Man.... Two very accomplished musicians delving into each other's worlds, and showing a relative understanding and, at it's core, being willing to potentially "fall on your face" in front of your respective audiences (neither of you did, for what it's worth), MUCH respect, from a fellow musician.
One of the myths about classical players is that they tend to lack the necessary "feel" for improvisation. Watching Brandon shatter that gave me a lot of joy.
Classical guitar is a tradition that stems from Spain, and most people who learn classical guitar probably also dabble in flamenco, a heavily improvisatory style.
In my experience, some Classical players are skilled improvisers and some are not. It’s a skill like any other that needs to be learned and practiced, and some classical players choose to develop the skill and some don’t. Also, it’s worth remembering that Brandon played rock before focusing on Classical.
He also has a history in popular music and is generally an atypically broad and talented musician. My experience of classical musicians trying to play other styles tells me that Brandon is not necessarily representative! He also shows a lot of respect for other music styles and different performance practice, which really helps (and is probably one of the reasons why his early music playing is so vibrant!). Basically what I’m saying is is that this guy is a gem haha
Brandon already knows all of this. He was playing 12 bar blues on a baroque guitar years ago in a video. Even said something slong the lines of 'every good guitar player knows' how to play 12 bar blues.
But he's humble and realizes that people from samuraiguitarist's channel may watch, or folks new to the channel altogether may be viewing and aren't familiar with the concepts. So it makes for a good "introduction" video. I enjoyed watching two skilled guitarists play a 101 video regardless.
I was studying classical guitar since I was 9 and I have masters degree in it. During my education no one ever told me about the pentatonic scale, none of my teachers until I was 24 and finished school, it's somethign I had to look up when I was playing for several years already :D And I know this is not a special case, lots of friends have had the same :/ It's funny to see how things that counts as common knowledge or as something that guitarists usually learn at an early stage can miss. We need more crossovers like this with other styles and other guitarists to get a wider perspective on music :) Thanks for this one, I loved it!
I had a similar experience to you, but from the opposite side. I started playing rock / metal guitar when I was 8, and it wasn't til I was 35 when I went to uni for music where I was exposed to ideas like 7th chords and a ii V I progression. Even a basic concept like chord tones was alien to me because that's not how the music I'd been playing really worked.
@@high_surv well when you're a kid you just try to avoid the theory part I guess, than later on you think you can manage without it, and then it's like a snowball rolling, and the snowball is so big it scares you, so you're trying your best not to get under. I had crazy impostor syndrome because I could play any pieces I wanted to but they didn't make sense to me because I was lacking fundamental knowledge. I think a lot of us takes responsibility for ourselves after spending some time in confusion and avoidance for a few years. Music schools often don't teach you how to understand music but only how to play it mechanically. Pressure grows, you need to play more and more difficult stuff for your exams and the theory stucks behind. This is a very common story.
I'd love to see you guys playing different genres together for an hour. As weird as it sounds. So much feel in such simple playing and the way you complete yourselves being at the different ends of the same stick. I want to hear more serious music you make together the other day.
Oh hell yes. These two would make some sick jams in many a genre is my hunch as well. Would love to hear some jazz, funk, disco and maybe even some metal with maybe Rob Scallon or someone like that.
"Your teaching method is amazing, but more than that, I've fallen in love with your personality and calmness. You give such a great feeling to your viewers and students. 🙏🏻👌👌👌🙏🏻"
Playing the blues would be a great exercise for classical players. I know because I am one, classical music really flattens you out There is little to no swing in that music at all and playing and by infusing some blues feelings will make your classical playing more interesting. Julien Bream was a huge Django jazz fan and player and it helped him greatly in his playing.
What a terrifically nice and humble guy Brandon is over here acting like he doesn't already know every single thing 😅 jokes aside though this is a great collab from two very different but very excellent creators ❤
This was perfect timing. I’m only a couple of years into playing and have started trying to do some blues improvisation. This opened my eyes up to some things I hadn’t really considered.
Another thing to note is that blues was also commonly played in alternate tunings such as open g and open d. Also kinda going against what Samurai said is that the blues doesn't always have to sound pretty as long as it makes you feel something. Three artists as examples are Charley Patton, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Scrapper Blackwell.
Great collaboration here, you two work well together. The most interesting part for me was letting go of the formal structures of classical playing and just feeling the flow, it's not easy. Hope there'll be more to come!
The mixture of tonality in blues is always fascinating. Aside from playing minor pentatonic over major (dominant) chords, blues musicians frequently bend up to a so called "neutral third" in-between the major and minor.
