ANNOYING THINGS GUITARISTS DO → INCLUDING US! 

6 inch string "whiskers" hanging off the headstock.

My biggest pet peeve is when some players think that the music sucks if it's easy to play. Not everything has to be Dream Theater to be good!

Untrimmed Guitar strings after a string change. Cabs that are narrower than the Amp Head.

My biggest pet peeve is when local mom and pop music stores close up.

Not just guitarists, but any musician that thinks they have to play constantly during a song. Sometimes there are parts when you need to drop out. There are no dynamics if everyone is playing all the time.

Tuning without muting, constantly noodling while people are talking.

I was just poking around in Six-String Instrument Middle, years ago, and a guy was buying a Squire Strat and a little amp for his very young son. He was from Central America. I forget what country. He was shipping this all to his son at home. He needed a "wire." The sales rep talked him into a 20foot monster cable! For grade school kid, just learning to play. $30, with gold ends. If anything goes wrong with it, "you can get a new cable at any Guitar Center." I'm pretty sure there are no GC's in Ecuador! The sales rep kid really laid the BS on heavy. As soon as the rep disappeared for a minute, I showed the dad an 8 foot NoName, with Switchcraft chrome connectors for less than half the price.

Players who use so many effects and digital overlays you can't even tell if they're playing

side note: i once went to see a buddy's band. as a joke, he played the solo to american woman for every-single-song, the entire nite. i thought it was hillarious, but no one else did

Thank you for letting us witness your support group.

Loved your comments about "it's not the instrument it's the player". I had a friend who was an incredible Strat player. He was driving to a gig and someone rear ended his car and totaled not only his car but also his guitar. It was CRUSHED. So, he got someone to take him home and he borrowed his son's Squire that he bought from a Good Will Store for $9.50. He was not making enough money to have 3 or 4 guitars for back ups but he had nine fifty for his son. He has done a bit of work on it but not much. Tuners, strings, leveled the neck and gave it a severe cleaning. He came back to the tavern where he was playing, plugged his son's turquoise blue Squire into his amp and I promise you, I could not tell the difference. He was no Jeff Beck but for the level that he played at, he was incredible. Your "pet peeve" really made me laugh when I thought of my friend playing his sons Squire!!! Great video. Thanks for the chuckles!!!

One of the reasons Holdsworth changed gear so much was because, unfortunately, he didn't sell records. He had a wife and kids, and had to provide for them. Often strapped for cash, he had to sell stuff now and then. An awful reality for such an amazing talent.

My biggest pet peeve is when I am playing my own rendition of a song and some elitist player says something like ‘That’s not how Page does it “ or ‘you played that riff wrong, it’s not like on the record’. Its like, DUDE IM NOT JIMMY PAGE. I’m Paula and it how I WANT to play it. Seriously WTF?!

Gold alloy connectors do not improve the perceivable sound -they prevent oxidation better than Nickel alloys -that's it.

Trying to have a conversation with the band without the guitarist cycling through the top 100 guitar riffs of all time like a shuffled Spotify playlist

*slowly reaches over and carefully removes polytune from the headstock of my white les paul* *sobs*

My pet peeve is when you try to talk to a guitarist about music and all they want to talk about is gear.

Singer/songwriters moving the Capo back and forth, while explaining the lyrics for three minutes. Then the song turns out to be shorter, like 2-2,5 mins.

The bit about the gold-plated drumkit reminded me of being in Sydney, going into a music shop where they had a SPECIAL EDITION Yamaha DX7 (Five millionth or whatever). The white keys were silver, the black keys were gold....I was contemplating this instrument in bemusement when one of the shop guys came up - we both looked at the instrument in silence for a while and then he said, quietly, with wonderful Aussie succintness ......."Yeah.....fuckin' atrocious ain't it ?"

When you're trying to rehearse and band members can't stop playing in between songs. Cut that S@!t OUT!!!

On the Allan Holdsworth comment: It's basically become the same situation you've seen for years in Gypsy Jazz guitar -- Django's style is essentially the basis of the entire sound, but thousands of players now exist within that genre who emulate him while still developing their own unique voice. I think the same can be said about players who have taken substantial influence from Holdsworth in their soloing style, such as Tim Miller, early Alex Machacek, Paul Masvidal, Fredrik Thordendal, Derryl Gabel, etc. When a player like Holdsworth is so innovative that their style births an entire subgenre, a lot of amazing players within that movement get dismissed as clones because people are too lazy to truly listen and discover what makes them unique.

