This 14 year old boy is better than you'll ever be....

[rottingcorpse]

Betcha I could out drink him.

 

[Monkey Man]

I've been struggling to buy the gear I need to create finished content for nearly 30 years and even when I finally get there I'll not have equipment of the quality this kid, who doesn't even shave yet, does.

If you know your gear I dare you to do the math based only on what we can see in the vid (there's obviously much more) and figure out what someone's spent. I know this much: It wasn't the kid's part-time McDonalds wages that got him there.

I love supporting youngsters with music endeavours, but this sort of thing seriously makes me wanna puke. Literally. Had I not had to endure the ridiculous struggle I've been through I'm sure I wouldn't be fazed by it at all, but my mind and body are all-too-aware of the wounds and I s'pose it's a physical reaction as much as anything.

I want to wish him good luck, but I've a strong feeling he won't need it.

Dont be a hater man, it will cause you to miss a lot of good shit in life.

Oh, I'm the furthest thing from that possible, VR. As I said, I love to support kids and anyone who's struggling.

Not only did I not receive any help as a kid (or adult), but I then gave 25 years of my life over to helping alcoholics, and all the while my own health issues, along with financial losses incurred during that process, have caused the gear-buying journey to become super-protracted. It's the pain of enduring this journey and trying to maintain the fire in my belly, along with other factors, that's left me emotionally-scarred, and as I said in that post, it's a physical reaction to the video that I shared. Obviously I feel like a dick now for having said anything at all, but at least I had the good sense to provide some context and finish by saying:
Had I not had to endure the ridiculous struggle I've been through I'm sure I wouldn't be fazed by it at all, but my mind and body are all-too-aware of the wounds and I s'pose it's a physical reaction as much as anything.

and...
I want to wish him good luck, but I've a strong feeling he won't need it.

I was simply speaking from the heart, trying to explain why such things cause the physical reaction in me that they do.

It's a bummer you've got that kind of reaction to it. It'd be one thing if the kid had access to all that gear and played like absolute shit and was using the video to just brag about the gear he owns, which is something I've seen on this forum and many others over the years. This kid obviously put the time in to get to that point, on multiple instruments. It'd be cool for a kid that age to tackle all the instruments in a Green Day tune, never mind a Dream Theater tune.

My dad wasn't exactly wealthy, he wasn't even paycheck to paycheck, it was like paycheck to being broke and praying we had enough food to last us until the next paycheck. When I showed that I was REALLY into playing guitar, he busted his ass to get me a brand new MIM Strat back in '95. I know with every bit of sense that if he could, he would have built a studio for me and stocked it full of the best gear he could get his hands on. This kid's situation seems to allow that to happen. Just like it's no one's business when someone buys an expensive guitar/amp they can't really play all that well, it's no one's business how this kid's parents decide to spend their money. In the context of this, I think it's safe to say that gear is an investment in the kid's future. He's proven he has the drive and skill to wield it and I'd think it'd be every parent's dream to be able to give their kid access to everything to get them to excel even more.

I hear you and agree 100%, mate.

As I said, the reaction is physical, and is a result of decades of fruitless (musically) and damaging endeavours. I can't help it, brother. It reminds me of Bundy Syndrome™. That's where you drink too much Bundaberg Rum, throw up and can't smell or touch it ever again. It doesn't mean that you wish anything but happiness and good luck to those who can drink the stuff; you're just stuck with an unavoidable physical reaction to seeing, smelling or tasting it.

OK, not the best analogy, but hopefully it gets the point across that we can have physical reactions to things that're determined by our bodies' cellular memories and are quite-independent of where our minds are at. You can press on, forgetting what lies behind, but the body tends to retain things.

Betcha I could out drink him.

Now that is funny, brother. Made my day.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Doing all that at 14 is pretty incredible, however if he really wants to go anywhere with music nobody will care about his ability to cover Dream Theater songs, he better write his own stuff or get in a decent band. Oh, and let me guess, he's using a Playstation? Sorry I meant a Fractal.

 

[skoora]

Doing all that at 14 is pretty incredible, however if he really wants to go anywhere with music nobody will care about his ability to cover Dream Theater songs, he better write his own stuff or get in a decent band. Oh, and let me guess, he's using a Playstation? Sorry I meant a Fractal.

I'm not sure that matters anymore in today's Youtube economics.

 

[Monkey Man]

I thought the same thing as danyeo but hadn't considered this 'cause I'm old-school.

Good point, skoora.