We are living in a hellscape of late stage capitalism and societal collapse, but at least there are many excellent YouTube guitar channels available to entertain and instruct us.
It’s aggressive to call these the best guitar channels on YouTube, but I need my headlines to get attention. I should say these are my favorite YouTube guitar personalities to watch.
They’re all pretty well-known, so I’m not going to blow anyone’s mind, but I highly recommend subscribing to all of them. I have learned so much from these amazing artists.
I’m going to divide the channels into categories: Gear Reviews, Lessons, and Stories. Before you go apeshit in the comments, I know there is overlap between the categories. I’m grouping them by what I deem to be the main thrust of each channel.
I’m aware that I’m leaving many deserving people off the list. Please do not dox me.
I will also include a section listing some expert guitarists who I selfishly wish would start a YouTube channel.
Artists are listed in no particular order.
The Best Guitar YouTube Channels: Stories
Mary Spender
Mary Spender is an English singer/songwriter who has released fantastic original material and sublime covers (sublime meaning great, not covers of the band Sublime).
She plays fingerstyle electric and acoustic guitar, and has some nice soul and blues elements woven into her guitar skills.
Mary’s channel is engaging because, in addition to the great music, she’s brave enough to be vulnerable in front of a large audience. There are discussions of general life issues, as well as frustrations navigating the music industry as a solo artist.
You can see collaborations with other YouTube guitar players and normies (non-YouTubers) in interesting locations around the world. Mary also visits several guitar stores, which really shows what a guitar nerd she is. I appreciate this because I also go nuts in good guitar stores.
I cannot help but think, due to her immense talent and charm, Mary will be ultra- famous one day. Will she remember the little people who wrote about her music? I wouldn’t.
Mary is on a streaming service called Nebula. This service was designed by creators to evade YouTube’s weird copyright strike and demonetization issues. At the time of writing, Nebula comes free with the non-fiction streaming platform Curiosity Stream.
I just watched something on Curiosity Stream about cocaine production in Peru. Shit gets wild down there!
‘Mary U’ features training courses available on the Teachable site listed below. I haven’t completed this yet, but I’m registering soon. I hope she doesn’t yell.
Mary also has lots of great content about guitars, pedal demos, and studio equipment, so watch these videos.
Mary wrote a song called, “Darling, You Need Therapy”. Is this song about her fans?
https://www.youtube.com/user/maryspender
https://www.patreon.com/maryspender/posts
https://maryspendermasterclass.teachable.com/
Rhett Shull
Rhett Shull is a professional guitarist from Georgia who films many moments of his life including playing gigs, demoing gear and gear reviews, going to guitar stores, going on tour, working on his home studio, and reading to his cat.
Wait, sorry. That last one is me.
Rhett is totally open and honest and, like Mary Spender, the vulnerability makes the content compelling.
A big takeaway is how much work is involved with being a professional musician. It seems brutal, and Rhett is an experienced player! My ass would be in a desperate situation if I had to support myself with music.
I debated if I should put Rhett in the gear reviews category. He releases a ton of great videos covering guitar and studio equipment. In the end I decided that the awesome documentary footage on this channel deserves the focus.
Rhett is apparently involved in passive-aggressive feuds with the JHS Pedals team and Rick Beato. Maybe? It seems complicated. I will keep an eye on the drama.
Rhett also has some guitar courses online. I need to create a course. It seems like a good way to monetize a website.
https://www.youtube.com/c/rhettshull
https://www.backstagejournalpod.com/donate
https://rhettshullguitarcourses.com/
Troy Grady
Troy Grady is the creator of Cracking The Code, a fun electric guitar picking technique instruction program. It’s difficult to explain this one.
The basic idea comes down to pick slanting/string escapes. It’s a way to change strings effectively while steadily increasing alternate picking speed.
This might seem like a lot of talk about minor guitar skills, but its importance soon becomes clear. You will learn the details if you watch the mind-blowing 9 episode introduction (I’ve included episodes 1 and 2 below; you may need to create a free account).
I love when people become obsessed with minutiae, and this series does not disappoint. Never has picking technique been placed under a microscope to this degree.
You will enjoy this program if you’re an electric guitar nerd who wants a nerdy guitar lesson.
I could put Troy in Stories or Lessons, but I chose Stories because everyone needs to see the intro series before jumping into the technique/style videos. The dorkiness required to create these videos at this level of quality makes me want to stand up and salute.
