Many aspiring guitar players dream of turning their hobby into a career, and for most budding musicians, the vague outline of this dream remains consistent: to travel the world, play at sell-out venues, and make a living as a full-time guitar player.
Alas, for a lot players this dream will remain just that: a dream. But for others, it can become a reality. George Collins – a young guitar player who moved more than 4,000 miles from the UK to Boston to pursue an education in the instrument – is one such player.
A Berklee College of Music alumni who has honed his craft and cut his teeth in one of the most prestigious guitar communities in the world, Collins is already busy compiling an envious credits list, and has wasted no time in picking up gigs with the likes of 2022 American Idol winner Noah Thompson.
With numerous endorsements already from the likes of Eastman, String Joy, Origin FX, Martin and more, Collins first made a name for himself (as so many young players do nowadays) on Instagram, racking up more than 100,000 followers to date that all tune in to listen to his Mayer-style Strat licks, ultra-dynamic soloing, irresistible acoustic fingerstyle arrangements and versatile chops that span the spectrum from neo-soul to all-out pop.
But Collins’ story is a little different to most, not least because of all the lessons aspiring musicians can learn from it, owing to the speed at which he’s been able to grow his online following, amass his network of connections and hit the road with high-profile acts.
Yet until relatively recently, he wasn’t sure whether he even wanted to become a professional guitar player at all.
“When I was at Berklee, I was still on the fence of whether I wanted to do it for a living,” Collins tells Guitar World when asked what inspired him to pursue a career in music. “I didn't even know I wanted to be a player. That came later on.
“But I remember being at school and coming home and playing guitar,” he continues. “I'd have pretty good grades in high school – I was a pretty good student – but I’d get really anxious over homework assignments. I was like, ‘Why didn't I just play guitar?’ I just realized it was the one thing that actually made me tick.”
By the time Collins decided to move to the US to study guitar at Berklee, his passion for music and the instrument was already well established, but it wasn’t a straightforward love affair at first.
Having first picked up the piano accordion and the alto saxophone, Collins then begrudgingly turned to the guitar at the age of nine, which he initially disliked owing to the fact he “didn’t like music as a kid” in general.
Then, following a brief period where the youngster was on the verge of quitting music altogether, he was put in touch with a guitar teacher (named Neil Young, no less) who helped him find his love for music and completely transformed his fortunes – and, by extension, his life.
“I remember our first lesson,” Collins recalls. “He was like, ‘So what music do you listen to?’ And I was like, ‘Honestly, I don't really listen to music.’ And he was like, ‘Well, I'm going to show you some stuff that I think you’re gonna like.’
“He showed me Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan as well. He said, ‘Go back and listen to all this, and tell me what you want to play.’ Then I found this video of Stevie Ray Vaughan playing Scuttle Buttin'. And I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ That's how I then found my love for music.”
Once this newfound love for guitar had been locked in – with the help of John Mayer's music, of course – Collins later turned to Instagram as a creative outlet for his playing, and around 2018 began posting clips of him noodling over original Tom Misch-inspired beats and improvising over his own loops.
It’s been a crucial outlet for Collins – both for networking with other musicians and connecting with the brands that now support him – but much like his relationship with the guitar itself, the social media journey had a relatively casual origin.
“I was just posting videos of me playing Stevie Ray Vaughan covers and all that,” he says nonchalantly. “The videos didn't do too well, until I did a cover of one of these grooves that Mayer played. It was a funky blues in A, and that got me like 5,000 views.”
“It was never really a conscious effort to grow a platform,” Collins continues. “I wasn't really playing out that much as well. By that time, I wasn’t playing with a band. There were no musicians that lived within like a 30-mile radius of my house, so I was just doing that. And then it started to really gain some traction.”
