Homie -- Your channel is my True North for any gear I'm contemplating, we literally have the same playing style, first song I ever played at age 12 was Wipeout on buddy's new Strat Pak on Christmas day. I'll never forget it, I was absolutely smitten. Became a lifelong Cobainiac after that. Locked myself in my room and hacked out 'teen spirit' intro for hours at a time. I love that famous self-portrait sketch that Kurt did: "I don't know how to play and I don't give a hoot!" Tried to join the jazz band in high school, played nirvana, white stripes, green day at the audition and he said 'no thanks'. Buddy with mohawk & combat boots asked me to join their band a few weeks later, the rest is history!! This is why I think I don't suck at guitar. Thank you for everything you do. Watching your channel is like kicking it with a friend. Now, I need to know where to get that shirt that you're wearing here! It's like the mantra of my life lol.
I realized years ago that I was much more interested in tone, effects, amps, etc., and found trying to be technically proficient stressful. Watching your videos has been refreshing and validating. Thank you for what you do.
You know what, Ryan? I’ve always enjoyed your channel and I watch most of your videos whenever the little notification thing shows up in my feed. But after seeing this human side of you, I like you even more. You just seem like a real chill, low-maintenance, easy going kind of guy and I like that.
Dude… as a 43 year old man that has been playing for like 2 years and just started a band…. I love you! You just spoke to me, like… for real. Thank you so much! You are the shizzle.
True, your go to demo riffs are mega stale but when you loop and layer the music really comes out and I think you're pretty good in that context. But--- you are the control to all of the other channels, I come here for that baseline and the oodles of personality, joy, enthusiasm, and yes, knowledge. I actually watch more of your stuff than most others (I guess it can be said you do have a high post count.) I wear your damn shirt because I genuinely support what's going on with this channel. You're living the dream and are just who we want to chill with when Andy or JayLJ or Rabbea or RJ have erased our skulls. This and JHS I would keep in perpetuity.
By far, you don't suck. I enjoy listening to you play your demos and the different guitars you play. You seem to like the oddball type of guitars like I do. I along with thousands of others enjoy your playing. I really dig the surf you8 seem to enjoy. Keep on being a great human and looking forward to future videos. Take care my friend...
Dude I feel the same way, haha. We are roughly the same age (I assume) and I too have been playing for 25 years, have been in bands, gigs to hell and back, etc and always say "I should be WAAAAYY better than I am at this point." You're an excellent guitar player brother. It sucks that our horrible human brains try to convince us otherwise.
This was so refreshing to hear Ryan. Your reasons for “sucking” at guitar are the exact same as mine. I’m not a pro, I don’t want to be and I’d rather figure things out for myself than be taught. Most of the time I don’t care either, but when I do feel bad it helps to know I’m not alone. Thanks very much for making this video!
I feel attacked, sir. You're list and realities is scientifically 100% why I play how I play and do what I do. By the way, you and your channel are a giant piece as to why I started playing and doing videos again after years away from it, even though it was always in the back of my mind. Thank you for all the noise making you do!
I related to a lot of the things you said about yourself. It's refreshing for me to have other non-elitist guitar content to watch, so I enjoy your stuff. I've always tried to be honest with potential bandmates that I love music and will always bring my heart into it, but I'm also not trying to be a virtuoso. I'm not great at guitar, I just like it a whole lot. But that's a good enough reason to keep doing it, and hopefully I'll continue to improve. I'm also guilty of over-watching The Office.
I think you have a great attitude and I share the "I don't care" outlook. Playing is supposed to be fun and make you happy. Nothing wrong with getting serious about it either, but at the end of the day... do you enjoy it? That's what matters. That being said, since you're asking, here are a few things I think you could consider: 1. You play an unusual and uncommon style of music. Most people can't relate to the nuance of surf music. You're good at what you do but it's under appreciated. 2. (Actual advice) Work on your bends. Go from fretted note to bent note back and forth and make sure you hit pitch when you bend. 3. Learn what "good" distortion tones sound like and feel like. Even if you're not a fan of rock or metal, work on getting a tighter more solid "heavy" sound for the times when you need it. You don't have to be Ola, but a good rock sound will add versatility to what you do. (step 1 - bridge humbucker) Tone is always subjective, but loose, flubby, farty distortion is rarely popular. ...Or don't change a thing. We're here because you're a positive person that's fun to watch. If you're having fun too then it's a win.
I hope you see this comment. I’ve been eating the frosting for 25 years too. I do it cuz I love it. I also love the physical object that is the guitar. It’s as much fun to look at them as it is to play them. I watched Commander Mark religiously as a kid. He really shaped my view of art in general. An amazing teacher and really led me to pursue a life of creativity be it visual arts or music. Love your content and you certainly aren’t alone in this! Thank you.
You play what's needed in the moment. Isn't that really what successful music is all about? And you are very entertaining as your growing viewership can attest to. Sounds great to me. Thanks for all you do.
I was the same way for years dude. Im in my early 40s now. What i was told about 5yrs ago was that i needed specific practice on certain things. So i for the 1st time i got a teacher locally and did 1 lesson a week for 6mon. And my playing went through the roof! He watched and listened to me and then gave me very specific exercises to do for my picking and what have you. It really really made the difference. Cuz i had years of experience it just took practicing VERY specific things. Good luck buddy!! 👍
You're good enough to show us how stuff sounds. we really don't click to see a guy show off, we just want to hear how the damn thing sounds. You win the end.
And man, I take my hat off to you for admitting faults and basically bearing your soul to us. I know you say you don't care, but man I know you take pride in your work and faults in it stick in your craw a bit. We basically tune in for Ryan's personality.
This self-deprecating / sincere stuff is my favorite part of your channel. Thank you for not taking yourself too seriously. It sets a great and rare example especially in the self-obsessed guitarworld.
I would say that you play at a level that a lot of us play at. That's why I like watching you review stuff that I potentially want to buy. I don't always want to see a virtuoso playing a demo of a pedal or a guitar through a expensive setup. I like seeing someone who's more reflective of myself, demoing something through a rig that's closer in spec or at least spirit to mine. Andy from PGS/Reverb is my gold standard, as in he represents the absolute best of what that piece of gear can possible sound like. 60 Cycle Hum is my "alright now let's hear what it'll sound like in the real world" channel.
I play for me. I play because it feels good. I play because it’s the ONLY thing that grounds me and roots me in the moment. I have no illusion of being a great guitarist. I had a blast in my youth playing drums I’m semi-successful local bands, but those days are passed. I play 90% of the time through headphones. I think there are a lot of us who just play because we love it and we have to. You’re good for us… an antidote to the soulless technical gaffers and a tone snobs that fill RUclips and forums. Yet I still get frustrated and insecure when I feel like I’m not improving. Thank you for publishing this. It came at the perfect time for me, a fellow sucky guitarist.
I have also been playing guitar for more than 25 years and I am nowhere near as good as I should be, and I can definitely relate to most of the reasons you mentioned. That mention of binging The Office for the 20th time really hit home. Lol. You've gained a new sub because of this video - I've listened to the podcast and seen you on the JHS channel and on random videos based on the algorithm, but this is so relatable that I just had to subscribe. Cheers!
Great video! I am glad you're not a virtuoso like some of the other RUclips guitarists, since most of us aren't guitar virtuosos either so it helps to hear how a piece of gear might sound with less flashy playing. I have a lot of similar habits when playing guitar, maybe because I also play for fun and stress-relief rather than trying to be the best. I also like going to my local Guitar Center and trying new guitars or pedals or amps they get in, and at first I was very shy about playing where others could hear me but I've gotten to the point where I don't care. I'm playing for myself and not others, and most people don't seem to pay me any attention anyway. I also started re-learning a few years ago after playing a bit in high school. I discovered an app called Yousician and I think it helped in that it gave me a more intuitive feel for the fretboard but I'm not very familiar with the theory (I also learn best by doing) and I don't have the best rhythm since I play as the notes pop up instead of following a click. Recently my guitar "practicing" has mostly been noodling with occasionally trying new solos or something from a guitar piece (I'm also not very good at sticking with an entire song and learning all of it). I definitely think I'm in a bit of a rut, but I've also been thinking recently that if I'm mostly going to just be noodling I should choose different techniques and try to incorporate those more into my noodling to improve those. I would especially like to improve my pinch and other harmonics, so I will see if I start doing that or not. Hopefully!🤞 Also, I've started two or three ideas for songs but haven't finished them and would like to. I like how you mentioned the songs you wrote you broke down into intro, verse, chorus, etc. I've come up with various interesting short riffs I try to write down or record, and I've essentially tried to make songs by just adding on to one of those and have only gotten to maybe a minute of tabs. If I broke it down into shorter parts I could complete more easily and then arranged them into a complete song with some parts repeating, maybe I could actually finish a song one of these days. 😃
Damn... Most relatable video I have watched in a long time about guitar. After 25 years myself of playing (probably everyday)... I hear these kids that are doing what I did when I was at their age and go damn... they're good. Truthfully though, I dont care about being the best. It's just fun now. As well, I don't think I've learned a whole song from start to finish since I was maybe 20, but I've written hundreds of songs that are complete. It's weird. Glad I'm not alone.
