Recording can be intimidating. Playing an instrument is all fun and games until you’re being taped. Once you click record, you’re anxious and nervous and more prone to mistakes.
It happens to all of us, trust me. Heck, who really wants to watch and hear themselves back anyways? You probably look awkward and weren’t playing as well as you thought you were. But it’s better to know now in the comfort of your own home than to play proudly for others just to have them laugh at you cause you’re not as good as you think you are. Just like singing, what you hear in your head is not what others are hearing, so self-awareness is vital.
When I picked up guitar again in 2020, I started my Instagram account not long after as both a journal for my growth, but to also get used to being recorded and being seen. I’m aware that I’m a beginner, so I don’t try to upload anything perfect. Regardless, just hearing myself back made me aware of my tone, my sloppy muting, my stage presence, and many other things that needed to improve if I wanted to play on stage one day.
So I wanted to share some things I’ve noticed and how I’ve improved since I started recording myself, and why I think you should start recording yourself as well.
1. You’ll Be Motivated By Your Progress
Guitar is a long wearisome path. It may feel like you’re not improving or learning much, but you are! Whether you feel that way or not, your picking is faster, your chord changes are cleaner, you aren’t looking at your hands that much!
Even if the early days doesn’t seem that glamourous, you can compare it to parents who want to capture memories of their child growing up. It’s always great to be able to look back and see how much you’ve changed and how much you’ve learned.
Even those struggles and failures are valuable when you finally succeed. Seeing yourself from 4 months ago and realizing how you’ve improved will only encourage and motivate you to keep going.
2. You Can See Your Trouble Spots More Clearly
Things may feel or sound good in the moment. You may truly believe you are killing it! But some things aren’t as noticeable as when you are watching or listening to a performance.
Perhaps your hand are strumming too close to the neck/bridge, or your barre chords aren’t ringing clearly. Maybe your timing is off and your solo doesn’t sound like the official recording. Maybe you got awkward inconsistent strumming.
If you’re not recording, how can you go back and review it to see where to improve? You need to make it hard for yourself to ignore your mistakes so you can truly grow and improve as a guitarist. It doesn’t matter what you hear in the moment being so close to the guitar, what matters is what the audience hears coming out of your amp.
3. It Creates Better Practice Habits
One thing about recording for Instagram is that you can’t keep recording the same song or passage over and over. A lot of guitarists say they practice the same songs and drills when they play, but once you make a commitment to record, there’s a lot more urgency to try new things, to master certain things, and to keep improving. Even if you don’t intend to upload online, you’re still going to get tired of hearing certain things back, or seeing the same mistakes again and again, so it will push you to actually do better than last time.
4. Helps You Ease Some Nerves
You will never get comfortable being watched if you’re never in front of eyes. You’ll never be comfortable in front of a camera if you’re never in front of lenses. You may think that when you improve, it will be easier then, but boy, are you wrong. This is something you need to practice and get used to, and only when you can forget you’re being recorded can you actually feel comfortable in front of the cam.
Consider this. Let’s say you’ve never asked a girl out. It’s scary and intimidating, and you know you’ll be heart broken if you got rejected. You may think, “oh, I’ll be more confident when I’m rich and famous and girls want me,” so you go out and become successful….do you really think asking a girl out will suddenly become easy? Asking a girl out only gets easier when you’ve done it quite a few times and you learn not to weigh so much on the turn out. Same with job interviews. You can have all the credentials an employer could possibly want, but that won’t make you better at job interviews.
Having internal confidence or confidence in your playing is great, but feeling confident in front of a camera is a whole nother ball game. The sooner you start and the more experience you build, the better off you’ll be when you actually have record-worthy content.
5. Prepares You For Actual Recordings
If you are someone who plans to one day record for Youtube or you aim to be on stage, you will be recorded at one point or another. It’s important to know you you and your guitar sounds.
Is it clear and clean? Is the distortion or reverb at the levels you want? Do you need to work on muting a bit more as certain notes keep ringing out? Maybe a section is just to fast for you, so it makes more sense to cut a few notes than to leave it jumbled up. Maybe, your instrument or your gear actually sucks and it would be worth it to invest in better equipment. Don’t wait until you NEED to submit a recording to figure out how you actually sound recorded.
