backstep,” from Ron’s banjo instrumental album Hogan’s House of Music. Explore syncopation, string-bending, and other core aspects of Ron’s banjo style. “Foggy Mountain Special,” Ron’s solo from the Earl Scruggs tribute album. “The Old Hometown,” Earl Scruggs-style solo from Flatt & Scruggs. “You Don’t Know My Mind,” J.D. Crowe-style solo from a live J.D. Crowe & the New South recording. Banjo Music Videos “Foggy Mountain Rock” - a live video of the tune from Hogan’s House of Music. “Happy Chappy/Marinie’s Melody” – from Banjophonics, Ron second album with Irish tenor banjo wizard Damien O’Kane - Bluegrass blended with Irish/Celtic and other influences. “You Are My Sunshine” – a live video of the tune from Hogan’s House of Music. “’65 Mustang Blues” - a live video of the tune from Hogan’s House of Music. “Trip to Portugal/Giuseppe’s” – from Banjophony, Ron’s first album with Irish tenor banjo wizard Damien O’Kane - Bluegrass blended with Irish/Celtic and other influences. “Hogan’s House of Boogie” - a live video of the tune from Hogan’s House of Music. “Phoebe’s/The Banjo Strikes Back” “Clinch Mountain Backstep” - a live video of the tune from Hogan’s House of Music. And more! The Traditional Banjo Workbook All the Scruggs-style and Crowe-style tablatures from Ron’s long out-of-print The Traditional Banjo Workbook. Banjo Inspiration One-page thoughts designed to keep you moving forward in your playing and practice. Question & Answer Livestreams Regular livestreams in the app will get your banjo questions answered. INFORMATION ABOUT THE APP AND PURCHASE OPTIONS The download of Ron Block Banjo Workshop is free of charge. There is no free trial. Should you use Ron Block Banjo Workshop app, we offer one of the following options: Payment will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account after the trial period and when a subscription renews. A subscription renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the subscription period. There is no increase in price when renewing. One Time Payments will only be charged one time initially. Subscriptions can be managed and auto-renewal turned off in Account Settings in iTunes after purchase. Once purchased, refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term. Readout full Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy: https://passion.io/terms-of-service https://passion.io/privacy-policy

Screenshots

TrueFire Guitar Lessons4 screens
Ron Block Banjo Workshop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: TrueFire Guitar Lessons at none against Ron Block Banjo Workshop's shown. TrueFire Guitar Lessons also leads on ratings volume (15K vs 9) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). Ron Block Banjo Workshop's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 58%). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. TrueFire Guitar Lessons sells 23 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per month and Ron Block Banjo Workshop sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $15.95 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TrueFire Guitar Lessons holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TrueFire Guitar Lessons has 15K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of TrueFire Guitar Lessons's written reviews are positive against 75% of Ron Block Banjo Workshop's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
TrueFire Guitar Lessons versus Ron Block Banjo Workshop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTrueFire Guitar LessonsRon Block Banjo Workshop
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (15K ratings) — better4.4 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews57.7% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15K — better9
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size179 MB98 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTrueFireRon Block

Customer experience

TrueFire Guitar Lessons

All ratings14,804 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews487 reviews
Positive57.7%
Neutral11.7%
Negative30.6%

Ron Block Banjo Workshop

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Bugs and requests

TrueFire Guitar Lessons

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes and freezes frequently
  • Purchased content not accessible
  • Sync issues between app and website
  • Compatibility problems with iOS updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved app stability and performance
  • Better navigation and user experience
  • Ability to create custom playlists
  • Seamless cross-device syncing

Ron Block Banjo Workshop

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

23 purchases

TrueFire Guitar Lessons

Subscriptions2
  • All Access Monthly Plan$29.991 Month
  • All Access Annual Plan$119.991 Year
One-time21
  • Learn Guitar: First StepsFree
  • Learn Bass 1: 1st Step for BegFree
  • XXV on FireFree
Show 18 more
  • Top 50 Multi-Track Audio JamsFree
  • Slow Blues Principles Vol. 1$9.99
  • Learn Guitar: Next Steps$9.99
  • Country Guitar Survival Guide: Lead Edition$29.99
  • Ten Gallon Guitar$29.99
  • Fingerstyle Blues Factory$29.99
  • 50 Blues Rhythms$29.99
  • Fingerstyle Milestones$29.99
  • Guitar Zen: CAGED$29.99
  • Beginner Blues-Rock Soloing$29.99
  • Blue Highways$29.99
  • Street Theory For Guitarists$29.99
  • Creative Arpeggio Design$29.99
  • Standards Edition$39.99
  • Solo Factory: Texas Blues$39.99
  • Shades of Blues$39.99
  • Dweezology: Fretboard Freedom$49.99
  • All Access: Annual$249.99
2 purchases

Ron Block Banjo Workshop

Subscriptions2
  • Beginner Banjo Workshop$15.951 Month
  • All Banjo Workshops$21.951 Month

Questions

Is TrueFire Guitar Lessons free?
TrueFire Guitar Lessons is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ron Block Banjo Workshop free?
Ron Block Banjo Workshop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TrueFire Guitar Lessons or Ron Block Banjo Workshop?
TrueFire Guitar Lessons is rated higher. TrueFire Guitar Lessons averages 4.7 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while Ron Block Banjo Workshop averages 4.4 from 9 ratings.
Do TrueFire Guitar Lessons or Ron Block Banjo Workshop have ads?
Ron Block Banjo Workshop shows ads; TrueFire Guitar Lessons does not.
Which is updated more often, TrueFire Guitar Lessons or Ron Block Banjo Workshop?
TrueFire Guitar Lessons ships an update every 2 months, and Ron Block Banjo Workshop every 2 months. Most recently, TrueFire Guitar Lessons was updated on October 30, 2026 and Ron Block Banjo Workshop on October 24, 2026.

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