Brandon Ellis put all his skill points into guitar

[@spectre722]

When 4 levels of death metal from Black Dahlia with Brandon Ellis / Ryan Knight?

[@chairmanofthebored6860]

I've been asking for that for a couple of years now. Between Brandon, Ryan, and Brian he has his pick of amazing guitar players

[@TheHighsmith8]

Yeah man I've been waiting and asking for years to see them try to play Everything Went Black.

[@chairmanofthebored6860]

@TheHighsmith8 the exact song I'd love to see Dean struggle his way through

[@elnombre91]

Takes me back to trying to learn the "I will return" solo and just being absolutely flabbergasted by Ryan's crazy legato stuff.

[@masterduda013]

Pleaseeeee

[@preston5892]

What I love about Dean is he approaches the guitar with no ego & sees and respects other players' abilities. He finds joy in playing and progressing his understanding of the guitar. Will admit when he's stuck or doesn't understand something even though he is a beast himself. Honestly, that is how he has gotten so good in the first place. Let's all try to be like Dean 👍

[@Blabau1235]

TOP Secret 0.5x Speed video you seeing drunken people and learn

[@TheSentry777]

I love that it seems to not even cross Dean's mind that 10,000's of guitarist look at him with the exact same reverance. Such a fucking cool dude.

[@Growtolight]

100.000

[@Crms-like-Crims]

love this type of content and appreciate a player of your caliber showing an accurate representation of the learning process. How you figure things out, get confused, make mistakes etc., it's a very real experience for all players but often excluded with production magic that gives unrealistic expectations & skewed perceptions! great vid and brandon is sick 😎

[@alexilaiho8534]

exactly.

[@AhYesIndeedItsFunTime]

Dude was in Arsis when he was 16 IIRC, the term prodigy gets overused but he is a legit guitar prodigy

[@evanwagstaff5405]

he was like 20/21, but still. Would love a 4 levels of Death Metal video on Arsis, holy hell

[@di0__0ib]

caught TBDM on Friday with Dying Fetus. was an amazing show. one thing about both TBDM guitarists is their accuracy live. MIND BLOWING!

[@JawnCoffee]

So happy you're talking about Brandon. He's among the best guitarists of all time imho

[@MetalHitch]

Man played live at a local dive bar near me looking like Elrond come to slay the fellowship of the pit. Man played like a elf bard with +4 in Charisma. And indeed all his additional skill points went straight to guitar shredding.

[@martinjohansson203]

This is the funniest thing I've read today. Thank you for the laugh!

[@tfwnoyandere]

i wonder what your favourite movies are

[@Jackthestripper]

The dudes playing has so much swagger.

[@PhilMeadJams]

Guitar god admiring guitar god; I approve Do Fredrik Thorendal next 😮

[@8troll9]

DJENT DJENT DJENT DJENT

[@Trahzy]

Not even close lmao

[@quinnquitars]

Brandon is easily one of my fav guitarists. His vibrato is so distinct and awesome

[@jesselemasters8676]

His vibrato is the best I've ever heard!!!

[@JobForAMaxboy]

I find it really frustrating. I love his playing, but to me his vibrato is too slow and intentional sounding. Wide vibrato sounds awesome, but his is just too slow for me

[@Trahzy]

​@JobForAMaxboy We get it, you like mechanical nerdy playing.

[@chuggyhuggy8783]

reminds me of loomis soooo much

[@murk4552]

​@@JobForAMaxboyIt's taste and not doing thin ass vibrato to where it might as well be a trill

[@chrisking6695]

@@Trahzy yes because the only true dichotomy is that you either sound mechanical or that you have Brandon Ellis’a vibrato. What kind of a moron are you? Does Marty Friedman sound mechanical to you? No? Well, his vibrato isn’t wide and slow like Brandon’s.

[@MrPsy0pus]

Brandon is THE man, love watching/listening to him playing, such an amazing musician !

[@user-nz1uf2qs6k]

So funny to watch this video yesterday on Troy's channel and geek out, and then today see Dean watch Brandon play with that smile on his face. Ellis is the MAN, his channel is great too. Playthroughs with no BS, camera pointed to show fretboard clearly... He knows his audience. Such a treat to watch both of you guys.

