Mumbai: The YouTube video of 22-year-old Max Godman’s cover of Jon Gomm’s Passionflower, at first, looks like just another attempt by a wiry kid showing off his guitar skills on the Internet. But when you see the way his hands are positioned, and when he gets on with the song, you’re in for a real surprise!
Meet the young musician Manan Gupta, who goes by his stage name Max Godman. Hailing from Meerut, the artiste has been quite a sensation on his YouTube channel, showing off his amazing talent as a percussive guitarist. Better known as ‘percussive picking’, it is a style of playing the guitar that involves picking the strings as well as hitting them, as well as the guitar top with the hand for percussive effect.
When Max says that he took up the guitar only three years back, it’s almost hard to believe, given the ease with which he plays the instrument.
“That’s because I used to practice almost 10-15 hours every single day. It was the video of guitarist Andy Mckee’s song Drifting, in which he was plays the bass, rhythm and a beautiful melody all at the same time, that influenced me on how I wanted to shape my music.” He cites the names of great guitarists such Preston Reed, Kaki King, Tommy Emmanuel, John Mayer, Jon Gomm, Sungha Jung and Mike Dawes as some of many who influenced him to further better his talent.
The young guitarist is so serious about his music, that he didn’t think twice before skipping college just to pursue a career in it. “I did plan to pursue a course in animation, but when I realised that I could make a living by making music, I dropped the idea. Not having a degree doesn’t scare me, but as an independent musician, the thought of not getting any projects to work on for months together does scare me at times.”
Currently based in Mumbai, Max works as a composer for TV ads (Reliance Bigflix, Zapak, Dabur and Godrej, to name a few), film scores and show montages. At present, he’s focusing on writing new material for his debut album, which he hopes to release by the end of this year.
As a young musician himself, his words of wisdom for the newcomers in the field are, “A budding artiste always needs to come up with something fresh and unique, which makes him stand out from the others. And make the most of YouTube. It has given me a lot of visibility and popularity.”
So how popular have his guitar playing skills made him among the ladies? “It hasn’t much,” he says frankly. But given his talent, it
seems like only a matter of time!
