Ben Eller Teaches Pantera’s Trickiest Riffs with Nick Bowcott

[@sweetwater]

RIFF! 🤘 What's your favorite Dimebag Darrell lick? 🎸

[@MyBichSustained]

Shedding skin!

[@LeeJoRo]

I'm Broken. So simple, but so effective. Tuning is lower than 440hz can add a lot

[@MrAanixon]

For rhythm, the riff at the end of 25 years, lead would be the Sleep.

[@johnpruett6980]

Couldn't possibly pick a fav, but the main riff from "Where You Come From" is as groovy as it gets

[@juanmavargas9014]

Medecine man 🤘🎸

[@TheArtofGuitar]

There are only 2 people I trust in life, my mom and Ben Eller teaching riffs.

[@howardgillingham4763]

That's great

[@JDUBB2399]

You're a great teacher yourself. Taught me pinches and a lot of other stuff. Learned how to play a lot of Dimes stuff based on your techniques video.

[@mindofmatter071]

❤

[@kirbythecomputerguy7610]

Honestly ... there's 3 of you ..Ben , Matt Wheeler and of course YOU !

[@kellc1347]

Ahahah nice! Cant argue with that!

[@DomicidalCovers]

Almost 2 decades on and the man is still schooling everyone! R.I.P

[@psychoshredder4139]

We need more dime related videos... Hes a god. A legand. And most of all a great person. So sad he's gone.

[@boots_33]

This is such a good conversation about the things that people miss about Dime's playing. I've always LOVED how bluesy and almost jazzy his playing would get. You'd hear those odd tonalities in his riffs and at first, you'd be shocked by how he even thought it up, and after a couple playbacks, you just took it as his gospel. The man was blessed with a gift that most of us will never understand, and I will love his work until the end of time.

[@jesseyasaitis9036]

My favorite lick is the closing arpeggios on Floods. So simple, yet so much said in just a little bit of time.

[@jbellflower83]

Yup. I play that one quite a bit. So much emotion coming through. Same shape as the main riff of message in a bottle by the police but Dimebag takes in a more interesting direction

[@metalboy5150]

Seems like I read somewhere that he wrote that for Rita. Made a recording of it looping over and over for her to fall asleep to, or something like that. But yeah, whatever the reason, it's one of my very favorite pieces by Dime. Not as complex as some of his stuff, but just so...beautiful.

[@JO3B1Shinobi]

@@metalboy5150 on piano too! She posted it on Instagram. Wish we could've seen that other side of Dime had he not been taken so soon. Great stuff!

[@metalboy5150]

@@JO3B1Shinobi Do you by any chance have a link to that? Or is it easy to find? I don't follow her, is it just Rita Haney?

[@JO3B1Shinobi]

@@metalboy5150 it's on her Instagram, I looked for a bit and got busy. If I find it I will come back and post!

[@Apocryphone]

More videos like this please! Love the tips. R.I.P. Dime, EVH, and Vinnie Paul

[@sixpenske1940]

I love the Heavy riff in Drag the Waters , also love that you guys joined forces thank you both!!

[@monoideal3592]

Such a pleasure to hear your insights on those Dimebag finesses. The upstroke part was amazing. Need to check some Cowboys live videos next to see how Dime played.

[@BigboyRoy100]

Search "Dime Clinic" and you'll hear it from the man himself, I often revisit that upload and reminisce, Darrell was such a good guy all-round.

[@andthebeatgoeson69]

Had to comment twice. Nick and Ben are MAGIC together

[@lathomas9139]

You both speak of Dime's playing with marvel, joy and love, you could go on for 10 hours and I would cherish every moment! He was a treasure

[@dfnymusic3396]

This is one of the coolest videos EVER

[@sweetwater]

🤘

[@commonsensecatholics]

Love the chemistry with these guys. Great forthright video.

[@scottanderson4175]

Great job Nick 🤘 thank you

[@MrAaronc71]

Such a great video. I loved the back and forth commentary and then playing. This is way better than a usual instructional video. I really look forward to the next video between these 2. This might be a good format for other future videos!🤘🏻🎸☕️

[@BenEller]

Would love to work with Nick more!