Playing with different bands over the years I run across some that can't keep a tempo, especially when they get louder. They get faster the louder they get or get slower when get softer. I'm a drummer who is playing guitar and it drives me crazy. I can't even tap tempo and keep my delay straight with all the different tempos going on. The other thing is watching someone rapping there cable over their shoulder and elbow. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! And they wonder why their cables don't last. There I feel better. Thanks guys.

My biggest pet peeve is guitarists who believe that the faster you play and the more notes you play is what makes you a good guitarist lol I call that type of playing "guitar gymnastics". Please guys, leave that s*** in your bedroom, will you? I also can't tolerate those players that play solos comprised of simply running up and down the scale in a "this scale is what I play over this chord" fashion. Hey boneheads, you're supposed to just pick out certain notes and create memorable riffs. You're supposed to play inside the music, not through it and over it. Also can't tolerate guitarist who feel they're somehow better musicians than bass players just because they play the guitar lol Hey Mr. Egomaniac, any bass player worth his salt can play guitar. We didn't choose the bass because we couldn't play the guitar. We chose the bass because we love to groove. Can't tell you how many "shredders" I've met that can't Groove to save their lives when you put a bass in their hands. They play the f****** bass like they're playing a guitar solo. No bottom end, no foundation and no Groove.

“Road worn” guitars. People want the street cred without the practice and play time so they put 100 years of wear on a brand new guitar. It’s dumb

I know a guitarist that constantly hums while he plays. The problem is what he’s humming is not even in the same UNIVERSE as what he’s playing!

How do you get a guitar player to turn down? Put a chart in front of them.

Rick, how about making a video about cheap instruments and making music?

I am generally annoyed at everything but I have never been even remotely annoyed by a Rick Beato video. Always a pleasure.

Objectively awesome and great guitarists that figure, "Hey, I'm a great guitarist -- That means I'm also a great songwriter and singer."

"Hey, everybody. I'm Rigby Otto, I'm Brett Soul, Davon Righto." The magic of RU-vid translation.

To me, and no hate towards you guys because you touched on this, my biggest pet peeve is guitar guys who bash other guitar guys for trying to emulate someone else’s rig. I think it’s pretty cool for someone who can afford it to put together EVH’s rig from VH1. Even though you’ll never sound just like him, it’s so cool to be able to afford to do it and to have the knowledge to do so. And also, you’ll never capture his tone, but you might stumble across your own along the way.

When Monster cable molded ends fail, all you need to do is cut the end off, strip off some insulation, and put normal connector on. No need to throw the whole cable out!

Skilled guitarists that memorize 1000 cover tunes but can't jam freely or improvise

My guitarist never buys his own batteries. "Hey, do you have a 9V for my active pickups? Hey I need some AAs for my in ears."

when people mess with your volume/tone settings without asking

I guess the little guitar tuners have replaced the headstock cigarette :)

I gave my Brian May guitar to a shop to change the frets. When I got the guitar back, I found that he had changed the radius. He said that the small radius was more for "strumming" rather than lead playing. A huge feature of the BMG is the small radius, so without asking me, he ruined the guitar.

Bandmates that tune by ear and their band has a keyboard player.

Churches want to eliminate cables and amps when possible so the sermon stage is empty for the message. It’s really good to get as much stuff offstage quickly for the sermon

Never mind guitarists... singers that walk on your cables and pissed audience members that get up on stage....

Players that claim there’s a sound difference between maple and rosewood necks

Big pet peeve of mine 'pre-aged' guitars. It's like paying extra for jeans that already have holes in them!

People who have guitars "displayed" in their homes outside of their cases and never play them, just dust collectors.

Pet peeves: guitar players that look like they are having muscle spasms because they can't play anything without constant vibrato (and it's usually bad vibrato), clank from either too light strings / picking too hard or some combination therein, and last but not least - bad time.

