I recently had a guitar student upload a video to Study With Adam for coaching, the title read
“In My Life, The Beatles, Arranged by Adam and Butchered by Craig”
I had to laugh out loud. LOL!!!!
It’s important to know that what we HEAR in our playing is different from what people SEE in our guitar videos.
That said, my student Craig recorded the video several times until he thought it was barely passable.
Boy, do I know that feeling…sitting in front of a camera or microphone suddenly makes us aware of everything we DON’T want to hear in our playing.
You can’t believe that anyone will like your playing because the only things you hear are the warts & pimples…they think you are enjoying yourself,
HA! If they only knew your suffering…
Reading the title, I was prepared for the worst (thanks Craig) and was shocked and delighted when…it sounded GREAT!
The Takeaway?
Many listeners (viewers) are in their OWN universe, not yours!
Here is a little chart I came up with to give you perspective on how others “see” your guitar videos, and maybe you’ll be kinder to yourself after reading this 🙂
This little chart may seem extremely slanted, but I bet it will provoke thought in you.
Truth is, you probably do sound WAY better than you think you do.
WHAT YOU HEAR vs WHAT THEY “SEE”
- Oh no, I made a mistake!
- UGH, I buzzed a note!
- I can’t stop feeling like I suck.
- My right hand feels so inconsistent.
- Oh man, the tone on this is not quite right.
- The sound is perfect!
- I love this song, I am glad I recorded it. Hooray!
- This song is a classic, it’ll probably get some views.
- I totally b.s.’d everyone…This is the 25th painful “take” but at least I made it through! I am DONE recording.
- “How old is this guy?”
- “He looks pissed off. He’s not smiling.”
- “Do I know this song?”
- “This dude is amazing!”
- “If there is no singing, is it jazz?”
- “Whatever…I don’t feel like watching past the 45 second mark…”
- “Who the hell are the Beatles?”
- “Is ‘Fly Me To The Moon?’ a Maroon 5 song?”
- “He’s having fun…Cool! (FB share & like)”
I hope this helps you get out of your own way and carry on making music.
What do YOU think? Please comment below!
Great things to keep in mind. We are our own worst critics, after all, and harder on ourselves than any audience will ever be.
Thanks, Adam!
-Nate
This pretty much summarizes why I don’t post any “live” performances on the internet…but, I like to rip off yours, Adam!
I think that is the problem most of us have. I know it is for me and so many others I have talked with over the years.
Marshall thanks for commenting!
Great stuff Adam regarding recording, always a tough thing. The best advice I heard on the subject of live playing was “you are never as bad as you think, but you’re never as good either.” The whole point of practicing is to raise the bar of how badly you can play at any given time. If you had to think of every single note and gesture, what is the absolute bottom rung of your talent. We leave the top end open ended, for inspiration to come in and infiltrate/elevate our playing.
As usual Adam is on the money. Check out this quote along the same lines…
I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes.
Jimi Hendrix
Anyway…
I did a lot of videos on YouTube and what Adam is talking about is spot on. Even pros are not hearing what you are hearing. It’s a total perception thing from where you are at because you touched it and they only heard / see it. And really what you feel is not what others heard anyway a lot of times. They can’t hear what you felt to a point . As the actual player you are deeper in than normally possible for the listener. Yea they can “feel it” but not really your feel at the fretboard and strings Understand what I’m saying?
I did a few things by Pete Huttlinger (god rest his great soul). He gave me wonderful comments. From my physical / ear point of view I felt overly nice comments. But he knew better. When I realized he was watching me and i was about to add “Josie” to my channel, it kinda got me concerned about that performance. But I took what he said on my other videos and it actually excited me on. Now for me, the video does not stop when i record unless its a train wreck. And playing through minor train wrecks has its benefits. I will not publish a wreck but in the back end i believe those wrecks make you stronger and will help when live.
The only thing I would like to highlight / add is don’t stop the recording, finish the minor train wrecks. Your mistakes may be copied someday. LOL
Of course we’re all are own worst critics. The real problem is you’require always going to think that there are so many great guitarists at their that they are going to ridicule my efforts. And the mean minded will, but nearly all those musicians I’very met, most on a different level to me are both encouraging and generous.
I have never achieved the sound, clarity and precision in my posted videos, never mind how cringing it is to listen back. I then use them as my starting bench mark.
I can assure you that you will improve. Just never play them in front of your guitar tutor !!
Ray, thanks for the comment! Send me a vid, I’ll be the judge 🙂
This is really funny – made my day!
Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? It’s like when you start playing guitar and you realize that you can play 90% of all songs after a month, you think: “Awesome! I’m the coolest guy ever. Wembley, I’m coming.” Then after years of practise you learn about the techniques of Jimi Hendrix or even Adam Rafferty, and you’d go to: “Oh man, I’m the worst guitar player ever. I’ll never be able to do this.”, although you probably get all the girls at the beach-bonfire. And then you are Adam Rafferty and we all think you just invented a new state of sound, whereas you’d record the youtube video again because you know there was a mistake…
Thanks Markus, it’s a never ending journey!
Thanks Adam! Yeah, I’m the same way and think most of my videos actually do suck. Ha, ha. I can play a tune a million times perfectly then I decide to make a video and it’s full of mistakes. It’s frustrating. Thanks for your encouragement. I’ll press on. You have been an inspiration for me over the years.
This is a great message and really helps when managing nerves.
Variation on this theme: I have started playing at some open mics around town. Generally the sound is set up for singers where I can’t hear myself playing with any real clarity. And then there are the errors. In short, as a performer my experience has been less than pleasant. Yet for some reason my audience really enjoys my 2-3 songs. The takeaway: The audience experience is not the same as the performer’s experience. My current fix for the sound systems: an earbud monitor with a good headphone amp that taps my guitar signal before it reaches the PA system and bad room acoustics.
Thinking of posting a video for the first time for Christmas this year, since won’t be getting together with friends and family due to Covid. Your chart helped me to see it through the viewers eyes ( “wish you were here, miss Grandpa’s corny music, etc).
As always, thanks for the encouragement Adam.
I find that if I give the videos a break for 6 months (that is don’t listen to them) then after 6 months they sound great and refreshing. And give you a new sense of confidence and “yes I think I can actually do this guitar thing”
Hi Adam
thanks for your ever-inspiring posts!
Actually, I was just wondering what the best technical setup would be for making a video of myself performing (guitar + vocals). I have a Sennheiser microphone plus a Taylor guitar with a great sound system, and I would like to mix them (possibly adding some reverb). I have no video camera but a photo camera with which I can record high-quality videos. How do I get the mixed sound into my camera using the 3.5 mm external microphone port? I will probably need a special interface?
Thanks in advance!
Erik