That was sweet. And big thanks to Sammy, for shedding a light on some basic principles of "The Blues". You two should make this a loose series of videos, where you show each other things "from the other side" - I can see the inspiration and the respect in what you guys are doing and I appreciate it.
No matter how many different videos I've seen about it it's always great to see two really talented people doing the same thing with vastly different ideologies come together and not only respect each other but learn and become better with each other's knowledge.
"Swing Tempo" is what we are doing with the "ba baba ba ba baba". This was great; Brandon Acker really lives "The Life" of a true String Player, and I am glad he is now a part of the Blues' Magic. When Samurai broke out the Blues Solo, the human soul cries with joy. Magic only found in Blues, and maybe a Mozart or Beethoven motif. Thank You both for being a part of the Music Community on TH-cam, we love you guys.
@@ricktheexplorer ok, and? Just because it says it in a DAW; it doesn't mean it's correct. My DAW says "loop duplicate" but in correct terminology it's know as a "repeat". The DAW doesn't use musically correct terminology.
@@ricktheexplorer that same sheet music that says "swing" also says it's not swung. It says "swing" because that's an approximation based on the conventions of classical notation. Can you show me where on notation it shows the exact amount it's swung by?
Two awesome and amazing musicians, showing their world of strings to each other. That is just so nice to see, also how that opens uo new ways of creativity. You two should one day combine your two backgrounds and create some music together, with totally unlocked creativity and no limits on what the result might be.
I'd love to see a video of Brandon playing the guitar or just having a chat with the great Brazilian guitarist Fabio Lima. Two figures who for me are the greatest classical guitarists of our era. I see that they have a very similar passion for music and the instrument.
Man, blues can be so cool. Listening to some of the Robert Johnson stuff, the timing is so different than what we're used to. There're some great effects that come from playing with the time signature between bars
Incredible video! Just an additional thought, Brandon mentioned not realising that all chords are usually Dom7 chords. If you think about this, the E7 actually functions as the V7 chord when going to A7 (a secondary dominant). Further, the blues form has been continually expanded upon - particularly by jazz musicians. The jazz approach really just places a bigger emphasis on the (already existing) secondary dominants. For example, in bar 4 you’d play a Bm7 for two beats and then an E7 for two beats to resolve to the A7 in the fifth bar (approaching the A7 with a ii-V-I cadence). Lastly! I would say that the ‘heart’ of the blues lies in the rhythmic feel, it’s really all about that shuffle feel. I think the key difference between swing and shuffle (even though it’s notated the same) is how a shuffle feel is relatively strict and the beats are accented equally, however, in jazz that second ‘quaver’ is moved around a bit more.
Wow. You're a seriously killer player. You picked up this stuff like it was nothing. I know you did metal in the past which does borrow a lot from both blues and classical, but it's still a joy to see how quickly you adapted to Samurai Guitarist's playing.
Wonderful show. Doesn’t surprise me that Brandon can play the blues with aplomb. He’s got the chops. And plays in so many genres. The real trick is to go from being a blues musician to become a classical composer like this guy Gershwin. Most of his show songs were blues based. He worked as a song plugger with James P Johnson one of the great stride pianists.
It’s so obvious you both love music a lot! Sharing each other’s styles while you both get into each other’s lane is great thing! Very proud of being a musician (who is in no way in either of your leagues).
Love these conjunctions of the spheres. Seems like we discover new ways to describe and think about the same thing and universalities that make it easier to understand the magic of guitar.
Watching an accomplished classical guitarist being "taught" 12-bar blues is like watching an astrophysicist being taught basic algebra. I'd love to see a blues guitarist tackle Tarrega or Villa-Lobos
Before that comment you should've thought about how many other classically trained musicians view the guitar as a peasant instrument. Since you care so much about what other people think about you.
This video really makes clear what Blues is and isn't - and also made me think about how clear it is to me now what Jimi Hendrix took from the Blues, as opposed to what was his new development/his style. BTW you should publish a video of you 2 just jamming. Make it a long one. Don't think about analytics. it's such a pleasure to witness good musicianship.
Huge fan of both of you! Nice lesson. When I compare both your styles it becomes apparent that in classical guitar playing, the thumb tends to wander down the neck for perfect access on the fretboard. In the Blues, the thumb tends to go upwards behind the neck even to the point where players like Stevie Ray Vaughan or John Mayer (just to name a few) use it as a fretting finger to play some bass notes. Downside to that is, that the pinky is often neglected and isn't used much as a fretting finger. Just shows the different needs the two styles have. Great job!
