Starting Your Own Kickass Guitar Youtube Channel

Intro to Guitars and Youtube

In this post, I’ll be showing you how you can start your very own kickass Youtube channel on guitars – a channel that is successful, gets a lot of views and visitors and helps enhance your exposure as you make your way through the guitar playing world.

If I’m being honest, Youtube is a godsend! Never in the history of mankind has it been so easy and simple to share a video with literally millions upon millions of people out there! It is a great way to showcase your talent, get some exposure, and get your work out there for a large number of people to see and hear. All it takes is a cheap webcam or a camera to record yourself, and of course an active internet connection.

Why Youtube?

For one simple reason: Youtube gets 4 billion unique video views per day!

I’ve been in the guitar-business for a good part of my life now, and I’ve also been teaching it since quite a while. One recommendation that I always give my students as well as all guitar players is that they should never shy away from exposure, and the best (free) way to do that is through Youtube. A couple of my students were able to score massive gigs and the opportunity to play with a band in front of a large audience because of being found on Youtube, and another one of my guitar-playing pals now has a very large and a very successful Youtube channels, with thousands of subscribers and channel views, and he’s even taking private lessons on his Youtube channel now.

So we see that the advantages on being on Youtube are multifold.

Opening a Youtube Channel

Opening your own Youtube channel is as simple as singing up for a Gmail ID. You log onto Youtube, sign up for a free account and that’s it, you’re good to go! Your new account also functions as your ‘channel’. You can start uploading videos easily and quickly and share them on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media profile initially, in order to get some exposure and views, basically to get the ball rolling.

A word of advice: make sure you choose a simple username when signing up for your Youtube account, as your username will also be your channel name. So choose carefully and wisely, and keep it simple and short. Usually, your first name coupled with the word ‘guitars’ is a good idea. For instance, ‘LopezGuitars’.

Once you’re done, you can either choose to upload videos from your existing archive, or start shootin’ and upoadin’! The video manager and video editor will aid you in this process.

Youtube lets you tweak and customize your channel in a lot of different ways – you can put up a display picture, put up a custom background on your channel, add subscribe buttons to your videos, add descriptions (text + links) to any and all of the uploaded videos, enable or disable the like/dislike system as well as the comments system,

Lastly, Youtube makes in-depth and detailed analytics and statistics available at your disposal; the analytics dubbed ‘channel stats’ come as part of the package with your channel and are totally free. You can track a lot of metrics and trends such as views, demographics, playback location, traffic sources, audience retention and engagement reports (likes, dislikes, favorites, comments, shares, etc). Brilliant stuff!

Taking Your Youtube Channel to the Next Level

So now that you have your channel and have even uploaded a whole series of videos, which showcase your kickass guitar-playing skills, what’s next?

Youtube’s ease of use and the fact that it is a free service means that anyone – from your average Joe to Kirk Hammett – can open a Youtube channel and start uploading videos. This means that the competition is steep and your channel, and more importantly – your videos need to stand out in terms of quality and creativity in order for you to be able to make the most out of it.

What you need to be aiming for here is getting the word out and across, about your channel, to as many people as possible, and aim for an increase in subscribers and views.

Most Youtubers struggle with channel and video views, especially initially. And it’s not because they’re bad at playing the guitar or anything, it’s mostly because they either do not know how to make interesting videos, or are unable to get the word out about their channel. Remember that simply having a channel does not in any way guarantee that you will instantly become a Youtube and/or an internet sensation!

How to Supercharge Your Youtube Channel

In order to build a large base of loyal subscribers and have videos with views which hit the million mark regularly (think Igor Presnyakov or ‘Iggypres’ on Youtube), you need to stand out. You could even be an okay guitarist and still get tons of views, as long as your videos are interesting.

Here are a few tips on how you can get the basics right, as well as be more interesting:

1. Video Image Quality: Don’t expect any miracles with subscriptions or views if you’re putting up poorly-shot, grainy and/or low-res videos (such as those shot from a cellphone). If you’re serious about your guitar-playing, serious to make a name for yourself online and want to be taken seriously, invest in a decent webcam (not necessarily an expensive one) which is capable of shooting in HD. Couple your HD videos with a good video editing suite such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, or Sony Vegas but you’ll need to shell out some money for these. A free alternative is the Windows Movie Maker, and of course my personal favorite – the iMovie that comes with Mac OS. Also keep camera angles in consideration, front-on camera angle is the tried-and-tested method of recording, but it wouldn’t hurt to be creative!

2. Audio Quality: Remember it’s a Youtube channel on guitars. It is essential that people are able to listen to you properly when you play the guitar. Your webcam mic will in all probability produce sound that is either muffled, too quiet or loud, or simply low-quality sound. My recommendation: use an externally-connect mic (the one that clips to your shirt), or record the sound separately and sync it with your video later.

3. Other Video Aspects: Other aspects that you need to consider when shooting is getting the lighting right, as a rookie mistake made by most Youtube is that their videos are too dark, shot in a dimly-lit environment. Shoot in well-lit conditions, preferably in the day time, or invest in a cheap lighting kit. In addition, background is important as well – both in terms of lighting and being eye-catching and interesting to the viewer (think RayWilliamJohnson’s videos). As a guitarist, put up posters of your favorite musicians on those walls on the back. Or if you’ve got the cash to spare, invest in a green-screen and a decent studio space.

4. Appearances: Make sure people can see you – and that includes your face! You need to give yourself an identity and something that people remember you by. Your face is your identity here, otherwise you’ll just be another headless-youtuber out there. It is a good idea to see how other Youtube users have been creative, and used methods which help others identify them.

5. Making Yourself Easier to Find: Youtube has multiple ways of promoting your work and making it easier for you to be found. Add the link to your website and Facebook profile in the description of the video. Use descriptive tags which allow people to find your videos through Youtube and Google search. The best thing about Youtube videos is that you can add annotations and caption within the video, with links to just about anything, including your other videos. Lastly, use the video response feature on Youtube to add your videos to other similar videos – every time someone watches a video, they will also be able to see (the link to) your video on the same page.

6. Connect, Participate and Interact: Connect and build relationships with other Youtube users and channel owners in your niche. Youtube is a great way of connecting with other guitarists and musicians, and it has helped me not only find, but play and perform with people I never knew existed! You could start your own Youtube band with other musicians, or discover other guitarists near you to jam with. Furthermore, comment on other people’s videos and channels, and reply to the comments on your own videos and channel.

Suggestions?

How have you used Youtube to build your own following and make a name for yourself online? Do leave us a comment!