PRESENCE - Volume 53
Inspiration For Guitarists
This week's YouTube video really hit a nerve!
The comment section was hopping — mostly with relief. Relief that playing the changes isn't a skill that everyone needs to master. That was exactly what I was hoping for, and honestly it made my week.
But it also stirred up the Jazzholes.
The term is probably self-explanatory, but just to be clear: a Jazzhole is someone who has studied a lot of music theory and feels superior because of it. They tend to share their opinions — which usually boil down to "you haven't learned enough" — with arrogance and contempt.
Here's a sample of what landed in my comment section:
"You have to play changes to be great." "David Gilmour is good, but Larry Carlton…" "Comfortably Numb doesn't have changes." "Rock songs don't have changes."
Cool. Thanks for stopping by.
Here's the thing — I'm not coming at this from ignorance. I'm not some guy with a guitar and a YouTube channel telling you to avoid the hard stuff because I never learned it myself.
I taught jazz guitar at Davidson College for over a decade. I've played gigs with Billboard-charting contemporary jazz artists. I know how to play changes. I love guitarists who have mastered playing the changes — Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Wes Montgomery, Larry Carlton. These are some of my favorite musicians on the planet.
And yet.
Hendrix wasn't playing changes. Clapton wasn't playing changes. Freddie King, BB King, Jack White, Angus Young, Billy Gibbons — not playing changes. And every single one of them moves me more than most people who can rattle off every chord substitution in a ii-V-I.
So here's what I actually believe, and what I want you to hear:
You don't need to know it all to be a good guitar player.
You don't need to know it all to have fun making music.
A lot of skills that YouTube guitar teachers talk about — including playing the changes — are genuinely overrated for most players. And it pains me to see so many people stressing themselves out chasing high-level skills they don't actually need.
I get emails and comments about this constantly. The frustration is real. People feel like they're falling behind, like there's always one more thing they should be learning before they're "allowed" to feel good about their playing.
You can let that go.
Learn the fundamentals. Get really confident in those skills. That's where your time belongs right now — and honestly, for most players, that's where the joy is too. Only after you feel solid in the fundamentals should you even think about adding on more.
The stress is optional. The permission to enjoy playing guitar right now, at whatever level you're at, is yours.
If you missed the video that started all this, you can watch it here.
Don't listen to the Jazzholes.
Those Jazzholes can go F#-7b5 off.
Talk soon, Dustin
P.S. I'm launching Office Hours in March — a small group coaching program where you can bring your guitar questions and get real-world feedback on your playing. I was aiming for February, but I'm taking a bit more time to get the tech dialed in so everything's clean and simple from day one. More details coming soon.