SBL Talks Giacomo Turra

[Dr. Cheese]

Got a chance to listen to the podcast. I guess what they are trying to say is

- stealing is not okay
- heavy editing is...
-- okay, when it is about the song and not about the performance
-- not okay, when it is about the performance and not about the song.

I can agree with that, and especially in this case. The whole point of this guy's channel seemed to be: "Look at what an amazing player I am!!!" Moral considerations aside, I kind of feel for the guy. What a sad existence, what a shallow character.

I feel for Turra too. As Scott and Ian said, Turra should have put that effort into actually getting better. That said, he might have a great future editing video!

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Nah, I can’t feel for a person who clearly doesn’t have a conscious and is fine with doing the wrong thing to get ahead. Ethics and integrity matter.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

The last band I was in, back in the Eighties, we played Chaka Khan that started with a really fast synthesizer line. The keyboardist could not play it, so played it at a comfortable rate and recorded on the synth’s sequencer and then speed it up to the desired speed. He played other keyboard parts while that intro was automated. It did bother me because the song sounded good live.

I meant to say it did NOT bother me because we sounded good live.

 

[five7]

Stealing riffs is not something new, this guy took it to a new level. I remember a famous guitarist that invited my friend to his hotel and hid a tape recorder so he could record him. This was in the 80's.

 

[HolmeBass]

Rick dodges the topic altogether. He spends the whole time talking about "miming" and why it's ok. Everybody in the comments is like "We don't care about miming, what about stealing songs?", to which Rick replied "Oh, go watch Danny's video about that." He makes a very half-hearted criticism about how it's not cool to steal music, but buries it in between rants about miming being ok.

In his closing it felt like he was trying to make excuses for Giacomo, saying that there's a lot of pressure on people to be perfect and that may have been what drove him to it. Then he goes off the rails again talking about how miming isn't that big of a deal.

He very clearly didn't want to talk about it at all, he was pressured by his viewers to say something.

You should re-watch. Rick says more than once that he had Giacomo in to do a video, but he couldn’t release it because he was not good enough, he couldn’t really play.

That’s pretty damning.

 

[crobasster]

Well, it's a new era of musicians, instagram gig, like monetizing etc. In a one word, many fakes out there !

 

[bassicmike]

Adam Neely made a pretty interesting video about this. Not just specifically about Turra, but the phenomenon of faked performances in general, and what is considered permissible in different subcultures.

This video is a good watch.

 

[bassicmike]

Sapko did a follow-up video as well that's worth a watch. The whole thing is fascinating and hilarious.

The vids of Turra actually playing at NAMM are cringe-worthy. He's pretty pedestrian.

 

[tb-player]

Is it just me or does Giacomo Turra kind of look like Paul Rudd? I’ve thought that every time I watched one of his videos.

 

[bass.slinger]

I have also been watching this with interest and talking to my wife (not a musician) to get her take. I appreciate the viewpoints of Danny, SBL, Adam, and Janek / Chelsea. I had never heard of Giacomo before and seldom watch Instagram for music stuff.

With today’s technology, it really does boil down to do you trust the content creator when they claim they can play (as discussed by SBL)? Short of seeing them live, how do you know?

The other thing that jumped out to both of us is the numerous artists that “collaborated” with him - how could Charles Berthoud not realize the guy sucked and yet still chose to release content with him? Looks to me that these content creators overlooked his lack of talent (which should have raised lots of red flags) to gain access to more followers…and then act outraged after the fact. I understand the business aspect of gaining new followers and increasing your visibility - don’t act outraged after the fact if you made that choice.

 

[bass.slinger]

Miming is a whole other discussion with lots of nuance - ok to do for superbowl / parades if you can actually play? Not ok for concerts (which is my opinion) - is the concert about the sound or the show? If the show is the focus, then how else can a singer perform good vocals while running around and dancing (again, not my thing)? David Gilmore claims that Roger Waters mimed his Wall Tour shows - which I went to and really enjoyed.

 

[J Wilson]

As always, either you can play . . . or you can't.

 

[Gopherbassist]

I've been avoiding all these videos because I've never heard of this guy and could not give a poopie.

 

[CletusMarley]

I had no idea any of this was happening. lol

 

[SharpCat]

I had no idea any of this was happening. lol

You were lucky.

 

[CletusMarley]

You were lucky.

I took a break from the internet for a year or so. lol

 

[darev]

I took a break from the internet for a year or so. lol

And now you are the happiest & most well-balanced person in the room

Smart