To be totally honest, YouTube can give me anxiety sometimes! Looking through all the videos, knowing what to pick and evaluating what specifically I need to get better at can be kinda confusing. There's so many video titles like " 10 Licks Every Guitarist Should Know" that sometimes I can't prioritize what is truly important to learn. Being overwhelmed can make it easy to get discouraged and not practice at all because everything you need to do seems so vague. People say that everything seems important and you have no idea what you will actually use the most in your everyday playing!
With that being said, I think YouTube is absolutely amazing especially if you do know what you are looking for. There are some teachers that are consistently awesome at creating videos that build on each other and fit my level of playing. When I find the right one, the feeling of finding a missing piece in my playing or getting over a hurdle I've had is amazing!
Something I found really helpful was storing up video recommendations from other people or a list of specific issues I have had when I'm practicing.
Then when I sit down to practice, I can jump right into playing. It's amazing how much you can improve by just learning something new everyday or really drilling down to a specific issue you have (like I want to not hit other strings when bending etc.).
Because I think learning online is so helpful when you know what to practice, I wanted to share with you a few electric guitar videos I've really loved for learning new licks!
Also, If you need help with knowing what to practice, you can check out my 30 Day Challenge for acoustic. I've taken all the work out of having to guess what to practice and made 30 days of planned practices and lessons for you!
These videos are picked for the guitar player who knows their basic scales and way around a guitar and wants to keep learning, improving, and making their playing interesting!
1. Slash Licks in G
Just keep these in your back pocket because you will need them all one day! These licks are all pure fun and the teacher is really clear. I also like that he points out little ways to play them more efficiently and goes at a good pace. Also I think we can all agree that Slash's cool style prolly makes these licks sounds even cooler, so make sure you get a little top hat of your own if you really want to kill it.
2. Mateus Asato Pentatonic Shred
Ross Campbell is amazing! He broke down all this cool stuff that Mateus commonly does in his playing and shows different licks in that style. It's nice too because he's not just like here's this random lick, but really takes time to show you why it works. Ross FTW!
3. Doug Seven's "Steal This Lick" videos
Doug Seven is my fav country guitar teacher online! He's so down to earth and has such great tips for getting that country Brent Mason style sound. If you like this one, he has a ton more "Steal This Lick" videos on YouTube and his site. The lesson in this video starts at about the two minute mark just fyi!
4. Paul David's Tasty Licks
Paul David has a TON of amazing videos and is such an awesome teacher (I saw he's stopping teaching and just playing now too so he's an awesome example of someone really going for exactly what makes them happiest!). I chose this video to share with you because I like Youtube videos that teach little licks and stretch your mind to try a little something new each day! Check out his others for more awesome thoughts and licks!
5. Jim Lil's 3 Show- Off Country Licks
Jim Lil is a super fun YouTuber who focuses a lot on country (especially Brad Paisley)! He always shares a ton of fun techniques and licks which are especially good for building up unique licks for your lick library!
Other thoughts on YouTube guitar lessons:
I love YouTube for learning, but sometimes it helps to know the overall context of the videos. There are so many opinions about right and wrong ways to learn guitar I think it's really helpful to have an open mind going into learning while also knowing how you like to learn guitar and what makes it enjoyable for you!
I would love to know your thoughts on these licks below! Thank you SO much as always for reading!
