When a classical guitarist tries to play BLUES...

[@samuraiguitarist]

What a pleasure, you show much potential!

[@harmvanessen1324]

listen to how Jimmy Reed does the 5, just play the A in the bass and don't bother with the stretch

[@creationinspired200]

Love to see you around!!!

[@grogueQ]

This was great, I'd love to see you guys do more stuff together.

[@SirPraiseSun]

2 humble guitar players and musicians respect

[@phungmoe2302]

SameG.... Love ur channel too 👍

[@ldamoff]

"I'll start here and see what happens" is the soul of the blues my guy.

[@Wills.musicpage]

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.

[@emielhasselt2518]

That opera singer litteraly gave me goosebumps.. I knew man sang opera but accually seeing a man doing that is so inspiring

[@lynwood77]

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.

[@collinbeal]

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.

[@drothberg3]

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.

[@RZ_9]

he used to play metal of course he can do it

[@Muzikman127]

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

[@foljs5858]

It's not a myth, as many do. They break down when asked to improvise. Brandon doesn't but most do...

[@beatrixguitar]

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!

[@nuberiffic]

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.

[@mitch5944]

Soo interesting to me considering how important the pentatonic scale is in blues and rock lol. Shows how diverse the instrument can be

[@high_surv]

I find that crazy. How do people play guitar for years and have some shallow knowledge of how most people play guitar?

[@nuberiffic]

@@high_surv ...did you miss the entire point of this thread? Like, on purpose?

[@beatrixguitar]

@@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.

[@AJ-sr2yp]

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.

[@ENomad]

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.

[@heroe1486]

​@@ENomadHum, would you classify acting (wouldn't go as far as lying) as being humble ?

[@khayyamaurelius912]

​@@heroe1486 yes

[@mrtoast244]

This video is just two cultured gentlemen enjoying each others company

[@lusiek81]

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.

[@tj03297]

Next up Mongolian throat singing

[@leomahmet7555]

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.

[@sebg2086]

blues pro............lolllllllllllllllllllllllll

[@crazycat1345]

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.

[@Muzikman127]

Wow that makes so much sense! I didn’t know that about Bream

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" seems to swing pretty good.

[@vladislavvaintroub2674]

Ah that Crossroads movie scene, with some blues infused into Rondo alla Turca ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5zcdXaHpaelaqcsi=328U4kKhDzT9gXDy :)

[@wallacejohnson7083]

Great to hear Steve-san teach the roots of blues tradition, from which comes rock n roll, r&b, country, jazz, so on…

[@RC32Smiths01]

It's fun just branching out on guitar, never know what you're gonna learn in style, technique, or advice. Love this collaboration.

[@SimplyNotReally]

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!

[@jacobbaker6376]

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.

[@jonkerr2050]

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.

[@simon66766]

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!

[@boomerdell]

Great collaboration from two superb teachers and players -- thank you!

[@mrsmilefailrocker]

I really like the sound of nylon string guitar to play blues and rock strumming

[@robertray2714]

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.

[@skylarhowes9322]

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 ❤

[@docDeutschmann]

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.

[@hosseinmoeini6515]

"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. 🙏🏻👌👌👌🙏🏻"

[@Idiomatick]

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.

[@gro_skunk]

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.

[@ricktheexplorer]

"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 KZbin, we love you guys.

[@nuberiffic]

Blues isn't swung; it's a shuffle

[@ricktheexplorer]

@@nuberiffic In my DAW, it's called swing tempo; the thing that makes it shuffle.

[@nuberiffic]

@@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]

@@nuberiffic It also says it in all sheet music. Give up, you lost.

[@nuberiffic]

@@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?

[@MillerCustomGuitars]

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!

[@aaroncardoza5281]

The look of the Soprano singer is not what I was expecting... Incredible voice, and playing the background fill was fantastic.

[@crazy-4-cooking]

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.

[@EatingMachine23]

Fantastic colab. Loved every minute of it from both of you. Cheers

[@mikec6733]

That was a fascinating idea , and the results did not disappoint.

[@c2damak]

THIS was awesome. Really shows the massive scope of our instrument!

[@quailstudios]

Very fun. Classical... Blues... Rock... Pop... Jazz... love it all.. !!!

[@FSAPOJake]

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.

[@adriancamilleri4845]

Of course he did. He's classically trained. This would be peanuts for him.

[@creationinspired200]

Much love for samurai guitarist! Thanks ben!!

[@Heidinskapur]

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.

[@kilgoretrout321]

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

[@Music--ng8cd]

Blind Willie Johnson - I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIe2fZZ6r8iNq5o

[@jebwatson]

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.

[@lynnmanning2795]

You all have made my eveni g watching utube! What a real treat thank you !

[@mcswordfish]

"Apples, Oranges, and Lots of Other Fruit" - I like that a lot

[@onebigboy1861]

Two of my favourite guitarists!

[@DoctorMandible]

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!

