Dweezil Zappa Teaches Frank Zappa's Improvisation Techniques | Reverb Interview 

I love the fact he started calling Frank, "my Dad". I miss Frank! We are very luck to have The Dweez!

"the battle between the chicken and the spider" -Dweezil Zappa (best quote describing how to play guitar ever) edit: it took me four years to notice that I misspelled 'chickenn' (thanks for the likes)

To me the impact of a video like this goes beyond merely guitar technique. Everything Dweezil's been doing to preserve and share his father's music is really beautiful.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dweezil at his father's studio 17 years ago, after he supported an autism fundraiser by this invitation. He was incredibly polite, and can't say enough good things about him. His father would be proud not only for his artistic accomplishments, but also what a gentleman he raised. I only wish my fingers didn't freeze when he handed me Jimi Hendrix's strat to play along with him!

As soon as he played that triplet lick with two different fingerings, I immediately thought of 5 different times frank used that technique, it's like once you hear it you can't unhear it. What a cool interview. Nice guitar too.

Dweezil, your dad made my high school days livable. The man is a musical genius. Looks like the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.

Dweezil is a gentleman and a fine musician who keeps getting better. He keeps Frank's music alive and I personally owe him a debt of gratitude for that

"the battle between the chicken and the spider..." lmao epic 3:39

Chicken-Spider analogy is epic. What a neat guy and diligent steward of his fathers legacy, and alone has a right to be in the upper class of great players.

So under rated because he's compared to his Father. He has some interesting chops.

Man this guy worshiped his Dad. Such devotion. Hope my sons love me half as much.

I’ve seen Dweezil live but I literally just learned a whole new 5/7 lick system watching this. I can’t wait to practice this lick around 8:30.

The horn player stopping to breathe is a great insight. Less is sometimes more.

Excellent video! Most guitar instructional vids are like "here's this riff, now repeat after me." But this one was, "here's how I approach this instrument." Even though I'm not great at understanding music theory, a lot of what Dweezil said was really applicable. I wish there were more videos like this!

Could you have found a worse camera angle to film him from when playing?

WHat I loved about Frank's playing is that he wasn't a "guitar player", he played music, using a guitar. BIG difference.

Dweezil is such an interesting cat. He's in possession of this truly humble vibe, the little half smile as he plays is endearing not annoying, and he quietly takes some (to him) very simple ideas and presents them like its the most obvious thing in the world "one two, one two three" and I go "wait... wha?" A bit like when I've seen him play: humble, outrageously good, amazing hands and ears and just in service of the music and his audience. Hats off to you Dweezil.

I've been playing guitar for 30 years, started out just pure rock / metal. But then I started to listen to jazz, soloing and chordal expressions. Here is the jazz element in droves. This is why jazz, or improvisation was such a big part of Frank's music. I love canned solos, but improve is great, as long as you're doing it well, some direction and discipline, as Dweezil mentions here. And that's one of the toughest things to do, not just noodle but to actually make complete, flowing statements. Frank was the master.

Oh man, the idea at 6:30 is worth the price of admission.

It’s really cool how Dweezil shares FZ’s style and sound. He’s such a humble guy for being such a badass. I think those might be his dad’s pants as well!

Seeing him perform Franks music live since 2006 and also hearing and watching him do his own Via Zammata compositions, Dweezil is always progressing and continually expanding his harmonic, compositional and poly rhythmic explorations and has become one of the best musicians out there. Tremendous amount of dedication.

Hint for those who upload video of guitar lessons: Place the camera where the view is similar to the player's or just don't bother. To learn from this video you must play by ear just like the olden days!

Dweezil seems like a nice chilled out person , and a great guitarist, thanks for keeping franks music alive.

Dweezil's ripped my flesh!

Dweezil is so great because he is always learning and trying new things.

I was blessed to see Zappa Plays Zappa in Baltimore when they celebrated the installation of the statue of Zappa at the Highlandtown Library. Absolutely amazing concert. Zappa is the greatest guitarist of all time.

It is very nice to see a son talking about his dad with great respect and admiration.

Thank you Dweezil for keeping your father's music & legacy alive! Your constant mantra of bring the music to the masses is opening the doors to a new, younger audience.

This Man Is a Legend...His musicality Is unique

Some of the literate, instructive, and worthwhile guitar tutorials anywhere.

Frank was a tremendous musical innovator. I'm fortunate to have been at a number of his concerts, which were always entertaining, and musically astounding and fun. Dweezil is a tremendous musician too. He exudes a very welcoming warmth in his music in addition to wonderful musical virtuosity. I recommend going to hear him live. thanks so much for this video! It was so good to hear Dweezil share his insights in Frank's music. Wishing the best of success to him. This great musician is THE REAL DEAL.

Dweez not only is fantastic in his own right but the amount of knowledge he got from Frank and the unwritten history of Frank must be incredible. Please do a bio on Frank please

He is an amazing guitarist and a well spoken teacher...

So glad Dweezil mentioned his dad's weird picking style, always noticed that. Zappa is the best!

