PRESENCE - Volume 83
Inspiration For Guitarists
We have a new neighbor that is quite a nuisance. Up frolicking all night, making a terrible mess and not cleaning it up, frightening the neighborhood kids, and just generally being an unwanted pest.
The Bear.
While spending another morning cleaning up after the bear, I got to thinking about the project that really got me started making stuff for YouTube — which, funny enough, is also called "The Bear".
During the COVID lockdown, my musician friends and I were basically out of work. Every gig on the books dried up, and the work didn't come back for about a year.
Around that time I started listening to a lot of YouTube on my daily dog walks. One day I came across a video with a clip of an unreleased Steely Dan song called "The Bear." The audio was rough. It sounded like a third or fourth generation cassette dub, probably an old working mix Donald and Walter used to listen to. For whatever reason, the track never got released. It should have. It really spoke to me, and it sparked an idea.
Just for fun, I called up a couple musician buddies and floated the idea of recording our own version of the tune. Almost as an afterthought, I asked everyone to video their performance.
None of us had sophisticated gear - old webcams, phones, whatever we had lying around. But we captured it. After I mixed the recording, I went back and stitched the performances together into a video. That video is how I learned video editing. Challenging, but fun to pick up a new skill and actually use it for something real.
That project is what pulled me into making video lessons for YouTube. I started with shorts, figuring smaller projects would give me some quick wins. I did some simple long form videos - no script, barely any editing, grainy screenshots for thumbnails. Not great quality, but I was working on it and putting it out into the world.
Then I took a break from making videos and went deep into studying the craft instead. Hundreds of hours of content from people who knew what they were doing. I built a big document of outlines, tips, and strategies. Then I put all of it to work, and my channel took off.
That shift took me from helping a handful of people one-on-one at my house to helping thousands of people all over the world. I'm still grateful for that every day.
I tell you this story for a reason. Giving yourself a small project is one of the best ways to learn. It doesn't need to be elaborate, just something a little outside your comfort zone. Write a chord progression. Record a loop. Jam with someone. Show up to an open mic.
A real project turns a skill from theoretical into practical. There's no better way to own something than putting it to use in the real world.
So here's a friendly challenge: come up with a project to work on. Small is fine. Just something that gets you playing instead of thinking about playing.
Here's a link to that video of The Bear. The quality isn't up to my current standards, but my musician friends knocked it out of the park. I have a fondness for the video because it started the ball rolling for me.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an actual bear mess to go clean up. Yuck!
-Dustin
P.S. If you want a structured project instead of a DIY one, the Essential Skills Course is built around exactly this idea — small, real practice you can put to use right away.