We Open This September — Here's How to Get Ready

Short version: xpex opens officially this September, rolling out through October. The lesson videos are being filmed now — one batch this month, one more before opening — and when the doors open you'll get full video lesson paths, the practice tools, and memberships, including a small number of founding memberships for the people who were here first.

Longer version: this is the quiet-before-opening window, and honestly, it's the best time to show up. Everything below is free, open right now, and takes about ten minutes total.

We've been writing honest answers to the questions every beginner actually has: how to tune, your first three chords, how to read tab, which guitar to buy (and what to know for kids), and how long this really takes.

No fluff, no 'it's easy!' — just what a teacher would tell you across the kitchen table. If you read two, read the tuning one and the first-chords one. And if you'd rather skip straight to a starting point, the 60-second placement will point you at the right path.

A free account takes about a minute, and it's how you'll want to arrive on opening day: your progress saves, the first free lessons are already live to try, the tuner and metronome are yours to use, and you can post in the forum.

And there's a real incentive to do it now. If you haven't met pleks yet, they're our collectible mascot skins — you wear one as your forum avatar, and the rarest are earned, never bought. One of them is First Ascent: a super-rare plek that goes to everyone who joins by October 31, 2026 — and then retires forever. No grandfathering, no re-releases. Sign up in November and it's gone.

There's no card, no trial clock, no catch — free is free. Being set up early just means that in September you're playing, not filling out forms.

First Ascent isn't the only one. The plek board keeps its rarest cards face-down — secret until someone earns them — and your very first forum post flips one over. Not listed, not claimable, revealed only when you earn it.

Post once — that's the whole requirement — and it's in your collection before the crowds arrive.

Until we open, the forum is small, unhurried, and read top-to-bottom by the teacher every day. That's a window that closes: right now every question gets a real answer, and the people posting today are the ones who'll shape what this place feels like.

So introduce yourself in the hello thread — who you are, what you play or want to play, what's been hard. That one post earns you the secret plek, and it tells us what to build and write next. See you in there.