[@nickbowcott8822]

Right backatcha, Uncle Ben!

[@gbirdo4718]

I was with my friend at Sweetwater and he was riffing Regular People really loud through a EVH iii with a Marshall 4x12. Nick walked up and gave my buddy the thumps up and showed us his Dime tattoo. My buddy didn’t even know that Nick was the guy from their online videos. I was like “OMG THT WAS THE DUDE!”

[@1badsteed]

Hahaha that's a cool story

[@wootks]

Great to see Ben here.

[@jamesnorton7601]

I've heard a million players version of I'm Broken . Including my own. None of us are truly getting the slide tonality that he did. He had a cool touch for sure

[@sheriewart8100]

You 2 should do this full time, another great video, I will watch it at least a couple times.

[@guitaroholic4365]

I had a great friend I could sit and geek out with about songs and musicians. For hours we would trade licks and learn parts of songs we had forgotten about and how awesome they were. The conversation and playing would inject such inspiration for the guitar and music. This reminds me of those great times. Awesome to watch. Please keep making videos like this.

[@arustydodge2111]

AWESOME!!!! You know when NICK breaks out the “Union Jack” it’s gonna be insane!

[@brnwrm]

One of the best videos I've watched on KZbin, ever.

[@BenEller]

Thank you!!!

[@nlong4028]

That Trendkill pre solo riff is my favorite pich harmonic bend ever. Gives me chills.

[@darkallyrecordings4931]

How cool is this??? Congrats Ben!

[@luisownerbr]

I didn't know Uncle Ben was allowed out of his room. Great video, lots of fun to watch.

[@kg4st]

Great chemistry between these two

[@unameableone]

More please!

[@kingofkingsVAR]

Please do more vids together this was awesome 🤘🤘

[@502deth]

@22:00 ive said this for years. ive never heard anyone else share these feelings. ive been playing guitar on and off for 30 years. (i still suck at it) but i just stop for long periods of time because once i can play it it takes the magic out of it. i get to the point where i dont want to play because i want to enjoy the music. im so glad to see someone else say this, i thought i was just crazy.

[@mikemoir4944]

Twenty minutes of insightful guitarful absolute gold.I was reminded how much fun it is to talk about music and riffology.I really agreed with what you said about not learning the songs to appreciate them i thought that southern trendkill riff which is wicked by the way was in A now i have to nic it eyebrows and all well maybe unabrow and all.

[@johnrodems6360]

Thank you for the Riffs

[@k2rocksstl]

I love the perspectives here. I'm not educated but have played what I enjoy for 35 years. I have never learned Rhoads or Dime stuff because I want to keep it magical for Myself. That's what keeps Me picking up the guitar.

[@kooldawg6]

Fantastic video, guys! Dime has long been my favorite single guitarist since CFH came out when I was a teen and now thanks to this video my appreciation for what he did has grown even more than it already has! One thing interesting that you guys pointed out was how many people can sit down and learn what a musician is doing and play it themselves, but Dime's styles and techniques makes it even difficult if not impossible for even seasoned guitarists to copy exactly and that is amazing that Dime was able to construct amazing music like that🤘😝🤘Pantera and Damageplan are bands I still listen to today with the same if not even more enthusiasm and awe!

[@cmdrcolt]

Getcha pull! Great video guys!

[@brandonessick775]

Thanks Uncle Ben! Thanks Uncle Nick!

[@sweetwater]

Thanks, Nephew Brandon!

[@Projectjx1]

Long live Dimebag... R.I.P

[@GumboAttitude]

Rex said once that he actually came up with the background riff under the CFH solo

[@leslieperry3001]

This. Is Gold.

[@joshhellstorm7767]

The riff you played talking about behind it "cowboys from hell" rex played that in the studio He was talking about it the other day in video i seen.

[@rong9758]

Neither are you. I love that. Exactly.

[@waynelewis8710]

Ola engl Nails the Dimebag stuff pretty good 👍

[@benjaminaxselholm]

15:15 Rex Brown wrote your favourite part of cowboys then. He said in a interview that up came up with that guitar part.

[@MD-xl1sq]

If I’m not mistaken I believe Pantera bassist Rex Brown played rhythm guitar during the CFH solo on the record.

