Just like every budding guitarist of the past 20 years or so, you’ve most likely attempted to learn to play guitar YouTube style. So, how’d that go? Is it possible to learn guitar on YouTube? Let’s talk about it.
Undoubtedly we have to consider YouTube to be one of the most information-rich places on the Internet. It seems that virtually everything you can imagine wanting to know how to do can be learned on YouTube. That goes for playing guitar too.
No doubt about it: you can learn to play guitar YouTube style. At least to some extent. So then, why doesn’t everyone who wants to know how to play guitar, just jump on YouTube and get to it?
Well, they pretty much do. You did, right? I did too. But most of us find out pretty quickly that a 100% guarantee doesn’t come with the package.
You’ve been there. We all have. YouTube presents all this wonderful content for free. You can find a video on pretty much anything you want to learn. So, you jump on your computer, fire up YouTube, and start searching.
Next thing you know, you’ve watched 10 guitar tutorials. And you’re not quite sure if you actually learned anything useful.
So, what’s the problem? How can you watch so many tutorial videos and yet feel like you’re no better at playing guitar than you were two hours earlier?
First of all, it’s not your fault. Well, maybe not completely your fault.
No doubt a ton of guitar lessons exist up there on the tube. Seems like there are 50 teachers giving away the keys to the kingdom. And for free. Well, looks can be deceiving.
What seems to be a treasure trove of free content can really be an endless source of frustration.
Guitar teachers behave no differently than any other online teachers who want to help you learn to do something they know how to do and you don’t. They want to give you enough free content that you will come to know and trust them. But not so much free content that you won’t need to buy their training courses or hire them for personal training sessions.
And you can’t blame them. Just like you, they need to make a living. Let’s say you’re a truck driver. You might be willing to haul some lumber in your personal pickup home from the yard for a buddy. But, you’re not likely willing to haul all the lumber he needs to build his new north-woods cabin five hours away without expecting something in return.
Silly example, I guess, but that’s what’s going on with all those free lessons on YouTube. Those teachers need to make a living. They are willing to provide quality training, but they expect fair compensation. And why shouldn’t they?
So, they give away free content to showcase their teaching skills. But they hold something back. Something very important. They hold back an effective, organized system to help you learn.
You’ll find tons of videos on YouTube. And some of them are great. But each lesson essentially stands alone. Lessons are not presented in a logical order.
And further, YouTube tutorials often don’t give the complete picture. Teachers usually hold something else back too. The extra-special piece that might entice you to buy their course or join the membership program.
So, does that mean that all of these YouTube teachers are charlatans and hacks? They’re just trying to trick you into parting with your hard-earned money, right?
I don’t believe that’s the case at all. Several really, really talented teachers work hard to provide quality content. And they give tons of it away for free. I appreciate these teachers so much because I have learned a ton from them.
But there’s a condition. In general—and this is totally my opinion—you will not effectively learn to play guitar YouTube style unless you have already reached a certain level of skill on the instrument.
Like I said, I feel that I’ve learned a ton from some really great teachers. But I can easily see that if I was starting from scratch as a brand-new learner, I would not have luck trying to learn to play guitar YouTube style.
Why? Because as a newbie, you need an organized system. You need a quality curriculum. You need step-by-step instruction in logical, digestible doses. And you will rarely find that for free on YouTube. Those types of systems pay the bills for talented teachers, and they offer them on a paid basis.
Now, I believe that you can start from scratch and learn to play guitar YouTube style. But it’s going to take you a long, long time to get to where you want to be.
Since you won’t easily find the logical system you need, you’re going to spend tons of time searching for the videos that will really help you. And you will spend a ton of time watching videos that won’t help you.
Many videos won’t help you because you can’t understand the lessons. They’re beyond your skill level. But you won’t know that until you’ve invested a bunch of time watching enough of the video to know you’re lost and won’t find your way out with that video.
Just like great, talented guitar teachers exist on YouTube, so too do many really, really bad teachers. It’s deceptive because the teacher starts the video out by playing a million notes a second and you think, “This dude can definitely play, so I should listen to him.”
But if you learn nothing else from this article, please learn that just because a guy can play like a maniac, doesn’t mean he’s capable of teaching. Too many high-level players can’t relate to you at your beginner level. Or even at an intermediate level. They can only speak “up there” where the monster players frolic. That does you virtually zero good.
Or they can’t organize their thoughts. You are guaranteed to run into “The Rambler.” The teacher who has a quality lesson to share that could be done in 10 minutes, but takes her 50 to present because she’s so disorganized that most of the time is wasted.
Not an efficient or effective way to learn! In fact, trying to learn like that can kill your desire and your confidence and make you give up.
So, what should you do? Should you turn to YouTube? After all, it’s pretty hard to pass up all that free content, right?
Definitely. And I believe you should definitely make YouTube a part of your learning journey. But use it wisely. Use it to evaluate teachers. Find the ones that you can relate to. That you can learn from.
Here’s the approach I’d take. First just watch their videos as if it were simply entertainment. Don’t try to follow along with the lessons on your guitar. Don’t even have your guitar in hand. Just watch.
You’ll quickly start weeding out the ones that annoy you, or that you can’t relate to. And just as quickly you’ll start to develop your favorites.
Once you identify a few you like, discard the rest. Then, at that point, try to follow along with the lessons. This will help you further identify the ones that you connect with. The ones you can understand. Concentrate on a few of those ones.
Most of these teachers will have courses for sale. If you watch enough of their videos that you feel comfortable paying for their teaching, then consider doing so. That will likely be your fastest path to success from training videos.
Those courses will provide you the structure you need in order to learn effectively and efficiently.
You will inevitably attempt to learn to play guitar YouTube style. So many free guitar tutorials exist that it seems impossible not to be able to learn through YouTube.
But it’s a landscape that’s so rich with free content that it can become a wasteland. A time-sucking, soul-sucking overload of disorganized information that makes effective learning extremely difficult. Especially for the new learner.
Some great teachers exist on YouTube, and they give tons of quality content away for free. But that content lacks organization. It lacks systematic presentation. And so you have to wade through tons of resources to find the training you need for your current level.
These teachers usually offer for-pay courses or personal training. That’s where you’ll find your most efficient, effective path to learning from them.
Use the free resources on YouTube to find your favorite teachers. Then look into their paid courses. You may find that’s the most effective way for you to make progress on the instrument.
Such an organized course will beat your attempts to learn to play guitar YouTube style hands down.
Disclaimer: I may offer paid training courses of my own through the You On Guitar project, so you may feel my opinions here are self serving. I don’t intend for them to be that at all. These represent my honest opinion base on my own experience trying to learn to play guitar YouTube style. But for the sake of transparency, I want you to know I may have an interest in you being persuaded that paying for an online course or training makes good sense. Now you know. Use your judgment!
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