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The Fake Instagram Guitarist Crisis

Levi McClain

453,834 views

Exploring how some of the most impressive sounding instagram guitarists might actually be faking/heavily editing their guitar playing, and then lying about it online with Fake DI/Camera Audio videos. What are the implications for the genre, guitar music, and instagram musicians going forward? Today we'll do a deep dive into exactly how one can "fake" their playing in subtle and nearly undetectable ways, as well as explore the full spectrum of cultural permissibility within guitar videos.

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Instagram guitarists are lying to you: Instagram guitarists are lying to you...

The Instagram Guitarist Phenomenon: The Instagram Guitarist Phenomenon

00:00 - The Fake IG Guitarist Phenomenon
05:06 - How it's Faked
14:37 - The Permissibility Crisis
23:40 - Solutions to the Crisis

20 Comments

@LeviMcClain Creator 1 year ago (edited) Pinned

At what point does editing cross the line for you? I think there can be nuance here, and we can discuss it without being too hateful! If you enjoyed this video, consider supporting the channel over on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/LeviMcClain

@journeytree 1 year ago

its not a fake guitarist issue, its a fake everything issue on social media

@johnhuldt 1 year ago

Walking around at NAMM, seeing a lot of these super human guitarist sounding completely like humans again has always been an eye opening experience.

@Guitarherolance95 1 year ago

I hate this era of music. The 90% of the videos made by musicians on social medias are fake.

@seekelectricity 1 year ago

most of the fake shit isn't just fake, it also just sucks

@Jaspertine 1 year ago

My litmus test is pretty simple. If being fully transparent about your process would hurt your reputation, then there's a high chance that whatever you're doing is dishonest.

@KarateofComedy 1 year ago

Real guitarists haven't been able to compete with fake guitarists for the last 10 years. Same goes for vocalists.

@MaxOstro 1 year ago

Another thing I'd put on the spectrum of permissibility is recording thousands of takes and choosing the best one.

@finelerv 1 year ago

This is why the importance of authentic live music can not be overstated.

@BrockPerez-c7x 1 year ago (edited)

I honestly think that these fake guitarists just didn’t get enough attention so they resort to faking their success for attention

@timmoman 1 year ago

As a guitarist, I HATE this trend, as it gives normal listener an image that music has to be performed pefectly in order to be good, which is a lie and destroys the soul of music and art, by making all shiny and perfect. And I guess this is a shameless promoting, but when I created my YT guitar channel, main idea of it was to never to any overdubs or any other shenanigans, but to learn things properly and perform them as good as I can, even it gives a taste of blood to my mouth sometimes

@zulu3594 1 year ago

Half of them made a NAMM video entitled ' I hate when i go outside and forget how to play '...

@Boominator-d8s 1 year ago

9:39 There is basically a 99% probability that the most famous guitarist in the world in five years will be a super-hot instagram model who can’t actually play a note.

@AdamNeely 1 year ago (edited)

Glad you shouted out ben, he was doing a lot of fake guitar aesthetic stuff 5 years ago or so, it was really fun! It's interesting how this is a perennial topic.

@dpanek 1 year ago

Agreed. The line is crossed when it is uploaded with the intent to show it is raw or unedited but is actually not.

@jamesmccormick875 1 year ago

I’m a guitarist so I can tell just by watching them. It’s sad how many people are faking it or miming.

@bsykesbeats 1 year ago

Just like Steve Lukather said, everybody wants shred and forgot the importance of just being able to play rhythm guitar really well

@Whiteknuckleknight 1 year ago

This makes me realize that an awesomely easy way to get easy viewers is to just make blatantly fake guitar videos and let people hate watch and drive engagement through the roof