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(The figures in the article are from 26th April 2024.) Most creators underestimate the size and success of their YouTube channels. When my own channel, Guitars Are Hard, passed 15,000 subscribers on 16 March 2024, it got me wondering: How big is that, really? We all know the mega‑channels with tens or hundreds of millions of subscribers — but what about the rest of us? After digging into the numbers, I realised something surprising: If your channel has around 10–15k subscribers, you’re already far bigger than you think. Let’s break it down. 🎯 How Many YouTube Channels Actually Create Content? YouTube has 2.6 billion active users, but only a small fraction upload anything at all.
So the moment you upload anything, you’re already in a relatively small group. 🏆 Hitting 10,000 Subscribers Puts You in the Top 10% Here’s where things get interesting:
That’s a huge achievement. Most people never get close. 💰 Monetisation: Who Actually Makes Money? Only a tiny slice of creators ever reach monetisation:
But here’s the real kicker: Sponsorships matter far more than ad revenue. Even small channels can earn hundreds — sometimes thousands — from a single sponsored segment. I haven’t had one yet, but I’m ready when the universe is. 📈 How Big Is a “Small” Video? Creators often beat themselves up over “only” getting 1,000 views. But the data says otherwise:
So if you’re consistently hitting 1k+ views, you’re doing far better than you think. 🎸 How Big Are Guitar Channels? Since Guitars Are Hard is a guitar channel, I looked into the niche.
That means:
If you’re starting a guitar channel, I’ve got a few videos with tips on growing past your first thousand subscribers — stick around to the end of the original video for the link. 🌍 General YouTube Facts That Put Everything in Context A few more stats that surprised me:
All of this shows just how massive — and competitive — the platform really is. ⭐ Final Thoughts Most creators think they’re small. But the numbers tell a different story:
So keep going. You’re doing better than you think. Thanks for reading — and as always, you’re amazing.
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28/2/2026 1 Comment Guitars Are Hard Hits 30,000 Subscribers — A Milestone Built on Chaos, Comebacks, and CommunityReaching 30,000 subscribers should feel like a simple, triumphant moment — a neat little number that says, “You made it.” It is proof of the music lovers who’ve chosen to join this journey into guitar learning, gear exploration, mistakes, laughs, and the ups and downs that come with documenting life on camera. To every one of you who has hit subscribe, like, comment or just taken a moment to watch a video — thank you from the bottom of my guitar-learning heart. Your support has brought us this far and means more than any algorithm could ever measure. So yes, 30,000 subscribers is huge — but it’s the shared love of guitar (and the authenticity of this journey) that truly counts. But if you’ve followed the channel for any length of time, you already know nothing about Guitars Are Hard has ever been neat, linear, or predictable. This milestone isn’t just a number. It’s a story of survival. It’s a thank‑you letter. And it’s proof that this community is stronger than any algorithm. To everyone who stuck around — thank you. Your support kept this channel alive through hacking, illness, burnout, personal trauma, and a seven‑month disappearance that made me look like I’d been abducted by a rogue guitar cult. Subscriber Numbers Don’t Equal Views, Watch Time, or Community YouTube loves to pretend that subscriber count is a measure of success. But anyone who actually creates on the platform knows the truth: • A channel can have 30,000 subscribers and still get 300 views on a video. • Watch time — not subs — determines whether YouTube shows your content to anyone. • Community comes from comments, conversations, and connection, not numbers. • The algorithm does not care how many people clicked “Subscribe” in 2022. Even huge guitar channels with 150k+ subs struggle to get traction. Meanwhile, a random short of someone playing a guitar with a banana gets millions of views. There is no straight line between subscriber count and success. So hitting 30,000 isn’t about bragging rights — it’s about endurance. The Disruptions of 2024 and 2025 And why the channel went silent My blog archive tells the full story, and it’s a wild one. Here’s the honest recap. The December 2024 Hacking Disaster In late 2024, my Google accounts were hacked, fraudulent ads were run at £350 per day, and Google’s automated systems punished me instead of the criminals. My YouTube channel was frozen. My appeals were rejected automatically. And for months, I genuinely thought the channel was gone forever. This saga is documented in the article “Google Saved My Channel — The Incredible Comeback Story.” It wasn’t resolved until April 2025, when a real human finally stepped in. Illness and Exhaustion Throughout 2025 Even after the hacking nightmare ended, my health didn’t bounce back. I was constantly ill - with a persistent, reoccurring infection - feeling drained, tired, fevered and mentally foggy — the kind of exhaustion that makes even picking up a guitar feel like lifting a piano. Burnout — The Slow, Silent Collapse Burnout hit hard. Not the “I need a weekend off” kind — the real kind. The kind where you stop filming, stop editing, stop playing, stop caring. You even had unopened boxes of guitars silently judging you for months. This period is described in the article article “You Brought Me Back From the Wilderness!” Personal Trauma — The Part No One Sees Behind the scenes, life was throwing punches. Every evening was consumed by a difficult personal situation that drained every ounce of emotional energy. Creativity wasn’t just hard — it was impossible. The Seven‑Month Disappearance (July 2025 – January 2026) No videos. No posts. No updates. Just silence. I even lost my YouTube Partner status — something that took years to earn — simply because I didn’t post a single video or community update. I even ignored potential sponsorship and collaboration opportunities. And yet… people stayed. People waited. People didn’t unsubscribe. People believed I’d come back. That’s community. That’s what 30,000 subscribers really represents. The Channel Is Back — And Re‑Energized Something shifted in early 2026. The fog lifted. The burnout eased. The ideas returned. The guitars came out of their boxes. And the spark — the one that started this whole journey — came roaring back. I’ve already begun rebuilding: • New videos • New articles • New energy • A more sustainable approach • A renewed commitment to consistency • And a determination not to vanish for seven months again This isn’t just a return. It’s a relaunch. We’ll focus on:
There’s a lot of music left to explore… and we’re just hitting our stride. What 30,000 Subscribers Really Means It means resilience. It means survival. It means the channel refused to die — and neither did the people who support it. It means that despite hacking, illness, burnout, trauma, and algorithmic nonsense… Guitars Are Hard is still here. And now? It’s re‑energized. It’s refocused. It’s determined. And it’s ready to be bigger and better than ever. Thank you for being part of this journey. Thank you for sticking around. Thank you for helping this channel reach 30,000 subscribers — not as a vanity metric, but as a symbol of everything we’ve overcome together. You know you're awesome right?
27/2/2026 1 Comment How I Almost Became a Tinfoil‑Hat Conspiracy Theorist (Over a YouTube Ad Rejection)Every creator has moments where the platforms we rely on leave us scratching our heads. Recently, I had one of those moments—one that briefly sent me spiralling toward full‑blown conspiracy thinking before reality reeled me back in. This is the story of how a simple YouTube ad rejection almost convinced me Google was censoring me for political reasons. The Background: A Birthday Video and a Simple Idea At the start of January 2025, my channel celebrated its third birthday. To mark the occasion, I released:
In those longer videos, I broke the year down month by month, covering three things:
The news section was light—just two or three major headlines per month. Nothing controversial, nothing political in the sense of advocacy. The only “edgy” moment was a small joke at the beginning about the leader of a North American country releasing a guitar. Harmless, silly, and over in seconds. The videos performed reasonably well: around 2,400 views across the two long videos and about 1,400 on the short. Not viral, but respectable for my channel. Why I Advertise My Videos I occasionally use Google Ads to give underperforming videos a small push. Not to buy fake views—just to put the video in front of people who might genuinely enjoy it. My approach is simple:
Some videos don’t need this. Others surprise me by underperforming, and I give them a nudge. It’s a small, controlled, transparent part of how I grow the channel. So naturally, I set up ads for the birthday videos. And then everything went sideways. The Rejection: “Election Advertising in the United States” Every single ad—both the long videos and the short—was disapproved. The reason? “This promotion violates policy: Election advertising in the United States.” I stared at the screen thinking: What? What election? What political content? What are you talking about? I dug into the policy. It covered:
None of which had anything to do with my videos. I’m in the UK. I wasn’t discussing elections. I wasn’t endorsing anyone. I wasn’t even aware of any US elections happening at that time. So why on Earth was Google flagging my birthday retrospective as political advertising? The Moment I Nearly Went Full Conspiracy This is where my brain betrayed me. I started wondering:
I could feel myself sliding down the rabbit hole. It was ridiculous, but the rejection reason made no sense, and when things don’t make sense, the mind fills in the gaps. So I decided to test it. The Experiment: Remove the Joke and Try Again I combined the two long videos into one single video and removed the guitar joke entirely. Everything else stayed the same: the monthly news summaries, the channel updates, the website highlights. If the ad was approved, I’d know the joke was the trigger. If it was rejected again, something else was going on. I uploaded the new version, submitted it for promotion… …and it was rejected again! This time the reason was: “Election advertising in the United Kingdom.” At that point, I realised the problem wasn’t the joke. It wasn’t censorship. It wasn’t political bias. It was simply Google’s automated systems misclassifying my content for reasons I still don’t fully understand. And honestly? I stopped caring. The videos had already run their course. They’d been watched. They’d done fine. There was no point fighting the system over a few pounds of ad spend, a few hundred views, and maybe a few new subscribers. What I Learned (and How Close I Came to the Rabbit Hole) The whole experience was a reminder of how easy it is to jump to conclusions when something unexpected happens—especially when algorithms are involved and explanations are vague. For a brief moment, I genuinely wondered whether I was being censored for making a harmless joke. But the more I looked at it, the more obvious it became that this was just an over‑sensitive automated filter, not a grand political conspiracy. The videos are still up--Another Year Wiser (parts 1 and 2) and the short Guitars Are Hard Is 3 Years Old. If you watch them, see if you can spot anything remotely resembling electioneering. I certainly can’t. Final Thoughts This little misadventure taught me two things:
Thanks for sticking with me through this story. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, subscribe to the channel, and check out the birthday retrospectives yourself. And remember: stay awesome. 27/2/2026 1 Comment Is It Worth Starting a YouTube Guitar Channel in 2026? A Deep Dive Into the RealityStarting a YouTube guitar channel in 2026 might feel like stepping into a crowded room where everyone is already shouting. But is it still worth doing? I recently explored this question by watching a video from Josh Guitar titled “Starting a New YouTube Guitar Channel in 2026” and reflecting on my own experiences running a guitar channel with around 30,000 subscribers. This article walks through the key ideas from that video, adds my commentary, and ends with my honest take on whether you should start your own channel this year. The State of Guitar YouTube in 2026 The video opens with a surprisingly blunt piece of advice from one of the featured creators: “Just give up. It’s not going to happen.” A bit dramatic, sure—but it reflects a real frustration many guitar YouTubers feel. Views are harder to get, growth is slower, and the guitar isn’t the cultural centrepiece it once was. The 80s and 90s were peak guitar culture; today’s music landscape is dominated by electronic production, hip‑hop, and hook-heavy pop (poop?). Creators with 150,000 subscribers still struggle to get traction. Even with 30,000 subscribers myself, I can put out a video that barely moves the needle. Sometimes a video you expect to explode gets nothing. Other times, something random takes off. It’s unpredictable, and yes—disappointing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. Tip 1: Make Content You Actually Love Every creator in the video agreed on one thing: you must love the content you make. If you’re passionate about what you’re playing, teaching, or reviewing, that energy transfers to the viewer. And because YouTube is a long game—three, five, even ten years—your content has to be something you can sustain without burning out. Chasing views is a fast track to misery. I learned this the hard way. In 2025, I hit a wall so hard I didn’t touch a guitar for months. I lost my calluses. I lost my YouTube Partner status. I had guitars still in boxes because I couldn’t bring myself to film anything. Why? Because I was making videos I thought would get views, not videos I actually cared about. In 2026, I’m changing that. Tip 2: Provide Value (Even If You Don’t Call It a “Business”) One creator in the video framed YouTube as a business: you provide a service, solve a problem, or help someone improve. I agree with the principle, but not the language. Thinking of your channel as a “business” can feel cold and transactional. Instead, I prefer to think of it like this: What would have helped me when I first picked up a guitar? If you’re even a few steps ahead of someone else, you have something valuable to share—mistakes, breakthroughs, encouragement, shortcuts, humour, whatever makes you you. That’s the service. And if you do it well, people come back—not just new viewers, but your existing subscribers. That’s something I’m working on this year: turning my ~30,000 subscribers into an actual community, not just a number. Tip 3: Don’t Overthink the Algorithm The algorithm isn’t a mysterious god. It’s a machine that pushes videos people click on and watch. If a video doesn’t perform, it’s usually because:
That’s it. Creators (myself included) tend to spiral: “Maybe the algorithm hates me.” “Maybe my audience is bored.” “Maybe I should go back to doing X.” But the truth is simpler: keep making content you love, and keep improving your craft. The rest follows. Bonus Tip 4: Protect Your Mental and Physical Health This one hit home. YouTube can consume your entire life—filming, editing, planning, researching, thinking, worrying. I’ve spent countless late nights in my studio, sometimes until 4 a.m., trying to keep up with a schedule I invented for myself. The result? Burnout so severe I couldn’t even pick up a guitar. Creators often feel guilty when they’re not producing. But taking breaks is essential. Your channel will still be there. Your audience will still be there. YouTube isn’t going anywhere. Your health matters more than your upload schedule. My Own Take / Tip 5: Should You Start a Guitar Channel in 2026? Yes--if you do it for the right reasons. The golden age of easy growth is gone. The big channels got in early, and the guitar niche isn’t as fashionable as it once was. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room left. What matters now is your USP—your unique selling point. For me, it’s the mix of humour, honesty, and the fact that I’m learning and improving on camera. The videos that work best are the ones only I could make—where my personality is part of the content, not just the guitar. Your USP might be:
Whatever it is, lean into it. And think about evergreen content—videos that stay relevant for years. Things like:
These videos keep bringing in views long after you upload them. Final Thoughts If you want to start a guitar channel in 2026, do it. Don’t let anyone tell you not to. But go in with your eyes open:
But if you love guitar, love creating, and love helping people, it can be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do. And remember - you’re awesome. This article was originally written on the 19th April 2025:
For anyone wondering whether I fell off the face of the Earth, evaporated into the digital void, or got lost somewhere between a guitar warehouse and customs: 26/2/2026 1 Comment Life of A Guitarist
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AuthorAll by me, the Supreme Leader of the Guitars Are Hard YouTube channel, Darren White, and certainly not a bunch of Large Language Models (LLMs). ArchivesCategories |
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