Discovering a Lifelong Passion: Braxton Craven's Journey with the Guitar

Discover the inspiring journey of Braxton Craven, an outstanding guitarist and instructor at GuitarZoom, who turned a childhood fascination with a MIDI keyboard and piano into a lifelong passion for the guitar. Braxton joins us to share how he transitioned from self-taught beginner to skilled musician, fueled by his love for bands like Twenty One Pilots and the wealth of knowledge available on YouTube. His story underscores the power of self-motivation and community support, even coming from a small town in Utah, making it clear that dedication can lead to mastery without the need for formal lessons.

We'll explore Braxton's evolution from playing classic rock in local bands to diving into the technical intricacies of progressive rock and metal. Hear about his shift from a theory-heavy approach to a focus on technical prowess, including techniques like alternate picking and thumping. Braxton's teaching career, which began in high school, now spans both local and online instruction, allowing him to connect with a broader audience of aspiring musicians. Looking ahead, Braxton shares his vision for continuing to teach and perform, aiming to inspire the next generation of musicians in Northern Utah. Join us for a conversation filled with passion, dedication, and an unrelenting love for music.

Tune in now and learn more!

• Learn More about Braxton →Instructors (guitarzoom.com)

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Chapters

• 0:00 Guitar Passion
• 9:03 Musical Journey and Teaching Experience
• 12:42 Braxton discovers his love for teaching music.

Transcript

Steve [00:00:00]:
All right, thanks so much for joining me. Today we're going to be talking to Braxton Craven. Great guitar player. He is now working with GuitarZoom. He's one of our Academy instructors, and so I thought it would be great if everybody could meet him. So, Braxton, thank you so much for taking some time out to hang out with us.

Braxton [00:00:15]:
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Steve [00:00:16]:
Absolutely. How long have you been playing guitar?

Braxton [00:00:22]:
It's been about, say, the eight or nine years now.

Steve [00:00:27]:
Okay.

Braxton [00:00:27]:
So coming up on ten.

Steve [00:00:29]:
Well, that's great.

Steve [00:00:30]:
Okay.

Steve [00:00:31]:
So what I love to do is kind of get a backstory, because it's interesting to me how people get involved with music anyway. Like, if you could think back to when you were a kid, what was the first experience that you had where you went? This music thing's pretty cool.

Braxton [00:00:49]:
It's kind of funny. So I used to go to a friend's house after school, and he had this little midi keyboard, and it had a little drum pad on it, and I. He would play the little, like, piano thing, and I would, like, just kind of try to make drum beats, and we would. We would always joke about being rappers and stuff and trying to make beats and stuff so that he's the one who actually convinced me to get a piano, and it was just like, an electric piano. I loved that thing to death. And I had a few lessons with some people, and I couldn't get the hang of it. Of the piano on the piano. Sure.

Braxton [00:01:46]:
And I tried to kind of figure it out by myself, but I ended up just kind of. I don't know, I just wanted to be, like, the best instantly and, like, play all these cool things. So I kind of stopped playing. I kind of stayed stagnant with it for a while, and then I. When I got into middle school, I had a PE teacher. He was actually my coach for track. And he told me to take a different class because he didn't want me doing two workouts at a day or anything.

Steve [00:02:20]:
Okay.

Braxton [00:02:21]:
So he told me to go get another class, and there was two classes and left, and it was art or guitar, and there was no way I was gonna draw or anything like that. I sucked. So I went in guitar class, and I just. I instantly fell in love with it. I'm like, this is something I want to do. And it was always. It was always the teacher trying to get everybody to try and cooperate and do it, and no one wanted to be there, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I just. I loved it so much, and I think that's what's great about guitar is that it's so beginner friendly, and it is kind of easy to pick it up at first.

Braxton [00:03:01]:
Right. It can get hard as it goes on, but you can take it as far as you want. And that's kind of where I fell in love with the instrument. So just by accident in a middle school classroom. Wow. That's how it happened.

Steve [00:03:13]:
Okay, so let's go back a little bit. So before this guitar experience, when you were. When you were with the drum machine and then playing piano and stuff, what kind of music did you listen to music back then?

Braxton [00:03:23]:
Yeah, I was really into music. A lot of it was, I love 21 pilots. That was some of my favorite bands. And I wasn't especially. I wasn't, like, super deep into music, but I love listening to music, and I would always buy. I would always buy their albums when they came out, and I'd listen to them a lot, but not nearly as much as I do now. Sure.

Steve [00:03:50]:
Okay.

Steve [00:03:50]:
So you start playing guitar in school, and so what happens when that class is over? What. What do you do? Like, do you take lessons outside or. How does that work?

Braxton [00:04:00]:
I never took lessons out of school. I've actually never had official lessons outside of just that class. Summer came, and I came back, and I took the class again because I had an extra hour. I didn't really learn much, but I had so much fun. I took the class again, but a lot of it was just hours and hours of just practicing and studying by myself, and I found myself wanting to truly understand how the instrument worked, opposed to a lot of my other classmates, where they just kind of wanted to get through the class or just know a few things. I needed to know everything about this instrument, so I would spend, like, eight to 12 hours a day constantly playing. When I was in middle school, that's all I did, and that's kind of. It kind of became a part of me.

