Best Gear for YouTube Guitarists: My Recording Setup

Guitar

Cordoba Stage

This is my primary recording guitar. I got the Cordoba Stage because I've always been fascinated with classical guitar and wanted something I could learn on without committing to the full classical experience. This guitar has a 48mm wide nut, which isn't as wide as a true classical but is much wider than a standard electric or acoustic guitar neck. This lets me play some chords and other things better and more cleanly than I could on a normal acoustic. It's not the right choice for every song, but I've found that songs that sound good on piano always sound good on this guitar. I love this thing and highly recommend it. The previous model years are also fantastic, but fair warning - the finishes on the newer ones are absolutely sick.

Guitar

Takamine TK-40

This is my old reliable, the first guitar I ever actually owned, my beautiful Takamine. It's dusty in the photo but don't let that fool you - this guitar never fails me. It's got a pretty fat neck which I love mostly because I learned with it, but if I were to pick a single nice beginner to intermediate guitar, this would be it. It sounds great, plays great, and won't let you down. I love Takamines. (This isn't my exact guitar because I've had mine almost 15 years, but this version is almost identical.)

Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

This guitar once belonged to a family friend who taught me to play guitar. I remember going to guitar lessons and admiring this guitar, always wanting to learn to play it, and it was so much fun when he let me pluck out my little lesson songs on this thing plugged into his amp.

The Strat is obviously a legend. I love this guitar because it has so many versatile sounds that work from any genre from blues to fingerstyle to jazz to hard rock. Don't let the branding fool you, either - Squier Strats are very good these days, and you don't have to spring for an American made Strat to love playing your guitar. I'm mixing this guitar in more and more as I find more fingerstyle songs that it's suited for.

Guitar

Traveler Guitar Ultra-Light Nylon

I travel all the time for work, and I found myself wandering into the local guitar center in whatever city I was in way too often. After scouring the internet for the best possible travel guitar solutions, I found this little guy. It fits in an overhead bin on the plane, and attaches to my backpack so I can carry it on along with my roller bag (that's a pro hack by the way - if it's clipped to your backpack, it counts as one item). And I've been pretty amazed at the sound coming out of this thing when it's properly plugged in and amplified. You absolutely need a strap to play it comfortably, and having something like the Fender Mustang headphone amp helps a lot too (skip the one from Traveler, it's not as good). But since I got my Traveler guitar, I've finally started to relax more on my work trips.

Amp

Fender Mustang Micro

I use the fender micro for most of my recording when I'm traveling, as well as for practice when I can't turn on an amp. It's a great little tool, and even lets you play your guitar through a speaker if you have a speaker that takes an aux cable (you could probably play guitar through your car if you really wanted to).

Interface

Focusrite Scarlett Solo

I use the scarlett solo for my at home recordings. I like it because it has clean throughput to my computer, and it takes a 1/4 inch cable input which I can use from any of my other guitar gear. I could probably get by with just the Fender Mustang micro, but this tool is a little more studio quality and not much more expensive. It's portable enough as well, and has great headphone support. If I wasn't traveling with my guitar so much I would probably just have this or the Mustang, not both. But they are both great tools. Be aware that there are many high end options from Scarlett / Focusrite as well but they're overkill for my needs.

Camera

DJI Osmo Nano

This camera lets me do some cool camera angles, and it's a lot more fun and easy than my phone for a lot of my videos. I like to stick it to my guitar with the included suction cup or clamp it to a table, especially when I'm traveling.

Mount

SmallRig Magic Arm + Clamp

I use this for positioning my camera, phone, or osmo nano. It lets me clamp to my desk or a hotel desk or even my guitar (not recommended with heavy cameras - it can dent the wood of your guitar if you clamp it too tightly, but on some of my guitars that doesn't really bother me). You can also get a more lightweight version, but this one is great for all cameras, even full-size mirrorless cameras.

Headphones

Sony WH-1000XM4

The best noise canceling headphones on the market in my opinion, and the best fit for my big head.

Accessory

Shubb Capo

Just get a Shubb capo. Just do it. It's a classic design, adjusts easily for all your guitars, and just works great. No springs, no fuss.

Accessory

Fender FCT-2 Clip-On Tuner

This little tuner works great and fits in any bag.