Rhett Shull sits down with Gibson Gear Guide Host Dinesh Lekhraj to break down what it really takes to win on YouTube, how to choose the right guitar, and his one trick for playing better solos
If you watch guitar content on YouTube, you know who Rhett Shull is. With over 750,000 subscribers on YouTube alone, the man knows a thing or two about running a successful channel, making money online from music, and enjoying it along the way. Recently, we sat down with Rhett on the Gibson Gear Guide couch in Nashville to talk about that part of the guitar world that most of us dream of tapping into—making a real income from playing, touring, and creating content online.
In this interview, Rhett gets brutally honest about what it takes to succeed as a guitar YouTuber, why you have to get comfortable with failure, and what musicians should learn now if they want to earn a living longterm given the rise of AI. Rhett also drops some incredible advice for guitarists, including how he chooses gear, what beginners should prioritize when buying their first guitar, and why triads are actually the best way to unlock your fretboard.
If you’re watching from the Gibson Gazette, the timestamps are below. Rhett is playing a Gibson Custom Les Paul 1959 with Murphy Lab Aging, and Dinesh is playing a Gibson ES-330.
0:00 Rhett’s thoughts and intro jam
2:44 How Rhett started on YouTube
4:10 How much time Rhett spends working on YouTube
5:06 Rhett’s advice on how to figure out what works on YouTube
7:31 How Rhett started playing guitar
11:11 Advice for new guitarists and musicians
12:59 The importance of learning to record and promote your music
14:01 How Rhett chooses guitar gear
16:02 How to choose your first guitar
18:24 Advice on how to make money as a musician
21:12 Would Rhett encourage people to start a YouTube channel?
22:15 What it takes to be successful on YouTube
24:54 Rhett’s chord voicing tricks
27:02 The one thing Rhett wants you to learn on guitar
29:32 His one-string solo trick
31:37 His favorite thing to do as a guitar player
32:45 Rhett’s one piece of advice for guitarists
35:31 Should every guitarist create content online?
37:40 Rhett’s opinion on the future of tube amps versus modelers
40:44 His plans for the future
42:23 Outro jam
Forging a successful career on YouTube
During the discussion, Rhett talks about what it’s like to build a career on YouTube and how it’s essentially another version of the same creative grind musicians already know. This is a useful perspective and essential advice if you want to start a guitar channel. Just be prepared to get frustrated. “I think you have to be willing to fail constantly every day in big ways and small ways,” he says. “You’ll spend a ton of time on an idea that you think is gonna work, and then it completely falls flat and bombs, and then the thing that you put almost no effort into is the thing that blows up, and you don’t understand why.”
When it comes to his one key piece of advice, it’s as follows. Spoiler alert: there’s no shortcut and no substitute for hard work. “If you want to be successful on YouTube, you need to be prepared to work 40 plus hours a week making stuff that no one will watch, and that you will not get paid for for two years.”
Rhett says you have to be willing to fail constantly, every day
How Rhett chooses a guitar based on the “Oh shit” moment
How does one of the biggest guitar YouTubers on the planet choose his guitar gear? It’s actually pretty simple. “There’s a moment where if you pick a guitar up off the wall and you strum it and it just speaks to you,” he says. “I call it the ‘Oh shit’ moment. Like you play a guitar and go, ‘Oh shit, this is good.’”
Rhett’s advice for choosing your first guitar is super simple, too: “Which one do you like the look of the best?” he asks. “I’ve played Epiphones that do that thing, just like I’ve played super high-end Murphy Lab guitars. There is no direct correlation between the amount of money spent and inspiration.”
Rhett Shull’s one piece of advice for guitarists
As always, we ask our guests for their one piece of essential guitar advice. And if you’re a guitarist trying to unlock the fretboard or just make your guitar solos stand out, this is a great guitar lesson that’s easy to enjoy and easy to play along to. “If you’re gonna learn one thing in terms of music theory on the guitar, it should be triads, in my opinion.” Rhett says. “You can do so much. Use the idea of triads to branch off to so many other areas of guitar.”
Watch the full interview now on the Gibson Gear Guide, and check out the collection of artfully aged Murphy Lab guitars from Gibson Custom today.
