Posted by Jason on 8/2/2008, 2:36 pm, in reply to "8 year-old Japanese kid on Conan O'Brien"

Love it! I've seen him before on some videos. That is part hilarious and part serious as a heart attack. The former because his singing is amusing and cute. The latter because I start thinking "Ok, impressive for an 8 year old but will he develop into something as he ages or will he be sitting in the 'where are they now' file as an adult?" He might not be "great" by the standards of somebody who's been playing for many years, but I'd venture to guess he's got a big jump on most people in terms of when he started and how far along he is for his age. Let's face it, the age and what he's doing at 8 is the novelty of it all. You still have to have something going on though to be able to emulate who he's emulating from technical and rhythmic standpoints. I hope he grows old with the guitar and builds upon that display of prodigious potential. The Japanese culture is full of examples of classically-trained children who have much dexterity and technical command of an instrument. So from that perspective, it doesn't surprise me...but to see somebody who's grasping onto the classic blues/rock material like he's doing is cool. If you want to see some other entertaining electrical guitar things from the Far East, search on You Tube for some of the people who are replicating video game music on their guitars, such as the whole "Mario Brothers" themed videos. I love the quirkiness of it all. Thanks for the link. Here's one for you. He's even got the ratty tone down!