I've been playing for 16 years, started when I was 16 so as a dumb kid I tried to figure out everything on my own and the first 10 years I played I was absolute garbage, I barely tuned my guitar half the time and couldn't write a decent riff to save my life so after that 10 yr mark I decided to be honest with myself and started learning online and my skills were better ten fold but I still had a lot of learning to do , the next few years I progressed slowly and had countless times where my playing wasn't anywhere close to what I wanted or envisioned, only until recently I've cracked the code so to speak and the answer is so simple but complex, follow the chord progression whether it's 1 or more chords, always tune your guitar after a few minutes of playing, serve the songs energy or style, find new music that gets you amped, be honest with yourself, never ever give up
Playing guitar for me is like how I used to play with my army men as a kid. I spend hours setting them up to look cool, then just kick it all over when I'm done.
Ryan, this was so eye opening and humbling and relatable. Efffff your brain effff your hands cause if doesn't FEEL right when playing it then what are we doing? I've been a drummer about same length you've been playing guitar over here in the Sonoran desert. I never play with a click either, who wants to be perfect, this is subjective for sure. I believe that in some styles the "genre police" will show up and ask why Samus666's hyper kicks are 21 millithousandths of a fart off from yesterdays session, what's the problem? "Oh, I'm high cuz some musicians need to have some form of superman cape to leave the anxiety of doing this off the stage or to be able to partially ignore that fucking "red means we're recording now light" but it'll always be there. There was a point in time between 2005 and 20016 where I toured non stop cause at that point the only way to hit my goal of just living up creation, don't wanna be recognized on the streets cuz i'm too introverted and ppl may think i'm being dickish which is soooooooooooooo not the case I just fear humans in a way. I ponder at an unhealthily rapid pace as to what kinda back stories ppl have as I pass them in the street or at a local guitar shop or if I help somewhat out with a couple bucks when I can but then I get in my car and just sit there for 5 minutes wondering how all this happend. That's why I started playing drums cuz I needed most of my brain to shut the fuck up and instruments have become the receptors blocker and it's beautiful. I've always dabble with guitar since i'd been playing drums about 10 years but mainly focused on drums cuz that's what my tours focused on but COVID made me almost forget I played drums haha, went from dabble guitar to every day guitar and grew another addiction, very easy for me to do. But there's nothing wrong with playing by FEEL, that's all I do cuz never had lessons so I just watched my closest friends who were a lil older and more talented then I took that home adapted it into my own and tryped to adapt it further then same happend with guitar. Never wanted fame, just want to live off it cuz 9-5 till death makes me wanna die now, I'm not that guy and it's all in a choice everybody if you're also not that guy try your damn hardest to be you cuz when the passion dies we die. We play because we have to! I'm beyond stoked for you and your YT guitar fam that's turned being nerdy dork music nerds who love playing themselves and hope to hit that point some day but currently looking after moms cancer until it wins or doesn't so I won't even be able to work until I see her onto paradise, i'm an only child and would be dead without her sometimes you just go the right things cuz you gotta.. You killed me with this......"i love rude and nasty comments cuz theres no way you can ever make me feel lesser of myself thank I already do, fight a losing battle sounds fun." Exact verbatum may be off but the point made had me bawling instantly, i'm 38 and lifes been rough and it never stops coming at you but seeing you describe something so specific without ever feeling bummed or spiteful or upset is astounding, you don't need riches you just wanna continue living life on your terms which you will, look after that family you obviously love to tears and just stay honest, stay Ryan and keep showing others that their dreams may be within reach right under their fucking nose as you've done to me today. To the community, please help his eyes find this it means a lot he caught me at just the right time, I didn't wanna carry on cuz so much loss. Sometimes you gotta just say... "I Dont Care.." Noah Keynon nvkenyon@gmail.com 480 587 2741 Up the Punx
Oh Ryan! Every sentence...every word... every description in this video! This is me exactly... all of it! I've learner about 120 songs over the decades... never learnt all the parts.... lose interest... just the key parts.... now I can only remember about 10 songs! like you I LOVE guitars and Rock N Roll.... being a shredder won't make me love it any more than I already do!
Hey Ryan, I SUCK MORE! Cause I have been sucking at playing longer. Great video! It's soo relatable. I think that's why I am happiest during an hour long jam session, because of the freedom and enjoying where my other band members and myself can take the jam. Playing guitar just makes me smile. This video really made me reflect on my playing but I will probably just smile and continue to suck.
Probably the best and most honest Guitar channel video ever, I so relate to this i'm 56 now and got my first guitar when I left school, tried to start a band with mates couldn't learn to play fast enough apparently so the band formed without me, I didn't stop playing but I never made much headway till much later when I started mixing with people who would just let me do my thing and were very encouraging. I am still a suckee guitarist but I love my guitars and I want an acoustic never had one yet, I like you enjoy just playing. Its good for the soul if not for the neighbours. Also after watching one of your vids I realise I am not really that bad at it, in fact I could almost be you if I looked more like a sunburnt blonde hedgehog.
Im competively cooperative. I enjoy your noodling immensely. You are good enough to entertain a true sucky guitarist. I have the "figure it out my own way" thing, too. My ears must be awful.
Thank you Ryan for this great video and reminding us that we are all human and part of a larger community. Together we can keep supporting each other and having fun playing this great instrument regardless of skill level or talent.
Man, as far as playing safe for the camera, totally been there. If I piss off too soon I just hate the camera. I do find that it can sometimes have the opposite effect though! At least for lead playing. I tend to pay way more attention the choices I make and when I do my ear hears a greater variety of melodies to go for.
Some RUclips guitarists are extremely good. And some, not so much. You put out fun and interesting content. You seem like a genuinely good guy. I enjoy your channel from time to time. If I'm in the mood to hear a great guitar player (there are many), I go watch them.
i’ve always felt like your playing style is super down to earth if that makes sense. part of why i always watch your channel first when it comes to gear reviews is simply just because your playing style isn’t flashy or showy and doesn’t make me feel bad about my own playing
At 45 yrs old with 33 years of experience playing guitar, this hits home. When I was younger I wanted to MASTER the instrument. I kept finding more advanced guitarists than me, so I switched to Bass to serve each song to the best of our collective abilities. Several of my former bands became regulars on the local scene. It felt like the start of success. We started expanding and playing shows further away, until it became unaffordable and unfeasible. We were really tight and got good response from the crowds. Egos grew, bad habits grew, families grew, priorities changed. I'm now a bedroom rocker and I no longer delude myself to believe that I could ever master the instrument; there's lots of slop in my riffing, but I don't care because I'm realistic about my station in life. Music is fun, it's a creative outlet that is entertaining to ME. I don't play for compliments, or even recognition. I'm good enough to have fun and bad enough that I won't be called for sessions in a studio , but maybe to fill in at a dive bar.... This isn't discouraging, it's just reality and I'm ok with it. Keep up the good content Ryan.