I love the level of respect Brandon puts towards musical traditions he doesn’t have a deep understanding of. I feel like it can be so easy to look at 12 bar blues in a presumptuous way as a musician and miss the little things that really make performances special. Obviously most of us know how to play a I IV V w/ dominant chords, but I feel like there is quite a bit that goes into instinctually feeling blues swing and into getting each attack to feel just write that is difficult to formalize and communicate with words
Brandon reminds me very much of my classical guitar teacher, from how he does Tarrega all the way to his hair! I'm very impressed how he takes that step into the blues world to try the blues!
Just goes to prove... music is music, and it's for EVERYONE! Play it, Listen to it, and Enjoy the fact that we have it, because the world would really suck without IT !
I have a feeling that Brandon knows a lot more about the blues than he is letting us know. Didn’t he start out as a metal player? I think so. If so, metal is an outgrowth of blues. So I think Brandon was being polite by pretending to not know.
Agreed Brandon is a class act. And he is University trained where you will usually have a classroom subject that explores jazz, pop blues or even Metal. Back in my university days my music theory and fundamentals proffesor who is a violin major and mostly a classical player used rhythmic examples from Dreamtheaters Under a glass moon. Lol.
My first thought lol he started out with rock and metal no wonder he was pretty damn good. Entertaining video nonetheless definitely taught me a good amount since I'm a beginner lol.
I've always wondered how easily classical guitar players could transition to blues. Brandon excelled with this lesson and I'm sure, in little time, he would be a very competent blues guitarist. I wonder, however, how long it would take a blues guitarist to competently express Johann Sebastian Bach's brilliant, "Prelude from BWV 1006a" ?
There are much harder pieces for classical guitar, also, this is the most basic blues, obviously done on purpose. You do realize that there are level's of difficulty in every genre, even blues?? If you think a classicaly trained guitarist can play "any blues" you are deluded.
@@alvodin6197 My comment wasn't about the most difficult classical guitar compositions vs. the most difficult blues compositions. My comment was simply about if being a master of one genre would make it easier or harder to learn another.
It seemed like Brandon was holding back a lot for the sake of educating us the basics. I really appreciate his humbleness but would love to see him let loose on the blues!
He deffinietely is holding back 1st off Brandon started learning the guitar as a kid playing rock and later metal as a teen just right before he took formal classical guitar lessons. And take note rock even metal csn have elements of blues. Like hoe Hendrix and clapton are great bluesers then you have modern guitar metal and prog players with blues influences so for sure Brandon have studied the blos. 2nd Brandon from what I know has a University degree in classical guitar performance though the emphasis is classical music college usually includes some elements of world Music and even pop and rock as part of the curiculum.
It would be interesting to see a similar video with Brandon learning piedmont blues. Especially because it seems like you could try to piedmont on a lute and come out with an interesting sound
This was honestly great. It all comes with practice; I know I got way better at the guitar when I started playing bass regularly instead. Stronger hands, better knowledge of the fretboard (walking bass lines teach so much), and the power of being the second in command in terms of audience-dancing-control after the drummer, but being the literal key holder for the group. If you suddenly decide to transpose up, you better hope everyone else follows suite or it's garbage out the PA -- clashing frequencies turn the subs/woofers against themselves, and band members against each other, haha. Spend an hour every day playing blues rock and pop on the bass, and you'll learn loads! I've got faith in you, actual professional guitarist guy that's at least 10x my skill level!
Oh yes you can. Stretch. You know the exercises. Get crackin. I'm 5'6", I don't have big hands, I can make that stretch. For further consideration, go watch Segovia. He's got puffy little mitts with sausages for fingers, and he was SEGOVIA. You can make that stretch, I can almost dislocate my hand and fret on the one fret and the seven (its buzzy and muffled, but I can get there). You're talking about a six fret span, another fret up the board. You can do it!
What a great 1st lesson in playing the blues. Much harder to play dominant blues than minor blues because you have to explain why you can play the minor 3rd G against the G# in the E7 chord creating the ‘blues sound’
The guy who can pretty much effortessly play Eruption on electric and knows basically everything there is to know about music theory, is supposedly being taught for the first time a three chords progression he must have known for 20 some years... I know it's for the sake of the video, but suspension of disbelief has its limits! Props to Brandon for humbly trying to appear clueless while probably struggling to stay awake! And of course to Samurai guitarist to explain the blues basics to a different audience.
You could see it every time Samurai "taught" him something that he immediately effortlessly played, often better than Samurai. Including a stretch that samurai couldn't do, that he easily did the first time. This was basic as for Brandon Acker. Personally, I've always thought Samurai guitarist is pretty average. Does good videos, but just a very average player.
