Schoolboy busker shreds for £70 an hour

Bringing the rock to Brighton Pier

Chris Vinnicombe, Mon 4 Aug 2008, 11:04 am UTC

Shredding: officially better than hanging out on street corners drinking White Lightning

13-year-old Calvin Prior is clearly no ordinary busker, earning an impressive £70 ($138) an hour blazing away on Brighton Pier in his summer holidays.

Currently in a band with his father Richard because there is "nobody his age good enough", Calvin has so far spent £2000 of his earnings on a shiny new PRS Custom 24 electric guitar.

Calvin's next purchase looks set to be similarly rock-tastic: "I wanna get this big new Marshall so I can go out and do some gigging." Not before you've finished your homework, young man.

Calvin's skills have been honed by a six-hour daily practice regime, which is certainly a more wholesome activity than what most teenage boys get up to when locked away in their bedrooms.

To hear Calvin's fleet-fingered reworking of Hendrix, check out this YouTube video of him taking on Voodoo Child (Slight Return). If we're nit-picking, the intro is a bit wayward rhythmically, but the rest is impressive by any standards.

(via BBC News)