I know a guy who doesn't clean his guitar....ever. When I played it my fingers got tacky so I looked closer. Imagine years of pizza,ribs, fried chicken all layered like geologic history crusted on the fretboard. You could tell where on the neck he played most as the grime was polished away. Crud came level to the fret tops which were oxidized black. I commented that his guitar could be toxic and wiped it with a rag. It looked like I cleaned a bike chain. He acted like the guy who feels cleaning the bbq ruins the flavor.

Playing out of tune. And then you tell them they’re out of tune and they’re totally oblivious.

Guitarists who don't wash their hands before playing my guitars.

My pet peeve is my dog named "peeve".

I have never taken a music theory course or play any instrument yet I enjoy watching pretty much every Rick Beato video.

Here's a "gold sounds better" cautionary tale. My company used to make 2 versions of a printed circuit board for a client. As background, nearly 100% of all PCBs are built by printing an image of the circuit onto a sheet of copper that's bonded to a fiberglass insulation layer, then etching away the part of the copper that is not needed for the circuit. This was no exception. For one version, we'd etch it, then put the green protective epoxy solder mask over the whole copper circuit except the solder pads, then we'd put the metal finish onto the pads to make them solderable, so they'd accept components. That was the basic version, Version 1. For the "deluxe" version, after etching we'd coat the copper circuit with ENIG (a micro-thin, soft chemical gold over nickel) before applying a black epoxy solder mask over all of the gold except the pads. Call that Version 2. Our customer would sell Version 2 to self-appointed audiophiles for 7x the cost of the standard version, on the grounds that "gold sounds better." But the circuitry that was actually carrying the signal was the same on both versions -- .0028"-thick copper. The gold coating was only .000001"-.000002" thick, and wasn't doing squat, electrically or sonically. Admittedly, the black version coated with the non-functional gold did LOOK pretty sweet, but it was functionally identical. And since the board could not even be seen once it was installed, the only benefit to the "audiophile" was the joy of unboxing such a visually handsome object, and fantasizing about the "enhanced frequency response" and "superior sonic detail" that the premium gold circuitry would deliver. The benefit to the seller was that he could charge 7x to deluded elitists, despite having only paid my company only about a 10% premium for applying that shiny non-functional gold coating to half of the same lot of PCBs.

This kind of reminds me of the old guys in the balcony on the Muppets! ;-)

#1 Bragging about their gear like their's is the ONLY way to play guitar, lol.

1. Noodling between songs 2. Ending every run on the root. Please, don’t be “that guy”. 3. Using too much gain.

Funniest thing I had ever seen was running an E drum mesh kit with a Plexi Shield around it.. I literally LMAO

My BIGGEST 'peeve' is... 'Relicing'. I can't stand it and can't stand supposed smart Pros drolling over a new Custom Built Guitar (of any brand) that looks like it should be on a Trash Heep. I can understand Fender doing it on a Stevie Ray Vaughan Re-issue Strat. Or a Fender Re-Issue of Clapton's Strat Blackie w/ appropriate cigarette burns, but those examples are about it. My newest Strat, is a Fender Deluxe series in Translucent Blue on an Ash body, with a 12" Radius Maple Fretboard (plus other goodies) but the bottom line is the guitar is simply GORGEOUS. All my other guitars (4 others are Strats) are equally easy on the eyes. My oldest Strat is my '86 Fender 'Super Strat', Candy Apple Red, Schaller Locking Trem & 12"Radius Rosewood FB. That has aged nicely all on its own, including the dings. No 'Relicing' req'd.

Saw Derek Trucks about 3 years ago at the Ryman in Nashville with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. The crowd was literally on their feet cheering every time he soloed. It was probably the best, most moving, gut level/heart level playing I've ever heard, and I've heard a bunch.

BIGGEST player pet peeve... TUNING without muting your signal! ESPECIALLY live! 😎🤘

Soldering is actually fun too, you can get creative with it once you learn how, and it isn't hard to learn. You can build your own equipment if you learn how to solder.

In my profession it's the Photo Doctor - a physician who owns all the best photo gear.

Those plastic pick holders that stick on the body of the guitar... Yuk!

#1 Noodling between songs. Then not being ready fro the next song.