He's got a good stretch, but that also tends to be the classical style. You use the pinky a lot more from day one. But not all classical players have a big stretch, but you can usually get everything with enough practice. Kind of says it all with Samurai. I think he did whatever college course he did and isn't really progressing much. Stuck in a rut playing stuff he's comfortable with, without pushing his own envelope. More a content creator than guitarist imo.@@mitch5944
Listen to dire straights. Mark Knopfler is the absolute master of "call and response" between vocals and guitar imho. Brothers in arms, sultans of swing, tunnel of love... Really a lot of the stuff he wrote, when i heard them first i could sing the licks along before i could sing the lyrics. His guitar is so much of a second vocal, its genuinely insane. And it does not have a language barrier.
Fantastic video, Im learning blues and its so expressive. Its blows my mind how blues fits every player, if you want it simple, it works, if you reach complex, also works.
A good nylon guitar can be incredibly loud with a very strong bass, I took mine to play with a friend who has a steel guitar and he couldn't believe how strong it sounded.
Awesome video guys..I play Blues badly and Classical very badly so what a treat to see this from a classical guitarists perspective...please do more of these.
When i play fingerstyle blues from a century ago, I use the picking hand positions of classical. When I looked it up in various clips of old timers, their hand positions seem particular to them.
Bravo, Maestro! 🙂 I love more sorts of music, absolutely 1st is ancient music, with theorbo or lute (as a solo instrument and as a part of basso continuo, too) and the blues on a very high level! And you play both of them now, bravo! 🙂
"I'll start here and see what happens" is the soul of the blues my guy.
What a pleasure, you show much potential!
listen to how Jimmy Reed does the 5, just play the A in the bass and don't bother with the stretch
Love to see you around!!!
This was great, I'd love to see you guys do more stuff together.
2 humble guitar players and musicians respect
SameG.... Love ur channel too 👍
Man.... Two very accomplished musicians delving into each other's worlds, and showing a relative understanding and, at it's core, being willing to potentially "fall on your face" in front of your respective audiences (neither of you did, for what it's worth), MUCH respect, from a fellow musician.
One of the myths about classical players is that they tend to lack the necessary "feel" for improvisation. Watching Brandon shatter that gave me a lot of joy.
Classical guitar is a tradition that stems from Spain, and most people who learn classical guitar probably also dabble in flamenco, a heavily improvisatory style.
In my experience, some Classical players are skilled improvisers and some are not. It’s a skill like any other that needs to be learned and practiced, and some classical players choose to develop the skill and some don’t. Also, it’s worth remembering that Brandon played rock before focusing on Classical.
he used to play metal of course he can do it
He also has a history in popular music and is generally an atypically broad and talented musician. My experience of classical musicians trying to play other styles tells me that Brandon is not necessarily representative!
He also shows a lot of respect for other music styles and different performance practice, which really helps (and is probably one of the reasons why his early music playing is so vibrant!). Basically what I’m saying is is that this guy is a gem haha
It's not a myth, as many do. They break down when asked to improvise. Brandon doesn't but most do...
That opera singer litteraly gave me goosebumps.. I knew man sang opera but accually seeing a man doing that is so inspiring
Brandon already knows all of this. He was playing 12 bar blues on a baroque guitar years ago in a video. Even said something slong the lines of 'every good guitar player knows' how to play 12 bar blues.
But he's humble and realizes that people from samuraiguitarist's channel may watch, or folks new to the channel altogether may be viewing and aren't familiar with the concepts. So it makes for a good "introduction" video. I enjoyed watching two skilled guitarists play a 101 video regardless.
I was studying classical guitar since I was 9 and I have masters degree in it. During my education no one ever told me about the pentatonic scale, none of my teachers until I was 24 and finished school, it's somethign I had to look up when I was playing for several years already :D And I know this is not a special case, lots of friends have had the same :/ It's funny to see how things that counts as common knowledge or as something that guitarists usually learn at an early stage can miss. We need more crossovers like this with other styles and other guitarists to get a wider perspective on music :) Thanks for this one, I loved it!
I had a similar experience to you, but from the opposite side.
I started playing rock / metal guitar when I was 8, and it wasn't til I was 35 when I went to uni for music where I was exposed to ideas like 7th chords and a ii V I progression.
Even a basic concept like chord tones was alien to me because that's not how the music I'd been playing really worked.
Soo interesting to me considering how important the pentatonic scale is in blues and rock lol.
Shows how diverse the instrument can be
I find that crazy. How do people play guitar for years and have some shallow knowledge of how most people play guitar?
@@high_surv ...did you miss the entire point of this thread?
Like, on purpose?
