“Every guitar is like an investment on the channel. People like seeing the guitar for the artist”: YouTube lesson guru Mr. Tabs doesn’t just play the part – he buys the right guitar for the part… and the right outfit, too
You might not know Patrick Dwyer’s face, but if you’re a guitar aficionado who spends time on YouTube, odds are you’re pretty well acquainted with his hands, not to mention his snazzy wardrobe.
For the past few years, Dwyer has been cranking out videos with a remarkably simple concept: he takes a popular guitar-based song and plays it all the way through as a tab rolls by on the bottom of the screen. It’s not a unique concept – guitar covers are their own sub-genre of the medium.
What makes Dwyer stand out is the commitment to the bit: for the past few years, the St. John’s, Newfoundland, resident has taken to not only aping a guitarists’ playing style, but also their choice in ax and clothing.
Playing through Highway to Hell? He busts out a schoolboy outfit and Gibson SG. Poison? He’s got a C.C. Deville-esque cutoff denim vest and pointy Jackson at the ready. Guns N’ Roses’ Nightrain? Lots of leather, lots of bracelets and a Les Paul (one can only imagine there’s a top hat just out of the frame).
The channel is the logical endpoint for a talented player who has a degree in music, paid his dues in bar bands and teaching gigs before working as an electrician to pay the bills.
With the channel’s popularity (almost 700,000 subscribers and more than 150 million views), Dwyer is now able to focus on guitar full time. And it’s a good thing because while a Nirvana tune can be flown through in a single take, Dwyer has found his hands full with some of the more difficult material.
“Cliffs of Dover was definitely the biggest challenge for me on the page. I didn’t even think I was going to be able to do it. Some of the songs I thought would be out of my range, technique-wise. You can tell there’s a lot of takes in that video; I’m not doing from start to finish in one video take; I’m doing it in sections.”
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As for the rather impressive stockpile of guitars that appear in the videos, many are from Dwyer’s personal collection, while others get borrowed from friends or rented from music stores, while the clothes shopping sprees came out of a desire to grow his channel, but also as a business imperative.
“I felt like if this channel becomes a thing, the clothing and everything becomes tax write-offs, because you know, that is my living,” he said. “Every guitar is like an investment on the channel. People like seeing the guitar for the artist.”
The channel has expanded so much that Dwyer has actually had to recruit some backup – his friend Jason Sheppard is now stepping in to play some of the tunes. It’s a long way to come for a player who grew up jamming to GNR tunes in a small Canadian town.
“It seems to be resonating with a lot of people, what I’m doing,” Dwyer says. “If it resonates with people, and this is what I love to do, I’ll just go all in for it.”
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