[@Chillnote]

Ben, you made it!

[@HeavyHardHitter]

Dime forever 🤟😎!!!

[@KaldDodeGitarist]

Nailed it!

[@ChristianCMC]

I love Dime no doubt. But when I think of Texas guitar players the first to pop into my mind is SRV. Such a naturally gifted player music just flowed from him like water over a waterfall. RIP. Legends.

[@SteveHatzman]

If I recall a Dime interview years ago he either credited James Hetfield for introducing him to the upstrokes or complimented Hetfield for his upstrokes. Just something I remember. It was probably 30 years ago.

[@troygrady]

Noice!!

[@BenEller]

Thanks buddy :)

[@trixdropd]

Dimebag was the GOD of metal

[@arthurabbott4792]

15:15 The Rythm Guitar underneath the solo was played by Rex with Dime's Guitar. But i dont know who came up with it.

[@BenEller]

That’s rad!

[@jw11432]

I'm nowhere near as good at guitar as either of these guys. But I have to agree about the part about the "non-schooled" players. There is something organic that can happen when creating riffs when you're not constrained with rigid rules. Off the top of my head, I can think of one riff in particular I've come up with that surely would get raised eyebrows from the musical academic. But it sounds awesome. I usually don't enjoy videos like this, but the dialogue here is actually pretty engaging. Good job!

[@squirelova1815]

Speaking of "brutal", one of Mr. Dime's "secrets" were inhuman amounts of Crown Royal.

[@pleasedie1979]

Favorite riff? Ben played one, Shedding Skin is and was so mind blowingly cool of a riff. That stuck with me for a while. Another is of course Cowboys from Hell. Last would be Avoid the Light. I love the bridge slide riff! Just classic Dime!

[@srhatfield]

22:09 I thought I was the only one who did this! There are songs that I refuse to learn no the guitar because I will overanalyze the hell out of them and then they'll be ruined for me, because I'll be thinking about how he did this, then that, etc, rather than thinking about the song itself as a whole. Losing the magic of the song kills a little part of me every time I do it... so I have an inventory of songs I will not learn because I don't want to lose that magic.

[@jeremyswalley8625]

Damn I love me some raunchy pinch harmonics!! I learned em from Billy Gibbons!!

[@keithnorvell3583]

Dime and Vinnie were so nice. Let me play the Lightning Bolt Dean. I sucked but D just said "cool".

[@0bikej526]

I wish the volume level between the discussion and the playing was leveled

[@LiMuBai]

I think Andy James does a great job at playing Dimebag's stuff

[@behindthenut4542]

Great video :) but that riff under the solo in cowboys from hell I'm sure I heard rex brown say it was him that played it on the recording

[@brandonjackson5865]

Interesting fact Phil actually came up with the Walk riff but I bet Dime put the special sauce on it . All the greats people can play the notes and the rhythm but they cannot recreate the feeling and natural groove the legends have Dime EVH and Marty Friedman’s phrasing and vibrato are impossible to 100 percent duplicate .

[@cashfreeman6148]

Rex actually played the rhythm guitar part under the "Cowboys from Hell" solo

[@Mike-ol7xp]

My old saying is - ''Learn it as you need it''

[@BenEller]

What a pleasure to be a part of this hang!

[@zenistermister9695]

You rock Ben. Such a humble guy. Rock on brother 🤘

[@nickbowcott8822]

Ditto, my friend!

[@donaldmccoy49]

Uncle Ben, you NAILED it!!! King EVH and Dime are so unique, that I likewise never tried to "nail" the stuff... so that I can be continuously blown away the swing and fury they brought over and over again.

[@sweetwater]

🤘

[@actionpotato]

I went looking for your video on changing strings on a floyd rose and found this. Great video!

[@AllergicToMyself]

Hey guys, fun fact - that was actually Rex playing guitar underneath Dimes solo on the CFH song. He wrote that line. There's a vid on KZbin recently where he talks about he did a lot of writing for Pantera. They were awesome together

[@showerjedi9627]

thats fukin awesome! and your name is cool my dude.

[@pitthefrit6292]

Rex said so, and it is true. Besides, Dime was lucky to have such a great musician as a bass player on his side, because most bass players tend to ruin the tightness in such guitar riffs.