Hi Ryan, I like to remember that Brian Eno sucked at keyboard in Roxy Music. That helps me as a middle aged left hander who started playing right handed guitar. I will never be Hendrix but I get to think about guitar and music laterally… and it’s good for the brain and creativity, that’s good enough for me. I think you have a great attitude toward what you do 👍
also I love your gear and the process of gear refinement, I remember when you had the black background and all the guitars on the walls. And as I've been watching you, your amount of guitars has decreased but the quality and specific purpose of each instrument has gotten sharper. I like the evolution aspect of it
You having a looper early on makes so much sense. I love the stuff so much that you put together, I bought a looper of my own. You also laugh a lot when you play and that makes me happy
Landon Bailey had the very appropriate YT short recently where he sits down and goes thru all the steps to get into a good practice gig - everything dialed in - then goes over to computer and starts looking for new guitars on-line... LOL edit: also meant to add - I dig the surfy riffs you play and I'm one of quite a few people who have bugged you about doing some tutorials on that music specifically - so you can't be that bad :)
That was brilliant and moving (and you also saved yourself thousands of dollars in Guitar Psychiatry)! No, you do not suck at guitar. I've been playing on and off (mostly off) for over fifty years and I wish that I had one-tenth of the musical skills exhibited by You, Rick, Rhett, Josh and Mary🎸 Also, I love your Honesty, Self-Deprecation and the difficult ability to Laugh At One's Self. It's nice to hear familiar riffs (For Example, Miserlou and Other Surf Classics and When I Come Around) instead of others who seem to be on YT only to show how fast they can shred. 🎵Pick Up My Guitar And Play...🎵
Loved this sentiment, man. Being able to properly and HONESTLY reflect on ourselves and our habits can make for some amazing changes; both in a specific area (like this) or just in your life in general. *STARE INTO THE VOID, BABEY* Super refreshing, thank you!
8:20-9:15 describes me perfectly! When I play with our praise team and they start talking technical music theory I am totally lost. Here’s the kicker, I am the team leader! Somehow I manage to lead not with technical knowledge but with love for the music and love for God.
Stop spying on me, dude! It’s creepy! Seriously, as a purely hobby guitarist, I felt every single one of these points! Thanks for sharing this. Self-honesty is important and your self-honesty helps my self-honesty. Awesome that you know and accept where you are with this and know what you would need to do if you wanted to improve. Thank you.
I've been playing since 1985. When I started, I thought I wanted to be a twiddle wizard ala Vai, Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, Jake E. Lee etc. But then I heard Black Flag and everything changed. Greg Ginn's falling down the stairs, free jazz damaged fret freak-outs matched the tone of my life (group home hell) - not to mention their lyrics. Needless to say, I wasn't going to learn this stuff from my local bar rock guitar teacher so, from that point on, I was strictly self taught and by ear. Consequently, it took me longer to figure it out but, for the most part, I did. I also attribute this to me having my own recognizable vocabulary, regardless of genre, and am thankful for that. On the downside, I can *only* learn by ear ("notes and chords mean nothing to me" - Redd Kross) and get frustrated when others can't just "hear it", I never bothered to learn traditional scales (mine are idiosyncratic af), I don't often play in E standard tuning (discovered Sonic Youth and noise rock in 86) and, thanks to that, jamming with more traditional players is not fun for anyone😂😂😂
Hi Ryan, in a comment on a Gearfest video I called you an A List RUclipsr. You humbly replied 'when did that happen???'. It happened when you started this channel, and grew with every video you made since. But it was confirmed at the 'forum' thing with Dipped In Tone where you sat among titans and was on the level with them, Tim Pierce even let you smell him!!! They treated you like an equal even if they made jokes in good jest about your professional musicianship. But you know what? This video made you an A PLUS gold star List RUclipsr. People like you, the JHS boys and Emily Harpkins have inspired me to find my way back to having fun just playing, trying stuff, and feeling good about what I do making music So not just are you a fine musician, also as a person you rock, and are more impressive than any cocky highbrow 'influencer' type with a million subscibers but zero points to identify with for guys who give no bleeps about shredding and fancy gear, but love noodling and budget stuff. That's my fanmail for today dude, keep humming!
Pretty relatable. I don't have the temperament to sit down and learn lots of theory, or do daily speed building exercises or anything like this. I get bored and my eyes glaze over. If I want anything like that to stick I need to understand a very basic version of it and then immediately work it into a composition.
Ryan is one of the good guys. Personally I find his reviews incredibly helpful and would rather see a gear demo from someone closer to my own abilities than one by the endless shredders or blues players out there. Keep up the great work, I love the show!
Dude you are awesome! I have watched your videos for years and love your playing and the design / editing that goes into your videos. I also started in art and picked up guitar in art school back in 96. LOL I played in church for 4 years too. I love the similarities of our stories. Thanks for being awesome and making me feel better about my own playing. I process things very much the same as you. Great tips. Keep on rockin'!
I love the way you laugh and self irony. This is a great way to keep the mental health in the good state. And the thoughts you shared relate to me in so many ways. The moment with those other guitarists RUclipsrs jamming on stage - I can imagine how it felt. I would have died if they asked me to play with them 😂
Listen: YOUR JUST FINE! I've been playing guitar with several bands, mostly my own, on and off for 54 years, and your show is unique because YOU are unique; one of a kind- we all are. Your playing is nice, surf with some special touches expression, sound, and sensitivity, I liked what you did at the end of the video with the green finned guitar with the crooked neck and loose whammy bar. Never give up, never stop loving and enjoying life- especially electric guitars! Just be yourself, your enjoyment is shared with others with positive effect. Peace, love, happiness, and yes, Surf Music!
Best. Video. EVER. Totally refreshing to be so brutally honest about sucking. It’s ok to suck as long as you’re having a fun time, plus, there’s no pressure to strive for greatness! 🎸🔊🎶🙉🤘🏻🥳
I'm not going to say you're an excellent guitar player or anything, partly because you said not to. But you're good enough to make some fun youtube videos about cool pedals and guitars. And yes, you are indeed better than me. I think it was mentioned on one of the recent livestream hang outs, but I subscribe and watch content like this channel because of the vibe more than anything else. I'm not buying practically anything based on these videos (Hopefully the sponsors don't read that). It's more "here's a fun dude keeping me up to date on what's going on in the guitar world" than "I have a burning desire to watch a shred god totally destroy and OWN a hideously generic backing track for 10 minutes out of a 15 minutes pedal demo." I appreciate the self awareness more than anything else.
Reflection is good, acknowledging our short comings and flaws and addressing them is great! Thanks for the inspiration to reflect! I suck at guitar b/c I don’t practice enough and when I do it’s not structured enough. I don’t suck at guitar b/c I do see improvement despite the limited practice.
I’ve been playing since I was 9. For the first 5 years (give or take) I did nothing but rhythm guitar, whether acoustic or electric. I felt that lead was out of reach because I listened to 80’s rock bands and metal - that’s it. As I got a little older, I started listening to indie, blues and jazz fusion, and something resonated with me there that inspired me to learn to play lead. Now, having played for 20+ years, I am SO glad that I stuck with rhythm for such a long time. It gave me all the rudiments I needed to boost me when I finally decided to step out and learn how to play lead - and the kind of lead I wanted to play was always in the realm of blues, soul, etc. Point is, if you can get a solid rhythmic foundation and find your inspiration, you can learn and get better with time and practice.
I'm 100% with you on this! I thought about taking some lessons at Sweetwater but realized "What's the point?" Sure, I'd like to add a few more tricks to my bag but not enough to actually put in the time. All my guitars are in the $300-$500 range because it would be an injustice to buy a $1300 instrument only to have it forever suffer under my incompetent fingers. I'm "good enough" and am content with that. I think this mantra applies to every area of my life...
You are definitely the most disarming guitarist on RUclips. And that’s a good thing. The reason I don’t get better is because I spend way too much time watching gear reviews and not enough woodshedding…and I’m ok with that 🙂
my good habits: i practice something until i can play it flawlessly. my bad habits: i move on to something else and forget what ive been perfecting for weeks
I was told that an amateur practices until they can play the song - a professional practices until they cannot make a mistake. The middle ground is to know how to improvise :-)
When you feel you don’t want to pickup the guitar on a certain day to practice just take it easy on yourself and just practice for a few minutes those things you need to improve on.