[@sguerilla6142]

I started playing the guitar in the late 80s. For the next 10+ years, I practiced for 5-6 hours daily, sometimes 12 or more hours. To make a long story short, I stopped being interested in solo when I started listening to Napalm Death and Meshuggah. Then I heard about Brandon, started watching his videos on KZbin, then he started playing with TBDM and I fell in love with solo again. And when he was on tour with Exodus and replacing Lee, playing all the Rick Hunolt original solos, he bought me for life.

[@MikaelLV]

Brandon is my favorite modern player. Not just his outstanding chops and phrasing, but his down to the detail articulation of almost every note. Every time I listen to him I'm inspired to pick up my guitar. The Black Dahlia Murder is also my favorite death metal band so I was ecstatic when he joined the band, and he didn't disappoint. Nightbringers is the Rust in Peace of the modern era.

[@Bequeefed]

Kudos on the Martyr tip, checked them out today, their stuff absolutely rips 🤯

[@preston2636]

Im team bridge pickup for solos for life. Much less forgiving but much more rewarding.

[@matthewbaer7871]

They are both situational. And you are limiting yourself as a musician

[@laynefuller]

What's less forgiving? Can you hear mistakes more on bridge? Never noticed that

[@mattgoldsworthy3278]

@@matthewbaer7871 I don't think that's limiting at all. Check out Holdsworth, he only used the bridge and he's definitely not limited haha! I think lack of knowledge of music theory is limiting.

[@preston2636]

@@matthewbaer7871 i speant 18 years using neck pickups. The neck pickup was limiting me because i was using it to cover mistakes i was making.

[@matthewbaer7871]

@@preston2636 spent* so because you used a tool incorrectly, it means it's a useless tool? It doesn't even cover mistakes. You should have spent those 18 years learning to play instead of trying to come up with weird "tricks" to make your bad playing sound good.

[@zetchTV]

9:05 you start sounding a little like planetary duality era The Faceless here. I'm gonna be trying to get comfy with this idea haha

[@st.peterunner8758]

I've been waiting for a video like this. I've been geeking over Brandon Ellis since he joined TBDM

[@johnny2ck]

This is insane and exactly what I need to see to get better. Thank you for always providing shit that makes me want to pick up my guitar and play.

[@shadowsmustfall1]

Dude plays anything while looking straight ahead and sounds THAT good. Damn

[@olgrandma9350]

Awesome video. Imagine 4 levels of death metal with Phil Tougas

[@blackmetalbreadstick]

Phil is the master

[@COBfan1996]

I've been wishing for that for ages, it would be awesome

[@pourliver]

Man those runs were fucking clean, I can barely alternate through strings and he can just flow through them without missing a note, insane

[@TobyKBTY]

Loved Brandon ever since he was just posting incredibly tasty stuff on KZbin pre TBDM. His vibrato, phrasing, and style are massive inspirations for me.

[@mattbarker1411]

So when he was touring with arsis...... lol

[@primushimself604]

He's the best guitarist in Metal rn imo.

[@Everythingwentblack69]

I will totally second that!!!

[@gilmeaguitar]

him and Wes Hauch fo sho

[@tfwnoyandere]

maybe most technically proficient but best guitarist for the last 26 years has been dino cazares

[@Everythingwentblack69]

@@tfwnoyandere lmao you're hilarious, that's the last person I would say is the best.

[@tfwnoyandere]

@@Everythingwentblack69 dude is god of cave dweller grooves, give brujerizmo or vayan sin miedo a spin and its literally impossible to disagree

[@richardjewett7702]

I get a kick out of watching Dean struggle these things!.....BUT he is a MONSTER when he does his own thing!

[@dexterj5615]

Thanks for introducing me to Troy Grady pick slanting transformed my learning speed

[@kevinac4397]

Some dudes are just truly gifted. His high school talent show video is ridiculous.

[@RattusMcBlyatus]

Getting to watch one of my favourite riff lords froth one of my other favourite riff lords is just the kind of content the internet was made for.

[@johndoe9965]

1:31 is this the intro to Great Fairy Fountain 😂😂

[@136312]

Lmao I thought the exact same thing as I heard this

[@TechMetalRules]

Cracking the Code changed my life.

[@Shutupletstalk]

saaaaaaaaaame

[@XBlaqKrowX]

Yes!!! Excited for this one!

