The What Culture Interview: Jon Gomm - 22/11/2013

On The Influence Of Youtube And Learning Guitar Online

Gomm FilmS.T: With the influx of Youtube impacting how many people learn guitar, do you think you€™d ever do a series of videos breaking down your style so we can all catch up? J.G: I don€™t know, I€™ve been thinking recently about doing a book with an video element to it as well, so it€™s not really something I see happening soon, but I€™d like to see a book based on my 'throwing the rulebook out the window' approach to guitar, but also it would have all the basic stuff in there. One thing that worries me, is that all the basic guitarists out there that learn things off Youtube, learn things by copying, which is a really great way to learn, just look at it and copy it. But no one is there to look at their technique and say if they€™re doing something wrong, because there are some ways of playing, where you€™re just making everything harder for yourself. Like for example just holding the body slightly differently, or they don€™t have any kind of theoretical knowledge at all. I€™m not saying everybody needs to know what like, a tritone-substitution is, or like be able to tell you what the major notes of a sharp F eleven chord are, you don€™t have to have that, but having a basic knowledge of the building blocks of music helps. I want to cover that stuff in a really simple way that works in any tuning on the guitar, so you€™re learning by ear, you€™re not looking at basic chords and scale-shapes. The problem with Youtube, is that people learn what they want, not what they need.
Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.