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Busting the myths about social media and guitar playing

Writer's picture: Philip WellerPhilip Weller

Social media can boost our confidence and crush it just as quickly – Uncover the truth about what makes guitar playing videos on social media successful, and what really matters





In an age where society is both consumed and ruled by social media, it can feel like maintaining a social media presence – as an individual or a band – is just as important as the physical act of playing guitar. After all, why spend all that time wrapping your head around polymeters and writing killer modern metal riffs if no one sees your posts?


It’s incredibly easy to get bogged down by meagre view counts, or be left with a devastating sense of inferiority after seeing other players shred you under the table and have a much nicer-looking video to boot.


Social media, though, while it has its benefits, is also a distraction and a trap. During my time chatting to some of the best guitar players on the planet for the likes of Guitar World, Total Guitar, and Prog magazine, I’ve learned that the players you see smashing it on social media have the same worries and that, more importantly, much of how you perceive social media is a myth.

 

Video quality doesn’t matter   


If, like mine, your Instagram feed is full of Clayton King and Charlie Robbins videos, where their insane talents are only matched by the ultra-sparkly, multi-camera videography they pair their playing with, it can make you feel worthless. Playing aside, I’m often left thinking, “Even if my playing was that good, my videos never will be, so I’m destined to fail.”


The truth is, the quality of your videos doesn’t matter. People aren’t watching to oggle your well-lit background or marvel at your choice of wallpaper. It’s the playing that counts above all else.


Australian mega-shredder Stephen Taranto proves this. Just look at the below post; submit that to your film school teacher and you’ll be ridiculed. Half the shot is swallowed up by the corner of a table – and it’s not even a nice table, Stephen, no offence.


You’ll also notice that the audio is straight from his phone picking up his computer/amp speakers, as opposed to a well-mixed audio file bounced from a DAW. You can hear the sound of his pick attack and all in, it’s pretty rough and ready.


But 4,000+ likes, with accounts like Mateus Asato, Neural DSP, Sebastiside, an Dante Swan all getting on board with it. Why? Because the playing is sick; it's distinctly Taranto and that's all that matters.


It's more personal that way too. Sure, it's not as glitzy, but it feels more human and offers a candid snapshot of that player at that moment in time, fine-tuning an idea or getting to grips with a new technique. People are more interested in the guitar playing and the person behind it than anything else. The rest is cool, but it isn't vital.



Ignore the haters


Of course, this is easier said than done. When my band released the first single with our new singer a few years back, we were inundated with positive comments. We’d evolved, this was next level. But one account simply commented “vocals are weak” and that comment haunted us until we made it into a joke and made light of the situation.


I’m sure most of you reading this will have come off stage at one point and been met with positive comments, but it’s when that one geezer necking Guinness at the bar tells you you’re lead channel was too quiet that you take home with you. It’s just how our brains are wired.

As I said above, Charlie Robbins’ videos sound and look incredible. But they come with a problem. His crazy selective picking riffs have seen countless people call him out as a faker. With selective picking especially, what you hear doesn’t necessarily marry up with what you see the picking hand doing – or not doing – but even after he debunked these negative comments, they still came rolling in.



The point is that, for every comment bigging you up, there’ll often be one knocking you down. It’s important to focus on comments you can benefit from. So, going back to my post-gig analogy, comments of “sick set, bro,” are nice for the ego, but nothing more. The geezer with the Guinness? Well, actually that’s sound advice. I can work with that.


If the comments are just downright rude, then there’s every chance that your playing has actually intimidated them, they’re jealous, or just a bellend. Don’t like trolls stop you from doing the things you love.

 

Numbers don’t tell the full story  


Just as with negative comments, don’t let a poorly performing video get you down. It’s good to constructively assess why you feel a video may not have done as well as you hoped, but the truth is that social media algorithms are brutal and unpredictable. You never know what is going to take off and what doesn’t. Who’d have thought some of 2024’s most memorable reels involved spitting on that thing, a chill guy, and a questionably-designed popcorn bucket.


The figures of a post – the views, likes, and comments – don’t tell the whole story. Sure, the 4,000+ likes on Taranto’s post is pretty neat, but notice how I mentioned who were among that bunch? That’s something genre-blurring guitarist Dante Swan found out the hard way.

When he first got an Abasi guitar, he tagged Tosin Abasi in every post, hoping desperately to get his attention. Then, one day, he liked a post. Although it took a while to get that like, the man was keeping an eye on his progress all that time.


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“For me, it’s not how many are watching, it’s who is watching,” Swan recently told Guitar World. “Tosin engaging made me feel like I was doing something right.”


Many of the videos along the way didn't generate record-breaking views and comments. But he kept at it. His talents improved, and so did his reputation. Perseverance is your deadliest weapon in the social media age. Focus on your guitar playing and those in the community wanting to support you on your journey. The rest is superfluous.


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