Steve [00:04:57]:
So where did you come up with resources then to learn things, like when you were playing.

Braxton [00:05:05]:
YouTube? Marty shorts.

Steve [00:05:07]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Braxton [00:05:08]:
You even. I even watched your videos. Mainly just YouTube. And watching what people could do, though that did, in a way, become discouraging sometimes where you see on YouTube, you have all the best shoved right in your face, and that makes it a little hard sometimes, especially, like, when you're not even close to that and you don't know if you ever will be, and that's all you see. So that's the environment that it was in, was kind of hard, but I started playing with other musicians and groups. There was a bunch of folk musicians that would get together every month in my town, and just once a month, anyone was invited and any level, and it was just to jam and stuff. And that's how I ended up meeting a lot of very experienced players who really knew what they were doing and were really able to help me continue on what I was able to do. So that one on one interaction was so helpful there for me.

Steve [00:06:11]:
Sure.

Steve [00:06:12]:
So where is this that you were growing up? Where was that?

Braxton [00:06:16]:
So this was in Deweyville, Utah. Super tiny town, 300 people. Just mountain town. And there was like. I mean, of the 300 people, most of them actually played guitar or had instruments or pianos in their home. Especially in Utah, it's very popular to have pianos in every house. So no matter where you went, at least everyone had some form of musical knowledge or had been taught at one point. So that was the exposure I had.

Steve [00:06:55]:
Wow. Okay, so you're playing with these people. So where do you go from here? Like, you're playing. You're playing with these guys. You've been learning how to play in school, you're learning off YouTube. So do you start playing in bands of your own, or where are you at with this?

Braxton [00:07:11]:
So I started. I actually, before I did a band, I actually kind of jumped right into session playing, okay, with some of these folk musicians or just playing rhythm or helping in the studio. So that's how I was exposed to recording and other techniques like that and micing and amps and tone. And then after I was. It was a pretty short project. It lasted about two months or so. And when that was over, I really wanted to continue playing with people. So I.

Braxton [00:07:47]:
I did start looking for just other musicians to jam with, not with the intention for a band, just people to play with. Especially when I got into high school, just trying to find anybody to play with. And I found a drummer and a singer, and we had lots of fun. We never did too much. Like, we never performed or anything, but we just got together and had fun.

Steve [00:08:14]:
Sure.

Braxton [00:08:14]:
So that's kind of when I started to get into doing bands and stuff.

Steve [00:08:18]:
Okay, so tell me about that. So once you. Once you move from there, you know, again, not everybody plays in bands. Some people wind up becoming teachers, and that's what they do. And so from where you are now, like, or at this point in your story, what experiences have you had with playing with other people or playing in bands or different kinds of things like that? And what kind of music are we talking about?

Braxton [00:08:42]:
So a lot of this was, you know, your classic rock. And that's, that's the go to, I think should be for anybody because it's not, especially on the rhythm side, it's not so absurdly out there, but it's just, it's written so well that a lot of players can eventually play it. And I think anyone who tries can get to that point. And it's just a lot of fun to play with people. So a lot of it was like classic rock type of song. Seventies cream was one of our favorites. That was a good one. And so, yeah, that was a lot of what we did, and that was all I really could do and that was the extent of my playing ability.

Steve [00:09:26]:
Sure, sure.

Steve [00:09:27]:
So what kind of music do you prefer? Like, what do you like to play most?

Braxton [00:09:31]:
So now I do a lot of progressive rock and progressive metal type of thing. So I, I really like to get into, um, the grit and the other, like, super detailed things of music. And that's where I love the progressive side of it. Um, when I was. When I first discovered one of probably my favorite artists today, plenty, um, that's when I knew that's what I wanted to do. And I just, I loved the jazz elements and the theory and the, the chord structures and the melodies and the harmonies. Everything is just so intricate, but it fits together and that's what I really love about that genre.

Steve [00:10:13]:
Sure.

Steve [00:10:13]:
And that's like you do writing and stuff. Do you write that kind of stuff as well?

Braxton [00:10:18]:
Yeah. So a lot of what I do write and record and even play in session is either progressive or emulates that type of style or voicings.

Steve [00:10:32]:
Sure.

Steve [00:10:33]:
So do you still do session work and things like that now?

Braxton [00:10:37]:
I don't do session anymore. Any projects that I do have recording is all just solo projects and albums and songs and. But yeah, I don't do session playing anymore.

Steve [00:10:50]:
Sure.

Braxton [00:10:51]:
And I would like to get back into it, but at the moment, that's just not where I am.

Steve [00:10:55]:
Sure.

Steve [00:10:56]:
Okay.

Steve [00:10:57]:
And then as far as your playing goes, like, did you, what do you find yourself wanting to practice? Like nowadays, do you work on theory or do you work on more technique or more compositional stuff or what do you like to do?

