Music and Guitar/Gear related things I enjoy on YouTube (in no particular order):
JHS Pedal Show
from their own description
“The JHS Show is hosted by Josh Scott, owner and creator of JHS Pedals. The show began as a way to share the stories, personalities and amazing history that make the pedal industry what it is. Josh has many years of experience recording, playing live, as well as building and designing pedals. This has resulted in a fascination with pedals, as well as a love for the history surrounding gear and its influence on popular music. Every episode Josh talks about a different topic related to guitar, guitar pedals, and the history of it all, as well as a healthy amount of playing. The JHS Show is a collaborative effort between Josh and Nick Loux who has worked with Josh since 2010. Nick and Josh co-produce while Nick handles the filming and editing duties of each episode that Josh writes in deep morning meditation on a mountain peak high above the plains of Kansas City.“
Let’s not pretend this channel is not a never ending commercial for the JHS brand of guitar effects, but who cares? Always fact-filled and entertaining, Josh Scott is a natural on camera and if you love guitars like I do, it’s like he is talking right to me. Josh turned a hobby, tweaking pedals, into a very successful business and has become highly regarded as one of the true innovators in the guitar effects world (yes, there is an actual guitar-effects world). In the spirit of creative play, JHS produced a complete musical- about the history of guitar pedals- and it is great – featuring Rhett Shull on guitar, mentioned later in this article- (says someone who spend much of his day thinking about gear).
Even if you don’t play, these videos are fun for the whole gosh darn family. Gosh darn it.
Everything Music with Rick Beato
Rick is truly enthusiastic about music and music education. His passion for all music and the fascination with deconstruction of songs to better understand them and learn from them is awesome. No wonder he is one of the most watched people on YouTube. As a young man he was a guitar player in a band, then became interested in recording and production, became a producer, composer, recording engineer and now a famous YouTube star. Over the years, his now famous “What makes this song great” segments has dragged him into a few legal issues, most all of which have been settled- as Rick never profits off the songs themselves. He uses famous huge hits to talk about why the song is great, because they are great songs (music industry be damned). One cannot harbor anything but respect for his passion and intentions. He also sells his only Music Theory Training and Ear Training courses (today he teaches the general public as an author and YouTube personality). Rick exemplifies why YouTube and other social media can be the best way to learn, be entertained, and micro focus on the subjects you may be interested in (in our case- rock & popular music). It is always worth a visit to his live streams as well.
Rhett Shull
Like his friend and frequent collaborator, Rick Beato, Rhett is an Atlanta based guitarist and all around music lover. He focuses on generalized (usually) guitar-based gear reviews and discusses gear or tone based subjects. If you play guitar, Rhett speaks your language.
Like many popular YouTubers, Rhett, perhaps accidentally, became a full time video star & Podcaster, and part time guitar player with his band, Deacon Knight. An experienced gigging guitarist he offers plenty of good advice and helpful tips to players at any level. I enjoy his travel videos too, doing what I have also been known to do when out of town; walk into guitar shops just to check it all out (and sometimes spend more than we had planned to!). Rhett’s channel is one of my favorite to watch, and helps make music fun. He also has teaching courses available for purchase.
Also check out his podcast, Backstage Journal:
In his own words: “Im a guitarist and content creator who started this podcast to try and capture the perspective of modern musicianship.”
Five Watt World
Hosted by Keith Williams, this channel is dedicated to “The most music from the least gear.” Keith is a calming and well spoken host of this engaging history based channel. Again, focused on guitars and guitar players, Keith offers some of the most interesting documentary histories on some very specific (primarily electric guitar) related subjects. A former college administrator, Keith is a life long player and music fan who turned his passion for guitars and amplifiers and apparent scholarly desires into a perfect place to learn all bout the gear we love and where it came from.
In his own words:
“Five Watt World” started out with me wrestling with the question of how much gear did I really need, after spending decades collecting guitars and buying and building amplifiers. As I dug down into what mattered to me most I realized that no one had made short histories of the iconic gear and so I made one about the Telecaster, and that proved very popular. As I’m always engaged by a good story I started making others. Now I try to alternate between a video on how to have less gear and histories that I hope will help people find the tone in their heads without having to buy everything that I went through. I hope that works for you. Thanks in advance, and thanks for being a part of five watt world. Keith “
Five Watt World is apparently a passion project for him, (having already retired from his “real” job) and it has become very popular, in part due to the direct and honest presentations and thoroughness of the research. Rick Beato & Rhett Shull helped the rest of the YouTube universe learn about Keith’s channel, and it has grown massively in popularity ever since (and for all the best reasons)
History+guitars= worth watching every time
60 Cycle Hum
https://sixtycyclehum.podbean.com
Like me, and many of us guitar obsessed people, we are not interested in spending thousands on new guitars and gear, but we can’t fight our inner consumer when it comes to this stuff. Ryan Burke and Steve Rowe host a video channel and podcast of the same name, 60 Cycle Hum, Ryan is primarily the face of the YouTube Channel. They explore the realistic world of “it’s cheap, let’s buy one and see what it does, I can always sell it and get something else…” which is exactly my approach to satisfying my gear urges.
Ryan leads viewers into the ongoing adventure of how inexpensive a pedal can be, how to build your own $200 kit guitar, and make it something you want to keep…and on and on. He, and podcast co-host Steve obviously also love their guitars and have managed to turn that kick into a business. I figure I can either make music or make videos about about making music, so I leave the videos and podcasts to entertaining and always no-baloney guys like them.
I bought my first Amazon.com pedal from China based on a review, and ever since I find myself going back for more. Keep up the good fight 60 Cycle Hum…for $50 bucks or less.
Metrognohm 