Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

It'll be interesting to see what happens with him. In my teenage years I played with a 16 year old drummer who was nothing short of incredible. The drums would just come alive when he played He loved Neil Peart and had all his licks down to a tee.

In fact he went to audition for Kiss, and they were all excited about having him in the group until they discovered his age(he looked like he was 25). By the time he was 20, he could barely play with any sort of timing. He was just worn out.

I think the main thing is the kid doesn't let things go to his head and allows himself to create.

I heard an interesting parallel the other day, Johnny Miller (golf analyst) was talking about Tiger Woods being a "Hard 28 years old", which meant he had been competing since he was a child and winning and putting a lot of pressure on himself. He was speculating if soon he won't have the desire to play at the same level because he has been pushing himself so hard for so long.

Well, for Tiger, wealth is an issue too. How hungry could he be.

BTW, I'm not always impressed with the "fretboard gymnastics" type of players. It's interesting with a young kid like this but, Yngwie(sp?) and Steve Vai bore me.

Bottom line is that he's a virtuoso but wont go much farther than his current circus act unless someone gets ahold of him and teaches him real theory (not just scales), chord structures, song structures, rhythm, and how to play with others.

A billion notes a second is impressive, but it all falls apart next to that one PERFECT note plucked by the likes of Clapton or BB King.

Still, its hard to believe the little rug rat is only 8.... Dang at that age I didn't even know what a guitar was. We'll probably he hearing more from him in 8 or 9 years.

I liked his signature move... wiping his nose on his sleeve at the end of the performance. Very cool.

I'm getting an 'object not found' error from the link at the top of this thread - anyone any ideas where I can see this diminutive virtuoso?

Or maybe I don't really want to. Bottle of Jim Beam at the ready...

Good choice for a sedative, Mike! Don't know what happened with the link.

Mirror: http://castroom.dreamhost.com/pcp/8-year_old_virtuoso.wmv

Found that after a short search on Google, I'm guessing it's the same video, not sure since I hadn't seen it from the original link.

Oh, and this is just the kind of music I can't stand to hear...

It sucks

AHH Robert..

A man of few words.

Alright kid, let's hear a song you wrote...

Junior, I told you to quit watching that guitar battle in Crossroads! Now go play outside!!

Don't get me wrong - the dexterity is very impressive and it's certainly something I can't do.

But do you know what? I think I'll get over it.

Boy, does this look familiar to me. All flash, no feel (no clue).

BOTH of my kids sounded EXACTLY like that before they learned how to play.

I most certainly will get over it, in fact - I already am!

Joe's right, all flash and no feel. Sounds an awful lot like what I hear when I go into Guitar Center ...

It would be really cool, if a little later on, some teacher would say to that kid "Hey, you have great chops and technique. Now, forget everything you've learned, and make something up using all your heart son."
That would really be worthwhile to the young prodigy, and his playing might not get to his head.

I closed my eyes and my brain said " YOUR IN GUITAR CENTER FOOL !!!!!" Young man needs some direction...