You came up with a great new word while going through the list at 5:35 - now though, the definition of "Sinceriously..." How about " in a solemnly authentic manner?" I have a few of those bad habits too. There's a conceptual hump to theory so here's the basic connective tissue in case you or anyone else needs it: "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-te-do" is the major scale, so you can find that anywhere by mentally singing that pattern beginning on whatever note you want. Modes are starting on each of those, meaning the octave of the major scale going Do to Do is the ionian mode and so is on a major chord, Re to Re is dorian/on a min chord, Mi is phrygian/minor, Fa is lydian/major, Sol is mixolydian/major, La is aeolian/minor, and Te is Locrian/diminished. Taking it in G - G ionian, A dorian, B phrygian, C lydian, D mixolydian, E aeolian, F# locrian, so GABCDEF# in chords goes Maj, min, min, Maj, Maj, min, dim. The modes have different tension and resolution feelings due to the different order of intervals, so they also have different emotions. If you don't already know this stuff I listed, it will absolutely help you with that goal at 27:00, just gives more info for your instinct to use while playing off the cuff and makes it easier to write too. It was spending time writing song parts based on each mode that really ingrained it in me because it made theory far more fun. Oh shit Mark Kissler was great! Watched him every day at around dinner time as a kid.
Compliments. I hear you, had to train myself to automatically smile and say thanks rather than deal with the awkwarditude. Think most of that awkward reaction is gone now and suspect there was a bit of a self-concept issue in there that needed me to allow people to like stuff about me lol
Wonderful video Ryan. You are way cool. I relate to a lot on your list...I wish that I was not embarrassed when I suck on guitar (and I suck a lot)... But I also don't have the patience to learn whole songs... I love playing guitar, even if just noodling... it is fun and a great escape from everything... I played guitar from 15 to about 22, then didn't play till about 40... now mid 50s and I just love to play bits and pieces and write songs. I'm just getting into surf guitar (maybe because I took my first surf lessons) and that is something really interesting. I love jamming too... I have had to make a couple of guitar playing videos for some friends and I can only imagine how much time it takes for you to make one of these videos.
Man, honestly, THANK YOU for this video. I trully needed to hear that when I was 15 (over 30 years ago) and maybe I could have had a career as a musician. Really! It's not the competitive or perfectionist side of musicians that makes them good musicians but enjoying playing the instrument and having the habit of creating new things. Just keep on doing the cool videos and forget about how good you are or are not.
I'm in my mid 50s. Started playing classical at 9 years old, then wanted to be a rock guitar god until I was 15 and got kicked out of my first band and realised - "If I write the songs, they can't kick me out of the band". The next band I formed at 18, well we are still playing and recording together (or via the wonder of the internet lol) today almost 40 years later. I suck at guitar but I am the greatest guitarist in my band and that's all I need to be :) I can play all the guitar parts because I wrote them BUT my real joy is in collaborating with the rest of the guys to make music together. Also... I don't really suck at guitar. I just play my own way and I can admire all the great players and still learn new things from listening to them without getting competitive or jealous. I was lucky to meet the legendary Tal Farlow at a small jazz show he played many years ago. I asked him, what would your advice be to anyone wanting to be a better guitar player and he smiled and said, "Listen". Probably the best advice and guitar lesson I ever had in just one word. So Ryan...I agree 100% with what you said in this video - life is short so just enjoy playing guitar, making music and squeeze every bit of joy you can out of life in general. Thanks for making this video as it's good to know from reading the comments that you (and me) are not alone in feeling this way and just want to play the guitar with a smile on our face 😎😎😎😎
I definitely struggle to play outside of my comfort zone. Some days, I’ll spend most of my time at work thinking of some cool riffs, get really excited to play, and then come home and just play the same slow and picked out riffs in open d as I always do. I’ve played around in different tunings, and still end up going down the same road. It’s too easy to slip back into that rut for me. I also use the excuse of not writing with a full band way too often. It does suck and stifle creativity when I’m not bouncing energy off of someone else, but it’s not necessary. I’d say my biggest issue is the lack of motivation to play stuff that I don’t want to listen to. I know that scales, classic riffs, and good lead guitar would help me develop and hone my skills, but I just don’t care to learn it because it’s not something I wanna listen to. I’ve really held my abilities back since I started playing 12 years ago. It sucks.
Just a hobbyist. Been playing since I was in middleschool, now I am in my late twenties and will soon be an official "Blues Dad". I love blues rock, surf rock, and ambient worship guitar. 9/10 times, I am literally just playing in my office to destress after a long day of work. Never learn songs completely either, mainly just bits and pieces and noodling. Maybe that's my ADHD acting up but I definitely can relate. The most music theory I have learned are various scales, and that's about it. For me it is all about feel and sound. I could care less about all of the theory behindit. I love your channel and the podcast because I can actually relate to it and find cool sounds and unbiased reviews! Keep it upm you certainly have one of my favorite channels and I have been a fan for nearly two years now!
You should make a video of all of your outtakes. 5 or so minutes of missed chords/notes, followed by a medley of muted F-bombs (if you do that sorta reaction). It'd be nice for people to see the mounting frustration, trying to nail the perfect demo riff. I'm sure that 99% of us will relate.
Are we the same person? You are far superior to me at guitar, but I identify with all of your points! I was forced to learn Nashville number system and to play with a click, when playing with my church band, but without someone pushing me to do it, I would stay in my comfort zone and never grow. Theory is this foggy, almost graspable concept that seems just out of reach to be useful to me while playing. I have had this urge lately to take guitar seriously, and part if that comes from watching talented people such as yourself. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who struggles with it. Thanks for this great content!
I'm still a beginner, and I know I'll never become a professional. It would be fun to record my own stuff someday, but even then I'd rather it be a hobby than a profession, but who knows! I think my worst habit is being impatient and being forgetful, and those are things I would like to work on because they hinder me from learning or enjoying guitar. I'm also overly critical of myself when I make mistakes. If you're super critical then you're just discouraging yourself from actually getting better.
You know what, okay, fair play to this guy for taking this head-on. That's ballsy. His point about playing with his hands/by feel instead of by ear makes a lot of sense, and is actually pretty insightful and self-reflective. Good for him
I have a backwards version of this for you. I didn't used to suck. A long time ago I was offered a job in what became a fairly famous band. World tours, contracts, radio play etc. I turned it down & 2 weeks later sold all my stuff & quit playing. Now many years later I just started playing and writing again. It feels more mechanical to me now, kinda not from the heart. No where near as fast as I once was my old broken hands don't always do what I ask of them. I fill notebooks with complex songs & licks, then throw them in the burn barrel never to be heard by anyone. In the end I realize I play for me, it's part of me, always has been. So maybe it sucks I don't share, maybe it sucks I'm not as good or practised as I once was. I don't care. This is for me to enjoy & I just like playing with no pressure to be perfect. Sorry about the minor rant. You have a great channel & I always enjoy watching you 👍👍
Ryan is where I'd be if I played for 25 years, except I'm too old now to play for 25 years. So what I'm really saying is that a few minutes ago I was really happy relating with Ryan, but not I"m bummed that I'll never get even near as good as him, and just suck. Thanks Ryan.
You don't suck at guitar. You play fine. But, you're just talking to talk. No need for that. That sucks.
but his talkin is the best part
Don’t you think he can do whatever he wants to do. I like that he’s being open and there are plenty of people who feel the same way. Come on guy.
@@matthewdante2809 Come on now. No.
Everyone gets tired of all the haters. He’s just addressing it in his way, which is to say “so what?”
At 0:49 he literally explains the purpose of the video, you knew what this was. You didn’t have to watch the video
Homie -- Your channel is my True North for any gear I'm contemplating, we literally have the same playing style, first song I ever played at age 12 was Wipeout on buddy's new Strat Pak on Christmas day. I'll never forget it, I was absolutely smitten. Became a lifelong Cobainiac after that. Locked myself in my room and hacked out 'teen spirit' intro for hours at a time. I love that famous self-portrait sketch that Kurt did: "I don't know how to play and I don't give a hoot!" Tried to join the jazz band in high school, played nirvana, white stripes, green day at the audition and he said 'no thanks'. Buddy with mohawk & combat boots asked me to join their band a few weeks later, the rest is history!! This is why I think I don't suck at guitar. Thank you for everything you do. Watching your channel is like kicking it with a friend. Now, I need to know where to get that shirt that you're wearing here! It's like the mantra of my life lol.
You are us and we are you. You make it fun for regular people.
I realized years ago that I was much more interested in tone, effects, amps, etc., and found trying to be technically proficient stressful. Watching your videos has been refreshing and validating. Thank you for what you do.