So my two guitar player pet peeves: 1. Playing Too Loud, so we finally solved it by these methods.1. In ears, 2. tilting our amps up to our ears, or putting the guitar amp on a 3 to 5 foot stand so the guitarists can hear your sound in your ears directly and not blasting the rest of the band, especially blasting the lead singer who is in front of the guitar amps. I am older and now have constant ringing in my ears from the ( other ) guitar player in the band. 2nd pet peeve. Too many pedals and constantly making adjustments during rehearsal. I used to be the guy with all the pedals and those knobs, adjustments, and forever adjusting my tone. I finally at a whim, bought a Digitech ELMTXPV-01 an all in one unit. It was a revelation using it, not much of a learning curve. Now I just use factory created patches that I find before rehearsal for each song, write it down on the song page, and with one knob or foot switch click, I have that same exact tone every time. At rehearsal, call the song and I just dial in the patch for the song. I can create new patches if I want, that does take time, but once I put it in memory it's there forever, almost forever or until it breaks. And finally the unit is easy to set up, no batteries to change and very small and light to carry to gigs or rehearsals too. lol I am older now and just want everything to be easier.

I've been waiting for commentary on the brilliance of Derek Trucks. A mind blowing guitarist with seemingly no ego. Have seen him multiple times in both Allman Brothers Band, DTB and now TTB and his playing just moves you in a way that other guitarists just don't.

The wireless thing makes more sense if you have been shocked a few times! I thought it was always about mobility, but it makes sense if you have played somewhere that has a half-ass electrical system! Nothing quite like being shocked on the lips by a microphone!

One time I wrapped my cable under my strap so I wouldn’t pull it out on accident and instead I accidentally pulled it out of the amp 🤦🏾‍♂️

Crap, I leave my head stock tuner on, but I'm a bass player so no ones probably looking at me anyway, lol!

My pet peeve is stickers all over a vintage guitar body, on the front and back even on the headstock.

I'm so guilty of the first one; I've had that silly tuner on the head stock and , the capo , and flowers , doobies and the occasional female garment. But I can change... This is currently my favorite channel . Thank you for all the amazing content !

Intentionally sliding up and down the strings to make noise before getting to the right position to actually start. Gratuitous pick slides. General wankery in public.

being competitive, and thinking there is some universal calibration of being "good', when some people who know nothing, or even some moderately talented indie player can have more feel and emotion that some bottom lip-biting fretwanker

#1. Putting the guitar down in funky ways and obscure places other than a guitar stand. #2. Playing everything in E pentatonic minor.

right off the bat-----"peeve's" why would you think you need that apostrophe?? ;)

Please don't do, 'Pet Peeves : Drummer Edition'... RU-vid servers don't have enough storage space..... ! ✊️🤣❤️ x

Guitar players who "retune" my guitar when they borrow it to play a song after I just tuned it. I was going to say 'guitarists' but they're not,

interviewer: "what kind of strings do you use?" paul mccartney: "long shiny ones" (& this is the guy that had a tech put a zero-fret on his rickenbacker)

I am old school. When tuning us your ear. Make proper tuning part of you. I use a A440 tuning fork or foot pedal tuner and get my A string tune. The I tune the rest by ear using the guitar. It isn’t whether your gear says it’s right, it is how it sounds. I use several places on the neck to tune so I get the balance of chord tuning across the whole neck no matter where I play. Each guitar has its own dynamic response up and down the neck. Only way I have ever been happy with my sound on a particular guitar. Don’t become digital tuner drone. Let the instrument and wood tell you what is right. That’s just me.

I have found the 'better' true musicians are.....the less they care about what they are playing on.

This had me howling with laughter! 1st gig we played, we were playing Take It On The Run by REO. When the solo hits, I stepped forward, onto my cord, unplugged it! I started laughing, plugged back in and caught up. I play in church. That plexiglass is VERY important. In most churches, the drums will overpower all other instruments. Love the channel Rick.

Relic’d guitars. A ridiculous affectation.

Guitarist who never practice with a metronome or to recorded music thinking they have "good time"

"Asking about the strings and picks I use is like asking a writer what brand of typewriter he uses. The guitar is nothing more than a typewriter" - Howard Roberts

Most annoying thing about my guitarist buddies are they can’t hold down a decent job, they’re complete slobs, can’t seem to stay with a woman, and they’re always broke.

