Thank you so much everyone for the kind words and wonderful comments. But I’d like to say something specifically to @BenThorpe. If I know who you’re talking about, there are several things I’d like to say about that kid…
1. It’s not being played flawlessly. Which is okay because they’re a kid and not a professional player
2. That kid is a part of one of those “rock schools” where their parents paid for them to be taught songs. These schools are counterproductive (I was a teacher at one for a a while) because the repertoire I had to follow was 95% teaching songs, 5% actual guitar theory and concepts. 99% of these students go on to become stuck in tribute bands or cover bands and because that’s all they can do.
3. Like Calvin said and like I said in my video, a child has way more free time than a parent does.
4. Child prodigies these days are not like what Wolfgang Mozart was. Anyone can pick up a guitar and with a proper instructor can learn any song. But Mozart actually WROTE HIS OWN STUFF and was eventually teaching his own instructor at an incredibly young age. When I see an 8 year old composing their first guitar instrumental that takes someone like Papa Gates to court, I’ll call them a virtuoso.
5. These kids don’t play the song standing up with a live band in front of an audience. Which takes an ENTIRELY different skill. I think it was Ed who said it best, “playing for 30 minutes in front of a live audience with a live band gives you more practice than hours a day in your bedroom.” (Ed, please correct me if I misquoted you)
Truthfully, the child prodigy race on YouTube makes me sick. It’s nothing but a bunch of parents showcasing their children off to get attention. Notice how the titles are like “8 Year Old Girl BLAZES Through For The Love of God By Steve Vai!! Child Prodigy Stuns Audience!” It’s nauseating really. If it was really about the passion of the child, the title would say something like “My Daughter Plays Hail To The King By Avenged Sevenfold!” It’s like what I get faced with as a female player. I get people on Instagram showing me girls playing (and I already know who most of them are) and the titles say things like “Super Hot Shredder Female!” or “Sexiest and Hottest Female Shredder!” And actually? To be honest? 99.9% of them are incredibly sloppy with poor hand coordination and they don’t write their own stuff. So it doesn’t impress me. Society is really focused on gender and age. I use to teach guitar at a community center for children, and there was only ONE child who seem to adapt to things quickly. As in, the child just learned a basic C chord. I congratulated the child, but I had to ban the parents from the class because immediately they began bragging about their child to the other parents on how their child got the concepts immediately while everyone else struggled. It completely disgusted me and quite honestly, gave me a huge sense of rage, especially since another child quit right after hearing that.
I am so glad to know that a lot of people here and on my Instagram and YouTube channel found this video helpful because it’s something I feel passionate about. I’m so fed up with the comparison virus in the guitar world. Which, why DO we guitarists get it the most? When I see drummers on YouTube, it’s things like “8 Year old Drummer plays Metallica”. It’s just super basic. I don’t see a lot of competitive behaviors among other instrumentalists.