[@johnpienta4200]

He immediately gets it. 12:17 - less is more in soloing. Incredible.

[@damiens4601]

Cant wait for the prog metal lesson

[@arthurxafis]

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.

[@brianclifford8487]

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).

[@sdepountis]

Look at Brandon pretending that this is even remotely difficult for him...

[@laurensvanminnen9550]

what a great collab! it must have been a sea of tranquility in that room

[@herculesrockefeller8969]

Since you used to play metal, I'm sure you'll be fine, Brandon!

[@sandro-nelemichetti-vanbra9190]

Best quote from the video: "it's universal". Love this !

[@CossuttaDario]

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.

[@CameraLaw]

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.

[@CameraLaw]

Think these classical guitarists can play the blues? This is absolutely masterful. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3OQm5Kmq86Xp5Ysi=cPDOhw3ypkeThAGp

[@stevefraioli4838]

Lovely juxtaposition of two genres. Music can unite us all.

[@twoeagles19]

That was fun just watching ! Music is Awesome in any Genre ! It is the 2nd greatest gift in life .

[@kylemoran4343]

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 !

[@jensbomholt4529]

Such a great "intercultural exchange". I thoroughly enjoy these collab vids with the two of you! Thank you, masters!

[@oldgoat381]

Again My two favourite guitar KZbinrs collaborating is the absolute best

[@PinkMawile]

I’m excited to see how these two might explore and incorporate the different styles into one another as they grow their own styles.

[@dougsensei]

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.

[@45er.ruffneck]

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!

[@rodrigomorenovillamar2932]

Great show! As a classical player this is very illustrative.

[@grimfolkmusic]

Brandon is a good actor, acting as he doesn't know a 12 bar hahahaha

[@blackplague-x3y]

exactly! There is no way he doesnt now this or he isnt American lol he played in a metal band in Highschool

[@SirJacto]

For a beginner… I was blown away and I’m motivated to practice more

[@stevierv22]

Brandon acting like he never met Robert Johnson and jammed at the crossroads 😋

[@TheBunniesTerrarium]

So cool Brandon! Would love to see you so this with a flamenco player!

[@johnfurlich5157]

Very cool to see two seemingly different genres of music have so much in common! Great video!

[@BookerTDooku]

Testify! 😊

[@suzanneemerson2625]

Exactly w😅hat do these two genres of music have in common?

[@talladegajunkie1439]

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!

[@mvdwillik5991]

Absoluutly love it, so you playing with the guy singing Opera. Beutiful.

[@thorongil9]

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

[@TheErikjsm]

you guys should keep doing this, it was a fun watch

[@thomastucker5686]

That was fun, glad I caught it.

[@IssamUAhmed]

That was lovely! Well done Brandon on your very first go you did so well

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

They blend somehow and was so much fun to watch

[@glenndavid8725]

My classical guitar just gave me that look, don't even think about it! 😂

[@scabezas147]

Love it, two masters make it look so simple

[@reichenbach3200]

Great video Brandon. I really hope you do more collab with another non-classical guitarist like jazz and bossa nova

[@jonasxie5230]

Nice show. I learned a lot from it. Thank You

[@mongarcia9151]

I watched both Brandon's and Sammy's lessons. Both are damn good, amazing teachers.

[@Blizzerd84]

7:01 thought @samuraiguitarist was going to start sing there, perfect timing and pitch :D

[@0bm31770]

Great job, Brandon and Samurai!

[@zerikaz55]

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

[@mrdefendo]

Awesome stuff, Brandon! Kudos to you and SG. Very inspiring and insightful.

[@slatebook2384]

That was short. Was enjoying it and suddenly THE END. Don't ever do that again or I call the 911:)

[@brandonacker]

Wait for part II :)

[@ArmyK9]

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!

[@ijobrien3]

This video brought me peace 😭

[@davidhunternyc1]

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" ?

[@alvodin6197]

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.

[@davidhunternyc1]

@@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.

[@drothberg3]

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.

[@ememe1412]

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.

[@J0nny61]

That was wonderful, I didn't learn anything, but I sure do appreciate the video.

[@jimyon8259]

So cool, looks like fun hanging with you guys !

[@darrenkelfkens8539]

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.

[@fxnels2]

When worlds collide. Awesome video

[@kevc-69-]

I love this type of get together sessions. Bravo.

[@rockguitarmodes]

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’

[@Juan0003]

Dayum! Brandon's got chops! 😂 Cool videos (both)! Learned a lot!

[@frickxnas]

Astonishing video. Thank you guys.

[@Visual_Piano]

Been looking forward to this video! ever since i saw samurai's video

[@kacywilliams1]

What fun! Liked and subscribed to both channels. Thanks for posting this.

[@ProCoRat]

That dudes voice in INCREDIBLE

[@garrycope8923]

Great advice regarding phrasing and it's what you're trying to say not how fast you say it in a blues solo.

[@patoenos]

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.