@@high_surv well when you're a kid you just try to avoid the theory part I guess, than later on you think you can manage without it, and then it's like a snowball rolling, and the snowball is so big it scares you, so you're trying your best not to get under. I had crazy impostor syndrome because I could play any pieces I wanted to but they didn't make sense to me because I was lacking fundamental knowledge. I think a lot of us takes responsibility for ourselves after spending some time in confusion and avoidance for a few years.
Music schools often don't teach you how to understand music but only how to play it mechanically. Pressure grows, you need to play more and more difficult stuff for your exams and the theory stucks behind. This is a very common story.
I'd love to see you guys playing different genres together for an hour. As weird as it sounds. So much feel in such simple playing and the way you complete yourselves being at the different ends of the same stick. I want to hear more serious music you make together the other day.
Next up Mongolian throat singing
Oh hell yes.
These two would make some sick jams in many a genre is my hunch as well. Would love to hear some jazz, funk, disco and maybe even some metal with maybe Rob Scallon or someone like that.
blues pro............lolllllllllllllllllllllllll
"Your teaching method is amazing, but more than that, I've fallen in love with your personality and calmness. You give such a great feeling to your viewers and students. 🙏🏻👌👌👌🙏🏻"
This video is just two cultured gentlemen enjoying each others company
Playing the blues would be a great exercise for classical players. I know because I am one, classical music really flattens you out There is little to no swing in that music at all and playing and by infusing some blues feelings will make your classical playing more interesting. Julien Bream was a huge Django jazz fan and player and it helped him greatly in his playing.
Wow that makes so much sense! I didn’t know that about Bream
"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" seems to swing pretty good.
Ah that
Crossroads movie scene, with some blues infused into Rondo alla Turca ! th-cam.com/video/ikyDCQpBr4E/w-d-xo.htmlsi=328U4kKhDzT9gXDy :)
What a terrifically nice and humble guy Brandon is over here acting like he doesn't already know every single thing 😅 jokes aside though this is a great collab from two very different but very excellent creators ❤
This was perfect timing. I’m only a couple of years into playing and have started trying to do some blues improvisation. This opened my eyes up to some things I hadn’t really considered.
It's fun just branching out on guitar, never know what you're gonna learn in style, technique, or advice. Love this collaboration.
Great to hear Steve-san teach the roots of blues tradition, from which comes rock n roll, r&b, country, jazz, so on…
Another thing to note is that blues was also commonly played in alternate tunings such as open g and open d. Also kinda going against what Samurai said is that the blues doesn't always have to sound pretty as long as it makes you feel something. Three artists as examples are Charley Patton, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Scrapper Blackwell.
I really like the sound of nylon string guitar to play blues and rock strumming
This collab was SO COOL! Shows that no matter the depth of knowledge, there is still so much to learn in music. Please make this a reoccurring series!
Great collaboration here, you two work well together. The most interesting part for me was letting go of the formal structures of classical playing and just feeling the flow, it's not easy. Hope there'll be more to come!
Great collaboration from two superb teachers and players -- thank you!
The mixture of tonality in blues is always fascinating. Aside from playing minor pentatonic over major (dominant) chords, blues musicians frequently bend up to a so called "neutral third" in-between the major and minor.
That was sweet. And big thanks to Sammy, for shedding a light on some basic principles of "The Blues".
You two should make this a loose series of videos, where you show each other things "from the other side" - I can see the inspiration and the respect in what you guys are doing and I appreciate it.
No matter how many different videos I've seen about it it's always great to see two really talented people doing the same thing with vastly different ideologies come together and not only respect each other but learn and become better with each other's knowledge.
The look of the Soprano singer is not what I was expecting... Incredible voice, and playing the background fill was fantastic.
I once asked a blues guitarist for tips on how they could play so well and they said:
Well, first, you gotta feel a lotta pain.
"Swing Tempo" is what we are doing with the "ba baba ba ba baba". This was great; Brandon Acker really lives "The Life" of a true String Player, and I am glad he is now a part of the Blues' Magic. When Samurai broke out the Blues Solo, the human soul cries with joy.
Magic only found in Blues, and maybe a Mozart or Beethoven motif. Thank You both for being a part of the Music Community on TH-cam, we love you guys.
Blues isn't swung; it's a shuffle
@@nuberiffic In my DAW, it's called swing tempo; the thing that makes it shuffle.
@@ricktheexplorer ok, and?
Just because it says it in a DAW; it doesn't mean it's correct.
My DAW says "loop duplicate" but in correct terminology it's know as a "repeat".
The DAW doesn't use musically correct terminology.
