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“This ‘Berklee Professor Jam’ Is Going Viral… But Would It Get You FIRED?” #musicbusiness

badbrad

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Check out the jam:The Professor Jam

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I just watched a clip floating around online… people are calling it the “Berklee Professor Jam.”
I won’t play it here… for obvious reasons.
But I will say this:
👉 It might be some of the most challenging, atonal, hard-to-follow playing I’ve heard in a long time.
And it got me thinking…
Not about them…
👉 About what happens when music stops serving the listener.

In this video, I break down a deeper conversation that every serious musician needs to hear:
🎸 The difference between avant-garde exploration and real-world musical communication
🎸 Why breaking the rules doesn’t always make you a better player
🎸 What actually happens when you bring “outside” playing into real gigs
🎸 The disconnect between education and the working musician world
🎸 Why feel, groove, and connection still matter more than complexity
Because look…
There’s a place for everything:

Free jazz

Outside harmony

Experimental playing

That’s part of the art form.
But here’s the question nobody wants to ask:
👉 If you played like that on a real gig… what would happen?
In cities like Nashville, Los Angeles, or New York…
You step on stage and ignore the song, the band, and the feel?
👉 You’re not getting called back.

This isn’t about tearing anyone down.
It’s about understanding the difference between:

Practicing freedom

Expanding your ears
…and
👉 Playing music that actually connects

Because at the end of the day…
Music isn’t just about what YOU want to say.
👉 It’s about whether anyone wants to listen.

The best players in the world?
They can go outside…
…but they always know how to bring it back home.

🎸 In this video:

Real talk from a working musician’s perspective

Lessons from the stage, not just the classroom

And why serving the song will always win

If you’ve ever wondered:
👉 “Why do some players get the call… and others don’t?”
This might answer it.

Now go play something people actually want to hear.
🎸🔥
#berklee #guitar #guitarist #musician #music #jazz #freejazz #improvisation #guitarplayers #guitartalk #musicdebate #controversial #musicindustry #giglife #workingmusician #realtalk #guitarvideo #musicians #learnmusic #musiclife #badbrad

20 Comments

@badbrad Creator 4 months ago Pinned

Alright dudes… let’s have the REAL conversation.
There’s a difference between:
exploring music
and
completely abandoning the listener.
I’m not anti-experimentation.
I’m not anti-jazz.
I’m not anti “outside.”
Some of the greatest players EVER pushed harmony, tension, and boundaries.
But here’s the thing:
The musicians who consistently get called back on real gigs?
They know when to SERVE THE SONG.
That’s the difference.
Anybody can play “outside.”
Very few players know how to create feel, groove, dynamics, tension, release… and actually CONNECT with human beings.
In Nashville, LA, New York, or on the road…
If you step on stage and ignore the band, the audience, and the music itself…
the phone stops ringing.
This video isn’t about tearing anyone down.
It’s about understanding why musical communication still matters.
The best players in the world can go to outer space…
but they always know how to land the plane.
Curious what YOU think:
Where’s the line between artistic freedom and losing the listener?

@RockeysMusicMayhem 4 months ago

thats the sound of guitar center on a saturday

@mattgkunz 4 months ago

There has to be a balance between art that satisfies and art that challenges. As a listener I want to be challenged so I can discover new things. Remember when you’d buy a whole album and play the whole side straight through? Some songs were not the hits or were immediately satisfying, but over time you learned to appreciate some of those songs just by spending time listening? Genres can be like that too. With today’s streaming services you don’t even have to spend $20 on a CD you hope to like. Yet most listeners still cling to established personal tastes as if art works for you and tastes stagnate.

@jeffreymcgahren7110 4 months ago (edited)

You hit the nail right on the head. A lot of guys get obsessed with going outside and being experimental and then they wonder why they can’t make any money with it and sustain themselves. Most people just wanna hear three things in a song-a melody, a hook and a beat. I went through that phase where I wanted to discover all the obscure music and all the music that was outside harmonically and rhythmically. I thought I was some kind of genius and I started getting a real big ego about knowing more than anybody else. Then I realize that most people just want to hear something that they can sing along to or tap their foot too. I just wish I had learned that 30 years ago. Yeah I’m a great player and you’re a great player too by the way! However, writing a good song is worth much more than doing things that people don’t really have a way of relating to. That’s why a lot of songs today are just very simple and straightforward because let’s face it. People are not musicians. The only other people who are gonna like it are other musicians or people who are just really into thinking man’s music. I went through a whole stage where all I listened to is jazz and progressive rock, and I looked down on other forms of music, which was a mistake. I grew out of that stage because it was kind of a snobbery that was starting to set into me. Once I got into other forms of music, I appreciated the art of songwriting. It’s all about making an emotional connection with people. I really appreciate your content. You’re right on pretty much everything that I’ve heard!

