Music magazines weren’t so kind to electric guitars over the past decade. Sales were down and it seemed like the guitar market would never recover. Even Eric Clapton thought that “maybe the guitar is over” at one point.
However, that’s far from the truth.
Guitar sales are fine. They’ve actually been on the rise in the last few years.
Industry demographics have changed drastically. More and more young people are buying and playing guitars. As Andy Mooney, the CEO of Fender notes, around 45% of all guitar sales now go to first-time players.
Children as young as 5 are now actively playing guitars.
Thanks to YouTube, we can now finally see all of these youngsters playing. And that’s why we are here today — to look at the kids with extraordinary guitar talent.
1. Konstantina Andritsou
Konstantina may be the youngest guitarist on our list but she’s not the least experienced. The 9-year-old Bulgarian prodigy has displayed a talent for guitar before she learned her ABC’s and at this point, she’s spent a third of her life playing.
At the age of 7, Konstantina made her debut in Athens. Even before the concert, she was well-known thanks to YouTube. In Athens, she performed Caparicio Harabe, by the classical Spanish guitarist and composer, Francisco Tárrega.
2. Liu Pinxi
Pinxi Liu, or as most people know her online moniker, YOYO, began her music career five years ago when she was only 9 years old. In 2015, she was invited by the JAYO company to play at the Shanghai Musical Instruments Exhibition.
She hasn’t stopped playing shows ever since. In 2016, she was invited by Guitar China to play at the annual Guitar Spring Evening. She is extremely popular online. As of 2020, her YouTube channel has almost 50k subscribers and three of her videos passed the 1 million views mark.
3. Hunter Hallberg
Hunter was born in 2004 in the progressive guitarist capital of the world, Denver. At the tender age of 13, he recorded his first EP titled “Future of the Past.” The very next year, Hunter won the Music Radar’s prestigious Young Guitarist of the Year award.
Two years after the award, Hunter is back in the lab, working on his debut album. The yet-untitled album is set to be released later this year. When he’s not working on his playing skills, he’s probably producing content for YouTube or Instagram.
Meet The Roadie Coach, The Personal Music Tutor
If you want to have the perfect aid for your guitar learning journey, check out Roadie Coach. This fantastic tool can track your progress in several ways and help you get better on the guitar. It features a high-quality recorder where you can record yourself for immediate feedback. Additionally, Coach also comes with a library of songs that you can add to your repertoire later.
4. Taj Farrant
We’ve finally come to the most famous guitarist on our list. Even though Taj has only recently entered the second decade of his life, he has more experience than your average player. He’s performed on The Ellen Show, Australia’s Got Talent and The Today Show in Australia.
More amazingly, the 10-year-old prodigy is now an officially signed artist. He is the first artist Universal Recordings signed this decade. Scott Dorsey, the executive who discovered Taj is helping him work on his first release.
Honorable Mention: Grace VanderWaal
Who’s Your Favorite?
Those are our picks for Kids With Extraordinary Guitar Talent. How do you like our picks? Have you ever listened to anyone of them? Do you think we missed out on some of your favorite young guitarists? Feel free to share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment in the comment section below.
