Everyone Is Freaking Out About This 7-Year Old Playing Sweet Child O’ Mine

Her name is Zoe Thomson. When she first hit YouTube, she was 7 years old. And she plays the guitar better than most adults. Now the video of her playing Guns N Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine is resurfacing on YouTube. To date, it's had over 8 million views. And for good reason. The girl is a natural-born rocker.

At first, you're not sure if she's really the one playing. She's pretty spot on. But there are just enough variations in her playing that make it obvious it is, in fact, her. And her guitar prowess even got the seal of approval from the original Sweet Child O' Mine shredder, Slash.

https://twitter.com/Slash/status/324922371528081408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E324922371528081408%7Ctwgr%5Eec99535ff95ddd2f6e0cd292f5aeb9ea58ff3b1a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Floudwire.com%2Fslash-wowed-kid-zoe-thomson-sweet-child-o-mine%2F

Thomson is from Berkshire, England, and has been playing guitar since she was five. Her parents have always encouraged her to follow this passion and have displayed her talent on YouTube since about 2011. She was the lead guitarist in a band called The Mini Band. According to her Facebook page, she's since moved on from that to pursue other things. In one of her last posts on Facebook, Thomson wrote "the end of an era, I have decided to move on from The Mini Band and try new things."

Though her presence on Facebook is pretty non-existent these days, she is still featured on the website girlsuperstars.com. And no doubt she's still playing. She's only gotten better since that first video 12 years ago.

In the video, she's playing 24th Caprice by Paganini. An incredibly difficult piece to play. Which, of course, she does with ease.

On behalf of rocker chicks everywhere, you rock, Zoe.

- Wendy Rush

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It's National Guitar Day! Also referred to as National Get Out Your Guitar Day. Whatever you want to call it, February 11th is the day we pay homage to that beautiful creation of heavenly music, the guitar. Many people believe the guitar originated in 16th century spain. Probably evolved from the lute, the first guitar models had only four strings and a much thinner body than our modern models. The body type of the first guitar was more similar to the viola. Musicians realized over the years that making the body wider and flatter improved the sound quality.

The fifth string was added a century later, and by the 18th century, all six strings were present. Now we have bodies of all shapes and sizes, better tuning options, frets to improve sound, artwork that blows the mind, and the ability to plug in or go acoustic. Guitars have come a long way. But the reasons people bond with them are still as true as they day they first made their appearance.

I've been playing guitar for several years now. I first picked it up in high school when my good friend, Preston, had one and taught me my first chords. The first song I ever learned was Brown-Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. I remember a lot of hard moments in school growing up. Like everyone, there were times that I just locked myself in my room and tried to figure out this thing called life. And I tell you, it was a heck of a lot easier to get through those moments with a guitar in my hand. I currently have four or five guitars, but my favorites are Vicky, my acoustic-electric, and Jo-Jo, my electric guitar.

So here's my list of reasons why everyone should consider learning the guitar...

Science is showing more and more that music has great health benefits. Not only can it lower blood pressure and help you manage stress, but music also improves memory and helps with communication skills. It has also been shown to help with weight loss, boosting immunity, verbal intelligence and improving fine motor skills. Need I go on?

We don't exactly live in a society that promotes talking about your feelings. Girls are dramatic and boys are supposed to be tough, right? Wrong. Not expressing feelings and needs has detrimental effects on mental health and human interaction. Music is a great way to explore how you feel and express it to others, in a way that's often less intimidating than just coming out and saying it. I can't count how many times singing a song helped get me through a tough feeling I was dealing with. Playing guitar opens up that space to sing along and see what was hiding inside and needed to come out. 

It's no secret that humans are social creatures. We thrive on connection. Football games, church activities, parties...we love to connect with each other. And playing music together is a very powerful way to do that.

Look at this woman! She's owning it!

The process of mastering any skill comes with an increase in confidence. Guitar levels you up in that because you also will be more prone to showing off your new skill to others. The positive feedback will make you feel better about yourself and increase your confidence levels. It will probably even get you a date at some point. No...seriously. A study in the UK showed that NINETY percent of people polled said someone who plays the guitar is instantly more attractive. 

While music in general has so many amazing benefits, smaller instruments like the guitar, can go practically anywhere, which lets you take those benefits with you. I've dragged my guitars everywhere. To work, camping, even on a plane! I have a 3/4 Martin guitar, which is small enough to bring on the plane as a carry-on, so you don't even have to stress about it being banged around in the cargo area! Guitars are very versatile when it comes to traveling. Mike O'Brian probably doesn't want to know how many times I've played guitar in the studio!