You know what, Ryan? I’ve always enjoyed your channel and I watch most of your videos whenever the little notification thing shows up in my feed. But after seeing this human side of you, I like you even more. You just seem like a real chill, low-maintenance, easy going kind of guy and I like that.
Dude… as a 43 year old man that has been playing for like 2 years and just started a band…. I love you! You just spoke to me, like… for real. Thank you so much! You are the shizzle.
True, your go to demo riffs are mega stale but when you loop and layer the music really comes out and I think you're pretty good in that context. But--- you are the control to all of the other channels, I come here for that baseline and the oodles of personality, joy, enthusiasm, and yes, knowledge. I actually watch more of your stuff than most others (I guess it can be said you do have a high post count.) I wear your damn shirt because I genuinely support what's going on with this channel. You're living the dream and are just who we want to chill with when Andy or JayLJ or Rabbea or RJ have erased our skulls. This and JHS I would keep in perpetuity.
By far, you don't suck. I enjoy listening to you play your demos and the different guitars you play. You seem to like the oddball type of guitars like I do. I along with thousands of others enjoy your playing. I really dig the surf you8 seem to enjoy. Keep on being a great human and looking forward to future videos. Take care my friend...
Dude I feel the same way, haha. We are roughly the same age (I assume) and I too have been playing for 25 years, have been in bands, gigs to hell and back, etc and always say "I should be WAAAAYY better than I am at this point." You're an excellent guitar player brother. It sucks that our horrible human brains try to convince us otherwise.
This was so refreshing to hear Ryan. Your reasons for “sucking” at guitar are the exact same as mine. I’m not a pro, I don’t want to be and I’d rather figure things out for myself than be taught. Most of the time I don’t care either, but when I do feel bad it helps to know I’m not alone. Thanks very much for making this video!
I feel attacked, sir. You're list and realities is scientifically 100% why I play how I play and do what I do. By the way, you and your channel are a giant piece as to why I started playing and doing videos again after years away from it, even though it was always in the back of my mind. Thank you for all the noise making you do!
I related to a lot of the things you said about yourself. It's refreshing for me to have other non-elitist guitar content to watch, so I enjoy your stuff. I've always tried to be honest with potential bandmates that I love music and will always bring my heart into it, but I'm also not trying to be a virtuoso. I'm not great at guitar, I just like it a whole lot. But that's a good enough reason to keep doing it, and hopefully I'll continue to improve. I'm also guilty of over-watching The Office.
I think you have a great attitude and I share the "I don't care" outlook. Playing is supposed to be fun and make you happy. Nothing wrong with getting serious about it either, but at the end of the day... do you enjoy it? That's what matters. That being said, since you're asking, here are a few things I think you could consider:
1. You play an unusual and uncommon style of music. Most people can't relate to the nuance of surf music. You're good at what you do but it's under appreciated.
2. (Actual advice) Work on your bends. Go from fretted note to bent note back and forth and make sure you hit pitch when you bend.
3. Learn what "good" distortion tones sound like and feel like. Even if you're not a fan of rock or metal, work on getting a tighter more solid "heavy" sound for the times when you need it. You don't have to be Ola, but a good rock sound will add versatility to what you do. (step 1 - bridge humbucker) Tone is always subjective, but loose, flubby, farty distortion is rarely popular.
...Or don't change a thing. We're here because you're a positive person that's fun to watch. If you're having fun too then it's a win.
I hope you see this comment. I’ve been eating the frosting for 25 years too. I do it cuz I love it. I also love the physical object that is the guitar. It’s as much fun to look at them as it is to play them. I watched Commander Mark religiously as a kid. He really shaped my view of art in general. An amazing teacher and really led me to pursue a life of creativity be it visual arts or music. Love your content and you certainly aren’t alone in this! Thank you.
Love this! When people complement my playing, I always tell them " Thanks. All I hear are the mistakes. =)"
You play what's needed in the moment. Isn't that really what successful music is all about? And you are very entertaining as your growing viewership can attest to. Sounds great to me. Thanks for all you do.
I was the same way for years dude. Im in my early 40s now. What i was told about 5yrs ago was that i needed specific practice on certain things. So i for the 1st time i got a teacher locally and did 1 lesson a week for 6mon. And my playing went through the roof! He watched and listened to me and then gave me very specific exercises to do for my picking and what have you. It really really made the difference. Cuz i had years of experience it just took practicing VERY specific things. Good luck buddy!! 👍
You're good enough to show us how stuff sounds. we really don't click to see a guy show off, we just want to hear how the damn thing sounds. You win the end.
And man, I take my hat off to you for admitting faults and basically bearing your soul to us. I know you say you don't care, but man I know you take pride in your work and faults in it stick in your craw a bit. We basically tune in for Ryan's personality.
This self-deprecating / sincere stuff is my favorite part of your channel. Thank you for not taking yourself too seriously. It sets a great and rare example especially in the self-obsessed guitarworld.
I would say that you play at a level that a lot of us play at. That's why I like watching you review stuff that I potentially want to buy. I don't always want to see a virtuoso playing a demo of a pedal or a guitar through a expensive setup. I like seeing someone who's more reflective of myself, demoing something through a rig that's closer in spec or at least spirit to mine.
Andy from PGS/Reverb is my gold standard, as in he represents the absolute best of what that piece of gear can possible sound like.
60 Cycle Hum is my "alright now let's hear what it'll sound like in the real world" channel.
Your laugh makes my day Ryan, just so uplifting to visit your channel. Thanks Ryan, Love cheers =D
Ryan, your Dinosaur Ghost album from 2015 sounds really good! Great job!
You not being some virtuoso is WHY I like your channel. I appreciate you being an Everyman guitarist.
THIS video made me feel like I get it now about your channel. Well done and helping me/ us self reflect.
I play for me. I play because it feels good. I play because it’s the ONLY thing that grounds me and roots me in the moment. I have no illusion of being a great guitarist. I had a blast in my youth playing drums I’m semi-successful local bands, but those days are passed. I play 90% of the time through headphones. I think there are a lot of us who just play because we love it and we have to. You’re good for us… an antidote to the soulless technical gaffers and a tone snobs that fill RUclips and forums. Yet I still get frustrated and insecure when I feel like I’m not improving. Thank you for publishing this. It came at the perfect time for me, a fellow sucky guitarist.
I always like to watch your videos, it's nice and relaxing. Just keep up the good work.
I have also been playing guitar for more than 25 years and I am nowhere near as good as I should be, and I can definitely relate to most of the reasons you mentioned. That mention of binging The Office for the 20th time really hit home. Lol.
You've gained a new sub because of this video - I've listened to the podcast and seen you on the JHS channel and on random videos based on the algorithm, but this is so relatable that I just had to subscribe. Cheers!
Great video! I am glad you're not a virtuoso like some of the other RUclips guitarists, since most of us aren't guitar virtuosos either so it helps to hear how a piece of gear might sound with less flashy playing.
I have a lot of similar habits when playing guitar, maybe because I also play for fun and stress-relief rather than trying to be the best. I also like going to my local Guitar Center and trying new guitars or pedals or amps they get in, and at first I was very shy about playing where others could hear me but I've gotten to the point where I don't care. I'm playing for myself and not others, and most people don't seem to pay me any attention anyway.
I also started re-learning a few years ago after playing a bit in high school. I discovered an app called Yousician and I think it helped in that it gave me a more intuitive feel for the fretboard but I'm not very familiar with the theory (I also learn best by doing) and I don't have the best rhythm since I play as the notes pop up instead of following a click. Recently my guitar "practicing" has mostly been noodling with occasionally trying new solos or something from a guitar piece (I'm also not very good at sticking with an entire song and learning all of it). I definitely think I'm in a bit of a rut, but I've also been thinking recently that if I'm mostly going to just be noodling I should choose different techniques and try to incorporate those more into my noodling to improve those. I would especially like to improve my pinch and other harmonics, so I will see if I start doing that or not. Hopefully!🤞 Also, I've started two or three ideas for songs but haven't finished them and would like to. I like how you mentioned the songs you wrote you broke down into intro, verse, chorus, etc. I've come up with various interesting short riffs I try to write down or record, and I've essentially tried to make songs by just adding on to one of those and have only gotten to maybe a minute of tabs. If I broke it down into shorter parts I could complete more easily and then arranged them into a complete song with some parts repeating, maybe I could actually finish a song one of these days. 😃
That blank fretboard exercise sounds like something I can really benefit from. I'm going to give that a shot.
