Brandon D'Eon

Why Playing Guitar Fast Is Impossible for Some

GUITAR CHEFS.

It sucks, but here’s the truth…

For some people, playing guitar fast is simply impossible.

To illustrate this concept, imagine this:

A 60-year-old woman takes a self-defense class to protect herself from a knife attack.

She trains for years, learns the moves, and builds the skills. But at the end of the day, she’s still in her 60s.

Now one night she gets mugged. The attacker has a knife, and no matter how hard she fights, she just cannot overpower someone younger, stronger, and faster.

The skills are there, but physics and biology don’t lie. There’s no amount of training that can fully compensate for being weaker and slower.

Now, what does this have to do with guitar?

If you start guitar when you’re already older, you’ve missed a critical window to form the neural pathways that make real speed possible.

Start younger, and you’ve got a way better shot.

Genetics also play a role. Just like being born in Kenya or Ethiopia probably gives you a natural edge in long-distance running compared to being born in fuckin Canada.

Now, I’m not trying to kill your dream here, but there’s no point in resisting reality.

If you know someone who started later in life and still developed insane speed, drop their name in the comments.

52 Week Guitar Player reopens on September 14th.

That's in 6 days!

We’ll only be accepting 100 new students when we reopen.

Join the waiting list now dammit: brandondeon.com/survey-page2?el=brandonytpost

NOW JUST LEAVE.

- Brandon

PS: If you enroll in 52 Week Guitar Player and complete our crazy 52-week challenge, we’ll give you all your money back.

5 hours ago | [YT] | 240

Brandon D'Eon

How do you usually practice scales?

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21 hours ago | [YT] | 52

Brandon D'Eon

Grateful For This Guitar Advice From a University Prof

GUITAR CHEFS.

Back in music school, one of my professors gave me a piece of advice that completely changed the way I practiced scales.

You’ve probably heard the classic method of practicing scales using the circle of fifths.

Start with C major, then move to G, then D and keep going until you’ve gone through the whole thing.

But here’s the advice I got…

Instead of moving positions, stay in one position and play through different shapes of each scale.

It forces you to actually learn the neck in that spot.

It’s way harder at first, but if you stick with it, you’ll start to see the fretboard as one connected system instead of a bunch of isolated boxes.

52 Week Guitar Player reopens on September 14th.

That's in 7 days!

We’ll only be accepting 100 new students when we reopen.

Join the waiting list now dammit: brandondeon.com/survey-page2?el=brandonytpost

NOW JUST LEAVE.

- Brandon

PS: If you enroll in 52 Week Guitar Player and complete our crazy 52-week challenge, we’ll give you all your money back.

1 day ago | [YT] | 276

Brandon D'Eon

How do you see guitar’s role in mainstream music today?

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1 day ago | [YT] | 69

Brandon D'Eon

How We KILLED The Guitar in Mainstream Music

GUITAR CHEFS.

If you grew up on bands like Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, or Black Sabbath, you’ve probably noticed something…

The guitar isn’t really part of mainstream music anymore.

I mean, how could you not. The guitar is almost never present in pop music these days.

So what the hell happened? Here’s my take on why this occurred…

Back in the 1930s, big band swing was the biggest thing in music. But that era died hard.

Why? It was hard to coordinate schedules for all the musicians in a big swing band AND pay them.

It was too much effort. Then the Great Depression happened, the war, etc.

I think there are some similarities that apply to the death of guitar here too.

Record labels realized they could pay one guy to make beats on a laptop instead of five guys to form a band and actually write songs.

But unlike drums or bass, guitar can serve many different roles. We can provide melody, harmony, riffs, and/or solos.

Bass and drums will always be present because music needs bass to feel complete and both of these instruments are necessary for the rhythm section.

But guitar? It’s not essential in the same way.

People relate more to a melody sung by a singer than they do to an instrument.

And guitar solos? Most people don’t give a shit about guitar solos.

Guitars aren’t new either. Each generation wants to sound new and different. Guitar doesn’t solve that problem.

Now in the present day, people are addicted to TikTok and their phones. Instant gratification has perma-fucked a generation.

