Web Guitar Wizard Revealed at Last

August 29th, 2006 3:07 pm by BlackWhite
In case you find the link to this video in YouTube, please post it here. :)

EIGHT months ago a mysterious image showed up on YouTube. A sinewy figure in a swimming-pool-blue T-shirt, his eyes obscured by a beige baseball cap, was playing electric guitar. Sun poured through the window behind him; he played in a yellow haze. The video was called simply “guitar.” A black-and-white title card gave the performer’s name as funtwo.

If individual viewings were shipped records, “guitar” would have gone gold almost instantly. Now, with nearly 7.35 million views — and a spot in the site’s 10 most-viewed videos of all time — funtwo’s performance would be platinum many times over.

Guitar fanatics are perplexed: “How the hell does he gets his harmonics to sound like that?” Some praise specific components of the performance, including the distortion, the power chords or the “sweet outro.” Overall a consensus emerges: This guy iz great.

I’m shocked at how much you rock,” one fan said. “Funtwo just pure ownz the world,” said another. “Somebody just beat JerryC at his own song,” tinFold44 said. Carrie34 gushed, “funtwo’s version makes me want to hold up my lighter and *hug* my inner child! :)

The most basic comment is a question: Who is this guy?

Some imitators have gone further than that. A Malaysian guitarist claiming erroneously to be funtwo briefly set up a MySpace page, then shut it down. And this month, in Washington, a 12-year-old classical pianist named Alfonso Candra played “Canon Rock” for a small crowd at the Indonesian Embassy. He too claimed he was the guitarist in the “guitar” video. That was untrue, but Alfonso played his heart out.

By following a series of clues on JerryC’s message board and various “Canon Rock” videos, I was able to trace funtwo’s video to Jeong-Hyun Lim, a 23-year-old Korean who taught himself guitar over the course of the last six years. Now living in Seoul, he listens avidly to Bach and Vivaldi, and in 2000 he took a month of guitar lessons. He plays an ESP, an Alfee Custon SEC-28OTC with gold-colored detailing.

I asked Mr. Lim about the huge response to the video he had made in his bedroom. What did he make of the tens of thousands of YouTube commenters, most of whom treat him as though he’s the second coming of Jimi Hendrix?

Mr. Lim wrote back quickly. “Some said my vibrato is quite sloppy,” he replied. “And I agree that so these days I’m doing my best to improve my vibrato skill.”

Click here for more.

18 Responses to “Web Guitar Wizard Revealed at Last”

  1. 1
    BlackWhite Says:

    For the video:-
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8 ;)

    Report this comment

  2. 2
    Anonymous Says:

    he naupang hi..nia..tunge niang le oooooo?a kutthlak nalh rualrem dan em em hi a ropui!dump.com ah hman deuhah ka en tawh

    Report this comment

  3. 3
    father_sphinx Says:

    that dawn hi….kkk….

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  4. 4
    J Says:

    YOWSA this is beautiful!!! At least, I have a suspicion it would be beautiful if only I could get to listen to it continously without the stop starts of my nutty ol’ dial-up. :(

    Report this comment

  5. 5
    benjamin Says:

    This is f_________ cool!! Somebody got the audio recorded?

    Report this comment

  6. 6
    virgochhas Says:

    wow….hatz off to da boy…

    ive seen people play Pachelbel’s Canon in D major arranged by Jerry C

    but wow…this is something…and he look so young….

    Report this comment

  7. 7
    BlackWhite Says:

    Imitator ho khi an thring tawp! it’s such a shame!

    Report this comment

  8. 8
    virgochhas Says:

    da Man himself…

    Jerry C on Canon

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;search=

    BTW, he is also a virgo and a few dayz older than me…

    :D

    Report this comment

  9. 9
    Anonymous Says:

    Pretty good stuff. Though the licks don’t seem to be terribly hard to play (compared to say, Jason Becker licks), the guy’s articulation and clarity are quite impressive. The NYT article is here:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08.....&_r=2

    Report this comment

  10. 10
    Goldmember Says:

    Woe..FIngers..Woe.. pretty neat stuff!

    Report this comment

  11. 11
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    The same is linked via click here for more..

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  18. 18
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