Damn... Most relatable video I have watched in a long time about guitar. After 25 years myself of playing (probably everyday)... I hear these kids that are doing what I did when I was at their age and go damn... they're good. Truthfully though, I dont care about being the best. It's just fun now. As well, I don't think I've learned a whole song from start to finish since I was maybe 20, but I've written hundreds of songs that are complete. It's weird. Glad I'm not alone.
I've been playing for 16 years, started when I was 16 so as a dumb kid I tried to figure out everything on my own and the first 10 years I played I was absolute garbage, I barely tuned my guitar half the time and couldn't write a decent riff to save my life so after that 10 yr mark I decided to be honest with myself and started learning online and my skills were better ten fold but I still had a lot of learning to do , the next few years I progressed slowly and had countless times where my playing wasn't anywhere close to what I wanted or envisioned, only until recently I've cracked the code so to speak and the answer is so simple but complex, follow the chord progression whether it's 1 or more chords, always tune your guitar after a few minutes of playing, serve the songs energy or style, find new music that gets you amped, be honest with yourself, never ever give up
Playing guitar for me is like how I used to play with my army men as a kid. I spend hours setting them up to look cool, then just kick it all over when I'm done.
You play what feels good…
You enjoy playing
I enjoy listening to what you play
I don’t see a problem
You are entertaining and make good content choices. That is why I watch you instead of some random shredding.
Ryan, this was so eye opening and humbling and relatable. Efffff your brain effff your hands cause if doesn't FEEL right when playing it then what are we doing? I've been a drummer about same length you've been playing guitar over here in the Sonoran desert. I never play with a click either, who wants to be perfect, this is subjective for sure. I believe that in some styles the "genre police" will show up and ask why Samus666's hyper kicks are 21 millithousandths of a fart off from yesterdays session, what's the problem? "Oh, I'm high cuz some musicians need to have some form of superman cape to leave the anxiety of doing this off the stage or to be able to partially ignore that fucking "red means we're recording now light" but it'll always be there. There was a point in time between 2005 and 20016 where I toured non stop cause at that point the only way to hit my goal of just living up creation, don't wanna be recognized on the streets cuz i'm too introverted and ppl may think i'm being dickish which is soooooooooooooo not the case I just fear humans in a way. I ponder at an unhealthily rapid pace as to what kinda back stories ppl have as I pass them in the street or at a local guitar shop or if I help somewhat out with a couple bucks when I can but then I get in my car and just sit there for 5 minutes wondering how all this happend. That's why I started playing drums cuz I needed most of my brain to shut the fuck up and instruments have become the receptors blocker and it's beautiful. I've always dabble with guitar since i'd been playing drums about 10 years but mainly focused on drums cuz that's what my tours focused on but COVID made me almost forget I played drums haha, went from dabble guitar to every day guitar and grew another addiction, very easy for me to do. But there's nothing wrong with playing by FEEL, that's all I do cuz never had lessons so I just watched my closest friends who were a lil older and more talented then I took that home adapted it into my own and tryped to adapt it further then same happend with guitar. Never wanted fame, just want to live off it cuz 9-5 till death makes me wanna die now, I'm not that guy and it's all in a choice everybody if you're also not that guy try your damn hardest to be you cuz when the passion dies we die. We play because we have to! I'm beyond stoked for you and your YT guitar fam that's turned being nerdy dork music nerds who love playing themselves and hope to hit that point some day but currently looking after moms cancer until it wins or doesn't so I won't even be able to work until I see her onto paradise, i'm an only child and would be dead without her sometimes you just go the right things cuz you gotta..
You killed me with this......"i love rude and nasty comments cuz theres no way you can ever make me feel lesser of myself thank I already do, fight a losing battle sounds fun." Exact verbatum may be off but the point made had me bawling instantly, i'm 38 and lifes been rough and it never stops coming at you but seeing you describe something so specific without ever feeling bummed or spiteful or upset is astounding, you don't need riches you just wanna continue living life on your terms which you will, look after that family you obviously love to tears and just stay honest, stay Ryan and keep showing others that their dreams may be within reach right under their fucking nose as you've done to me today. To the community, please help his eyes find this it means a lot he caught me at just the right time, I didn't wanna carry on cuz so much loss.
Sometimes you gotta just say...
"I Dont Care.."
Noah Keynon
nvkenyon@gmail.com
480 587 2741
Up the Punx
You don't suck at guitar. I like your style. I'm happy that you don't play tired blues riffs. Screw the haters. Love your content.
Oh Ryan! Every sentence...every word... every description in this video! This is me exactly... all of it! I've learner about 120 songs over the decades... never learnt all the parts.... lose interest... just the key parts.... now I can only remember about 10 songs!
like you I LOVE guitars and Rock N Roll.... being a shredder won't make me love it any more than I already do!
Hey Ryan, I SUCK MORE! Cause I have been sucking at playing longer. Great video! It's soo relatable. I think that's why I am happiest during an hour long jam session, because of the freedom and enjoying where my other band members and myself can take the jam. Playing guitar just makes me smile. This video really made me reflect on my playing but I will probably just smile and continue to suck.
Probably the best and most honest Guitar channel video ever, I so relate to this i'm 56 now and got my first guitar when I left school, tried to start a band with mates couldn't learn to play fast enough apparently so the band formed without me, I didn't stop playing but I never made much headway till much later when I started mixing with people who would just let me do my thing and were very encouraging.
I am still a suckee guitarist but I love my guitars and I want an acoustic never had one yet, I like you enjoy just playing. Its good for the soul if not for the neighbours. Also after watching one of your vids I realise I am not really that bad at it, in fact I could almost be you if I looked more like a sunburnt blonde hedgehog.
I enjoy your surf style playing a lot. You have your own style and your own voice and it's really nice!
Im competively cooperative. I enjoy your noodling immensely. You are good enough to entertain a true sucky guitarist.
I have the "figure it out my own way" thing, too. My ears must be awful.
Thank you Ryan for this great video and reminding us that we are all human and part of a larger community. Together we can keep supporting each other and having fun playing this great instrument regardless of skill level or talent.
Man, as far as playing safe for the camera, totally been there. If I piss off too soon I just hate the camera. I do find that it can sometimes have the opposite effect though! At least for lead playing. I tend to pay way more attention the choices I make and when I do my ear hears a greater variety of melodies to go for.
Some RUclips guitarists are extremely good. And some, not so much. You put out fun and interesting content. You seem like a genuinely good guy. I enjoy your channel from time to time. If I'm in the mood to hear a great guitar player (there are many), I go watch them.
i’ve always felt like your playing style is super down to earth if that makes sense. part of why i always watch your channel first when it comes to gear reviews is simply just because your playing style isn’t flashy or showy and doesn’t make me feel bad about my own playing
At 45 yrs old with 33 years of experience playing guitar, this hits home. When I was younger I wanted to MASTER the instrument. I kept finding more advanced guitarists than me, so I switched to Bass to serve each song to the best of our collective abilities. Several of my former bands became regulars on the local scene. It felt like the start of success. We started expanding and playing shows further away, until it became unaffordable and unfeasible. We were really tight and got good response from the crowds. Egos grew, bad habits grew, families grew, priorities changed. I'm now a bedroom rocker and I no longer delude myself to believe that I could ever master the instrument; there's lots of slop in my riffing, but I don't care because I'm realistic about my station in life. Music is fun, it's a creative outlet that is entertaining to ME. I don't play for compliments, or even recognition. I'm good enough to have fun and bad enough that I won't be called for sessions in a studio , but maybe to fill in at a dive bar.... This isn't discouraging, it's just reality and I'm ok with it. Keep up the good content Ryan.
Your really good at making these videos! You don't have 100k subscribers for nothing lad! Keep having fun!
Hi Ryan, I like to remember that Brian Eno sucked at keyboard in Roxy Music. That helps me as a middle aged left hander who started playing right handed guitar. I will never be Hendrix but I get to think about guitar and music laterally… and it’s good for the brain and creativity, that’s good enough for me.
