🎬WATCH NEXT🎬 ⏩ Most Acoustic Guitarists Don’t Do This, But Billy Strings Does!: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sUHR9GqmfgE.html What ANY GUITARIST Can Learn From... ⏩ Trey Anastasio: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-se6OzM59He8.html ⏩ What Jerry Garcia’s Acoustic Playing Can Teach You: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y00eg7FaVv0.html ⏩ The Allman Brothers Band: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MByHzqaNqM4.html ⏩ Bob Weir: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ilDidH_Ifv8.html ⏩ Jerry Garcia: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B2u-MPOVOXk.html
Nice breakdown Jeff. Thank you. He recently sat in with my friends in the Allman Betts Band. Humble and very talented. I'm a deadhead and am excited to hear what he brings to music over the next decades.
Billy and Sierra Ferrell inspired me to write for the first time in a decade. So much vibrance in their playing, writing, and singing. Both are generational talents.
Billy's amazing. I've heard other acoustic players that were as fast but not many so fast and so clean. Every note is audible, machine gun timing. The guy's incredible.
@@jvslyke4025 For why? I already like the bluegrass music. And, Earl Scruggs is kind of a prerequisite there. But if you're saying they're as clean as Billy, well, banjo wouldn't count in this case and the guitar is great. He's a real pro. He's obviously very talented. But I stand my what I said.
@@mattwilson7443 I'm not saying no one can do what he does or that all others are lacking in some crucial way. It's just that he has this particularly loud, forceful and insistent style that's also very neat and tidy and I find that very appealing. All guitar players are going to have their own idiosyncrasies. We all have different ways of coming at the instrument. And often there are particular players who resonate with and inspire others. Those other guy are impressive for their own reasons. I respect them all. I just particularly like Billy's style.
When I saw Billy years ago busking up in Traverse City I knew he was something special! I immediately thought ..man this kid's got some heart! Been a huge fan ever since!
The point at the end about bluegrass fans often having a narrow view of what that style means, and how Billy is able to break out of it without worrying about the backlash, that really rings true. And I believe Billy's able to pull off these departures because he's doing so respectfully, and not with an "in your face, bluegrass snobs" kind of a way. His choices and methods of departure speak that respect, every bit as much as his words in interviews, or his wide-eyed wonder and pure joy while performing. He says, musically, "Hey guys, what if we did _this,_ and follow it up with _this?"_ And then, as if by magic, otherwise _doctrinaire_ bluegrass fans and performers alike, tap their toes, nod their heads, smiles creep across their faces, as if to say, "Yeah, Billy, that's right. Doc or Earl might have tried that, if they'd known about it! What else you got?" Billy is respectful, above all else, of traditions and feelings about them. Which is why he can be such an innovator.
Got to meet this guy a couple times. Before he exploded. Man is very quiet yet very nice. Has an energy that you can feel emanating from him. I’ve only met a few people I can count on my hand that have that magical allure when they come in a room without having to say a word. Unbelievable player.
If I'm not mistaken, Billy got his start playing Metal and because of his dad, went to Bliegrass, which says alot about his speed. I know I have a new admiration of Bluegrass
I definitely love his metal influences. What you said is somewhat right. He got his start playing bluegrass when he was a small kid, switched to metal when he was in high school so he could play with people his age, then rediscovered his bluegrass roots in his late teens.
I've played finger style for fifty years and I am just now learning to strum(I know) and attempt flatpicking. I love when guitarists analyze Billy's playing..I can't read music but I understand when someone shows me!
Only if you have a ton of talent. I've been playing for over 50 years, and I'm no closer to Bully's level than I was 25 years ago. There's no substitute for talent.
@@richardmindemann6935 pffft! Talent comes from practicing. Not one professional musician I know of got where they are by talent alone! All of them practiced many hours a day. You are no closer because you aren’t practicing enough to get closer.
This "wasn't" really my kind of music, but I caught this guy by accident recently, and now I'm kind of addicted. It's a nice change to hear someone who is supper skilled but still plays real music and not endless shreds.
There are also technique quirks in grass. Get your guitar set up higher, make sure your thumbnail is looking up at you etc, crosspicking is important too. Acoustic guitar is such a different game because the volume depends on technique.
Yep . I cant remember the quote exactly but Billy said when he was a kid all his friends were in their 60s. From the bluegrass get togethers .@@brandenbran
William Apostle His aunt called him Lil Billy Strings And Thankfully Billy kept the Nick Best Flat picker ever to pick up the guitar,he also plays Mandolin,Banjo,and Base fiddle Respect!!
Cool informative video. but one note: near the end you state how Billy recently "sat in" w/ Trey Anastasio Band, when it was actually the other way around. Trey sat in w/ Billy in NYC. 6/29/22.
Breedlove is one of my favorite guitars rite behind Martin but if I'm going for most guitar for the price there's only one option that I know folks will hate that's the tried an true epiphone masterbuilt
I actually don’t like fast blue grass music; however, it is clear that Billy Strings is a virtuoso who can play in many genres. Give me a song that has legs - meaning still popular 30 years later.
@@briangarcia8384 he actually was a bluegrass player first (thx to papa strings), didn't get into metal until his teens, then in a death metal band in HS then back to bluegrass. Now plays both at every show, melding many genres together. Heard him call it 'Psychedelic bluegrass on acid'...LOL Whatever it is, I f**king LOVE it!! Never thought another musician would make me feel the way Jerry did, then BOOM..BMFS! Grateful to be alive to witness Billy's greatness. #blessed ✌ ❤ 🐐
Maybe, maybe not! Why not try songs in the 90 to 120 bpm range. Something people can sing along to or dance to. A hit song beats 10 virtuosos. If Tommy Tutone did it - why not you?