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

You young guys really have it all together. When sweep picking first came to us in the form of Malmsteen, we all kind of stood back and marvelled. Thinking it was alien tech or something. Since I pick everything it came to me slowly if at all. I. An but I am limited. I learned by listening to my favorite shredder Al DiMeola and perhaps some Santana. So I am a picker of all things guitar. My left hand is OK, not like you guys. But, my right hand is pretty happening. I can rip off 64ths still without issue and that is my thing to this day. It all starts with where you as a player start. Had I started playing.much later perhaps my style might be different. But as it is, I play this way for life. Not a bad thing and I suppose I could learn. But I'm a guitar player and inherently lazy LOL Great player by you both. Bravo Sir.

[@kamiljastrzab7784]

a goldmine of concepts, thanks Dean for that episode!

[@kellybrincks]

I hate having short fingers. Watching videos like this always reminds me. But never despair. I work with what I got😅

[@Flat-Kat]

FINALLY. brandon is hands down one of the best technical metal players to ever live. he is definitely on another level!

[@Mole_King]

I'm only in the first few minutes of the video, but that swiping technique immediately reminds me of the intro and outro riffs of Cafo from AAL. Insanely hard riff that blends sweeping and swiping together.

[@Shredder-KJ]

Dean lamb is a fantastic guitarist ❤

[@voidofhope6259]

Yes!!!! Yes he did!!!! Brandon is a god!

[@loompy1440]

been long time BDM fan, but never checked out this dudes playing show off vids. It’s so good it makes me want to pick up my own guitar again kinda not really lol I can do the Jason Becker run I learned from a VHS tape and that was good enough for me 20 something years later.

[@DREADDWELLER]

He's the kind of player who somehow makes you want to pick up your guitar and practice for a week straight, but also throw it in the garbage and never play again lmao

[@DinkyMax]

Brandon has to be the smoothest guitar player out there!! And he's just as good live!!

[@mxp1837]

When attending music-advanced-course I also could not remember the neapolitan. But it was the only chord I never could figure out in a harmony-analysis. At some point I could itentify the chord just because I could never identify it. Because of its suspension(s) it is used as a junction between keys.

[@BunsenMusic]

On top of Brandon's feel, his tone is always absolutely killer. Such spicy lead tones.

[@EL_DUDERIN0]

I'll give you a Brandon Ellis secret trick since I've followed most of his lessons: Always outside pick everything. You can do economy, alternate, legato, but always outside pick your string changes. Boom. Sweetness and rhythm. I didn't know that either.

[@seannicholes]

Brandon is absolutely amazing. I was glad to see a video with Troy about him. I think the best BDM is the stuff since he's joined the band. Trevor is a great loss but I really love where the band is now.

[@Therealstrikeforce]

This is top tier content , yall should collab!!

[@Metaldad87]

Brandon is just insanely good, his playing is always awesome and precise

[@mateuszsieraszewski7666]

i absolutely love brandon ellis, easily my top 1 favorite modern guitarist

[@cliffsharp1771]

I'm learning a ton from this

[@Peron1-MC]

16:40 the fact that he can play that while during a staring competition XD

[@bobollie]

Spat coffee everywhere. great gag amigo

[@iLLuzion1st]

@@bobolliebahaha

[@KingJerbear]

Brandon is just one of the best players I've ever seen. Killer player with an amazing guitar collection. Vibrato is just insane

[@CammedFox]

You guys are both God tier players. Brandon is my goal for vibrato

[@DocBB]

Saw their live show last night, he's a fucking beast. He might be one of the best metal guitarists right now, he's just always studio quality when he plays live.

[@mattgoldsworthy3278]

After getting into Holdsworth I actually stopped using my neck pickup... I don't overly like the way it sounds, except for clean playing.

[@preston2636]

I abandoned it too years ago for leads. The bridge pickup is much less forgiving for leads but it cuts through the mix like butter and accentuates pick attack much more and is cleaner, even if you play perfectly clean on the neck pickup its still kinda muddy.