6. You Can Work On Your Stage Presence
A coach once told me, when you’re recording your voice for a video, you NEED to exaggerate. You need to sound 5X more happy and energetic for your voice to not put people to sleep.
Anything recorded will automatically sound more dead because you aren’t in an environment where people are distracted or just happy to be near you. They are watching with a critical eye and there’s no way to hide anything as they can rewatch it anytime.
When you’re playing an instrument, if you’re simply ‘playing your instrument’, it can be dreadfully boring for viewers. You can tell when a musician is really into their music. Their head is swaying, their arms are exaggerated, they are walking around and just having fun.
So if you ever plan to perform, you need to get moving and you need to be aware of how your body language is shown on stage. Do you look mad or bored? Are you standing stiff? Or actually jamming and getting into it, putting on a show? How would you know? Consider the camera your audience and have fun!
7. It’s Something You Can Show Others
If it ever comes up in conversation, which I’m sure it will, it’s always nice to have a few recordings ready. In a world where every other person has picked up the guitar at one point, some people will doubt you. Very few self claimed ‘guitarists’ can prove it.
While you should never feel the need to prove yourself, it’s always good to have for other reasons. Maybe you do want to impress someone, or there’s a call looking for someone, or you’re auditioning for a band and they asked for some clips. Don’t wait until you need it and the pressure is on, get your best clips early on so you have them just in case.
8. You’ll Be Harder On Yourself
It’s never a bad thing to be a little hard on yourself, especially if that project or hobby means something to you. If you’ve recorded yourself a few times and you don’t see much improvement, some may get discouraged, but others may realize this is their wake up call.
You may need to practice more often, or actually adopt some exercises, or maybe invest in lessons. A lot of guitarists hit a point where they’re just past the beginner stage but they aren’t sure where to go next. If this is the case for you, I highly recommend GuitarTricks as it helped me fill in the holes for my foundation (Get an unlimited 2 week trial with my affiliate link. If you purchase it, I will get a small commission which helps me keep this blog up and running: )
All in all, if you aren’t satisfied when you hear yourself back, even though you know you are doing your best, it will push you to seek the answers or assistance you need to are happy with how you sound.
9. It’s A Great Way To Reflect
Similar to how journaling is a chance for you to go over your thoughts, feelings, memories, your struggles, and figure out how you want to move forward in your life, recording yourself can do a similar thing. You don’t have to just record your playing, you can talk to the camera and share how you’re feeling. Talk to the camera like you would talk to an audience.
It’s always a little funny when I review some bloopers and outtakes from old recordings. Sometimes I’m silly and extra, just having a lot of fun. Other times, I’m sitting their frustrated or depressed cause I know I could play this song, but I keep messing up. It’s always interesting seeing your younger self in their own little world. Hearing your own thoughts or seeing your own face can also help tremendously on your personal growth path.
10. You Can See Just How Awesome You Are
You ever just sit and think to yourself like “wow, I’m a guitarist…I can actually play this wooden instrument!” Sometimes it’s hard to accept when you’re just fiddling around on your couch, but when you actually have a good recording and you’re happy with your playing and your stage presence, it just makes it that much more real. You are cool, you are a great player, and you’ve made it this far that you can actually play songs or create original stuff. Be proud of that. Even if other’s try to put you down, you know you have these clips where you were killing it, and that’s all that matters!
Conclusion
I hope this article has inspired and pushed you to start recording today (or tomorrow). I know it may seem like a pain to set up a camera and it’s going to be really awkward at first, but it only gets easier when you forget it’s even there and your true personality can be shown. You’ll only get better at performing if you take opportunities to practice and possibly be seen.
If you’re a beginner musician, I definitely recommend you check out my Hard Work vs Natural Talent Article, and How To Avoid Comparison & Low Confidence As A Newer Musician Article. I also have many other useful posts with insight and tips on my blog.
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