YouTube is a treasure trove of information for guitarists, but like having a good guitar teacher, it helps to know where to spend your time, so you can get the most out of binging guitar content.
The three guitarists below have inspired my own playing, teaching and YouTube channel.
Ben Eller
Ben is one of those guys that can play bass with Andy Wood, and also be an incredible guitarist at the same time. He’s always coming up with helpful lessons that are taught in a super easy to understand way. Lots of videos feature smart ideas on what you might think is a basic topic, that makes you rethink how you learned that concept in the first place. I’ve learned so much from his lessons on picking, seeing the fretboard past the 12th fret, and 3NPS. His Patreon is an absolute steal of a deal, and his demo songs are good enough to be on a full album. Go check Ben out!
Levi Clay
I’ll be the first to admit, that years ago, everything I learned about Guitar Pro, I learned from Levi Clay. Not only is he an amazing transcriptionist (his name often comes up when I look at tabs I purchase), but he’s a great teacher, with a number of great books out there. I’ve learned country concepts, practice routines, slide licks, and so much more from him. We need Levi to bring back Rage Time and his fun podast GuitArsoles!
Paul Davids
When I think about the ultimate in production quality for a guitar video, I think about Paul Davids. Paul is a fantastic guitarist, and the videos he makes are truly something to aspire to. He’s another teacher who’s content is easy to binge. I love his song breakdowns, his vlogs, and seeing all the incredible gear he gets to play with. One of the things I love most about his videos is that he’s not afraid to admit when a part is tricky to play - which I think gives everyone watching the video a feeling of I can do this too if I stick at it.
These guitarists have taught me so much—and over the years I’ve tried to pass along as many great ideas as possible to pay it forward. Who’s your favorite guitarist on YouTube?