Arteconciencias: Watch a 16-year-old Jason Becker blow the roof off his high school talent show

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September 26, 2022

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Editor's Note

Ready for primetime at 16

By the time he was barely 18, Jason Becker was already living out the dream – wowing crowds around the world in the guitar duo Cacophony with his six-string brother-in-arms, Marty Friedman.

You don't see teenage guitarists tearing it up on the world stage every day, but as this video – featuring Becker blowing the doors off of his high school talent show with an astonishing rendition of Yngwie Malmsteen's Black Star – shows, Jason Becker was by no means an ordinary guitar player.

Though Becker's onstage career was cut tragically short when he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) when barely out of his teens, he – despite being given less than five years to live at the time, and being robbed by ALS of the ability to play guitar, walk, talk, and breathe on his own – continues to compose and release music more than 30 years later, communicating with his eyes via a system developed by his father.

In the talent show video, shot when Becker was 16, he impresses the small crowd with stadium-ready poses, whammy bar squeals, and jaw-loosening tapping sequences. His performance seems almost comically out of place, like Eddie Van Halen showing up and plugging in at your local dive bar. It's a visceral reminder of his incredible talent.

Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor, guitarworld.com

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Watch a 16-year-old Jason Becker blow the roof off his high school talent show with a flawless cover of Yngwie Malmsteen's Black Star

(Christine Ayres/YouTube)

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