That part about not being afraid to challenge another guitarist of a very popular band. They were playing chess and billy won. They were trying to beat each other live while keeping the fluidity of the song and billy did something so unexpected that he was deemed king the moment his opponent started hammering the same note and then let his guitar fall silent. Billy Strings is not humble. He is cool headed and knows what he’s got and he expects full dues. The moment he meets another guitar player that could potentially be considered competition he immediately imagines the most glorious way to put them to shame while still looking to be the good guy. To be king of anything, one must first think like a king and use all possible advantages at your disposal in addition to your own brilliance, talent and ability. Billy strings wants to be king and if this video is looked at from the correct lense he was playing with these guys for many reasons but he made it a point to outbest his competitor.
Dude, you are so far off base with this comment I can only imagine you're joking. Billy NEVER competes...never. Hands down on of the most humble, down to earth, kind, compassionate musicians alive. Jerry never competed either. It's all about the improv jam and having fun. Competitive musicians are just lame...period.
Love the Breedlove Grand Auditorium, it's a lovely Guitar. I like to have mine plugged in though, i mean my Grand Auditorium style Acoustic sounds pretty good unplugged but it doesn't project as well as a Dreadnought but plugged into my Fishmans Acoustic Amp it then comes alive..
Billy is sooo good because before he ever got into playing blue grass live he was into a lot of rock & metal… which gives him that edge on other blue grass players…I mean when you wear an Obituary T-shirt at a blue grass gig that tells you something about the guy!!!true fact it’s on You tube!!!
@haggismuncher Actually, it's the opposite. He lìterally cut his teeth on bluegrass, thanks to his dad starting him young. His kindergarten teacher passed out sheets to his class that said 'When I grow up I want to be ______________'. Billy wrote 'a bluegrass musician' and drew a little pix of himself playing a guitar. Today, it's hanging in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville! By age 4 dude had mastered The Beaumont MF Rag!!! Wasn't until he reached his teens that he started listening to Black Sabbath, Hendrix, Zeppelin (thx to his momma). He joined a death metal band in high school, but soon went back to his roots...bluegrass! He often credits Bluegrass with teaching him guitar and metal with teaching him how to perform on stage. A year or so, his old buddy who was in the metal band with him, made his way to the rail at Billy's show. Upon seeing him, Billy immediately jumped off stage in the middle of a song, went up to Kyle, laying his head on his chest. Kyle gave him a huge up, and Billy never missed a beat! It's was really a touching moment! I love that Billy is always himself..100% authentic, honest, real and relatable. Filled with kindness, humility, appreciation. Never fake. Yeah he's a bada** player, can write the hell out of a song and literally melts faces when on stage, but his openness & constant gratitude certainly contribute to his huge success! IMO LOL ✌❤BMFS 'So I'm lifting back the cover the cover of my heart dear, and hoping that you'll do the same for me. It's not too pretty, but it's open It's the only way I know to tell you true'
I hate it when RU-vidrs start out by stating everybody is doing it wrong, and then they play some crappy rendition that NOBODY plays like except beginners.
Yeah I’m still waiting for the transcendent, run around and take your clothes off playing myself. Even Jerry could only do that about a quarter of the time. It’s probably possible on an acoustic but not with single line runs
Yup, helped Billy see what he didn't want to become. So he kept his head down and just kept practicing and playing. In fact, played his way out of his tiny, meth infected hometown and now selling out 10k capacity venues.
You're not the only one. Billy is a great guitarist and he does his own thing I guess. No disrespect to him but I think time, creativity and dynamics are just lost on this generation of acoustic musicians. So many people just want to be red hot pickers. And alot of them sing the same vocal style.
They need to really dig into to Jerry’s playing. One of the crazy things about Garcia is how the whole organism of the band behind him would be rolling at a hundred miles an hour with a mountain of inertia and jerry would stay cool as a cucumber and manage to squeeze out a few more melodic lines without getting boring, AND THEN just when you thought it had crescendoed, he pull out an amazing chord solo and everyone would just be losing their collective minds in a sea of ecstatic bodies AND THEN he would go back into the lead line with even more intensity. His class and sophistication as a player was just unworldly
The BEST thing you can actually learn from Billy is how to be a kinder, compassionate, humble person. He doesn't drink or do hard drugs so SMOKE UP Billy and do WTF you want. Dude navigated homelessness, addicted parents and friends, food shortages at home...his upbringing was tough. Only refuge he had was his guitar. He literally picked his way out and to the top of the charts. Grammy winner before the age of 30, nominated for 2 more the next year. Numerous INBA winner. Saved his own life. But yeah, you worry about his weed consumption cause he doesn't care.
I think Billy is badass, and one incredibly talented musician, but holding a sustained feedback note for 30 seconds is not impressive. It's not even as good as the second half of the solo to I Drink Alone.
I learned from Billy that you don't have to be that good or clean to be successful in Bluegrass today...get some tatts and dye your hair to a woke color and you'll be the "saviour of Bluegrass".
It's "narrow" for a reason! Categories have a purpose. Otherwise, it's a nonsensical free-for-all in music that eventually makes zero sense anymore causing each genre to lose it's uniqueness overall.