The Cracking The Code site has a membership tier that provides access to all full-length instructional videos.
Troy even created an awesome magnetic phone holder that attaches to the guitar neck and allows filming of the picking hand. You can slow down the recording to understand Martin Miller’s picking technique, for example. It’s the best.
The Best Guitar YouTube Channels: Lessons
Ben Eller
“Uncle” Ben Eller posts weekly guitar lessons (called Weekend Wankshop) to YouTube, with additional lessons posted, downloadable files, and backing tracks available to Patreon subscribers.
The exercises Ben presents are thoughtful, challenging, and genuinely helpful.
Ben also posts a regular feature called This Is Why You Suck At Guitar, reminding us that we need to understand fundamentals before we can go buck wild on our solos. This is nice for eliminating bad habits.
You will also learn some covers, many geared toward shred style sequences. You’ll get so hyper you soil your diaper!
Ben is apparently in some type of abusive relationship with his step dad. When he plays an exercise at slow presentation speed, he calls it ‘step dad speed’. I hope everything is alright.
There is a ton of humor in these videos and Ben Eller certainly knows how to explain difficult concepts without getting too deep into esoteric music theory.
I recommend the Ben Eller Guitars Patreon membership. You gain access to all the additional materials if you give even $1 per month. Uncle Ben (not the rice) really goes above and beyond. One of the best guitar teachers!
https://www.youtube.com/c/beneller
https://www.instagram.com/benellerguitars/?hl=en
https://www.patreon.com/BenEllerGuitars/posts
Paul Davids
Paul is Dutch! Which is fine. Get ready if you want to learn from a great teacher.
Paul’s videos are shot and edited in a beautiful manner not seen in other guitar lesson channels. It really adds to the professional feel of the episodes.
Paul seems nice but also very sarcastic. If you came to a lesson unprepared he would probably make you feel like a moron.
The lessons presented here are diverse in difficulty and style. There’s some jazz, some rock, and just some general technique and theory. And acoustic guitar lessons! I don’t play acoustic, so I almost forgot.
Paul also presents some gear reviews and home studio setup advice.
Additional materials are available via Paul’s Patreon page. He has the best beard of all the guitar teachers!
This channel is full of useful material that’s quite accessible. The majority of exercises aren’t extremely technically challenging, but they do make you approach concepts in a different way. Learning guitar is enjoyable again.
Paul also has courses available! I am really missing out. What should my courses cover?
https://pauldavidsguitar.com/about/
https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulDavids/videos
https://pauldavidsguitar.com/guitarcourses/
https://www.patreon.com/pauldavids
Jens Larsen
Jens is a jazz guitarist from Denmark. This channel is interesting in that it covers all levels of jazz knowledge in a comprehensive (not exhaustive) manner.
You know immediately that you are seeing quality guitar lessons from an experienced teacher.
Jens seems very passionate about helping people learn things in ways that always lead back to actually playing music. It’s easy to get lost in basic music theory and technique. I get it, my technique is mind-blowing, but I know few songs.
In addition to the great videos, Jens has in-depth study guides on his website. It might seem overwhelming, but there are plenty of music lessons for jazz novices that are not intimidating. You can prevent any bad habits from developing if you start with these lessons.
I get the feeling that Jens would think I suck at guitar if he heard me play. The fact that I feel the same about Paul Davids indicates that it’s probably an issue I have reading social cues that Europeans may present slightly differently. Well, back to therapy.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqepSCHTyWj4BzHxEEUNvlg
BONUS: Steve Anthes
Bias Alert: Steve is my guitar teacher. He’s not internationally known yet, but he’s an excellent teacher. He’s really expanding his YouTube channel, so check it out!
The Best Guitar YouTube Channels: Gear
Know Your Gear (Phillip McKnight)
Phil is a bald man who used to co-own a guitar store in Arizona and now shares his extensive gear knowledge through his YouTube channel.
It quickly becomes apparent while watching this channel that Phil has a great deal of hands-on experience setting-up and modding guitars. Episodes are not very long, and P-Dogg gets right to the point.
Phil notes if a guitar arrives set-up, if there are fret finishing issues, any cosmetic flaws, etc. He is honest and does not kiss ass to keep the gravy train of free equipment flowing.
The channel contains reviews of amps and effects, but its mainly guitars. You will find good information on upgrading pickups, bridges, tuners, etc.