[@chewybang]

More with Ben, please! This was such a treat to watch. And love that last riff, ha! \m/

[@BenEller]

The pleasure was all mine! Such a blast.

[@benjaminbaggins7590]

This put a smile on my face. You really explained why Dime(and Eddie) was unique guitar player who stood out far from the others of his genre. Ironically, everyone wanted to sound like Eddie but no one payed tribute to him like Dime because he was original and knew what he wanted to hear.

[@yurimodin7333]

"who stood out far from the others of his genre" they both created a genre. EVH basically created the shredder /virtuoso, Dime invented(and still defines) groove metal.

[@jsullivan2112]

People often forget that he and Vinnie were also HUGE Rush fans, and Dime was no slouch, he paid attention to everyone. I think he got his love of those sorts of pinch harmonics from Alex honestly.

[@djabthrash]

Fantastic video so far. They couldn't have chosen better hosts for this (besides maybe Zakk Wylde, Wes Hauch, Vogg (Decapitated) and Marzi Montazeri).

[@BenEller]

I 10000000% agree!!!! Those are excellent choices. Vogg is THE most underrated extreme metal guitarist on earth.

[@13guitard00d]

Wes Hauch is another ridiculous guitar player who can mimic Dime's feel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYWapaWqZrVmj6c

[@calviopus]

Man, some of the best times of my life were seeing Pantera locally at the clubs here in Texas pre-Cowboys. The triplet thing is part of the blues influence they had, which is hard to escape here. Not that anyone would want to. They may have been metal, but they had a huge blues thing to them, which added to their magic. And they were all cool dudes. It was always great running into them at random locations. They always had the time.

[@nigelio3]

Ola Englund is the closest I've heard at replicating Dime's tone.

[@swervature]

A good example of the pinch harmonic bends is the solo from "La Grange".

[@cs9667]

Fun fact, Rex Brown is responsible for the dyads breakdown under the solo in Cowboys From Hell, Dime most likely kept using that idea from thence forth.

[@lucamoqi]

I think Wes Hauch would have been a great addition to this. That fella knows everything about Dime's playing. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, he's pals with Uncle Ben

[@BenEller]

Wes is indeed a good pal, and the KING!!!! Insane player.

[@KaineSpawnX]

Lots of fun seeing these two sharing their love for Dimebag's playing and making it educational along the way. Thanks to Nick for all the classic Riffer Madness stuff with Dime, and to Ben for all the in-depth lessons in shredsmanship.

[@gregoryschmidtdvm9103]

They really need a ‘Fucking love this’ button for videos like this. I guess this will have to suffice… \m/.

[@NEUWRIGHT]

The player that has gotten the closest in my opinion to Dime's sound, is a 17 year old girl named Kayla Kent. She is eerily accurate and plays his leads with seemingly very little effort. Definitely swing by her channel and check her out!

[@konradfraczek6482]

I think it's worth mentioning that Rex recorded these 3rds underneath Dime's solo on Cowboys, I read about it recently. Great chat.

[@Lunathewolf93334]

I do like the Uncle Ben and Nick Bowcott combo. Two metalheads geeking out and teaching us some stuff in the process.

[@robsmith2927]

Great video, could watch you guys talk about Dime all day. What I would say, although Dime admitted he only knew major and minor. His dad was a country music producer and was shown a lot by him and those that recorded with him. There's his musical education.

[@klutch4198]

Long live Bowcott and Uncle Ben!!! You guys always make my day.. thanks, time to go shred!

[@nickcormier]

Ben is such a good teacher.. well done video!

[@meteor09]

That was awesome. Going to watch it again tomorrow. Would love to see these guys keep chatting guitars and Dime.

[@ThreeBeingOne]

This needs to be a 5 part series.

[@crhoads1024]

This is a fantastic fanboy riff discussion, love it…

[@halfindy]

You two are really a match made in heaven. I could hear you ramble on for hours... days maybe! :)

[@jelmeromero]

Ben, I’ve watched your channel before but this video here you connected. I agree tab and note for note has kinda ruined style imho. I too try not to learn some stuff to keep the magic. I learned eruption and I have in some ways ruined the magic! Hehe. Love this vid and congrats on teaming up with sweetwater. Your doing what many of us wished we could do for a living. Kudos sir I am now subscribed!

