Brandon is a gem. His style, phrasing, chops and that goddamn vibrato. I got bored with a lot of shred and playing in modern metal the last decade, but I find Brandon extremely inspiring.
He reminds me of guys I knew in school that went on to Chemical Engineering degrees... they have the mind to deal with lots and lots of information and just naturally know the right thing to deal with among it all just effortlessly. It's a real gift and talent he has.
Honestly even just messing around with what you know and experimenting will fill in a lot of spaces. You might have to google some shit but you can get a pretty decent understanding of how to work with melodies and not stay in one key etc etc on your own!
The first scale they talked about, the major scale with a flat 6, I regognize it as the harmonic major scale. Great, weird and unique sound. Absolutely love mr. Ellis and Grady. Been waiting for this video for ages.
this video had a big impact on the way I play just on account of the top view angle @ 1:29. I copied the way Brandon hold his pick and the results are great. Thanks Troy
Wow I am definitely coming back to this channel to see more guitarist picking hand. Amazing camera work from someone who has no idea what that even means but appreciates the angle you were able to capture of his picking hand. Well done sir. Well done.
5:00 thats called chromatic mediant (one of 8 u can find) and his uses can find in 1800s music , nowadays can be on incidental music, score for films videogames, and of course modern metal symphonic music.
I wrote this comment after watching a video of yours then realized it was 3 years old, so after subscribing, found your newest video. Troy for President!! I love it when I see a person who was able to take their passion and make it a thing that they earn a living from. You not only did that, but, you created something totally new in the process, a previously unknown, unexplored section within the realm of, the science of body mechanics. Your research led you to interactions with people who study body mechanics, how freaking cool!!! Very many congratulations to you👍. And then I realized you've gotten many of the legendary living guitar players I've worshipped to join your experiment and allow you to clamp your camera / phone onto the necks of their very valuable instruments, and as you mentioned... risking their eyeballs, to observe and document their wrist/ picking motion. Then, you go further and evaluate their techniques as if they were Josh Allen and there were millions of dollars riding on trying to understand/copy what's going on, why is their motion, their mechanics so much better. I remember you mentioned some Master's thesis you did, just totally amazing. Lastly, I'm a sucker for ebony fretboards, so I love your guitars! You're awesome, thank you for creating something from nothing but curiosity and advancing the guitar world!!
I can identify with the guitar player theory. Those magazines usually had very good columns and lessons if you took the time to understand and incorporate it into your own playing and really digest the material. John Petrucci’s “Chopin’ up the fingerboard” article is a great example - it discussed the chord changes and chromaticism in guitar-specific exercises. I learned so much theory and so many modes just out of curiosity by the time I hit AP Music Theory, I breezed right through it by just learning a little bit of baroque western harmony part-writing and some ear training. Those magazines and the occasional guitar lesson videos my local video store carried were how learning was done before TH-cam.
I feel bad asking a tone question when the playing is so interesting and great, but here goes: what is Brandon playing through during the demo with the green guitar? His tone is so thick and rich, it’s awesome!
That's not a lame question. But the interesting thing is. Once you find out the amp. It might not be for you. That happened to me with Marshall's. Loved other players through them but they weren't for me
Cornford Hellcat! Not really a super modern metal amp but he's tuned down to C (edit: only with the Kelly, the green guitar is standard tuning) so everything is fatter. I think the rest is just his guitar - it's a heavy piece of wood that has Les Paul vibes.
Totally. It's a tricky color to get right on video so we kept going back and forth between the lights and camera until it looked exactly the same on the screen as it did in the room. So this is really what it looks like!
It's a late 80's/early 90's US Jackson Dinky, very rare model, hardly any are out in the wild. Brandon talks about this guitar alot on a video of his Axe Collection here on TH-cam, definitely worth a check out
One thing I love about his technique - when string tracking from low strings to high strings, he doesn't seem to move his entire hand as much as many players do. It seems like he does more of a rotation, making a pivot point where the butt of his palm meets the guitar. Then, when going from low strings to high, he changes his pick grip instead of moving his entire hand. You can see this really clearly at around 2:35 - when he plays the high E and B strings, it's almost like he's "reaching" out with his thumb and index finger, then bringing them back in as he descends. Compare this to somebody like Martin Miller, who uses his elbow to constantly track the strings, so he can have the same pick angle all the time. Not dissing either style, I just think it's an interesting example of how many different ways you can solve the same problem!
2:54 That Mb13 (or whatever you want to call it) is cool. Doesn't sound too augmented with the perfect 5th still grounding it but has some of that whole-tonish dreamlike vibe.
im a deeply ignorant guitarist. i dont know any theory at all. just stumble around the neck. so i have no idea what these two are talking about but i really enjoyed this video!!