There are some creative diversions, as well. An episode I enjoyed showed Phil going to a dollar store and purchasing items to use for a guitar set-up. He used only those items, and it was enlightening to watch. I can barely complete a set-up with quality tools!
Normally I’m wary of desert-dwellers, as they tend to be hermits, but Phil is an exception! Watch this channel to find the best gear!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzJtFWNg7d7TZW7K9JyXmw
https://www.patreon.com/phillipmcknightKYG
Darrell Braun Guitar
Darrell is Canadian. He seems very friendly on this channel, which is relaxing. I don’t need someone yelling at me about how much my equipment sucks.
This fun channel is just straight gear reviews, and Darrell gets his hands on some interesting equipment.
One of my favorites is from Swiss guitar maker Relish. The pickups are hot-swappable, meaning you can just pull them out and pop another set in without any wiring. The future is solderless!
Darrell doesn’t waste time with acoustic guitar garbage! This channel is for people who want to learn about electric guitars.
Darrell is good at exploring questions that many guitarists have probably pondered at some point, like do expensive cables sound better, and is tonewood an important determinant of a guitar’s sound.
There is some quality mod action happening on the channel, with Darrell throwing expensive parts in budget guitars.
That’s the theme of this website. Darrell started his channel years before my site existed, so I’m not accusing him of taking my idea. And I didn’t take the idea from him, I arrived at it independently!
Some sweet guitars are regularly on display, and there are giveaways periodically.
I have never won a guitar from one of Darrell’s giveaways, so that’s upsetting. Am I not winning because Darrell dislikes Americans? Unlikely, but it’s still distressing.
Subscribe to this channel. You will learn a great deal.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClMRGR_QNw4Fm-3FGGyICdw
https://www.patreon.com/DarrellBraunGuitar
That Pedal Show (Daniel Steinhardt and Mick Taylor)
Mick is the former Editor-In-Chief of Guitarist Magazine. Dan owns TheGigRig, a custom pedalboard shop in England. I will take a free board, guv’nor!
This show gets pretty wild. Tons of expert guitarists come on as guests, and these two are talented guitarists, as well. Overall it’s some great guitar YouTube action.
Episodes are quite long. Over an hour, usually, so there is space for in-depth discussion. It’s not always on-topic, but always worthwhile to watch!
Another feature I like is the number of pedals covered during each episode. Dan and Mick don’t just play one or two pedals and spend the rest of the show acting cheeky. There is a theme that’s explored and I always learn something from the gear demos.
Who is the better teacher, Dan or Mick?
Helpful discussion of tone is a real benefit of watching this channel. If you’re having trouble articulating the sound you want, you may encounter it during an episode, as these two have a true depth of knowledge on display when they’re not cracking wise.
English pedals have names like ‘Mushy Peas’. It is crazy.
Five stars! Highly recommended.
https://www.thatpedalshow.com/
https://www.thatpedalshow.com/patreon
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnUXq8mGmoHt0e6ItuTs10w
YouTube Wish List
I am starting to record some stuff for a companion YouTube guitar channel, so I have an understanding of how time-consuming it is to make videos.
Having said that, this is my selfish demand that artists I respect create channels with tons and tons of content.
I will add to this list as I encounter more artists who I feel are not posting enough.
Nili Brosh
Nili Brosh is a Berklee College of Music honors graduate. She is a virtuoso solo electric guitarist, and she has collaborated with Tony MacAlpine, Danny Elfman, Cirque du Soleil, Dethklok/Brendon Small, Gretchen Menn, and she has released three solo albums.
This makes it seem like Nili is very busy, and I’m sure she is. But I still demand thrice-weekly YouTube releases featuring guitar lessons and life advice!
https://www.jtcguitar.com/store/artist/nili-brosh/
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/nilibrosh
Martin Miller
Martin Miller is a German fusion (?) guitarist. He plays different styles, but I love his music. His technique and ear are exceptionally well-developed.
Martin is a good person to study if you want to begin improvising. He really pushes the necessity of ear training.
Martin has some lessons and performances on YouTube, and quite a bit of training on JTC, but I am going to “go ape” if I don’t get more free, regular content.
https://www.martinmillerguitar.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/MartinMillerGuitar
https://www.patreon.com/MartinMillerGuitar
https://jtcguitar.com/store/artist/martin-miller/