I think you have a great attitude toward what you do 👍
also I love your gear and the process of gear refinement, I remember when you had the black background and all the guitars on the walls. And as I've been watching you, your amount of guitars has decreased but the quality and specific purpose of each instrument has gotten sharper. I like the evolution aspect of it
You having a looper early on makes so much sense. I love the stuff so much that you put together, I bought a looper of my own. You also laugh a lot when you play and that makes me happy
Landon Bailey had the very appropriate YT short recently where he sits down and goes thru all the steps to get into a good practice gig - everything dialed in - then goes over to computer and starts looking for new guitars on-line... LOL
edit: also meant to add - I dig the surfy riffs you play and I'm one of quite a few people who have bugged you about doing some tutorials on that music specifically - so you can't be that bad :)
That was brilliant and moving (and you also saved yourself thousands of dollars in Guitar Psychiatry)! No, you do not suck at guitar. I've been playing on and off (mostly off) for over fifty years and I wish that I had one-tenth of the musical skills exhibited by You, Rick, Rhett, Josh and Mary🎸 Also, I love your Honesty, Self-Deprecation and the difficult ability to Laugh At One's Self. It's nice to hear familiar riffs (For Example, Miserlou and Other Surf Classics and When I Come Around) instead of others who seem to be on YT only to show how fast they can shred. 🎵Pick Up My Guitar And Play...🎵
*Needed this bruvva, thank u so much
Thanks for the worksheets I really appreciate it. You would make a great teacher!
Love you, love your content, love your playing style. In a sea of same you are refreshing!
Loved this sentiment, man. Being able to properly and HONESTLY reflect on ourselves and our habits can make for some amazing changes; both in a specific area (like this) or just in your life in general. *STARE INTO THE VOID, BABEY*
Super refreshing, thank you!
Ryan, your personality is your appeal. Easy going and honest. Your doing just fine... Thanks for the channel.
8:20-9:15 describes me perfectly! When I play with our praise team and they start talking technical music theory I am totally lost. Here’s the kicker, I am the team leader! Somehow I manage to lead not with technical knowledge but with love for the music and love for God.
Stop spying on me, dude! It’s creepy! Seriously, as a purely hobby guitarist, I felt every single one of these points! Thanks for sharing this. Self-honesty is important and your self-honesty helps my self-honesty. Awesome that you know and accept where you are with this and know what you would need to do if you wanted to improve. Thank you.
I've been playing since 1985. When I started, I thought I wanted to be a twiddle wizard ala Vai, Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, Jake E. Lee etc.
But then I heard Black Flag and everything changed. Greg Ginn's falling down the stairs, free jazz damaged fret freak-outs matched the tone of my life (group home hell) - not to mention their lyrics.
Needless to say, I wasn't going to learn this stuff from my local bar rock guitar teacher so, from that point on, I was strictly self taught and by ear.
Consequently, it took me longer to figure it out but, for the most part, I did. I also attribute this to me having my own recognizable vocabulary, regardless of genre, and am thankful for that.
On the downside, I can *only* learn by ear ("notes and chords mean nothing to me" - Redd Kross) and get frustrated when others can't just "hear it", I never bothered to learn traditional scales (mine are idiosyncratic af), I don't often play in E standard tuning (discovered Sonic Youth and noise rock in 86) and, thanks to that, jamming with more traditional players is not fun for anyone😂😂😂
Hi Ryan, in a comment on a Gearfest video I called you an A List RUclipsr. You humbly replied 'when did that happen???'.
It happened when you started this channel, and grew with every video you made since.
But it was confirmed at the 'forum' thing with Dipped In Tone where you sat among titans and was on the level with them, Tim Pierce even let you smell him!!! They treated you like an equal even if they made jokes in good jest about your professional musicianship.
But you know what? This video made you an A PLUS gold star List RUclipsr. People like you, the JHS boys and Emily Harpkins have inspired me to find my way back to having fun just playing, trying stuff, and feeling good about what I do making music
So not just are you a fine musician, also as a person you rock, and are more impressive than any cocky highbrow 'influencer' type with a million subscibers but zero points to identify with for guys who give no bleeps about shredding and fancy gear, but love noodling and budget stuff.
That's my fanmail for today dude, keep humming!
Great video! Brutaly honest, I loved it.
That guy had a crayondolier.
Great video, I related to a lot of it.
Pretty relatable. I don't have the temperament to sit down and learn lots of theory, or do daily speed building exercises or anything like this. I get bored and my eyes glaze over. If I want anything like that to stick I need to understand a very basic version of it and then immediately work it into a composition.
Ryan is one of the good guys. Personally I find his reviews incredibly helpful and would rather see a gear demo from someone closer to my own abilities than one by the endless shredders or blues players out there. Keep up the great work, I love the show!
Dude you are awesome! I have watched your videos for years and love your playing and the design / editing that goes into your videos. I also started in art and picked up guitar in art school back in 96. LOL I played in church for 4 years too. I love the similarities of our stories. Thanks for being awesome and making me feel better about my own playing. I process things very much the same as you. Great tips. Keep on rockin'!
You don’t suck….. you have a style,you enjoy your style and most important you enjoy and have fun with your guitar playing.
I love the way you laugh and self irony. This is a great way to keep the mental health in the good state.
And the thoughts you shared relate to me in so many ways.
The moment with those other guitarists RUclipsrs jamming on stage - I can imagine how it felt. I would have died if they asked me to play with them 😂
Listen: YOUR JUST FINE! I've been playing guitar with several bands, mostly my own, on and off for 54 years, and your show is unique because YOU are unique; one of a kind- we all are. Your playing is nice, surf with some special touches expression, sound, and sensitivity, I liked what you did at the end of the video with the green finned guitar with the crooked neck and loose whammy bar. Never give up, never stop loving and enjoying life- especially electric guitars! Just be yourself, your enjoyment is shared with others with positive effect. Peace, love, happiness, and yes, Surf Music!
This is some other level pragmatic and objective self-reflection. Admirable! Keep up the good work
I like your version of "Pipeline". Now I play it the same way!
We can all improve- it's recognizing that we need to is the important part.
Best. Video. EVER. Totally refreshing to be so brutally honest about sucking. It’s ok to suck as long as you’re having a fun time, plus, there’s no pressure to strive for greatness!
🎸🔊🎶🙉🤘🏻🥳
I absolutely love this!!! AWSOME to see people being honest with themselves!!
You do not suck Ryan. I like the way you play and your ideas.
I'm not going to say you're an excellent guitar player or anything, partly because you said not to. But you're good enough to make some fun youtube videos about cool pedals and guitars. And yes, you are indeed better than me. I think it was mentioned on one of the recent livestream hang outs, but I subscribe and watch content like this channel because of the vibe more than anything else. I'm not buying practically anything based on these videos (Hopefully the sponsors don't read that). It's more "here's a fun dude keeping me up to date on what's going on in the guitar world" than "I have a burning desire to watch a shred god totally destroy and OWN a hideously generic backing track for 10 minutes out of a 15 minutes pedal demo." I appreciate the self awareness more than anything else.
Reflection is good, acknowledging our short comings and flaws and addressing them is great! Thanks for the inspiration to reflect!
I suck at guitar b/c I don’t practice enough and when I do it’s not structured enough.
I don’t suck at guitar b/c I do see improvement despite the limited practice.
I’ve been playing since I was 9. For the first 5 years (give or take) I did nothing but rhythm guitar, whether acoustic or electric. I felt that lead was out of reach because I listened to 80’s rock bands and metal - that’s it. As I got a little older, I started listening to indie, blues and jazz fusion, and something resonated with me there that inspired me to learn to play lead. Now, having played for 20+ years, I am SO glad that I stuck with rhythm for such a long time. It gave me all the rudiments I needed to boost me when I finally decided to step out and learn how to play lead - and the kind of lead I wanted to play was always in the realm of blues, soul, etc. Point is, if you can get a solid rhythmic foundation and find your inspiration, you can learn and get better with time and practice.
I'm 100% with you on this! I thought about taking some lessons at Sweetwater but realized "What's the point?" Sure, I'd like to add a few more tricks to my bag but not enough to actually put in the time. All my guitars are in the $300-$500 range because it would be an injustice to buy a $1300 instrument only to have it forever suffer under my incompetent fingers. I'm "good enough" and am content with that. I think this mantra applies to every area of my life...