[@puffballbk2186]

@@preston2636legato = neck Picking = bridge for me

[@mattgoldsworthy3278]

@@preston2636 I just feel like the neck pickup hides a lot of the characteristics of the string. I think Holdsworth said in an interview that he was trying to make the one sound as perfect as possible. So he had a chamber made where the neck pickup used to be to get a warmer tone from the bridge. I know for me, I typically pick on the ponticello side... It's just engrained into my playing from classcial guitar as my default hand position. So I typically have a warmer sound to my playing in general, so the bridge pickup helps compensate that. Obviously when I play metal rhythms my hand goes to the sul tasto position.

[@jimmypennell8831]

Guitar nerds😂. You all need girlfriends. At least Dean is Married... to a chick that plays guitar😂😂😂

[@Imfreehowaboutu]

I stopped using the neck for leads after getting into Per Nilsson’s playing. Who, by the way is a huge Holdsworth guy.

[@clarkfraley5682]

That chord you're talking about at 7:00 immediately reminded me of The Faceless. I think they use that at :52 on "The Ancient Covenant"

[@DeanLamb]

Absolutely, they used it a lot

[@bobbyculdesack2309]

Hungarian Gypsy Minor is one of my favorite scales of all time ❤❤❤

[@sarahdedrick79]

Thanks for giving BDM some love! When you gonna do a BDM archspire tour?!?

[@graemeoliver744]

one of my fav players, what a beast

[@Guanjyn]

His solo on Sunless Empire alone bumped that album to one of my favourite Black Dahlia Murder albums.

[@rocketshiprick]

13:42 sounds like slayer

[@lukeh6015]

Yeah was just thinking "Raining Blood" -- have they both not heard of Slayer? Surely fkn not!!

[@poser_disposer]

Although i get where you're coming from i wouldn't consider cannibal corpse ignorant to theory. Alex Webster has a crazy knowledge of theory. I would think something more like sanguisugabogg or something when i think ignorant to theory.

[@DeanLamb]

I don't mean that type of ignorant. I mean it in the "hit you in the head tough riffs" kind of ignorant.

[@32kylebeam]

Cody the drummer of Bogg is one of the best guitar players I’ve ever met irl. He is a theory guy in addition.

[@ThorsShadow]

​@@DeanLambI guess ignorant as in "writing riffs that disregard a focus on theory" and not "not knowing theory". As much as I respect Alex as a guitar player, I just can't get into music like Cannibal Corpse. Probably because of that "ignorance".

[@DraugrGrog]

Did anyone else catch that Finntroll US tour back in 2013 when Brandon had to fill in for Skrymer last minute? That was neat.

[@mudpill7509]

TROLLHAMMAREN

[@Gravespawn506]

Archspire should make a "Got talent/some kind of monster" type spoof series to market/audition their new drummer, would be funny and would spread the Stay Tech mission to the world.

[@Mahina-Kekoa]

I just saw him play last night, he is so good

[@PudWud1]

Brandon Ellis is sick. He has so much swagger, Friedman inspired, he’d be a perfect fit for Megadeth

[@murk4552]

Mustaine would hate Death Metal riffs, plus he'd never let him write anything.

[@AffixedEvil]

​@@murk4552like writing death - metal riffs is all Brandon capable of...

[@juniorgeorge8033]

Just seen them boys in Boise Idaho last night. Great show

[@Soulreaper066]

Brandon Ellis' playing reminds me of Ralph Santolla. I love it.

[@Kronikman07]

tbdm is my fav band for sure.

[@Metal-lz8td]

Brandon Ellis and Ryan Knight are two of my favorite guitarists of all time, it's so sick to see them both in the same band.

[@lolcosmik2090]

Watching some of his interviews, he's a big 80's shred guy with a crazy amount of theory understanding. He really isn't mentioned enough when it comes to lead guitarists. The solo in Sunless Empire is super technical, but sooooo pretty at the same time. Might be an interesting video to break down one of his solos!

[@Ryo7_7]

He's so good it's insane. Same for Ryan.

[@WesleyKhalil]

I like your funny words, magic man

[@psychoticunicorns7616]

12:19 dean you’re thinking of an augmented 6th chord, that’s the one that has italian french and german versions. The neapolitan chord is just a major triad starting on the b2 of the key

[@dan0nada754]

they are obviously super good live. having said that, his leads, and that vibrato live, good lord. was like a joke it Was so good

[@unhingedvetband_AU]

It actually makes me so happy to see dean be stretched, it makes me, a mere mortal, feel far less inadequate and VERY inadequate at the same time!

