Last updated on January 6th, 2023
It may not seem obvious that you can learn how to play guitar by listening to guitar podcasts, but it’s true. In fact, for new players, learning to play by ear can be one of the most challenging skills to learn. Most new players learn the fundamentals, setting up their practice routine using visuals.
Watching videos and using tablature to learn the fundamentals, missing out on the audio element altogether. Meaning when they go to jam with other players, later on, new players are missing out on these skills.
That’s where these superb guitar podcasts come into play. Into play… yeah. So let us dive into the world of podcasts that are designed to help new players get those fundamentals down. Since learning to play an instrument is so high up on New Year’s resolutions, let us see if we can’t help out a bit.
What makes a good guitar podcast is somewhat subjective, but there are a few common threads that weave their way through the best ones. There are a million guitar podcasts out there, and an awesome one is going to cover a lot of material so a new player can keep coming back for more.
Well, sort of. Because a focused, limited-run podcast can also make a great guitar podcast. One focused on a particular period of jazz or rock, for instance. Much like any great history podcast, sometimes there’s only so much in a narrow focus.
With 145 episodes as of this writing and an average run time of roughly 9 minutes, this is one guitar podcast that’s not only devoted to making you a better player but is easy to fit into a busy day. One thing that makes new players hang up their ax for good is that lessons are too complicated or take an hour or more.
That’s just a lot of information to digest off the rip.
Each week, the show’s host, Marlene Hutchison, breaks out a new lesson, revisits one with comments in the show notes, or a guitar-related topic that needs to be touched on. It’s a show that really has newer players at heart. After all, she is the creator of learn to play in a day.
That may be a tad ambitious, but this is absolutely a show that deserves a new player’s attention.
A second problem new guitar players miss when they learn how to play guitar is guitar music theory itself. Even if you understand a keyboard (and you should first), the fretboard can be an intimidating, foreign environment.
Well, Desi Serna, is a fretboard expert and hosts this informative, approachable podcast. As a self-taught player, I find myself going back to this guitar podcast, again and again, to pick up lessons I missed along my 20-year journey playing this instrument.
Many episodes have accompanying videos on Desi’s YouTube channel, so if you need a little visual lift, it’s often there. This is another show that makes the theory behind the instrument accessible and is a subject I wish I hadn’t missed.
Adam Rafferty hosts 23 episodes on another style of how to play guitar I somehow missed. The fingerstyle play opens up an instrument far more than a pick ever could. If you’ve ever wanted to play around with alternate tunings like open C or something even more abstract, chances are your picking hand is going to be playing an important role.
If you missed out on this style of play, Adam has created a show geared toward new players and seasoned old dogs looking to learn new tricks quickly.
Episode 17, featuring Michael Fix of Australia, is my personal favorite episode thus far, but there’s something for everyone interested in this style of play.
I love the premise of this guitar podcast. The English band Radiohead has a long and eclectic career. Naturally, they’ve done some genre-blending, incorporating rock, electronic, and jazz, in making their albums over the decades.
Nick Kindelsperger and Austin Diaz, a food critic and Latin teacher, respectively, make their way through learning the entire catalog. Thus proving anyone can play guitar. Since Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, this premise, and this podcast are an absolute delight to listen to.
Even if you’re learning, it can serve as inspiration or motivation where you may not have known you needed it.
This one hasn’t been published in a minute, but if you love Jazz, you need to binge the 9 episodes that have been published.
Host Lyle Robinson sits down with some of the greatest living jazz guitarists to discuss everything there is to cover about music. It’s a masterclass in one of America’s greatest homegrown art forms. Everything from electric tone to acoustic rhythm is covered at one point or another.
While you’re exploring this particular show, feel free to see what other phenomenal jazz podcasts exist. Watch the Ken Burns documentary. Immerse yourself in the Jazz Guitar Life. That’s what jazz is all about, after all.
No list of amazing guitar podcasts should exist without mentioning the Tone Mob podcast. Guitar tone is as important to learning how to play guitar as is tuning. As is learning to strum a chord.
Blake Wyland started the show in 2015, so it is an OG podcast with hundreds of episodes now available. What started as nerdy, deep dives into amps, rights, and pedal boards, quickly grew into one of the most important guitar podcast interview shows in the world of podcasting.
It’s so much more than technical details, it’s stories, personalities, and idiosyncracies that make this instrument we love much more than a block of wood. If you ever find yourself frustrated with the pace of your progression, download a few episodes of the Tone Mob Podcast. You’ll find yourself strapping on again in no time.
If the Tone Mob Podcast evolved into something more “human,” the Guitar Nerds would adhere to the gear nerd root we all share. What makes it a great guitar podcast is the scope of material and guitar material they cover.
Want to know what to get your niece as her first guitar? There’s a 100% chance they have covered that in the nearly 500 episodes produced thus far.
Go back to the earlier episodes, and the easier how to play guitar materials are there. Then progress right along with the hosts as they begin to cover more complex topics, more intricate gear reviews, and more obscure topics as you progress as a player.
Part of being a growing guitar player is immersing yourself in the guitar world, and that’s something the Guitar Nerds podcast will help you to do.
You know when you’re listening to a good show. The passion for the subject is drilled into your ears as if the player were on the stage. This combination of pods will not only teach you the fundamentals of how to play guitar, but they will help immerse you in guitar culture.
If you’re going to be an impassioned player for life is equally important as the route fundamentals.
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