I have to agree with a lot of the commenters. He played this on CNN or something? 52 million views? Yeah, he doesn't suck at all, but uh... that isn't really that impressive.
This video is better, but still... I don't see it. He's definitely got a great head start and some years down the road he may well be a rival to the usual wank-off Yngwie Malmstein types, but that doesn't strike me as all that noteworthy. Not to put the kid down. If he's self-taught, he's pretty good. But why is he on CNN?
This is what you should be watching. Six minutes of pure fucking awesome from Jeff Loomis (it's a clinic, so all he's doing is playing solos from some of his compositions). Seriously, I love that guy. He can play like a wanky bastard, but he has the uncanny ability to write stuff that doesn't sound exactly like everyone else, and he's got a way of throwing in overarching melody amidst the flurry of notes. One of my favorite guitarists. The two bits he opens with are some of my favorite guitar solos ever.
EDIT -
And another. If I could play like anyone, it'd be this guy. I'm not sure why. There are others who are technically better, but for some reason I just love his style.
EDIT x2 -
Now see what you made me do? Now I can't stop.
I get like this sometimes. Though usually with Tomas Haake.
