Watch A 9-Year-Old Girl Completely Shred Tool's '7empest' On Guitar
By Katrina Nattress
June 12, 2022
Maya Neelakantan just turned 9, and for her birthday she was gifted a brand new Gibson Les Paul guitar. Now she's showing it off with a jaw-dropping cover of TOOL's 15-minute-long Fear Inoculum track, "7empest."
“The song I’m going to play is very special. It’s called ‘7empest’ by TOOL," the young girl explained before she started to shred. "Why this song’s very special is because this is my most favorite song; this is the hardest song I’ve ever play; and, this is the first song I’m playing with my new guitar, so I’ve been just very excited to show it to you.”
She also detailed how hard the song is (and how much she loves TOOL guitarist Adam Jones) in the video's YouTube description, writing: "Hi Everyone! I am sorry I haven't been doing guitar covers for awhile because I have been trying to perfect this song and get this song to the absolute best so I can play it fluently. This is a really long and hard song and its my favourite of all Tool songs. It was an incredible journey for me when learning the entire 16 minutes of mind blowing melodies and solos! I feel Adam Jones, my favourite guitarist, really shines throughout the song. I hope you all enjoy it!"
We're going to need Maya to start a band with our other favorite musical prodigy Nandi Bushell ASAP! Watch her cover above.