@@nuberiffic It also says it in all sheet music. Give up, you lost.
@@ricktheexplorer that same sheet music that says "swing" also says it's not swung.
It says "swing" because that's an approximation based on the conventions of classical notation.
Can you show me where on notation it shows the exact amount it's swung by?
Fantastic colab. Loved every minute of it from both of you. Cheers
Two awesome and amazing musicians, showing their world of strings to each other. That is just so nice to see, also how that opens uo new ways of creativity. You two should one day combine your two backgrounds and create some music together, with totally unlocked creativity and no limits on what the result might be.
How to be a good blues player quickly: 1) have a great teacher 2) already be a master classical guitarist in the first place. Awesome video!
I'd love to see a video of Brandon playing the guitar or just having a chat with the great Brazilian guitarist Fabio Lima. Two figures who for me are the greatest classical guitarists of our era. I see that they have a very similar passion for music and the instrument.
Man, blues can be so cool. Listening to some of the Robert Johnson stuff, the timing is so different than what we're used to. There're some great effects that come from playing with the time signature between bars
Blind Willie Johnson - I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge
th-cam.com/video/2VSLcDzcZu8/w-d-xo.html
Incredible video! Just an additional thought, Brandon mentioned not realising that all chords are usually Dom7 chords. If you think about this, the E7 actually functions as the V7 chord when going to A7 (a secondary dominant).
Further, the blues form has been continually expanded upon - particularly by jazz musicians. The jazz approach really just places a bigger emphasis on the (already existing) secondary dominants. For example, in bar 4 you’d play a Bm7 for two beats and then an E7 for two beats to resolve to the A7 in the fifth bar (approaching the A7 with a ii-V-I cadence).
Lastly! I would say that the ‘heart’ of the blues lies in the rhythmic feel, it’s really all about that shuffle feel. I think the key difference between swing and shuffle (even though it’s notated the same) is how a shuffle feel is relatively strict and the beats are accented equally, however, in jazz that second ‘quaver’ is moved around a bit more.
Wow. You're a seriously killer player. You picked up this stuff like it was nothing.
I know you did metal in the past which does borrow a lot from both blues and classical, but it's still a joy to see how quickly you adapted to Samurai Guitarist's playing.
Of course he did. He's classically trained. This would be peanuts for him.
Wonderful show. Doesn’t surprise me that Brandon can play the blues with aplomb. He’s got the chops. And plays in so many genres. The real trick is to go from being a blues musician to become a classical composer like this guy Gershwin. Most of his show songs were blues based. He worked as a song plugger with James P Johnson one of the great stride pianists.
Think these classical guitarists can play the blues? This is absolutely masterful. th-cam.com/video/YB-j_pvidq4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=cPDOhw3ypkeThAGp
It’s so obvious you both love music a lot! Sharing each other’s styles while you both get into each other’s lane is great thing! Very proud of being a musician (who is in no way in either of your leagues).
Love these conjunctions of the spheres. Seems like we discover new ways to describe and think about the same thing and universalities that make it easier to understand the magic of guitar.
Watching an accomplished classical guitarist being "taught" 12-bar blues is like watching an astrophysicist being taught basic algebra. I'd love to see a blues guitarist tackle Tarrega or Villa-Lobos
Are you angry? Wtf? Couldn't I argue the same about Flamenco? Flamenco guitar players make classical guitarist seem like amateurs. There you go
Before that comment you should've thought about how many other classically trained musicians view the guitar as a peasant instrument. Since you care so much about what other people think about you.
I started with classical but quickly switched to blues. That was over 20 years ago. This video was really fun and I learned too. More!
This video really makes clear what Blues is and isn't - and also made me think about how clear it is to me now what Jimi Hendrix took from the Blues, as opposed to what was his new development/his style.
BTW you should publish a video of you 2 just jamming. Make it a long one. Don't think about analytics. it's such a pleasure to witness good musicianship.
That was a fascinating idea , and the results did not disappoint.
THIS was awesome. Really shows the massive scope of our instrument!
Huge fan of both of you! Nice lesson. When I compare both your styles it becomes apparent that in classical guitar playing, the thumb tends to wander down the neck for perfect access on the fretboard. In the Blues, the thumb tends to go upwards behind the neck even to the point where players like Stevie Ray Vaughan or John Mayer (just to name a few) use it as a fretting finger to play some bass notes. Downside to that is, that the pinky is often neglected and isn't used much as a fretting finger. Just shows the different needs the two styles have. Great job!
You all have made my eveni g watching utube! What a real treat thank you !
Since you used to play metal, I'm sure you'll be fine, Brandon!
