Fun fact, I randomly met Zach at Norm's Rare Guitars a few years back, we hit it off and ended up forming an electric scooter gang with Mary Spender, Adam Neely and Angella Petrilli on the same day.

Thanks for having me on, Rob. Really enjoyed this! PS - nice pants.

Zach is a beast, and an amazing dude!

That "change" at 2:20 killed me (and my daughter)! Lovely.

"Success is where preparation meets opportunity" "Say yes and be on time"

Hearing it from a professional drives home the point: Stay in your own sonic space and design your sound not to be loud, but to be heard. That's critical advice for every band, not just those playing with massive pop stars. A very excellent interview.

"One of you guys should change clothes" Rob: Wears matching pants.

This must be the best gig ever. I bet he gets paid incredibly well doing what he loves and yet no one would look twice if he went grocery shopping. All the perks, none of the drawbacks of fame.

Amazing interview, amazing pants.

I think people forget that the guys who are hired to play for pop artists like Britney, Kesha, Avril Lavigne, Ariana Grande, etc etc etc are typically absolute monster players who can shred circles around most players in the world. Studio musicians, session musicians, and these touring stage musicians (usually one and the same) are god-tier level players.

His playing is so clean and flawless. I'm incredibly impressed.

He is such a humble guitarist who just does his job and does it right. I think that is pretty rare in the music industry these days. He keeps his playing clean and simple, but it’s still iconic and instantly recognizable. And he still gets excited about the classic Britney riffs haha, that’s awesome. He’s also not a tradition gear head that travels with mountains of gear and takes ages to setup. He’s got one box and his presets and he’s ready to go on the spot. Really important if you need to “just say yes and be on time.” I think most importantly, he knows to keep his sound in the proper sound space, and stay out of the frequencies of the lead performer and other instruments. He doesn’t flourish and doesn’t feel the need to be shredding or ripping blues licks throughout the songs.

Me: such an interesting interview, it's a window into a side of professional musician life that we rarely get to hear about, thanks Rob! My brain: haha pants

Rob Scallon is a national treasure.

always heard britney spears music as a whole and hearing the guitar sounding badass by itself is awesome

I loved the "hard rock guitar under every pop song" thing of the late 90s early 00s

I love how he’s giving so many tips on life as a musician, everyone is so negative about getting into this industry, and Zack is just saying hey if you wanna do this just work hard and don’t give up ! Pretty inspiring

I’m a metalhead at heart, but I absolutely adore Britney Spears. She actually has some really good guitar work on some of her songs. Toxic of course, but Satisfaction and I’m a Slave 4 U are REALLY fun to play on guitar. The 2000 VMA performance of Oops I did it Again is straight up rock performance.

I wouldn't be doing my duty as a friend if I didn't point out that the Les Paul Zach is playing at the 4:20 mark (giggle) is none other than The Beast, belonging to Bernie Marsden! One of the most, if not THE most, iconic '59 Burst Les Pauls there is. Bernie brought it to a show for Zach to play and...that's it! 🤯

Holy shit, "Success is where preparation meets opportunity" is my new mantra forever

I love the greatest art piece in the smallest picture frame at 0:09 behind rob’s shoulder

Zach rocks! I was taught music in middle school by his dad, who showed me how to set up and wire guitars!

I was a Chicago-based bandleader for 16 years and Zach absolutely “gets it” There’s no reason why he won’t continue to be successful. What a great interview! Thanks for sharing!

Man I’m so glad you are doing what you do! The “change” had me giggling

Loving these deep dive interviews! Incredibly inspiring!

Honestly I didn’t have high expectations for this video but I was blown away. He drops some gems in here. This is a must watch for any guitarist.

Wonderful way to pull back the curtains and show the point of view of a working professional musician. Thank you

This guy's tone sounds awesome! I've been an analog purist for years but I've been kicking around the idea of a digital rig for awhile because I'm tired of hauling around 100 lb amps. I may have to look into one of these

2:20 goddamn Rob, I spat in my keyboard

what a great interview!

That was a really nice interview. Thanks for sharing!

Absolutely loved this interview! Would love to see more like this :)

I love that Rob values the wisdom of musicians from all styles. Such a cool dude.

I LOVE this kind of videos. Please do more of this with different pro guitarists if you can :D

been watching ya right from the beginning and im glad i am. what an awesome journey to all the new videos..love the editing, the small costume changes, subtle details and just your enthusiasm and genuineness to this. Keep up the amazing content!

This is brilliant! Thank you so much - these insights into the working lives of real professional musicians is always such a revelation and really enjoyable to watch. THANK YOU : )

that was so cool! its crazy how guitar in pop is so heavy but usually gets washed away by the other elements or the creative process of the mix. wish we could hear it louder!

