How to Make a Guitar Video Lesson: It's Fun But Not Easy

If you are a new-millennium guitarist you are undoubtedly familiar with the concept of home videos. After all, it's been 6 years since YouTube's first video, and for some reason I might explore in a future post, guitarists of all kinds have flocked to this now legendary website.

So I'm very excited to report that I've just posted my first video lesson. The video counterpart to Melodic Sequences (posted Dec 27, '10) is up and running on the Tube. YouTube, that is. To be fair there are many, many other video-sharing services on the 'net (ever heard of Vimeo? Revver? Or Daily Motion?). A good list of them--both free and not--is available here.

But honestly I have to recuperate from the guitar video lesson I just did.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But it took a long time to do, a very...long time. By the way this hasn't been my first video (here's my YT channel) but it was the most involved.

In general I've learned many things while making guitar vids. And I'd like to learn more technical aspects of the process--what's a codec, for example?--but for now I can share some of the practical knowledge I've gleaned:

When doing a guitar lesson video...

• Be patience. I meant to write "be patient" just now, but that Freudian slip (I didn't know he wore those...) is truer than my correction would have been. Yes, that's right. Be patience. Embody it. Personify it. You will need it.
• Have the idea of the video firmly in your mind. It's fun to make videos, and because of that it's easy--very easy--to be distracted by the video you're in. That's right, you'll be smiling--or grimacing, depending on your 'vibe'--in front of the camera, doing your coolest licks for a half an hour (or hour and a half) before realizing this simply isn't your best video lesson effort.
• Be warmed up before the video, not during. With fam, composing, blogging, checking out the latest who's who in YouTube guitardom, I simply can't put in the practice/noodle hours I used to. So I need to do that before making a video presentation.
• Have decent equipment or better, and know how to use it. I love using Windows Movie Maker--without boasting, I am a notch or two short of being a WMM wiz--but the quality of Mac's Imovie is just better. I can't go back now, even though using a Mac has posed many shortcomings and takes me longer--way longer--to do a movie. Plus the GUI is just awkward. And you can't save. Ok I wont gripe about Macs here...
• Get a nice backdrop so your viewers don't see your cat or unfolded clothes fresh from the dryer, etc., while your in teacher mode. It could be cool, but then it will distract some people so I think the possible coolness is overridden. If you check out my first YT lesson you'll see what I used, and I didn't even iron it. A backdrop can be a poster board (preferably blank) or a large piece of material. But if you're against all of this just Green Screen it.
• Dust/polish your guitar of choice for the video. Unless, of course, you are the Felix (from that way-old sitcom, remember?) of guitardom and do this everyday. And unless your axe is beat up (how manly) and you wont have it any other way. That rhymed but I didn't mean it.
• Figure out how to use helpful tools such as fretboard diagrams, and notation / TAB in your instructionals. Plenty of stuff available for free on the 'net...just Google it.
• Spice up your presentation with cool images (highly suggested by me but not mandatory). I love nice-looking guitars--among other things--and make sure to put some in my vids since I'm not into people gazing at my face, even if it is a pre-recorded image. They are getting absolutely nothing out of that. I'm not making lesson vids to covertly model, I'm there to teach something.
• Be to the point. I had trouble with this and am learning to cut down the verbiage. Now if I could only do it off camera...
• Pick a good title. For example, I knew melodic sequences was a very niche-topic (a topic not many know about, at least by that title). So I put it as the subtitle and centered the title around the words guitar and scale. People are going to be much more likely to punch in "guitar" or "scale" than they are "melodic sequences" into a search engine
• Last but not least, Do It. Don't worry about the seemingly endless number of guitar players--with more coming to the shredded shores of YouTubedom everyday--who can (or at least seem to) outplay you. That's how it is as a geetar player. Well, unless you're Chris Broderick. 

So, I've said enough. Get thee from off of thine chair (or couch, whatever) and maketh thee a guitar lesson video the world will find hard to forget. But if you're already a guitar-vid guru, what were some of the challenges you faced? How did you overcome them? What are you doing to make your guitar lesson videos better?

-6SV

2011 Is Here!

According to the Mayan Calendar the world is to cease to exist in 2012. Maybe that's why I'm happy it's 2011; I might not be feeling this way one year from now.... Anyway, it's already the 3rd of January and time to post even if I don't have much to say--which I don't (I know: ??).

I watched The Social Network this weekend--a very good film--and found it oddly synchronicitious (hope that's a word) that a popular Tweet today was one stating Facebook's current value of $50b. Yep, b is for billions, folks.

Ok, what does this have to do with guitar...? Absolutely nothing besides the fact that there are countless guitarists and guitar groups on the Book. Here's one...another...and another.

So here's what's good for this post: I'm saying "Hi", really, "Happy New Year"--and as I am currently prone to say on YouTube--"Have a shreddin' '11". Oh, and speaking of the Tube, I promise by next post to have the vid up on my channel for last post's lesson on melodic sequences (say that last sentence real fast. It's a tongue-twister).

So for now that's it. But before I bow and take my leave (of this blog, not of my senses; I took leave of them years ago), I must mention that I entered yet another guitar-playing contest. Yes, I was up New Years' Eve filming my video-entry, only to realize it wasn't due until New Years' Day.

Well, nuff 'said. Here's my entry to the now-closed Bernie Rico Jr. '30 Seconds of Fame' Guitar Give Away Contest...I know, I said that already, but I think it would be neat (did I say neat?) for you to see the finalists--just click on the last link to do so.

Later...

So I do have more to say.

No word yet on who won the other contests I'm in (Walliman's Fusion, Milan Polak's Blue Bug, and Guitar Addiction)...I'll keep you posted. But I might as well 'fess up regarding the 30SoF contest...I didn't place nor get mentioned in Truth In Shredding (some other contestants had their entries posted there. Marco de Cave being my fav among them).

So, since I lost that contest there will be upcoming posts about the psychological consequences of failure...But seriously, "losing" a competition or getting less-than-desired results for one's efforts is a bitter tonic. And I could sit and gripe about how I don't like how things are going down in some of these contests (Miyata not winning Guitar Idol '08 or Koliok not placing 1st for Blue Noize last month are two examples). But that would simply be a waste of time (unless, of course, it starts getting rampant).

No, this is a time to stay excited and optimistic, while evaluating oneself honestly in the context of the recent past. Some self-questions I have posed are:

• How was my melody compared to the other entries I have seen for this contest? 
• How are my phrases? Are they executed cleanly?
• More importantly, is my overall entry exciting? Does it have a good flow from start to finish? Does it tell a story well? Does it have that necessary blend of emotion, adventure, good style, and good/excellent/over-the-top technique?

A time like this is also high time to review some of the many benefits of entering a guitar contest. These were some of the benefits touched on in my Dec 17 (2010) post, It's Time to Enter an Online Guitar Contest:

• You are putting yourself on the spot. There is simply no better way to improve as a guitar player.

• You will face-off with your own playing and directly encounter your own strengths and weaknesses.
• You will get better IF you're positive about the whole thing, eagerly looking fwd to the next contest, and taking steps to improve your playing based on your own--and possibly others'--observations.

Guess what folks, we're all in this together. If I can't live by the advice I give then Enjoying Guitar shouldn't be online. So I'm eagerly looking forward to the next contest (Walliman mentioned two coming soon via his site) and will continue to put my best playing--and more importantly--my best attitude, forward!

...Until then (and "then" should be soon),


-6SV