"Somebody sign this street guitarist right now"- I'd say!

Improvised and spontaneous street performance which I think was pretty impressive.
http://www.wimp.com/streetguitarist/ . Enjoy!

Wow!

Wish I could toss money into his guitar case from here.

This guy ought to need a helper just to carry home the coins every day.

I seriously hope he gets signed, if someone with that skill can't make a living as artist, then no one should.

Bit unrelated but figured it was in the "amateur guy on internet that sounds good" category, he was featured on reddit some days ago. I love his sound.

Sounds good to me, but maybe he is not signed as other guitarists can play as well or better than him, any guitarists out there can rate him?

Nope, definitly not many guitarists can play like that guy from the OP.

playing scales that fast and accurately is well-nigh impossible for 99% of guitarists. While I wouldn't choose to listen to that style of music, guy deserves mad props for his chops.

Swing is certainly one of the hardest genres to play for a guitarist, but a classicaly trained one is, or at least he should be, playing at this level.

The guys Youtube page is worth a look too.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvvQ2TXiL8TliI5LBU_yi3w/videos

The fact he's supposedly doing an improv here alone beats most other guys.

I'd say this was not the first time he's played that material (no matter whether he or someone else came up with it), but at the same time I don't think he was playing a pure recital, note for note.

I studied classical guitar at Oberlin College (yes, that does give me a right to this opinion) and trust me, playing scales that fast, accurately, and for that long, instead of brief passages, is unusual, even at a conservatory level.

Been playing for for almost 50 years ( arthritis is taking its toll ) that guy was pretty good. I've have seen guys playing in bars and on street corners in my travels over the years that have been better than most "famous" musicians. Becoming famous or being a recording star is just as much about luck as it is about talent IMO.

The music fits the ambience of that street very well.
Being sort of out there between genres, he would have
a hard time being supersuccessful, but could easily make
a comfortable living in that space with folks like
Jesse Cook, John Fahey, etc, and doing opening act
gigs for jam bands, afternoon stages at folk festivals,
Bonnaroo, etc.

Mind you, I'm not saying that his playing is not impressive or that he's mediocre, I'm just saying that there are more talented players out there than we think of.

Perhaps, but the fact that we never hear of so many of them while so many mediocre and even lousy ones get famous says something.



The Jedi Master

Luck, connections and physical appearance are huge factors in determining whether someone "makes it" in the music biz or not. Unfortunately.

Yes, talent alone isn't nearly as valuable as it should be.

Of course, some very talented players can't write, and some good writers are only so-so players, and those who write and play always go farther than those who can only do one or the other.




The Jedi Master