I learned basic music theory from my best friend who was as good as Brandon is here at 16, he learned a lot of theory from guitar magazines too and just playing along with king diamond, Randy rhoads, yngwie malmsteen and lots of Megadeth. Brandon is amazing I love the moods and creepiness of this playing. The whole universe opens up when he plays not just a bubble or sub genre. Very dynamic prayer.
@@troygrady What speakers are you using? I'd really like to know. Have you had various speakers over the years with the Hellcat, and which have become your favorite? Thanks. I just got a Hellcat combo a few days ago, but it came with a pair of Neo Creambacks. I used to have the Hellcat head and cab years ago, and it had the original Vintage 30's. Experts say 2003 was a good year for Vintage 30's. Apparently today there are 3 different quality levels of the same speakers. A pair of Scumback M75's could be nice. I'd love to hear from you and those who know the Hellcat, which speakers have you settled with - especially if you want to get the best from both channels. Thanks!
The nice thing about the economy patterns that Brandon uses for seventh arpeggios is that the picking motions simplify the string changes. As long as you're playing patterns that utilize the strengths of those motions, the hit rate can be pretty high even when going fast.
Brandon is that perfect mix of 80's shred, neo-classical and modern metal.. imo one of the best players in the business.
spot on !
You said it!
yea i think dean copys his playing from this guy
This exactly, such a 'custom' flavor right here
agreed
This is awesome.
Do lessons with Brandon video!!!
You ain’t too bad yourself!
Dean please do an interview with Troy.
YOU'RE awesome! - Keanu Reaves
I love you bb
Brandon is a gem. His style, phrasing, chops and that goddamn vibrato. I got bored with a lot of shred and playing in modern metal the last decade, but I find Brandon extremely inspiring.
He makes it look so easy. It's not so easy. Brandon is such a great guitarist.
his vibrato is absolutely otherwordly....
Brandon is such a rad player. I feel like he understand vibrato, feel and attitude in a way few players in his generation truly grasp.
Yes!
Spot on!!
Exactly!
One of the absolute cleanest guitar players. Amazing live player.
He reminds me of guys I knew in school that went on to Chemical Engineering degrees... they have the mind to deal with lots and lots of information and just naturally know the right thing to deal with among it all just effortlessly. It's a real gift and talent he has.
He's such a great addition to black dahlia. The 80's touch is just the perfect flavour to tbdm sound.
Oh my lord. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I've been waiting 2 years for this since the initial short was uploaded! What a treat.
I see Troy Grady I click, I see Brandon Ellis I click. Double click actually coming in handy!!
We thank you doubly!
@@troygrady He means Dolby.
hes definitely one of my favorite players and Jeff loomis
Loomis and Michael Romeo.
He’s so good I consider him one of my favorites and I actually hate his band. 😂
@@Jarrodpimental Right there with you, don't like the band that much but he's in my top 5 metal guitarists for sure
@@PLSGuitar Nevermore? I love that one... or was it Arch Enemy? cus not a big fan either
Conquering Dystopia also great
I envy people who know theory to this degree but also I'm too lazy to learn it this extensively
Honestly even just messing around with what you know and experimenting will fill in a lot of spaces. You might have to google some shit but you can get a pretty decent understanding of how to work with melodies and not stay in one key etc etc on your own!
@@essegotdatheat3310 yea that's the basics tho. I know the basics
All that theory talk is such a welcomed addition to the technical shred analysis. Haven't been here in a while and happy you do this now 👌🏻
The first scale they talked about, the major scale with a flat 6, I regognize it as the harmonic major scale. Great, weird and unique sound. Absolutely love mr. Ellis and Grady. Been waiting for this video for ages.
I can always watch Mr Ellis play
this video had a big impact on the way I play just on account of the top view angle @ 1:29. I copied the way Brandon hold his pick and the results are great. Thanks Troy
Brandon is one of the best to ever do it. Unbelievable finger tone.
Frock yea!!! sounds killer!!! always love hearing Brandon Shred and stuff.
Omg , it’s finally here !!!!!!
One of my fave playerrs and I'm not a huge death metal fan , but his playing is so melodic yet brutal at the same time .
I love watching Brandon play guitar.
Brandon is a master. Learned a lot from watching him on various platforms over the years, guitar setup and his music.
Brandon is the modern age guitar hero. He's an excellent player!!
Wow I am definitely coming back to this channel to see more guitarist picking hand. Amazing camera work from someone who has no idea what that even means but appreciates the angle you were able to capture of his picking hand. Well done sir. Well done.
you know you are a great player if Troy straps a camera on the guitar to study your playing, love these videos
Ha, thank you! We're always grateful when players are willing to sit down for a closer look
This is what I needed.