@azbluesdog 4 months ago

I was an English major in college. Just because I know a lot of big words doesn’t mean I use them in everyday conversation. My journalism instructor put an end to that. He taught me the importance of writing sentences that the average 5th grader would understand. Apply the same principle to music and you get the pentatonic scale. Nothing wrong with that.

@paul-p8u9b 4 months ago

I’ve been to a music university degree.
As an older student
I witnessed wonderful young imaginative players arrive at university.
3 years later they ALL play the same, sound the same, look the same and think the same.

Those who can do
Those who can’t Teach
Those who really can’t teach at University.

@haveagoodone2935 4 months ago (edited)

I'm a gigging bassist. I never finished college. I wanted to play music instead of taking on student debt. My gigs are pretty easy stuff but I always get called back because I hold down the groove.

The nights I don't gig I busk on my town square with an acoustic and play a bunch of famous covers. People dance and I make money.

Not knocking complex music either. I'm a huge fan of 70s prog like Yes and ELP but at the end of the day it's all about the audience.

It's called being an entertainer

@lorddavester 4 months ago

Getting called back --That hits home

@19501960 1 month ago

Rock and Jazz guys laughed at me for playing my dinner jacket showband gigs, as I drove buy in my new jeep with my custom guitars and messa boogie amps.

@exploringthemusicaluniverse 4 months ago (edited)

Great Thursday morning. That Jazz piece is an example of disorganisation---a complete contrast to what I just listening to for over an hour: the genius of to Band-Maid--injecting joy into the world with pleasing music. Talk about serving the audience and music. Their music flows and hooks you in and is not boring.

@ChrisJCarter 5 months ago

Non-musical chaos - lol. Exactly! 🎸🎸

@markomakkonen4406 4 months ago

That was some great playing in the end. Interesting bass/ harmonic structure.

@guyvelvet1980 4 months ago

I didn't even know it was " All the things you are " till I got to the comments section and it's a tune im well versed in

@loki3292 4 months ago

I was a cello major in college (wish I'd studied hanging drywall, but whatever). I went to a lot of contemporary concerts as a requirement of one of my Freshman music classes, played in a bunch as well. I used to sign up to play in the composition program's chamber music concerts. Dissonance for the sake of dissonance, difficulty for the sake of being difficult. I became a first rate sight reader, so that was nice. Some of those concerts for 3 people were pretty lame...

@daveassanowicz186 4 months ago

I just listened to it and I liked it. It's better if you don't watch them play and just close your eyes. It sounds like it would go great with some animation.

@ScottStenten 4 months ago

schools here in nyc are creating incredible students, really an amazing time for music and musicians, I have been going to Close up jazz club twice a week and the players, the tunes, the sound, really incredible,, of course there are occasional clunkers but,,, these cats can play and write,,, in a way thank god for music schools after the death of record industry it really has breathed life into it

@ACACIAENTERTAINMENT 4 months ago

Another cool spisode! Love the chops brother..

@federiconavarrotrias 4 months ago (edited)

Hey, that guitar player you’re calling the “Berklee professor” is none other than David Fiuczynski — a total badass — and YES, he has gigs. In fact, his band Screaming Headless Torsos was pretty popular in the ’90s, even to me, and I wasn’t even living in the US back then.
I understand your point of view, but saying that a “real world gig” is a Nashville bar gig, corporate, blues, country, or even a Top 40 touring gig feels pretty square to me. The NYC jazz scene is very REAL.
I’m a session player myself, so I understand where you’re coming from, but I feel your choice of words was unfortunate.
And yes… there’s also a jazz/fusion touring industry. Respectfully, It’s not all about pop-rock-country music dude.

@chuckw4947 4 months ago

Present in almost any fascination humans might hold,....the point where one's "special interest" moves beyond the comprehension of a majority of the herd. Math, language, art, cooking, pick your poison. In music...this was no doubt the genesis of the old apt adage, which affirms that "If you want to make a million dollars playing jazz; start with three million dollars." The desire to achieve perfection in an imperfect world, is admirable, but chasing that blissful carrot will inevitably lead one away from others, and toward an ultimate isolation. As long as one doesn't mind being alone, and does not hold bitterness toward others about the diminishing recognition such endeavors promise... this is just fine!✌

@tcastonc 4 months ago

This commentary is on point. Loving the music is key and wanting people to wanting to hear your music. Feeling the groove. Most muscians play for the love of music and don't really get caught up into the theory.