I’m excited to see how these two might explore and incorporate the different styles into one another as they grow their own styles.
God Almighty, two of my favorites!
Would love to see you do a video with Kent Nishimura or Tyler Larson or Seiji Igusa in the future!
Brandon sure does look great when he’s playing guitar. It’s like he belongs there with a guitar in his lap.
Such a great "intercultural exchange". I thoroughly enjoy these collab vids with the two of you! Thank you, masters!
Much love for samurai guitarist! Thanks ben!!
The audio is a bit weird at times. But I enjoyed going back to basics on this. I think this is an interestin medium of teaching.
I love the level of respect Brandon puts towards musical traditions he doesn’t have a deep understanding of. I feel like it can be so easy to look at 12 bar blues in a presumptuous way as a musician and miss the little things that really make performances special.
Obviously most of us know how to play a I IV V w/ dominant chords, but I feel like there is quite a bit that goes into instinctually feeling blues swing and into getting each attack to feel just write that is difficult to formalize and communicate with words
what a great collab! it must have been a sea of tranquility in that room
Look at Brandon pretending that this is even remotely difficult for him...
Lovely juxtaposition of two genres. Music can unite us all.
Nice show. I learned a lot from it. Thank You
Brandon reminds me very much of my classical guitar teacher, from how he does Tarrega all the way to his hair! I'm very impressed how he takes that step into the blues world to try the blues!
For a beginner… I was blown away and I’m motivated to practice more
Cant wait for the prog metal lesson
Just goes to prove... music is music, and it's for EVERYONE! Play it, Listen to it, and Enjoy the fact that we have it, because the world would really suck without IT !
I have a feeling that Brandon knows a lot more about the blues than he is letting us know. Didn’t he start out as a metal player? I think so. If so, metal is an outgrowth of blues. So I think Brandon was being polite by pretending to not know.
Agreed Brandon is a class act.
And he is University trained where you will usually have a classroom subject that explores jazz, pop blues or even Metal.
Back in my university days my music theory and fundamentals proffesor who is a violin major and mostly a classical player used rhythmic examples from Dreamtheaters Under a glass moon. Lol.
My first thought lol he started out with rock and metal no wonder he was pretty damn good.
Entertaining video nonetheless definitely taught me a good amount since I'm a beginner lol.
@jey3453 that's awesome lol love dreamtheater
This video brought me peace 😭
Two of my favourite guitarists!
He immediately gets it. 12:17 - less is more in soloing. Incredible.
My classical guitar just gave me that look, don't even think about it! 😂
Blues takes so many forms. I’d think that one of the many styles of finger style blues my be an easier transition for a Classical player.
Great show! As a classical player this is very illustrative.
I've always wondered how easily classical guitar players could transition to blues. Brandon excelled with this lesson and I'm sure, in little time, he would be a very competent blues guitarist. I wonder, however, how long it would take a blues guitarist to competently express Johann Sebastian Bach's brilliant, "Prelude from BWV 1006a" ?
There are much harder pieces for classical guitar, also, this is the most basic blues, obviously done on purpose. You do realize that there are level's of difficulty in every genre, even blues?? If you think a classicaly trained guitarist can play "any blues" you are deluded.
@@alvodin6197 My comment wasn't about the most difficult classical guitar compositions vs. the most difficult blues compositions. My comment was simply about if being a master of one genre would make it easier or harder to learn another.
That was fun just watching ! Music is Awesome in any Genre ! It is the 2nd greatest gift in life .
That was lovely! Well done Brandon on your very first go you did so well
It seemed like Brandon was holding back a lot for the sake of educating us the basics. I really appreciate his humbleness but would love to see him let loose on the blues!
He deffinietely is holding back 1st off Brandon started learning the guitar as a kid playing rock and later metal as a teen just right before he took formal classical guitar lessons.
And take note rock even metal csn have elements of blues. Like hoe Hendrix and clapton are great bluesers then you have modern guitar metal and prog players with blues influences so for sure Brandon have studied the blos.
2nd Brandon from what I know has a University degree in classical guitar performance though the emphasis is classical music college usually includes some elements of world Music and even pop and rock as part of the curiculum.
you guys should keep doing this, it was a fun watch
Awesome stuff, Brandon! Kudos to you and SG. Very inspiring and insightful.
Again
My two favourite guitar TH-camrs collaborating is the absolute best
It would be interesting to see a similar video with Brandon learning piedmont blues. Especially because it seems like you could try to piedmont on a lute and come out with an interesting sound
Very cool to see two seemingly different genres of music have so much in common! Great video!
Testify! 😊
Exactly w😅hat do these two genres of music have in common?