Awesome insights. One of the best videos I've seen in a while.

Does you camera man not play guitar? Why is he filming from that angle? Makes it hard to see what we are supposed to learn to play.

I’ve only recently started to really appreciate Dweezil and what he does. One thing I’ve really noticed about his instructional stuff is the focus on approach and mindset instead of a step by step with tab lesson. Everyone worried about the camera angle here... try focusing with your ears. Don’t even look at his hands. Just listen to what he’s saying and trying to convey. Listen to the notes. You CAN discern a big difference in what he’s doing in one position vs the other. When it comes to Zappa, your ears are FAR more important than your eyes and any precise fingering. Awesome video!

Just imagine having one of the best guitarists ever not only as your father but as your teacher, it would be an incredible experience!

He really does understand theory and is able to exploit it on the guitar. I saw him in Denver for ZPZ and more recently in Scottsdale for the DZWPWTFHWs tour and it was a religious experience. I hope I can see him again.

That just spoke volumes. Lucidity, concept, struggle, but most of all, freedom of self-expression, articulated ad hoc with amazing clarity and succinctly. Thanks Dweezil!

What a great player and musician and seems like a real genuine guy. This was really enjoyable to watch.

So stoked Dweezil is doing this.

The funny thing is, those weird shapes Frank played often made him sound less clean and “virtuous” to the point that it almost sounded sloppy sometimes, but it’s actually trickier and added more variety to the same notes. He had such a unique style and even with like 70 albums I wish there was more of his stuff to listen to.

Generational brilliance. Thank you Dweezil. Thanks to the memory of your Dad. RIP

This is really cool. He's taking Frank's improv techniques to the next level. The music lives!

I can't help but notice stravinsky's influence on zappa here. When dweez talks about circular arguments, that's how stravinsky built a lot of his melodies. The Tritone triad thing is basically the petrushka chord. Great minds think alike i guess; fantastic video btw! And many thanks to dweezil for sharing his insights with us

I´m gonna need to watch this at least 10 times. Is to amazing to fully understand it at first watch.

That stuff at the end about playing in complete sentences is genius. That's where tasteful playing comes from.

I just saw him in Cincinnati on Thursday. He and the band were incredible. Especially Sheila Rodriguez on saxophone

Thx Dweezil, looking forward to seeing you and the band in London again real soon

Oh Dear God ....thank U Mr Dweezil Zappa.Greetings from Italia.And keep showing Ur Dad Work. I'm proud of U Man

Every Halloween night in NYC for many years..Great shows, great days..Frank is missed.

WOW!! some of those run sounded like Rush!! Dweezil is so frickn cool!

So didactical I'm about to cry. Thanks, Dweezil, this lessons are unvaluable.

This has got to be the most enlightening guitar concept video i have ever seen.

Dweezil. You’re inspiring the shit out of me right now.

Such a cool dude. A great and humble teacher sharing some of his dad's mastery. That's what it's about.

This is simply a gold mine.

Zappa: (Plays Riff) Billy Madison: “Sloooow Doooown” Zappa: (Plays Exact Same Riff) Billy Madison: “Ooooooh” (Nods)

Thanks for sharing your insight, Dweezil!!! My dad and I see you LIVE as much as possible! Sending love from Pittsburgh!!!

First, I want to express my great admiration for the brilliance of Frank Zappa's son. That apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. And I have such a love for Zappa's music and the man that I wouldn't ever want to say anything negative about the fantastic son that honors his father's legacy as Dweezil so admirably does. So I'm going to try to say this very carefully. First, someone below made the comment that Dweezil is a better guitar player than Frank. It's just one comment and I'm sure most people probably hold FZ's guitar playing in a higher regard but I want to use the thought to bounce something out there. I think FZ was the greatest rock guitarist. I've been playing myself for over 50 years. Went to Berklee College of Music, played professionally. IMO Frank Zappa was a better player than Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Allman, Betts, Santana, Van Halen, anyone and everyone. So that's the regard with which I hold FZ. The REASON that Zappa was such an amazing peerless rock guitarist was, for ME, the music that was inside of him. Music that spoke to me, and I'm also a big jazz lover, music that was infinitely more complex and varied and interesting than the rock-blues-based stuff that was played by all of the other great rock guitarists... who I also... I should add... LOVE. But Zappa's guitar playing contained so many more elements of great music. Infinite tonal explorations. Drama, beauty, nastiness, dissonance, rhythmic insanity, and also THE freshest approach to playing over a blues progression (Road Ladies, Penguin in Bondage) that any rock guitar god ever dreamed of. Frank had it all and more of it than anyone. So when someone says that Dweezil is better than his dad, it hurts to hear that, even on the internet where anything and everything goes. So to discuss what Dweezil is teaching here. He has his father's incredible appreciation for the mathematical complexities of rhythm and the facility to explain them. He has a great handle on many of his father's techniques and is so very generous to share them with all of us. But what is missing is the musicality of his father. And that's not a dig at Dweezil. The musicality of Frank Zappa is missing from everyone. It's missing from the world and only lives on in recordings and in the hearts and minds of those who loved that musical genius. No one else has it. Some of the hallmarks of the musical genius of FZ as it was revealed in his guitar solos was, first and foremost, IMO, his resolutions. He set things up and he knocked them down. It all made perfect sense musically. Also, and related, the "question and answer" phrases. At Berklee if I remember correctly these were called antecedent and consequent phrases. Don't hold me to that. Sequences. Zappa's sequences would take your breath away. And lastly but not least of all by any means, inimitably, were the quality of the melodies Frank produced during his solos. He could play as pretty as Wes Montgomery. (Inca Roads) Melody construction that exceeds anything ever within the context of that type of music. My opinion, again, Frank had no peers as a guitar player. The music is what matters. Not the techniques. No shame in anyone not being Frank Zappa, even his wonderfully talented son. Anyway, that's my opinion. Hope it wasn't presented in a way that people take offense to. Celebrate Frank Zappa.

