Chords for The Ups and Downs of Headless Guitars - Gear Gods

Today [Eb] I want to talk to you a little bit about the upsides and downsides of owning a headless guitar.
This video is [Gb] sponsored by [G] DistroKid, which is, in my opinion, the best way for you to get your music on the internet.
[Eb] I use it for In [Gbm] Virtue, and we use it for [G] the Dread Machine song.
And in my opinion, one of the best parts about it is the ability [Cm] to split the [Bb] earnings among everyone who is involved in the song who has a [G] DistroKid account.
Let's start with the [Bb] five upsides of owning a headless guitar.
Number [Am] one, and definitely the most [D] important as far as I'm concerned, is the ergonomics.
_ Headless guitars tend [Gb] to be [G] quite a bit lighter than traditional guitars, because [D] not only have you [Ebm] eliminated a big [Dm] chunk [G] of wood out of the guitar, [D] but also the tuners that come with [G] it.
The tuners on the [Eb] headstock are [G]
very heavy, a lot heavier than you might think, and having a nice light guitar [Eb] overall [G] is much better for your body, for your bones.
It's so much better for your [Cm] bones!
Some people [Bb] have no problem playing heavy guitars.
[F] You know, Slash has never [G] complained about playing a 400-pound [C] Les Paul around his [Bb] neck for 30, [F] 40 years.
But [D] for me, having a light guitar is paramount, because when you play standing [G] up and you've got a strap and it's [D] weighing down on your shoulder, it pinches off a couple of important nerves that run through your shoulder and down your arm and into your hand.
[G] Because there's no weight of the headstock, [Eb] _ _
[G] headless guitars are generally a lot better balanced than your typical guitar, and that means that there's no [Eb] neck dive, which means you're not [G] fighting with the guitar to keep it up like an SG, _ which is the worst guitar [Cm] ever made. _
SG [Bb] stands for shitty guitar.
Mr.
Gibson said that.
[G] Upside number two is [C] faster string changes.
[Bb] Because of the way that headless guitar hardware and locking nuts are set up, [D] it's kind of like locking tuners.
When you don't have to wrap a string around a post, you're going to save hours of your life that you would otherwise never get back.
Upside number [Ebm] three [Dm] is super convenient [Gb] [D] travel.
So, as you can see, the case for these guitars [E] is extremely small.
People [Eb] will probably ask you [Gm] if you play a violin or a ukulele, and they might laugh at you, but you're going to laugh all the way to the airplane, [B] where they're going to let you bring it on [G] and stick it in the overhead compartment or in the closet.
Also, just day-to-day convenience [Cm] of carrying it around to rehearsal, [Bb] to gigs, all that [Dm] kind of stuff.
It's a lot lighter [G] and easier to carry.
[C] Number four, squeaks.
_ [Bb] _ _ _ Upside number four, they just [D] look cool.
I mean, look at this.
Where's the head?
_ _ And upside number five, you're not going to smack your bandmates in the face with the headstock of your guitar while you are on stage.
This is a very real danger.
It has happened to me before, and this makes [G] me feel a lot safer.
[Eb] These days, [Gb] having your music on [Gm] every available [G] platform and getting multiple income streams from your music [Eb] is [Gb] absolutely [G] paramount.
And DistroKid just makes it [Dm] _
[G] incredibly easy for you to do this.
[Cm] All you have to do is [Bb] upload your song, and then you choose what platforms it goes [G] to.
Or you can choose [C] to put it on every platform, [Bb] Apple Music, iTunes, [Dm] Google Play, Amazon, [D] Spotify, all those.
And really, it's just an incredibly convenient way to get your music in [Gm] front of [Gb] your [D] fans.
DistroKid is also really affordable, and if you check the description [Ebm] below, [Dm] we've got a link for [Gb] 7 [Eb]% off of your first year membership.
So now let's talk about the _ downsides of having a headless [D] guitar.
[G] Downside number one, you can't hang your headless guitar _ [Eb] off of a typical [Gb] hanger.
It just [G] doesn't work.
[Eb] There's no headstock to [G] hang it on.
_ It's [Ab] not that big of a deal, but if [Bb] you've already got a bunch of hangers in your house and [G] traditional guitar stands,
headless guitars [C] just don't [Bb] really work with them all [Dm] that well.
It makes me a little nervous.
Some of them you can kind of put on them, but then I'm always [D] worried that it's going to fall over and break.
So, just something to keep in mind.
Downside [C] number two, there's just [E] a much smaller [D] variety of headless guitars available on the market.
There's a bunch of companies that are making them now.
They are gaining [Eb] popularity, but you [G] can't just get a headless Les Paul or a headless Tele from your local guitar center.
They just don't exist.
Actually, you can get a headless Les Paul.
Every Les Paul eventually becomes a headless [Cm] Les Paul, but they don't [Bb] work after that.
So [F] if you're looking at headless guitars, [G] there's just kind of a small number of companies [D] that make them,
and then of course [Bb] custom one-off builders, [F] but that starts to get pretty [D] expensive.
Downside number three, you can't tune and play at the same time.
[Gb] Because [Eb] the tuners are down [C] at the bridge, you [D] can't play your [G] guitar _ and [D] _ tune at the same time.
You have to hit the note, let it decay [G] _ as you tune.
So if you've seen my tutorial on the best way to tune your guitar,
I like to hit the string repeatedly _ _ [Gbm] while [G] I'm tuning so that I can tune to the attack note rather than the decay.
You can't do that [Cm] with a headless guitar [Bb] because with a traditional guitar, you can hit the note and tune the [G] tuners up here,
but you [C] can't really reach down.
[Bb] You can, but _ it's incredibly uncomfortable and terrible.
[D] So if you don't tune like that, that might not be a problem [Eb] for you, but [Gb] that's something that I [C] found that was a little bit annoying for me.
[D] Downside number four, they don't really look that cool.
The guitar [Gb] community is kind of [D] split as to whether or not they think that the [G] headless guitar looks cool.
So far, [Eb] _ [Ab]
I think [G] that it hasn't really gained that much popular acceptance.
So a lot of [B] people don't think they look that cool.
[G] I think that they do, but I'm kind of a dork, so what the hell do I know?
[Ab] Cool, of course, is sort [Bb] of a relative term, [B] and as old fuddy-duddies [G] die out and [C] young people come [Bb] into power over their decaying corpses,
the headless guitar [D] may one day reign supreme.
You never know.
Downside number five, a lot of people [Gm] think that headless [Gb] guitars [D] feel like toys.
I hear this all [C] the [D] time.
People who have played traditional guitars their whole [G] life pick up [Dm] a nice little light Strandberg or Vader,
and they think, [G] wow, this just feels like [Eb] a toy.
In [G] reality, it's probably just going to take you a week or two to get used to the feeling of it, [Eb] and then you'll be [Gb] fine.
But some [G] people just can't get past it.
So it's definitely something to keep in mind if you're looking into getting a [C] headless guitar.
All right, guys, thanks [Bb] so much for watching.
If you haven't [F] already, mash that [G] subscribe button for more reviews and original content,
[C] and I'll see you [N] real soon. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _