@article{article_1685607, title={Learning needs related to microtonal guitar: An analysis of video comments on YouTube platform}, journal={Online Journal of Music Sciences}, volume={10}, pages={403–420}, year={2025}, DOI={10.31811/ojomus.1685607}, author={Şengün, Emre and Gerekten, Sami Emrah}, keywords={öğrenme ihtiyaçları, çevrimiçi öğrenme, netnografi, mikrotonal gitar, YouTube}, abstract={Since their introduction in 1826, microtonal guitars (MG) and adjustable fret guitars (AMG) have enabled the use of various microtonal approaches in many genres of music. In recent years, learning and teaching these guitars in informal and formal settings has become quite common. Video sharing platforms have also become important tools for the dissemination of MG performances and informal MG teaching and learning. This study presents a online learning perspective through MG videos on YouTube, perhaps the most effective of these informal environments today, and aims to identify individuals’ MG learning needs through these video comments. In this qualitative netnographic study, we obtained primary data through online-ethnographic techniques from 32430 comments on 268 MG videos on the Microtonal Guitar-Tolgahan Çoğulu channel on the YouTube platform, and secondary data through interviews with a group of 5 MG performer and teacher involved in pedagogical, academic and artistic productions on MG. The data was then subjected to content analysis. Collaborative coding was carried out using the qualitative data analysis programme MaxQda Analytics Pro 2020. Through content analysis, some categories common to both formal and informal learning of MG were accessed and learning needs were categorised into ‘general knowledge of MG and ‘learning-teaching processes of MG. The research findings indicate that learning needs are diverse and provide a landscape from which implications for MG trainers and curriculum developers can be drawn.}, number={3}, publisher={Nilgün SAZAK}