[@Will-sg1qq]

yessss i've been waitin for this

[@stephenkain6603]

Would love to see a video of this of old Chris storey stuff in asp

[@DisRespectoids]

Swiper swipe!

[@nblax41]

I would do strange things to hear a Brandon Ellis solo album

[@lsu1992]

He's got a Gibson 3-way switch on that Jackson. Never seen that before.

[@KaldDodeGitarist]

I'd love to see Dean learn Incarnated Solvent Abuse by Carcass

[@Grumpyseabee22]

That walk down is totally a Slayer homage.

[@bobmcstuffins8194]

Feels more like Carcass

[@Grumpyseabee22]

@@bobmcstuffins8194 well since Slayer preceded Carcass I’m still going with Slayer 😄

[@megatron324]

awesome video im out here trying to put some skillpoints into my refrigerator by selling my guitar amp at the pawn shop and increasing my survival skill points because there is a hurricane coming

[@byranakiempitts7374]

🤣🤣

[@joeymcginnis6167]

Stay safe my Floridian brother

[@dedompler]

Miltonhouse Manastorm on his way to blow all your outhouses into the sea

[@megatron324]

@@byranakiempitts7374 i survived a suicide attempt

[@megatron324]

@@joeymcginnis6167 how do you know my name

[@IAmMyOwnGod666]

@6:18 could also be harmonic major or double harmonic major, although in the videos context I guess it was mixolydian b6

[@xxitz_pr0gxx631]

I love you, Dean.

[@ChaosPootato]

I'm not a big fan of Black Dahlia but the dude chooses BANGING melodies

[@thomasbaldiscola4671]

SAME Dude! I've saw them live a few times at festivals and always just watched Brandon JAM! BEAST!

[@metalhead41294]

Yeah I honestly wasn’t to big on them until Brandon joined

[@Goose21]

@@metalhead41294 nightbringers is my fav coz of Brandon

[@chrisgardino214]

Great stuff here!

[@thomaskinsey3424]

That triad with the spicy note sounds like its from mixolydian b6 which has a major triad with a b6 aka the rivendell elf theme from LOTR

[@Peron1-MC]

song suggestion the intro to "veil of maya - we bow in its aura" there is a great video of Marc Okubo playing the riff on guitar messenger :) its an insane riff but equally cool :) i can almost play it XD would love to see you give it a go :) there is also a video of him playing "its not safe to swim today" at NAMM 2020 in the kiesel booth with a picture of you in the background with your guitar. XD

[@leogonzalez8674]

As good as Dean is he is still soooo humble. Crazy good and is still learning songs and taking something from them. He could easily just stay good at what he does but nope he is trying to take ideas and be better so sick! Brandon is so good at guitar that vibrato is nuts

[@EDWINPIERCE168]

His lead tone has a softness to it. Fixed bridges can sound pretty stiff. a note is often sub threshold for feedback. His harmonic vocabulary is excellent. b3 The vibrato is wide and fast, easy to accidentally pull off from it, but he doesn’t. I kinda want to try that dyad pickup.

[@marilynramirezlp]

I hope this is a precursor to a TBDM/Archspire tour

[@adammassacre4715]

Brandon is just MIND BLOWING just an incredible player. He reminds me of Marty Friedman/Nuno Bettencourt. He looks so comforable and makes it look easy when in fact it is very much not haha.

[@chuggyhuggy8783]

4:50 you can totally see his eyes walking through what hes doin frettin wise

[@Yoshipk777]

I think you were mixing the neapolitan chord with the augmented sixth chords, of which there is French, German and Italian. Basically it's a dominant chord over the #4th scale degree and each variant is just an increasingly dissonant variant like going from V to V7 to V7b9 but all within the same realm. They act as solid predominants usually Love the vids!

[@Paleoprimal]

Dean accidentally creating something awesome starting around 9:05-9:45

[@jaredwilliams1031]

You can all kinds of parallel chords over minor; if you play Ebmaj7 after an Emin7, and it will sound incredible. Bbmaj7 will also sound great, as will Bb7, and also F7. Turn these into arpeggios and add some extensions and the possibilities feel limitless.

[@farukcosic7099]

Love it

[@Dwarfgrinder]

Everything just sounds like SLAYER to me. 😅