I know this dude…I fill in for him occasionally with his GB group. The few times we’ve shared the stage (you don’t often get the chance to play with your instrumental colleagues in Boston’s GB scene), it’s been a lot of fun…monster player 🤙

I've watched Rob's videos on and off for years, but this was the one that got me to subscribe. Really enjoyed that interview.

This interview was sooooo cool!

This is really interesting would love to see a series with other professional guitarists from all different types of music. People don't usually think Britney Spears and guitar, but every major artist needs backing musicians to some extent.

Your channel has become more and more intresting to watch by the years. Just amazing content. I was always a rock player but was put out of my comfort zone and started to play at concerts, yeah big concerts with violins, choirs and all of that stuff. It all began when at my later years me and a good frriend of mine said to ourselves, damn what are we doing? we need o go and learn some theory and maybe some note reading. I needed to understand what the heck we were playing. Which led us to a music school and there we somehow met the lead pianist and cellist of the great Miki Theodoraki (Zorba). Who offer us to play at his concerts. Little did we now that he was testing us at his first gig and put us to learn 30 songs in only two days. Maybe for some thats not a lot. For us it was, but we somehow managed through his first concert which was a small one at the beginning but became quite big and we toured whole Greece playing lovely music. Both the pianist and his son, wow what amazing mucisians man. We learned a lot from them. So what Im saying you have to work hard and the pressure can be real, but in the end if you do push through you will become a better mucisians at the end. Being on time and being prepared is the key of becoming a professional guitarist or mucisian of all sorts..

These interviews format spreading on the YT guitar game is really one of the best things happening in 2022.

What a great interview!

I did a Free Britney Celebration video this week with the Spark and some of those songs have cool chord changes and rock up pretty well. Great timing!

Watching an incredibly diverse collection of different styles of music over the years, specifically revolving around the guitar, I keep coming back to the conclusion that flamenco is one of the finest expressions of the instrument. You can hear the sounds even in modern pop songs. Beautiful as it is, it is incredibly difficult to play traditional flamenco accurately. It's not surprising to hear 'simplified' expressions in other genres reminiscent of the typical sounds associated with it. In the end, its just about seeing (or hearing, rather) where we can explore with sound.

Wow, great interview! It was fascinating learning about how someone gets gigs. He's really talented!

What a terrific, insightful interview!

NGL, I didn't even know Britney had a guitar player. The fact that she actually uses a live band greatly increased my respect for her as a performer.

I love getting an insight into a musical world I’ve never experienced before.

Great stuff! Really enjoyed this!

This was so fascinating!

13:25 the fact that Zach's face is like he is the most badass hardcore metal guitarist but he's actually playing Britney is hilarious

Mamma mia, this is the best and most random episode I've seen here in a while. The meritorical value is here, the comedy is not pushed overboards and the production is simple but on point. I'm sure this is most memorable piece of content I've seen here in long time. Wish I could help you out in creating it just to have some of the satisfaction you sure have right now. Totally not joking, I meant all of it.

Enjoyed this video so much, everything about it was awesome! New subscriber 🙌🏼

Really insightful video! Both such down-to-earth guys with a lot of skill to offer.

What a great guy, and he's really got the dream gig!

Rob Scallon's a legend, the master of all instruments and now a great interviewer

That was really interesting, thanks Rob

This is really cool. Thanks for the great story. Happy to see his success.

For somebody like me who listened to Brintey in his preteens but listens to stuff like Dying Fetus, Weather Report and Alcest this video is golden.

Excellent gag with that glasses edit lmao

That's a fantastic Vid! I'm a very old-school rocker / Blues, Flamenco acoustic dude... But I absolutely love this.

damn rob, awesome video

Legend says he plays for Britney and Christina. The forever rivals

i love how open minded he is about getting into different genres, most people are music snobs

Love Rob's interview technique, seems so genuine and let's the interviewee talk without interruption!

This was very cool. Informative and great to see and hear about this side of music.

Saw Zach's name and thought I would check it out. Very gifted, hard working and a team player- any organization should have been thrilled to have him. BTW, Zach, I don't think the "good stuff" is nearly over- you keep doing what you do, whether as Miss Spears' lead or where ever you go! As much as I am in awe of your musical talent, I was curious, Zach, had any of Britney's legal battles with her father and family created any difficulties for him or the stage crew as they played out? I used to live in Garland, Texas, and have a little "over the fence" relationship to some of "all that crap". What has already transpired for Britney shouldn't happen to anyone- I wonder if her father thought once about how deleterious all this could be for other talent around her. Best New Year you ever did have, Zach! Rob, I'll be back- although I think you ought to "duet" some more- as a musician, you ain't too shabby yourself! And take that Best New Year personally- I challenge you to have the best damn new year of your life! FR

How many guys (and gals LOL) are just realizing Britney has band members on stage....... Mind BLOWN! 😉

That was such an interesting perspective, seems like a really cool experience to get a gig like that.

So cool and inspiring! Nothing beats an SG with 10-46 strings!