You are definitely the most disarming guitarist on RUclips. And that’s a good thing. The reason I don’t get better is because I spend way too much time watching gear reviews and not enough woodshedding…and I’m ok with that 🙂
my good habits: i practice something until i can play it flawlessly. my bad habits: i move on to something else and forget what ive been perfecting for weeks
I was told that an amateur practices until they can play the song - a professional practices until they cannot make a mistake. The middle ground is to know how to improvise :-)
When you feel you don’t want to pickup the guitar on a certain day to practice just take it easy on yourself and just practice for a few minutes those things you need to improve on.
Guilty of that myself
You came up with a great new word while going through the list at 5:35 - now though, the definition of "Sinceriously..."
How about " in a solemnly authentic manner?" I have a few of those bad habits too.
There's a conceptual hump to theory so here's the basic connective tissue in case you or anyone else needs it: "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-te-do" is the major scale, so you can find that anywhere by mentally singing that pattern beginning on whatever note you want. Modes are starting on each of those, meaning the octave of the major scale going Do to Do is the ionian mode and so is on a major chord, Re to Re is dorian/on a min chord, Mi is phrygian/minor, Fa is lydian/major, Sol is mixolydian/major, La is aeolian/minor, and Te is Locrian/diminished.
Taking it in G - G ionian, A dorian, B phrygian, C lydian, D mixolydian, E aeolian, F# locrian, so GABCDEF# in chords goes Maj, min, min, Maj, Maj, min, dim. The modes have different tension and resolution feelings due to the different order of intervals, so they also have different emotions.
If you don't already know this stuff I listed, it will absolutely help you with that goal at 27:00, just gives more info for your instinct to use while playing off the cuff and makes it easier to write too.
It was spending time writing song parts based on each mode that really ingrained it in me because it made theory far more fun. Oh shit Mark Kissler was great! Watched him every day at around dinner time as a kid.
Compliments. I hear you, had to train myself to automatically smile and say thanks rather than deal with the awkwarditude. Think most of that awkward reaction is gone now and suspect there was a bit of a self-concept issue in there that needed me to allow people to like stuff about me lol
Wonderful video Ryan. You are way cool. I relate to a lot on your list...I wish that I was not embarrassed when I suck on guitar (and I suck a lot)... But I also don't have the patience to learn whole songs... I love playing guitar, even if just noodling... it is fun and a great escape from everything... I played guitar from 15 to about 22, then didn't play till about 40... now mid 50s and I just love to play bits and pieces and write songs. I'm just getting into surf guitar (maybe because I took my first surf lessons) and that is something really interesting. I love jamming too... I have had to make a couple of guitar playing videos for some friends and I can only imagine how much time it takes for you to make one of these videos.
These are not bad things you've listed. It's always great to improve but if it makes happy and it feels good to you, you're playing it the right way
Man, honestly, THANK YOU for this video. I trully needed to hear that when I was 15 (over 30 years ago) and maybe I could have had a career as a musician. Really! It's not the competitive or perfectionist side of musicians that makes them good musicians but enjoying playing the instrument and having the habit of creating new things. Just keep on doing the cool videos and forget about how good you are or are not.
I'm in my mid 50s. Started playing classical at 9 years old, then wanted to be a rock guitar god until I was 15 and got kicked out of my first band and realised - "If I write the songs, they can't kick me out of the band". The next band I formed at 18, well we are still playing and recording together (or via the wonder of the internet lol) today almost 40 years later. I suck at guitar but I am the greatest guitarist in my band and that's all I need to be :) I can play all the guitar parts because I wrote them BUT my real joy is in collaborating with the rest of the guys to make music together. Also... I don't really suck at guitar. I just play my own way and I can admire all the great players and still learn new things from listening to them without getting competitive or jealous. I was lucky to meet the legendary Tal Farlow at a small jazz show he played many years ago. I asked him, what would your advice be to anyone wanting to be a better guitar player and he smiled and said, "Listen". Probably the best advice and guitar lesson I ever had in just one word. So Ryan...I agree 100% with what you said in this video - life is short so just enjoy playing guitar, making music and squeeze every bit of joy you can out of life in general. Thanks for making this video as it's good to know from reading the comments that you (and me) are not alone in feeling this way and just want to play the guitar with a smile on our face 😎😎😎😎
I definitely struggle to play outside of my comfort zone. Some days, I’ll spend most of my time at work thinking of some cool riffs, get really excited to play, and then come home and just play the same slow and picked out riffs in open d as I always do. I’ve played around in different tunings, and still end up going down the same road. It’s too easy to slip back into that rut for me. I also use the excuse of not writing with a full band way too often. It does suck and stifle creativity when I’m not bouncing energy off of someone else, but it’s not necessary. I’d say my biggest issue is the lack of motivation to play stuff that I don’t want to listen to. I know that scales, classic riffs, and good lead guitar would help me develop and hone my skills, but I just don’t care to learn it because it’s not something I wanna listen to. I’ve really held my abilities back since I started playing 12 years ago. It sucks.
Just a hobbyist. Been playing since I was in middleschool, now I am in my late twenties and will soon be an official "Blues Dad". I love blues rock, surf rock, and ambient worship guitar. 9/10 times, I am literally just playing in my office to destress after a long day of work. Never learn songs completely either, mainly just bits and pieces and noodling. Maybe that's my ADHD acting up but I definitely can relate. The most music theory I have learned are various scales, and that's about it. For me it is all about feel and sound. I could care less about all of the theory behindit.
I love your channel and the podcast because I can actually relate to it and find cool sounds and unbiased reviews! Keep it upm you certainly have one of my favorite channels and I have been a fan for nearly two years now!
Great video Ryan - I think you’re exactly like most of us, you just love playing! Love your videos! 👍
I like your playing it's it's a breath of fresh air from all the shreddy shredders that's popular right now
Your first point made me realize how much personal pride/shame has driven me to play well lol
You should make a video of all of your outtakes. 5 or so minutes of missed chords/notes, followed by a medley of muted F-bombs (if you do that sorta reaction). It'd be nice for people to see the mounting frustration, trying to nail the perfect demo riff. I'm sure that 99% of us will relate.
You hit the nail on the head, it feels good and it’s fun.
Secret City! Foreshortened circle!!!!! Commander Mark is a legend
Are we the same person? You are far superior to me at guitar, but I identify with all of your points! I was forced to learn Nashville number system and to play with a click, when playing with my church band, but without someone pushing me to do it, I would stay in my comfort zone and never grow. Theory is this foggy, almost graspable concept that seems just out of reach to be useful to me while playing. I have had this urge lately to take guitar seriously, and part if that comes from watching talented people such as yourself. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who struggles with it. Thanks for this great content!
I'm still a beginner, and I know I'll never become a professional. It would be fun to record my own stuff someday, but even then I'd rather it be a hobby than a profession, but who knows!
I think my worst habit is being impatient and being forgetful, and those are things I would like to work on because they hinder me from learning or enjoying guitar. I'm also overly critical of myself when I make mistakes. If you're super critical then you're just discouraging yourself from actually getting better.
You know what, okay, fair play to this guy for taking this head-on. That's ballsy. His point about playing with his hands/by feel instead of by ear makes a lot of sense, and is actually pretty insightful and self-reflective. Good for him
Lol. The algorithm took you on a journey today.
I have a backwards version of this for you. I didn't used to suck. A long time ago I was offered a job in what became a fairly famous band. World tours, contracts, radio play etc. I turned it down & 2 weeks later sold all my stuff & quit playing. Now many years later I just started playing and writing again. It feels more mechanical to me now, kinda not from the heart. No where near as fast as I once was my old broken hands don't always do what I ask of them. I fill notebooks with complex songs & licks, then throw them in the burn barrel never to be heard by anyone. In the end I realize I play for me, it's part of me, always has been. So maybe it sucks I don't share, maybe it sucks I'm not as good or practised as I once was. I don't care. This is for me to enjoy & I just like playing with no pressure to be perfect. Sorry about the minor rant. You have a great channel & I always enjoy watching you 👍👍
Ryan is where I'd be if I played for 25 years, except I'm too old now to play for 25 years.
So what I'm really saying is that a few minutes ago I was really happy relating with Ryan, but not I"m bummed that I'll never get even near as good as him, and just suck.
Thanks Ryan.
When It comes to sucking at guitar, you’re the best! Cheers Ryan!!
Lol thanks