Feels like I have checked for this upload daily for the last two years or so :D
There is no one like Brandon for me. Thanks for the video!
Haha the nervousness about fucking up in the end sounds too familiar 😂
I usually just fuck up in the beginning and get it over with, trick of the trade. LOL
He reminds me so much of Jason Becker. So freaking good 👍🏻
Such a fantastic video to learn from 🤘🏻
Amazing guitarist. Brandon and Ryan both. Been a fan of TBDM and Arsis for a long time
Arsis deserves so much recognition! James Malone is a genius!
This sounds INCREDIBLE. The sound quality it so good. The riffs shine
Have been hoping for this for a long time.
That outro solo was so good! 😍
Saw him with Black Dahlia and his golden scepter in June, phenomenal player, gives me motivation to keep playing guitar!
Man he’s so knowledgeable. Such a rad guitarist and cool dude as well
Man that tone is just uffff 🔥🔥🔥🤘
5:00 thats called chromatic mediant (one of 8 u can find) and his uses can find in 1800s music , nowadays can be on incidental music, score for films videogames, and of course modern metal symphonic music.
It’s actually a chromatic mediant of a mediant 🤓
Thanks Troy ❤
Brandon is a beast!
Finally it’s here!
Insanely good chops, fair play.
Beautiful Playing
Just as good live. Dude is incredible
This is awesome! I’d love to see one of these with Brian Eschbach. He’s a beast of a rhythm player and writes most tbdm riffs
I wrote this comment after watching a video of yours then realized it was 3 years old, so after subscribing, found your newest video. Troy for President!!
I love it when I see a person who was able to take their passion and make it a thing that they earn a living from. You not only did that, but, you created something totally new in the process, a previously unknown, unexplored section within the realm of, the science of body mechanics. Your research led you to interactions with people who study body mechanics, how freaking cool!!! Very many congratulations to you👍. And then I realized you've gotten many of the legendary living guitar players I've worshipped to join your experiment and allow you to clamp your camera / phone onto the necks of their very valuable instruments, and as you mentioned... risking their eyeballs, to observe and document their wrist/ picking motion. Then, you go further and evaluate their techniques as if they were Josh Allen and there were millions of dollars riding on trying to understand/copy what's going on, why is their motion, their mechanics so much better. I remember you mentioned some Master's thesis you did, just totally amazing. Lastly, I'm a sucker for ebony fretboards, so I love your guitars! You're awesome, thank you for creating something from nothing but curiosity and advancing the guitar world!!
I can identify with the guitar player theory. Those magazines usually had very good columns and lessons if you took the time to understand and incorporate it into your own playing and really digest the material. John Petrucci’s “Chopin’ up the fingerboard” article is a great example - it discussed the chord changes and chromaticism in guitar-specific exercises. I learned so much theory and so many modes just out of curiosity by the time I hit AP Music Theory, I breezed right through it by just learning a little bit of baroque western harmony part-writing and some ear training. Those magazines and the occasional guitar lesson videos my local video store carried were how learning was done before TH-cam.
I feel bad asking a tone question when the playing is so interesting and great, but here goes: what is Brandon playing through during the demo with the green guitar? His tone is so thick and rich, it’s awesome!
That's not a lame question. But the interesting thing is. Once you find out the amp. It might not be for you. That happened to me with Marshall's. Loved other players through them but they weren't for me
Cornford Hellcat! Not really a super modern metal amp but he's tuned down to C (edit: only with the Kelly, the green guitar is standard tuning) so everything is fatter. I think the rest is just his guitar - it's a heavy piece of wood that has Les Paul vibes.
@@troygradyHe was playing the same setup with both guitars? Sounds so different!?!
@@CEB7832 Different pickups = different sound.
@@hon8177 His personal guitars are from the Jackson custom shop. That's the best of the best.
Brandon is such a tasteful beast!
That turquoise Jackson is gorgeous!
Totally. It's a tricky color to get right on video so we kept going back and forth between the lights and camera until it looked exactly the same on the screen as it did in the room. So this is really what it looks like!
@@troygradythat’s awesome! Is this an older model or a new CS?
It's a late 80's/early 90's US Jackson Dinky, very rare model, hardly any are out in the wild.
Brandon talks about this guitar alot on a video of his Axe Collection here on TH-cam, definitely worth a check out
Such a joy to watch him play!
First song I heard from this insane musician was: No Escape. It's a must for any musician especially guitarists.
Love this!!!
brandon is such an inspiration , and i want his guitar so bad haha
Amazing Sounds. Big like 👍🏿
Sweet ! Would love a breakdown on Craig Goldy's picking technique please.
Simply incredible. Hot damn!