This is an amazing video. Always wanted to know the “Hired Guns” people. Please do kore of these videos 😁 Such a cool dude, humbled and fun.

Well I never thought I'd be searching/watching Britney Spears live shows. Thanks Rob 😂

Thats was really interesting. Great interview.

Yess new video!

I couldn't figure out who was who until they made Zach change pants

Your friend is an awesome guitarist

Great interview and Zach offered some great insights!

I subscribed to your channel because you managed to embed an advertisement (of your own course) on a very non-obtrusive way. Thanks for the quality content and the respect you have for your audience.

This is way cool. I play a few of those bigger gigs like that every now and then, but not Britney Spears big. It's cool to see what the guys at the apex of the industry are doing, and that they're thinking about it in the same way I am and using similar gear. I'm using a Kemper right now and it's the best thing ever.

NOW MY 2022 CAN BE CONSIDERED STARTED, FIRST SCALLON VIDEO OF THE YEAR!!!

Outfit change got me rolling you guys are great and an inspiration to all musicians at every level of their journey.

Solid interview.

Rob should impersonate Zach and play a britney spears concert and add all the crazy fills and shred

This is gold, thank you so much for respecting Britney's music! She's a living legend. And she's clearly a nice woman because every person that I ever heard that worked with her has always given their best.

This video has me really thinking hard about picking up an SG. Great stuff!

Go Zach! Hope the New Year brings you the coolest things! :-)

Something so satisfying seeing two amazingly talented guitarists nerd out about string gauge.

My dad’s a guitar teacher. My mom’s best friend since they were 4 years old is a woman who also married to a guitar teacher, and that guy is of course my dad’s colleague and friend and the’ve played in bands together and teach guitar at a college and a performing arts high school respectively. Those other people have a son who is a year younger than me and we grew up having sleepover parties and stayed friends throughout our lives. I got bit with the music bug at a young age and was playing piano since I was 7 and guitar since I was 12, whereas the other boy was focused on sports entirely and was an exceptional hockey player. By 15, I was a pretty good guitar player and I stopped seeing the other boy because he went to a sports high school and I was too old for sleepovers and we’d just kind of grown apart during high school with our own personal lives. What I did not know, however, was that he was drifting away from hockey and had been secretly playing guitar… a lot of guitar… and was getting really, really good. Then one day some years later, I went to a bar to see an Eagles tribute featuring my dad’s friend (my teacher and father of that other kid) and who’s playing lead guitar in the band? The kid… 1 year underage. And he’s killing it. My mom and her friend (his mom) are there and I’m like “Omg is that ****? When did he become THAT good at guitar?!!” Anyways, this guy became the best guitar player within a 500 mile radius. And he could/can sing amazingly well while playing insane shreds. He’s a level 10 frontman talent, and his entire career in life the past 20+ years has been playing guitar with his band, doing cover gigs for weddings etc but also releasing his own music to moderate success (due mainly towards the fact that his writing isn’t remarkable but he can shred blues rock so it sells and pays the bills). One day, around 17-18 years ago, my mom told me that she heard he got asked to play/tour with an extremely famous pop artist but turned it down and everyone thought he was crazy. I ran into him at a bar a short time later and we sat down for a beer to catch up and I asked him about it and why he turned it down. His exact words were… “I’m really good at playing other peoples music, but I’m not that good at coming up with my own stuff that’s that good. If I joined that guy’s band playing his shitty music, I’d just get worse, not better. And besides, the last thing I want people to remember me for is being ******’s guitarist” and we never spoke about stuff like that again. Unfortunately, that guy got deeper into drugs, mainly coke for like a decade and then the pandemic destroyed his career and he got into opiates. He moved out to the middle of nowhere and has been selling off all of his belongings and furniture on Facebook marketplace the last 6 months and it’s a sad and embarrassing thing to see in my feed and hear about through the family grapevine. He never amounted to being known for his own art, but I respect him for trying, even if his legacy may ultimately be that he was a drug addict who threw his talent away.

Great interview and Better Fires is great! Why Should We slaps. 😎

This was awesome! 👌

Cool down to earth guy

@13:00 that doesn't even sound like hit me baby one more time lol. It reminds me of the breakdown before the solo in dethsupport by dethklok. It sounded a lot prettier here though. That's wild.

Excellent Video

A very interesting video, great job!

Great interview! The (good) advice of incoming flashing lights popped me a question, as i work with design & motion graphics and occasionally for big screen events: How tough is for a musician (Like Zach) to get used to strobe/flashing with all the sudden changes in lighting? Thanks!

I’d love it if some of those QC presets were public. It’s fun to jam through professional artists sounds.

That's a real cool sound with the SG! Especially the Hit Me Baby one More Time Riff reminds me a lot of a bare bones Billy Talent sound.

His speech on keeping and open mind and taking gigs outside of your comfort zone as a recipe for long term success is almost word for word what Rob Morgenstein talks about in the Vic Firth interviews