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Older musicians slowly losing their ability to play is one of the most heartbreaking things to witness. But Bob Wood, a Tennessee guitarist, was still going so ridiculously strong at the age of 80 that a clip of him shredding in a music shop went viral on YouTube, amassing over 10.3 million views to date!
The father of nine arrived at the British Audio Service music store in Nashville, TN, to pick up some amplifiers that he was having repaired. According to the man himself, “When they told me they were ready, I took the guitar to check ‘em out.”https://www.youtube.com/embed/4CAuLeSmcR8
The result was fire. Standing in his pink and blue chequered shirt, playing a classic-style, sunburst Epiphone Riviera, Bob plays with supernatural agility for his age; fingers moving lightning-fast across the frets as he shreds a clean, Latin-inspired riff, while fingerpicking! His sound is stunning, his inspiration lying in the grey haze between blues and tango tunes, shockingly original and captivating.
It was store worker Shane Radtke who ingeniously filmed the moment, giving Bob his viral moment. Shane told Nashville News Channel 5, “I was in the back at my bench and I heard somebody playing something pretty original. And I was like, Wow, that’s really cool. So I said, ‘Guys, let’s shoot a video of this.’”https://www.youtube.com/embed/-CYQmz5rlOA
Bob’s song was “Bésame Mucho,” a track as old as he, written in 1932 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez and regarded as the most covered Spanish tune of all time. Bob’s effortless guitar shop rendition ranks amongst the best versions we’ve ever heard here at The Music Man!
Bob’s fiendish dexterity demonstrates a lifetime of unfailing practice. He first picked up a guitar at 6 years of age and played his first gig at the age of 12 on a live radio show. Despite never making it to the big-time, Wood’s music career was clustered with epic stories and A-list collabs. One friend of the era, James Brown, used to ring Bob up, as Bob explained: “I couldn’t understand a word he said. He’d start rattling off so fast and, man, he’d lose me.”
He even played a couple of sets with the electric guitar pioneer Les Paul, who died in 2009, hilariously reminiscing, “For me to follow Les Paul was like following a bulldozer with a spoon.”
Bob owned his own music store for a short stint between 1981-86, dropping three studio albums along the way. He was a session musician and a salesman of musical equipment, all whilst playing festivals on the side. Bob Wood died peacefully at the age of 88 a couple of days before Halloween 2022, surrounded by family and survived by his nine children.
80 Y/o Grandad Guitarist Shows Off His Shredding Skills In Nashville Guitar ShopOlder musicians slowly losing their ability to play is one of the most heartbreaking things to witness. But Bob Wood, a Tennessee guitarist, was still going so ridiculously strong at the age of 80 that a clip of him shredding in a music shop went viral on YouTube, amassing over 10.3 million views to date!
The father of nine arrived at the British Audio Service music store in Nashville, TN, to pick up some amplifiers that he was having repaired. According to the man himself, “When they told me they were ready, I took the guitar to check ‘em out.”
The result was fire. Standing in his pink and blue chequered shirt, playing a classic-style, sunburst Epiphone Riviera, Bob plays with supernatural agility for his age; fingers moving lightning-fast across the frets as he shreds a clean, Latin-inspired riff, while fingerpicking! His sound is stunning, his inspiration lying in the grey haze between blues and tango tunes, shockingly original and captivating.
It was store worker Shane Radtke who ingeniously filmed the moment, giving Bob his viral moment. Shane told Nashville News Channel 5, “I was in the back at my bench and I heard somebody playing something pretty original. And I was like, Wow, that’s really cool. So I said, ‘Guys, let’s shoot a video of this.’”
Bob’s song was “Bésame Mucho,” a track as old as he, written in 1932 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez and regarded as the most covered Spanish tune of all time. Bob’s effortless guitar shop rendition ranks amongst the best versions we’ve ever heard here at The Music Man!
Bob’s fiendish dexterity demonstrates a lifetime of unfailing practice. He first picked up a guitar at 6 years of age and played his first gig at the age of 12 on a live radio show. Despite never making it to the big-time, Wood’s music career was clustered with epic stories and A-list collabs. One friend of the era, James Brown, used to ring Bob up, as Bob explained: “I couldn’t understand a word he said. He’d start rattling off so fast and, man, he’d lose me.”
He even played a couple of sets with the electric guitar pioneer Les Paul, who died in 2009, hilariously reminiscing, “For me to follow Les Paul was like following a bulldozer with a spoon.”
Bob owned his own music store for a short stint between 1981-86, dropping three studio albums along the way. He was a session musician and a salesman of musical equipment, all whilst playing festivals on the side. Bob Wood died peacefully at the age of 88 a couple of days before Halloween 2022, surrounded by family and survived by his nine children.