This was honestly great. It all comes with practice; I know I got way better at the guitar when I started playing bass regularly instead. Stronger hands, better knowledge of the fretboard (walking bass lines teach so much), and the power of being the second in command in terms of audience-dancing-control after the drummer, but being the literal key holder for the group. If you suddenly decide to transpose up, you better hope everyone else follows suite or it's garbage out the PA -- clashing frequencies turn the subs/woofers against themselves, and band members against each other, haha.
Spend an hour every day playing blues rock and pop on the bass, and you'll learn loads! I've got faith in you, actual professional guitarist guy that's at least 10x my skill level!
I watched both Brandon's and Sammy's lessons. Both are damn good, amazing teachers.
Oh yes you can. Stretch. You know the exercises. Get crackin. I'm 5'6", I don't have big hands, I can make that stretch. For further consideration, go watch Segovia. He's got puffy little mitts with sausages for fingers, and he was SEGOVIA. You can make that stretch, I can almost dislocate my hand and fret on the one fret and the seven (its buzzy and muffled, but I can get there). You're talking about a six fret span, another fret up the board. You can do it!
What a great 1st lesson in playing the blues. Much harder to play dominant blues than minor blues because you have to explain why you can play the minor 3rd G against the G# in the E7 chord creating the ‘blues sound’
When worlds collide. Awesome video
Brandon is a good actor, acting as he doesn't know a 12 bar hahahaha
exactly! There is no way he doesnt now this or he isnt American lol he played in a metal band in Highschool
Brandon acting like he never met Robert Johnson and jammed at the crossroads 😋
"Apples, Oranges, and Lots of Other Fruit" - I like that a lot
The guy who can pretty much effortessly play Eruption on electric and knows basically everything there is to know about music theory, is supposedly being taught for the first time a three chords progression he must have known for 20 some years... I know it's for the sake of the video, but suspension of disbelief has its limits! Props to Brandon for humbly trying to appear clueless while probably struggling to stay awake! And of course to Samurai guitarist to explain the blues basics to a different audience.
You could see it every time Samurai "taught" him something that he immediately effortlessly played, often better than Samurai. Including a stretch that samurai couldn't do, that he easily did the first time. This was basic as for Brandon Acker. Personally, I've always thought Samurai guitarist is pretty average. Does good videos, but just a very average player.
To be fair with that stretch look at Brandon's hands compared to samurai lmao
He's got a good stretch, but that also tends to be the classical style. You use the pinky a lot more from day one. But not all classical players have a big stretch, but you can usually get everything with enough practice. Kind of says it all with Samurai. I think he did whatever college course he did and isn't really progressing much. Stuck in a rut playing stuff he's comfortable with, without pushing his own envelope. More a content creator than guitarist imo.@@mitch5944
Listen to dire straights. Mark Knopfler is the absolute master of "call and response" between vocals and guitar imho.
Brothers in arms, sultans of swing, tunnel of love... Really a lot of the stuff he wrote, when i heard them first i could sing the licks along before i could sing the lyrics. His guitar is so much of a second vocal, its genuinely insane. And it does not have a language barrier.
Fantastic video, Im learning blues and its so expressive. Its blows my mind how blues fits every player, if you want it simple, it works, if you reach complex, also works.
So cool Brandon! Would love to see you so this with a flamenco player!
What masters! My quick takeaway is that Blues can sound surprisingly good on nylon guitars! ❤
A good nylon guitar can be incredibly loud with a very strong bass, I took mine to play with a friend who has a steel guitar and he couldn't believe how strong it sounded.
Absoluutly love it, so you playing with the guy singing Opera. Beutiful.
Love it, two masters make it look so simple
Awesome video guys..I play Blues badly and Classical very badly so what a treat to see this from a classical guitarists perspective...please do more of these.
Best quote from the video: "it's universal". Love this !
When i play fingerstyle blues from a century ago, I use the picking hand positions of classical. When I looked it up in various clips of old timers, their hand positions seem particular to them.
They blend somehow and was so much fun to watch
He’s always in my shorts I never knew he could play blues like that
Bravo, Maestro! 🙂
I love more sorts of music, absolutely 1st is ancient music, with theorbo or lute (as a solo instrument and as a part of basso continuo, too) and the blues on a very high level! And you play both of them now, bravo! 🙂
Great advice regarding phrasing and it's what you're trying to say not how fast you say it in a blues solo.
Great job, Brandon and Samurai!
Very fun. Classical... Blues... Rock... Pop... Jazz... love it all.. !!!
Who would've thought all that formal classical training can translate into soloing in the blues mode!