[@Seanomatic57]

I've always said this. VH and Pantera are my favorite bands of all time. It's the brother connection.

[@JackMcLeodJr]

Uncle Ben & Papa Nick have fast became the Adrian Smith and Dave Murray (OR the Glenn Tipton & KK Downing - Either duo is acceptable in this example 😉 🎸) of KZbin Rock/Metal Guitar content! 👍🏻 When the chemistry is right the chemistry is right, and you're both in your element here, brilliant! Please keep uploading more of these, Gents 👍🏻 also I couldn't agree more regarding Darrell and King Edward - both have that unique flowing rhythmic right hand style going on, that old-school 'percussive minded' type players. Eddie in Mean Streets comes to mind always, actually all those rhythmn tracks going on throughout the Fair Warning album Eddie laid down are stellar.

[@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender]

Ben I'm the same way, I wanna keep dime's riffs sacred and special. I only listen to his music on special occasions. It was just too good

[@williambrooks276]

REALLY loved this tribute to Dimebag from you both Nick and Uncle Ben ( you both are absolutely SICK guitarists! ) Dime was just a total feel guy as much as he was technically amazing!

[@aftertheendtimes]

Just love you guys 😀🎸🤘so much experience in your souls and yet soooo humble, that's a sign of a spiritual soul, keep doin it, big thanks from my 💖👍☯️

[@TexasSmoking]

One thing to mention, the pick gouge on dimes DFH guitar is all from up strokes. Brutal. And also rex played the rhythm for the CFH solo

[@blak1lyte]

Just awesome. The best take away... as EVH said.. and it says it all... for all us musicians guitarists..."IF IT SOUNDS GOOD, IT IS GOOD! " PERIOD. And that's how I write... for me.. my ears...my grooves...I only look at the neck when I need to see what I did that made me go...WHAT WAS THAT I JUST PLAYED OR CAME UP WITH

[@robbradford5793]

Biggest mistake most guitarists make is they need to slooow dooown. People try to play pantera riffs like thrash riffs, and they weren't a thrash band. Hurrying through things makes it impossible to hit on all the little flavorings like the hick bends and big wide vibrato that make the riffs whay they are.

[@darrenjackson582]

You guys together make great viewing. Love these need more please...maybe even cross platforms and do some from Uncle Ben's end!!!

[@sicksavagelife5680]

Interesting point about them originally wanting to be drummers, and in talking about how Pantera had that triplet flow, I found that picking and getting used to accenting on up strokes easier (among other things) from growing up playing drums, definitely rhythm and syncopation has a lot of stylistic points even in lead guitar and adding more of that definitely leads to less robotic, more unique styles.

[@zenistermister9695]

This is badass. You guys rock. Thank you for honoring Dime🤘

[@jesseclaborn749]

Not only are yall hands down the best music store around, then yall go and do great videos like this. Keep up the great work, love seeing these guys geek out on stuff die hard guitarist think about often.

[@sweetwater]

Thank you, Jesse! 🤘

[@luigizanellato2959]

This is very cool. I've seen an interview with Rex Brown, explaining that he was the one who put the backing track dyads for The Cowboys from Hell solo. He did mention that Dime wanted him to do it. Not sure how true it is, but either way it's a great backing track! \m/

[@RobbieFitzgerald]

I remember him saying he did the acoustic intro on Gates, but I dont recall that at all.

[@luigizanellato2959]

@@RobbieFitzgerald I just found it on revolver magazines site, in an interview, he stated he did do the rhythm for Cowboys solo section as well. There is a KZbin video of him in a hotel explaining and playing it. I’m sure it’s easy to find. I woulda shared it, idk how to tho brotha. 🤘

[@metalboy5150]

@@luigizanellato2959 i definitely remember reading that Rex played the rhythm on the CFH solo section. But I've never heard that he played the "Cemetery Gates" intro.

[@luigizanellato2959]

@@metalboy5150 Yes I don't recall the Cemetery Gates intro. Just the CFH solo section. \m/