Braxton [00:11:10]:
So currently I do a lot of technique. It's a lot of technique based, trying to get better and faster, alternate picking, better string skipping, a lot more flexibility in my left hand, and then selective picking. That's a tricky one. And thumping and other modern techniques like that. So I do find myself doing a lot more technique where in my early days, it was almost all theory. And even when I couldn't play it, I was trying to understand theory. But I do still study theory, and I think that's important to continue doing because when you put theory with the technique, I think it really does put it together and can kind of make it click in your brain, make it piece together a bit easier.

Steve [00:12:02]:
Sure.

Steve [00:12:04]:
And as far as teaching goes, how long have you been teaching?

Braxton [00:12:07]:
So I've been teaching for seven years now. So about one or two years after I picked up the guitar I had, because I was still in high school, one of the, the music teachers actually heard me in an ensemble room, just, I was probably just practicing scales or something boring like that. And he came in, he's like, you're really good. You should come help out with one of my guitar classes, because at this point, I was no longer taking the guitar classes. I had already done everything the high school had to offer, and I went in there and I just kind of, like, just showed them some technique and then just learned a song with them and had fun with it. And I'm like, man, I actually really enjoy this teaching part of it. And I started teaching local lessons, so I taught a lot of elementary age kids and even some high schooler students. So that's how I was exposed to it and kind of figured out I really did enjoy passing on the knowledge to other people.

Steve [00:13:20]:
Sure.

Steve [00:13:20]:
And you still teach now, do you teach in person online, or how do you do that?

Braxton [00:13:26]:
So I taught a lot of in person lessons because it was just in town. I never had a huge client base. I think at the most I had was about 15 students at a time, and I would just go to their house, most of them in walking distance, or I would just put my guitar on my back and bike over. So, yeah, and that's, that's kind of how I, I started doing lessons was in person, one on one stuff. And then recently I've been getting into more of the online, and it has really been great because you're able to reach out to people a lot more. There's a lot more resources available online. I think it's a really good process and approach to it.

Steve [00:14:11]:
Sure.

Steve [00:14:13]:
So what do you see yourself doing in five years? What, what is it? I mean, we're glad that you're here at, at the Academy helping with students and stuff like that, so that's, hopefully that's still in your vision. But what else do you see yourself doing as far as your career goes?

Braxton [00:14:29]:
I definitely want to do some more session playing. I really just want to get out there and meet as many people as possible. But I definitely see myself still teaching, trying to pass on that knowledge because it really is just the best when you can see it. Like, click for them, just like it clicked for me once and that's the best. So hopefully still teaching, doing some live performances occasionally just locally, because that's always fun to do. Change of pace. Um, so, yeah, that's kind of what I. I see myself doing.

Steve [00:15:09]:
Do you still live in Utah? Do you still live in the same place?

Braxton [00:15:12]:
I do? I live, um, up in northern Utah. It's a little town, farming town called Treemonten.

Steve [00:15:19]:
Okay.

Braxton [00:15:19]:
Um, not too far from Deweyville, where I used to live.

Steve [00:15:22]:
I see. Awesome.

Steve [00:15:24]:
Cool.

Steve [00:15:25]:
So I'm not going to take way too much of your time. I'd love to wrap this up with a couple of quick questions, though. If you had to name just off the top of your head, and believe me, you'd change your mind five minutes from now. So it's okay. Just off the top of your head, the three guitar players that you like the most that come to your mind right now, who would they be?

Braxton [00:15:43]:
Pliny Guthrie, Govin John Petrucci.

Steve [00:15:46]:
Oh, nice. Very nice.

Braxton [00:15:47]:
Pretty easy for me.

Steve [00:15:48]:
Okay.

Steve [00:15:49]:
All right.

Braxton [00:15:49]:
Who knows? I've got plenty of others. I love the ones I can think of right now.

Steve [00:15:53]:
Yeah, right.

Steve [00:15:54]:
Okay.

Steve [00:15:57]:
An album that you're listening to right now.

Braxton [00:16:00]:
Um. Oh, shoot. What's the album called? Let me look here real quick. It's a periphery album.

Steve [00:16:08]:
Oh, okay.

Braxton [00:16:08]:
That I really love. It's one of their earlier ones, I believe. It's really good, though. Let's see. Sorry, I don't want to take too long. Yeah. The periphery three, the select difficulty one. Yeah, one's so good.

Steve [00:16:29]:
I like that one. I like Stan.

Braxton [00:16:30]:
I think the title's kind of funny as well.

Steve [00:16:33]:
Yep.

Braxton [00:16:34]:
Their stuff is so good. So crazy.

Steve [00:16:36]:
Yeah, very cool.

Steve [00:16:38]:
Cool.

Steve [00:16:38]:
Well, thank you so much, Braxton. I appreciate your time. And again, we're glad to have you here at GuitarZoom. And if anybody's interested in reaching out to Braxton, as far as lessons go, all you got to do is head over to guitarzoom.com and you'll see the link for the Academy and we can get you set up. So, Braxton, thank you so much for your time and I hope you have a great day.

Braxton [00:16:56]:
All right, I. Yeah, thanks for having me. Absolutely.