Unsigned Talents
There are times when I get tired of listening to the music of big stars, so I turn to the music of unsigned artists. I often find myself digging for hidden talents in Youtube and in other sites that allow people to showcase their talents to the world. I like listening to the raw power of most homemade music I find in the internet; I like the honesty, the hunger, the purity of intent, and the kind of freedom that only unsigned artists can have in their works. I am not saying that all unsigned artists are great, there are also many who deserve to be unsigned forever.
Recently, I came upon a Youtube channel named Petrucci Fever. Because of what its name implies, I gave it a few minutes worth of my time. The time I gave it proved to be worth its while.
The channel recently had hosted an international guitar solo competition, and there’s a video of their top three winners. The contest, which ran for 22 days, was simple. Unlike other commercial competitions, all participants had to download and solo over the same backing track. Judges included “Guitar Idol 2008″ finalists Chris Feener, Muris Varajic and Tom Quayle (I know you haven’t heard of them). The prizes were also simple: an old school Boss stomp box, a Shawn Lane Licks and Solo book and CD, some sets of Ernie Ball Slinky guitar strings, and some Guthrie Govan album. It’s obvious that the guys who hosted this contest are regular Youtubers who are not making any money out of it, all prizes came out of there own pockets and they threw this just for fun.
I checked out the video featuring the top three winners, and I was impressed with the performance of the champion, a guy from Argentina named Silvio Gazquez. His soloing is like a cross between a lucid Paul Gilbert and a slightly drunk Nuno Bettencourt. I like the confidence he showed in the way he chose his notes and where and how he placed his vibrato. He spiced the last bars of his solo with a simple but very mature multi-string tapping.
The video that features the top three winners is about eight minutes long, including the three or so minutes of credits at the end. While the credits are rolling an unknown whistler is shown soloing over the backing track used in the contest. His whistling sounds like a cross between a jazz guitar and a flute. I think this guy deserves to be signed.