The one thing that just drives me crazy is seeing any guitar and especially an acoustic that the player has left the string ends long not having clipped the ends to where they are just waving in the wind like shiny cat wiskers on the head stock looks so unkept and ......ugh I just wanna slap him silly......

Guitarists who can't hear how rough certain parts they're playing don't really fit with the rest of everything else that's going on and can't take a bit constructive criticism and just carry on doing the same thing!! 😲

Always nice to hear Jack Pearson get a mention. What a monster and such a humble guy. Thanks for the content, gents.

Clip on tuners. I don’t mind them at jams, but not on stage. With tuners, I find people not using their ears. I use a tuner to tune a D or G string and depend on my ears for the rest of the five strings. But, at age 71 I learned guitar/bass with a harmonica or tuning fork in my case

I sound like Jimi and Derek if their hands were in casts.

I’m guilty of leaving the tuner on the headstock on one guitar and it’s usually on a guitar in stand that I’m not playing. I’m playing for an audience of one, myself and maybe my lovely wife. Leaving a capo on the headstock drives me crazy. Strings- I like those poly web or mono web (I can’t remember which one right now) elixirs because I don’t have to change them as often. Im guilty of not changing strings when they need changing. On acoustic, I’ll typically start messing around with a bunch of opening tuning songs. And I don’t practice enough. I work all day, go to the gym on the way home, eat diner, shower, and if I don’t have more work to do, I’ll practice for a little while. We go to bed early and wake up at 5:00 am. It’s called an excuse but excuses aren’t justifiable. I met Allan Holdsworth in Tel Aviv. He was staying at out hotel. Every time you say his name, I brag about meeting him. I don’t like listening to the super fast shredders and I’m not impressed with guitar payers who only play cowboy chords.

No cable is safe from puppies.

Most annoying thing... Guitarists who relic their guitars. Rash has to be earned! (let's be honest tho... Some of the relics do look pretty sweet.)

I use a wireless pickup because I like to stand when I play and I’m a klutz. 11 years ago a tripped over my cable and tore up my knee. Ever since, I might not “need” it but I go wireless.

“Acting nonchalant about opening for frickin Def Leppard.” @4:30

I was a bass player in the 80s 90s and 2000s. I jumped off the pathetic little 6" band riser and rythym guitar guy standing on the cable. Bad ass secure locking cable. What could go wrong? Ripped the guts out of the borrowed j.b player bass. Gone. Fixed it in 15 min on a booth table and finished the gig. That bass also survived a parking lot hellicopter flight and slammed a curb. Fretboard cracked at a fret but put it back together for the next night. Ever had an amp fry and have to hit the closest pawn shop that has anything? Lol! Good times!

I love how Rick says they need to take a minute to talk about the great Derek Trucks, then immediately fanboys for 10 minutes at the mention of Holdsworth!

I hate when guitarists do not clip the excess parts of their strings on the headstock

My pet peeve is gear snobs. I played with Peavey Bandits live for many years. I joined a band in the late 80s and they didn't want me to go on stage with my Peavey amps. They said at least take the big Peavey logo off. They were embarrassed. I had a great sound using them with a Telecaster. Eventually, they came around. Sometimes at a gig, another guitar player would come up during a break and ask how to get my guitar sound. I'd tell them they need a clean amp like a Peavey. They would reply, I can't go on stage with a Peavey man! lol I need my Marshall.

“Tele Twang” is a bothersome term. Makes me cringe. Telecasters are used in many non-twangy genres, and the marketers of this guitar and the pickups insist that you will get that “tele twang”

Tuning without muting. Also, not checking your tuning when using a capo. Playing acoustic as if you're grating cheese, no dynamics, just loudly strumming the crap out of it. Assuming your instrument is the most advanced because it has the most strings. Therefore, you are automatically the leader of the band.

If I had the luxury of bringing my guitar to Dave for a setup and he swapped out anything...I’d be a fool to question it. If I ever get to bring my guitars to you, do whatever you think is best. If I can afford it, rock on. I’ll defer to the expert.

I love how every time you name drop someone I have no idea who they are.