Braxton Craven
I've been playing guitar for about 7 years now and have been teaching for 5. A lot of what I tough in the early days was country and classic rock, but as a grew as a player and found my voice on the instrament I discovered I loved Proggressive metal and rock, and strangly jazz. My music education is nothing extravigant, I began in a middle school class room and later went on to learn from lots of touring musicians and people in the studio I did session playing for. I poured my heart into guitar and it has taken me far, and hopefully I can do the same for others.
"Your music journey is something to always be happy with where you are at, but never satisfied enough to stop moving forward."
Braxton Craven
Educator
My Resources
My Story...
I’ve been playing guitar for the majority of my life—over 30 years. I’ve had my ups and downs, like we all do, but the guitar and the desire to play and to create has always called me back and kept me plugging along.
The good Lord has blessed me with so many amazing opportunities in my life. Back in 2012 I was laid off of my job because of a downturn in the economy. It was then that Dan Denley contacted me (just in the nick of time). He told me he saw my teaching on YouTube and asked me to come down and record my very first professional guitar instruction course. That course then became Texas Blues Guitar, which I now refer to as The Secrets of Texas Blues Guitar.
I loved every bit of that road trip to Memphis. (Well, except for the drive. My rental car didn’t have cruise control, so by the time I got to Memphis—a four-hour drive from my hometown—my leg was ready to fall off!) Meeting Dan, having dinner out together to share our guitar stories, the excitement and anticipation the night before recording, the recording process itself—over 13 hours in total.
From that moment on, I was hooked and decided I would continue creating my own guitar courses. Since then, I’ve created four more courses dedicated to Bluegrass guitar and, most recently a course all about how to create “Expressive, Emotional, and Melodic Lead guitar solos” entitled The Creative Guitarist.
Around 2016, I took an online personality test and discovered that I was an INFJ personalty—which consists of only 1% of the world’s population. Discovering this has helped tremendously in spotting my personal flaws (perfectionism, workaholism, and others) and realizing that A. I’m not the only one who struggles with them, and B. I can overcome and adjust to them.
But being an INFJ isn’t all that bad. There are good qualities as well. I actually wrote a post about it you can read by clicking here.
In the early summer of 2019, just before the Coronavirus pandemic hit, everything in my world was rocked by the sudden passing of my mom. She was an amazing—and amazingly creative—person. She passed away in her sleep, and no one saw it coming. Just two weeks before, on Mother’s Day, the family had gone out to her favorite restaurant, Cheddar’s, to celebrate. She looked fine that day. She’d recently lost a lot of weight for medical reasons but nothing serious that anyone knew of.
It was a traumatic experience for us all. I didn’t recognize just how traumatic until about a year and a half ago, when my and my wife’s first son, DJ, was born. For three months, I was barely able to function as a new parent. I’m sure I had a mental breakdown or two during that time, no exaggeration. It was then my doctor suggested I see a counselor and begin taking medication to help me cope.
Today, I’m happy to say that I have more good days than bad days. I look forward to getting up off the couch and actually doing things more often than not. Playing music and writing has helped me tremendously, as well as my personal faith. Sometimes, even preachers get depressed and need help from others who have a different perspective and can see the forest for the trees.
I’m excited to be a part of the GuitarZoom family of guitar mentors. My mission is to help others succeed in playing guitar in ways they’ve never imagined. I want to encourage my students every step of the way and serve as a guide to them along their musical journeys. Then, when they’ve completed lessons with me and are ready to “leave the nest,” my ultimate desire is that my students not only continue leveling up their own skills but that they also become leaders to others on their musical adventures.
That’s when I’ll know I’ve completed my mission.
Fun Fact: I’m also the author of several books and stories. The first two books in my SMART FOCUS series became Amazon bestsellers in their categories!
The good Lord has blessed me with so many amazing opportunities in my life. Back in 2012 I was laid off of my job because of a downturn in the economy. It was then that Dan Denley contacted me (just in the nick of time). He told me he saw my teaching on YouTube and asked me to come down and record my very first professional guitar instruction course. That course then became Texas Blues Guitar, which I now refer to as The Secrets of Texas Blues Guitar.
I loved every bit of that road trip to Memphis. (Well, except for the drive. My rental car didn’t have cruise control, so by the time I got to Memphis—a four-hour drive from my hometown—my leg was ready to fall off!) Meeting Dan, having dinner out together to share our guitar stories, the excitement and anticipation the night before recording, the recording process itself—over 13 hours in total.
From that moment on, I was hooked and decided I would continue creating my own guitar courses. Since then, I’ve created four more courses dedicated to Bluegrass guitar and, most recently a course all about how to create “Expressive, Emotional, and Melodic Lead guitar solos” entitled The Creative Guitarist.
Around 2016, I took an online personality test and discovered that I was an INFJ personalty—which consists of only 1% of the world’s population. Discovering this has helped tremendously in spotting my personal flaws (perfectionism, workaholism, and others) and realizing that A. I’m not the only one who struggles with them, and B. I can overcome and adjust to them.
But being an INFJ isn’t all that bad. There are good qualities as well. I actually wrote a post about it you can read by clicking here.
In the early summer of 2019, just before the Coronavirus pandemic hit, everything in my world was rocked by the sudden passing of my mom. She was an amazing—and amazingly creative—person. She passed away in her sleep, and no one saw it coming. Just two weeks before, on Mother’s Day, the family had gone out to her favorite restaurant, Cheddar’s, to celebrate. She looked fine that day. She’d recently lost a lot of weight for medical reasons but nothing serious that anyone knew of.
It was a traumatic experience for us all. I didn’t recognize just how traumatic until about a year and a half ago, when my and my wife’s first son, DJ, was born. For three months, I was barely able to function as a new parent. I’m sure I had a mental breakdown or two during that time, no exaggeration. It was then my doctor suggested I see a counselor and begin taking medication to help me cope.
Today, I’m happy to say that I have more good days than bad days. I look forward to getting up off the couch and actually doing things more often than not. Playing music and writing has helped me tremendously, as well as my personal faith. Sometimes, even preachers get depressed and need help from others who have a different perspective and can see the forest for the trees.
I’m excited to be a part of the GuitarZoom family of guitar mentors. My mission is to help others succeed in playing guitar in ways they’ve never imagined. I want to encourage my students every step of the way and serve as a guide to them along their musical journeys. Then, when they’ve completed lessons with me and are ready to “leave the nest,” my ultimate desire is that my students not only continue leveling up their own skills but that they also become leaders to others on their musical adventures.
That’s when I’ll know I’ve completed my mission.
Fun Fact: I’m also the author of several books and stories. The first two books in my SMART FOCUS series became Amazon bestsellers in their categories!