If I wasn't watching I would swear your bends were a tremolo! Real nice bends.
SUCH AN AWESOME VIDEO with Brandon. Thanks Troy! Love the talking during demonstration between you two.
Awesome Kelly!
Exactly where I'm at with theory, didn't know who this dude was until now but already like his approach to guitar 🤘
Yes more Brandon!
Incredible
BRANDON ELLIS MY FAVORITE PLAYER🤘
I definitely heard phrygian in there. Also sounded like something you would find in a Megadeth song.
This is
just
sick
Modern Day Randy Rhoads, love Brandon!
wow troy. thanks for this upload. crazy value masterclass with Brandon.
I watched the beginning while taking a dump. Absolutely BRUTAL shit!🤩💩🎸
That tone is amazing 🤘🤘
One thing I love about his technique - when string tracking from low strings to high strings, he doesn't seem to move his entire hand as much as many players do. It seems like he does more of a rotation, making a pivot point where the butt of his palm meets the guitar. Then, when going from low strings to high, he changes his pick grip instead of moving his entire hand. You can see this really clearly at around 2:35 - when he plays the high E and B strings, it's almost like he's "reaching" out with his thumb and index finger, then bringing them back in as he descends. Compare this to somebody like Martin Miller, who uses his elbow to constantly track the strings, so he can have the same pick angle all the time. Not dissing either style, I just think it's an interesting example of how many different ways you can solve the same problem!
"Thought is the enemy of flow" - thinking about mistakes can be one way to help create them!
5:01 yes exactly sounds like a movie score. Kinda reminded me of MIB
Oh, this is sick af KEEP IT METAL 🤘
Young legend, best guitarist for the coming decades
in a few years Brandon will be the worlds best metal player Awesome playing 🙂
More more more!
2:54 That Mb13 (or whatever you want to call it) is cool. Doesn't sound too augmented with the perfect 5th still grounding it but has some of that whole-tonish dreamlike vibe.
Yep awesome sound!
i wish i had your knowledge
If this video was in another language it would make exactly as much sense as it does to me now
Always enjoy an video of Brandon playing🤘🏽
Good stuff!
im a deeply ignorant guitarist. i dont know any theory at all. just stumble around the neck. so i have no idea what these two are talking about but i really enjoyed this video!!
Sick-ass tone
I'm not into the vocal style at all but I still listen to BDM because Brandon's riffs and solos are just absolutely incredible works.
This is how I got into death metal - "Well, the vocals aren't great, but the riffs are killer!" And within a month or two I was screaming along.
Same, have tried a lot but the vocals are just not for me.
same bro i would listen to it if there was no '''''singing'''''
I learned basic music theory from my best friend who was as good as Brandon is here at 16, he learned a lot of theory from guitar magazines too and just playing along with king diamond, Randy rhoads, yngwie malmsteen and lots of Megadeth. Brandon is amazing I love the moods and creepiness of this playing. The whole universe opens up when he plays not just a bubble or sub genre. Very dynamic prayer.
TROY WHY DID YOU GATE KEEP THIS EPISODE FOR SO LONG 😭
The quality in Troy’s videos is amazing!
Thank you! We're grateful any time these great players agree to sit down with us
That is the sickest guitar every made.
1:58 is sooo relatable 🙂
What kind of pick is Brandon using?
Is he using the Cornford Hellcat throughout the video? Thanks
Yes!
@@troygrady What speakers are you using? I'd really like to know. Have you had various speakers over the years with the Hellcat, and which have become your favorite? Thanks.
I just got a Hellcat combo a few days ago, but it came with a pair of Neo Creambacks. I used to have the Hellcat head and cab years ago, and it had the original Vintage 30's. Experts say 2003 was a good year for Vintage 30's. Apparently today there are 3 different quality levels of the same speakers. A pair of Scumback M75's could be nice. I'd love to hear from you and those who know the Hellcat, which speakers have you settled with - especially if you want to get the best from both channels. Thanks!
1:37 riff is bangin
One of my favorite guitarists of all time, so glad he ended up on here!
Brandon's vibratto is :chef's kiss:
Agreed - it is swoopy and awesome!
This guy is the best modern guitarist in my opinion.
My favoritest of all time ❤ love this guy
Dude hell yes
Like it! Bit like Blues Saraceno!! At my age get bored of same old same old....! My Kids do similarly inspired by movies etc. Bang on!!
it seems at 9:55 there was basically incredible luck happening ascending and descending triads but the speed with which he played it omg 😮
The nice thing about the economy patterns that Brandon uses for seventh arpeggios is that the picking motions simplify the string changes. As long as you're playing patterns that utilize the strengths of those motions, the hit rate can be pretty high even when going fast.
This guy is really cool.