“My student tricked me into getting an Instagram”: The off-hand advice from a student that helped kickstart Yvette Young’s career

Yvette Young
(Image credit: Eli Chavez)

Yvette Young may now be one of the most recognizable faces of the contemporary guitar scene on social media – yet, she's quick to admit she wasn't completely sold on the idea of sharing her music on Instagram when she first started building a name for herself.

“I was an art teacher, and I taught at an art school, and then my student tricked me into getting an Instagram and I was one of those tinfoil hat, ‘I'm not gonna let Mark Zuckerberg have my DNA’ people,” she quips during a Guitar Center Hollywood masterclass alongside Kiki Wong.

“[The student] was like, ‘You're so dumb. You need to be on social media.’ And I was like, ‘I guess.’”

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The rest, as they say is history. As Young recalls, “I posted a video, and then it got me touring. It got me endorsements, and that was great. I'm so grateful.”

Kiki Wong & Yvette Young: A Pedal & Tone Masterclass from Guitar Center Hollywood - YouTube Kiki Wong & Yvette Young: A Pedal & Tone Masterclass from Guitar Center Hollywood - YouTube
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As for her foray into the guitar world, Young reveals she “started on acoustic,” as she was initially “afraid” of guitar pedals.

“It was terrifying because there's so many knobs and buttons, and it was a little bit like a spaceship to me. So when I first started writing, it definitely was very melody centric, and I didn't really think about how to make a guitar sound different from just a traditional guitar tone.”

However, acquiring a looper eventually led Young down the pedal rabbit hole, and she soon became just as addicted as the rest of us: "I remember I had a looper, and then I had a couple of reverb and delays, and I all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Wait a minute…’”

In fact, the virtuoso launched her own signature pedal – the feature-packed Qi Etherealizer with Walrus Audio – just last year. It is a multi-effects stompbox that promises to be an “ambient machine” and an “idea generator that helps musicians get past that oftentimes tricky starting point."

Janelle Borg

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology and how it is shaping the future of the music industry, and has a special interest in shining a spotlight on traditionally underrepresented artists and global guitar sounds. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa Auf der Maur, Yvette Young, Danielle Haim, Fanny, and Karan Katiyar from Bloodywood, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her Anglo-Maltese, art-rock band ĠENN.

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