Clicks keep coming for Stow high school junior's guitar show: Now You Know Akron podcast

Craig Webb, Akron Beacon Journal
·2 min read
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Stow-Munroe Falls High School junior AJ Garduño has gone viral online after his guitar performance earned him first place at the school's talent show.
Stow-Munroe Falls High School junior AJ Garduño has gone viral online after his guitar performance earned him first place at the school's talent show.

The hits keep coming for a Stow-Munroe Falls High School junior.

It's been two months since 17-year-old AJ Garduño took to the stage for a student talent show and wowed the audience with his self-taught guitar skills.

And the notoriety from his four-minute performance hasn't ebbed yet. It can be viewed at https://bit.ly/3PyqZ3S.

In an interview for the Now You Know Akron podcast, Garduño said a video of the performance posted to YouTube now has more than 368,000 views.

Garduño's now famous guitar medley included riffs from some of his heroes; "Big Sur Moon (Live Version)" by Buckethead; "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne; "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC; "Tequila" by The Champs: "Beat It" by Michael Jackson and "Eruption" by Eddie Van Halen.

Why Sony stands to profit from AJ Garduño's use of 'Tequila'

But it was the inclusion of the fabled song "Tequila" that delighted the crowd, he said, but caught the ear of the copyright police.

Garduño said in the interview that any potential monetary gain from the thousands and thousands of views of the YouTube video are going to Sony.

He does have his own YouTube channel where he is posting new music videos of covers and original works.

Garduño even played a bit during the NYKA podcast.

What's next for AJ Garduño?

As for the future, Garduño said, music will always be a part of his life, but he's still trying to remain grounded and figure out a way to pay the bills once he's out of high school.

"At this point I'd love to go to college to study like audio mechanics and stuff like that," he said. "I'd love to learn how to fix like guitar amps and everything. That'd be a really fun thing to do, because it's what I do at home anyways."

But for now, he is basking in the social media rock star life.

A few invitations to perform have already come in and even one to jam with a band during a concert in Cuyahoga Falls this summer.

"I'm sort of procrastinating a little bit mainly because of school and all that," he said. "But I'd love to perform with them and get the experience of actually playing with a live band.

"That'd be an awesome experience for me."

You can download or subscribe to the Now You Know Akron podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

Craig Webb, who aside from hosting the Now You Know Akron podcast had his dream of being an acoustic guitarist crushed with an ill-fated public performance of John Denver's "Grandma's Feather Bed" in his youth, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Stow high school junior AJ Garduño discusses viral video on podcast