Daft Comments On Youtube and Christmas Gifts for Real Guitar Heroes
In today’s post I am going to explain why I rarely pay any attention to comments on Youtube anymore, why I don’t play the video game Guitar Hero, as well as give some suggestions for what would make a great Christmas gift for someone who plays guitar. In the process I will also recommend a few guitar related sites that those of you interested in Internet marketing might want to check out, even if you have no intention of ever picking up an “axe” yourself.
Youtube is a great, great invention and with things like high definition videos it is getting better all the time. What I really don’t like about the Google owned video site however, is the commenting function – or rather many of the comments that are made there, I should say.
The space below the videos, where you find the comments to any particular video, is often filled with two much nonsense and outright daft remarks to be worth spending any time with.
This is somewhat of a general problem online of course, as many people seem to think they can say anything when they are anonymous and will not ever have to encounter the people they are speaking to online face to face. But I feel the problem is even worse on Youtube than on many other platforms and forums that encourage user interactivity.
Youtube comments can be moderated of course, but that function seems to be used fairly rarely by most users (people just want as many comments as possible?). The function that hides comments that have had too many thumbs down votes also helps of course, but on many videos there are still too much nonsense to my liking.
Granted, Youtube may not be the best place to have serious online discussions in any case, but I still think there is too much clutter. Also, many of the semi-serious comments are often very self centered.
Let me take an example:
I play the electric guitar purely as a hobby, and to that end Youtube is a veritable treasure throve of information and inspiration. You find clips of guys like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert playing live or even giving small mini-lessons of how they do some of the things they do.
Then there are also loads of videos of lesser known guitarists showcasing their playing, or how about this dude:
Saying that Gustavo Guerra is unknown is of course simply wrong by now. But he did get known to the world through his videos on Youtube and the fact that he won the Guitar Idol competition in 2008. This competition by the way, is an excellent case study in how Youtube can be used in a smart way, as an element of online marketing. The event is staged by the magazine All Out Guitar, the membership site licklibrary.com and The London International Music Show.
According to their own site they had over 400 000 site visitors for last years installment of the competition. Certainly a great example of using Internet as a medium/publicity stunt, and without actually selling something by forcing it down people’s throats á la conventional Internet marketing sales pitches. Nonetheless, I am sure this move meant many more customers for the companies involved.
But back to the tube comments.
What do you think people have to say about a guitarist like Guerra, that certainly can hold his own compared to most very famous guitarists? Well, if you go and look now I am happy to say that there are mostly positive and slightly envious comments. I guess the man has built a solid following. But when I first started watching his videos there where many comments saying thinks like:
“U’re shit. Guitarist X is much better”.
“On 1.37 he screws up”.
“Your playing deviates too much from classical technique”.
…and a whole lot of other comments essentially saying nothing but “Okay, that was pretty good, but I am MUCH better!”.
Then, as of lately, we have a new type of person always commenting videos like this with:
“This is much harder to play on Guitar Hero”.
Really, you are comparing a computer game and a plastic toy guitar with big buttons to the real six stringed instrument?!
I am not disputing the fact that it is vary hard to play these games at the higher difficulty settings, but it is a simple fact that learning to play the real guitar is very different to playing these video games. It’s not a sensible comparison.
Why I don’t play Guitar Hero
As I got started on Guitar Hero, I’ll abandon Youtube for this post and tell you why I do not play this game. I’ll conclude with a site I want fellow Internet marketers to check out as an interesting case study.
Guitar Hero, Rock Band etc. are of course great examples of innovation in the video game industry, and if you happen to enjoy playing said games – rock on!
For me personally however, these games aren’t worth more than a casual acquaintance. The reason for this is that it indeed requires some serious time and practise if you want to nail the songs on the more difficult settings. And since I actually know how to play the real instrument, I’d rather spend that time practising on a real guitar. Passably playing Satriani’s Crushing Day at 50-75% of the original speed of the song on a real guitar gives me much more satisfaction than acing it full speed on Frets on Fire on the PC.
I would be the first to admit that my attitude on this may appear as slightly self limiting, but this is just the way I feel about this. And it’s a good thing that there are now many products out there that cater to the kind of wannabe guitar hero that I am.
One of the exciting new products to hit the market recently is the JamVOX from legendary amp-manufacturer Vox. That is a combination of a small amp/speaker and a software program that, thanks to what they call GXT-technology, allow you to play along with your real guitar heroes, using a real instrument and your computer. As the software also features comprehensive amp and effect pedal simulation you’ll be able to tweak your guitar sound to sound just like your favorite guitar player too – without actually having those 50+ stomp boxes scattered all over the floor.
I have only tested this product at the music store so far, but I have hopes of finding this package in my Christmas stocking this year, if “Mrs. Claus” thinks I have been good this year, that is… 
If the JamVOX is outside of your current budget, there is also a very passable second alternative for guitar players like me. A piece of software, that has been around for quite some time now, that combines tablature and using your computer to generate backing tracks. It is called Guitar Pro, and I have actually been using this software long before the Guitar Hero games ever hit the marketplace.
The quality of the backing tracks will of course not be as realistic as when you are playing to an actual CD of your favorite artist, but it is certainly great fun anyway. Many of the guitar tablature archives/communities also provide their tablature in a format/backing track ready for Guitar Pro, so you’ll likely never run out of material to play.
Speaking of community, I have one final recommendation for guitar players and Internet marketers alike. It is a membership site called Guitar Master Class, where you literally get tuition from guitar teachers from all over the world. There are other similar sites out there, but this is the one I currently subscribe to myself so I feel happy recommending it. The fees are also very reasonable.
From an Internet marketing standpoint said site is very interesting both from a technical standpoint and from how they generate the content for this site. They pay knowledgeable people from anywhere in the world to contribute their guitar lessons, and if your lessons are popular you earn even more. I would imagine that it is a great way for talented musicians to promote themselves a bit while earning money at the same time.
I don’t know what kind of profits this site generates, but I sure like the concept – if you come up with this good a platform and content I wouldn’t be surprised if it virtually sells itself.