Great personal insight from Dweezil about his dad. A great little film from which much has been learned.

Terrific, thanks. Sounds great but more importantly, I'm invigorated. I feel like Frank and Dweezil are helping me to do what I was trying to do, and now I should listen more.

What a legacy to carry to as to dive into? I love how Dweezil Zappa give us a continuous story to his fathers music. Frank Zappa is so missed. He left such a vast catalogue of fantastic composing that maybe won’t be able to be played for an audience for a hundreds of years from now. I wish I’ll be able to come back till then and to check it out. For now I will use my skill to listen to his 60 or so copies of albums that he so graciously left for us to interpret. 🤪🙏

Grossly underrated and underappreciated.

Frank studied jazz classical rock fusion and created music his way keep learning and expressing yourselves and keep on keepin on everybody

I'll admit, I never thought I'd hear "circular argument(s)" applied to Frank. lol Very insightful clip.

This is just wonderful! Thank you very much Dweezil and Reverb.com!

What a dude.... Love this guy .

Dweezil is such a sweet guy. Interesting stuff

These little Zappa's techs show us the source of many Vai's ideas

Great teacher, Greater son.

Thanks Reverb and special thanks to the Dweeze...I have always loved Franks guitar playing and this is a small but wonderful insight......

Guy is a monster guitarist / total musician artist, way beyond what people know. Huge respect

This video is a gem. Treasure it.

Love that acoustic/electric tone on the SG. Frank used that a lot. A favorite of mine is the solo on I Promise... from Zappa In New York.

The battle between the chicken and the spider 😄rock n roll dweezil I could listen to you talk guitar riffs and Frank Zappa all day all night. Seen project object quite a few times and saw mike Keneally and beer for dolphins but Still haven’t seen you live yet hope I get a a chance to someday.

That pentatonic lick it's killer

Incredible right hand technique. Looks simple, like he's hardly touching the strings. Sounds amazing. His use of triads or tri tones or whatever he called them is great, sounds great I mean.

Monster player and he explains what he is doing so well.

dam dweezil has such a good sense of his dad's doodles.

Nice to see the kids keeping the style alive!

The battle between the chicken and the spider lmao. Great video thanks for posting this!!

Well done 👍 Dweezil I love you and your Dad

"The battle between the chicken and the spider" HAHAHA THAT SOUNDS EPIC!

Filmed at the Concord Music Hall in Chicago. Great show that night, Ike Willis played with him and they played a lot of songs from Joe’s Garage.

the only Zappa son that's worthy of his father's name. incredible player

Look at that Maple neck and headstock- the wood is soooo interesting- almost a flaming and beautiful reflection in the light

Remember A younger Dweezil with the bright superstrat and his mcshred style of playing..? talk about extreme evolution he is a virtuoso indeed... 😊

I know nothing about playing the guitar, but he makes it look so easy. He is definitely one of the best guitarists around today.

Lots of luw to Dweesil :) "Battle between a the chicken and the Spider " Great way to put it ,- :)

Love me Dweezil and try to catch him whenever he's in the vicinity. I prefer the single volume and tone setup on the Strat and did that to mine as well.

This is a great show and tell.Thanks reverb.com and Dweezil.

This is pure gold.

Besides Dweezil I don`t know of any guitar player that even comes close to playing guitar like Frank did. Hats off to Dweezil for studying that shit hard and getting a lot of it down.

Dweezil is just a great person.

He's actually a pretty chill teacher

Dweezil definitely has his Dad’s high musical IQ. I’ve been playing 40 years and this is like being a beginner again. This kind of stuff is what makes being a musician exciting.

He's explaining things that Frank never thought about. Frank just did what Frank did. Dweezil can do it as well, but he's worked out the theory to Frank's unique and sometimes baffling style. He brings up a good point, you can listen to Frank jam for 10 minutes and he rarely plays the same thing twice. Dweezil got all the brains in that family.

Saw Dweezil live a few times yea he as a cool set up