The demand for guitar music can’t compete with video games.

Anyway, this was just my opinion.

What do you think?

52 Week Guitar Player reopens on September 14th.

That's in 8 days!

We’ll only be accepting 100 new students when we reopen.

Join the waiting list now dammit: brandondeon.com/survey-page2?el=brandonytpost

NOW JUST LEAVE.

- Brandon

PS: If you enroll in 52 Week Guitar Player and complete our crazy 52-week challenge, we’ll give you all your money back.

2 days ago | [YT] | 638

Brandon D'Eon

What’s harder for you right now?

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2 days ago | [YT] | 60

Brandon D'Eon

“I Know the Scale Shapes but Can’t Solo With Them”

GUITAR CHEFS.

If you know all your scale shapes but still can’t solo with them, there are two reasons this is happening.

Reason 1: You don’t actually know the scales as well as you think you do.

Just because you can play them up and down perfectly with a metronome doesn’t mean you can use them musically. Those are two completely different skills.

Running a scale up and down helps you memorize the pattern. It’s useful, but it doesn’t teach you how to make music with it.

When you improvise, you need to be able to see that shape in your head and grab notes from it freely, not just run through them in order like a robot.

So how do you fix this? Simple, actually practice improvising.

Once you’ve learned the scale, start using it over backing tracks, loops, or even just a metronome with chord tones in mind.

That’s the whole point of learning scales in the first place. Not to endlessly play them up and down, but to turn them into music.

Reason 2: You’re on CIGARETTES. You’re also looking very UNATTRACTIVE TODAY.

52 Week Guitar Player reopens on September 14th.

That's in 9 days!

We’ll only be accepting 100 new students when we reopen.

Join the waiting list now dammit: brandondeon.com/survey-page2?el=brandonytpost

NOW JUST LEAVE.

- Brandon

PS: If you enroll in 52 Week Guitar Player and complete our crazy 52-week challenge, we’ll give you all your money back.

3 days ago | [YT] | 502

Brandon D'Eon

Which one do you think is harder?

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3 days ago | [YT] | 77

Brandon D'Eon

Bass Is EASIER Than Guitar

GUITAR CHEFS.

When you first pick up guitar, playing a full chord is way harder than playing a single note.

But bass strings are heavier and require more pressure to get a clean sound.

The frets are longer, which means you’ve got less reach than you do on guitar.

Guitar has a lot of techniques that are harder to do on the bass.

Take bending, sure it’s hard on bass too, but it’s not something that’s commonly used on bass, whereas bending is super common on guitar.

Sweep picking is regarded as a very hard technique on guitar.

Slapping is regarded as a very hard technique on bass.

Fast alternate picking on guitar is hard.

3-finger plucking on bass is hard.

There are many famous tunes that have very challenging guitar parts, but simple bass parts.

There are fewer famous tunes that are known for having really difficult bass lines.

Jazz guitar players can take breaks with their comping. They’re actually encouraged to leave space.

Bassists can’t stop walking a bassline. It’s a game of endurance, and this will often result in amateur bassists dragging or “slowing down” to put it in non-musician speak.

Fun fact: I haven’t talked about this much, but when I was in jazz school, I actually took a secondary instrument course and chose bass.

I’ve played gigs as a bassist in the styles of rock and jazz.

When I was in high school, I played bass in the concert band and got used to reading bass clef.

I was actually better at reading bass clef than treble for some years.

In my opinion, guitar is harder. But I have not pushed my bass playing as far as my guitar playing.

What’s your opinion?

Send this to a bass player you know to start an argument.

52 Week Guitar Player reopens on September 14th.

That's in 10 days!

We’ll only be accepting 100 new students when we reopen.

Join the waiting list now dammit: brandondeon.com/survey-page2?el=brandonytpost

NOW JUST LEAVE.

- Brandon

PS: If you enroll in 52 Week Guitar Player and complete our crazy 52-week challenge, we’ll give you all your money back.

4 days ago | [YT] | 498

Brandon D'Eon

What was the hardest part for you in your first month of guitar?

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4 days ago | [YT] | 64