It’s been a huge success. By the time he rocked up to Berklee, Collins had around 50,000 followers to his name. And, not only has Instagram put him in touch with numerous bands and brands, he’s also attracted some highly notable followers, including none other than Justin Bieber. In fact, Collins is one of just over 700 people the chart-smashing pop megastar follows on the platform.
At some point in his early guitar journey – when he was still unsure whether he wanted to be a professional player – the big decision came: Collins, with the encouragement of his teacher, decided to take the plunge and audition for Berklee College of Music – an establishment whose halls have been occupied by the likes of John Mayer, John Scofield, Al Di Meola, Melissa Etheridge and more.
The move involved him relocating more than 4,000 miles from his Northern hometown in the UK to Boston, where he rubbed shoulders with the next generation of musicians, honed his fretboard abilities and even received a lesson from educator extraordinaire Tomo Fujita.
While some (Eric André included) may be quick to play down the importance of a formal music education, Collins is equally quick to gush about his time there, especially because of the people he met and lessons he learned while he was a student.
“Honestly, the ear training and harmony classes we did were the best thing ever,” he recalls when asked about the best lesson he received at Berklee.
“We learntd about analyzing chord progressions in a jazz context, about II-V-Is, all of that stuff. Also hearing and transcribing by ear, which I hated doing at the time, but now it's like riding a bike. As soon as I got the gist of that, hearing a song and transcribing the guitar is so much easier.”
Of course, there are some things you can’t learn in the classroom, which players should be aware of: “Something that I didn't get taught at Berkeley, which I think is a great thing to know… When I started playing live, it's not just about how good you are.
“It's how good of a hang you are, because people are like, ‘Yeah, we had this really good guitar player, but he was just a complete dick, so we didn't hire him again.’”
Now a recent graduate of Berklee, Collins is currently living in Nashville, plying his trade as a guitarist in one of America’s most competitive session scenes. It has been, Collins says, the best move of his life, and he doesn’t see himself returning to the UK any time soon.
As for how he’s managed to navigate the space, Collins says it all started with social media. After coming across a video posted by Nashville-based music collective The Pitch Meeting and exchanging follows, it wasn’t long before the group’s MD reached out to Collins asking him if he wanted to travel from Boston and sign up as a featured artist to play some of his original songs.
The Pitch Meeting encouraged Collins to relocate to Nashville after Berklee, and from there the contact list grew. Indeed, through the Pitch Meeting contacts, Collins was able to get the Noah Thompson gig, which saw him travel with his Eastman Juliet playing to huge audiences.
“Through those gigs, you meet other people. The network just keeps expanding every gig you do,” Collins says when asked about how he’s managed to stay afloat in Nashville. “Through the Noah Thompson gig, I got another through the bassist. With every gig you do, you unlock five new connections. You can’t take the foot off the accelerator. You’ve got to keep going, no brakes.”
It’s like what Pete Townshend was saying. Instagram guitarists do get a pretty bad rap sometimes. I know I struggled with playing real music after playing in my bedroom, where you can have unlimited takes
Now, Collins is at the stage of his career where he’s refocusing his priorities away from social media towards the stage, as he attempts to distinguish himself not as an “Instagram guitarist”, but just a guitarist – one that doesn’t need multiple takes to nail a song, and that can play outside the comfort zone of a bedroom.
“It’s like what Pete Townshend was saying. Instagram guitarists do get a pretty bad rap sometimes about not being the best players, which is kind of true,” Collins comments. “I know I struggled with playing real music after playing in my bedroom, where you can have unlimited takes.
“It’s getting out of that circle of being only an internet guitarist, and that’s why I’m prioritizing [live performances]. I’ve been on gigs where they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re pretty good for an Instagram guitarist,’ and I was like, ‘I’m not one of those!’
“But I can’t complain about that,” he makes sure to assert, “because I’ve had some recognition, and working with guitar companies has been really awesome, and I’d never have been able to do that if I didn’t do Instagram.”
And, let's not forget, he has a certain pop superstar viewing his Instagram stories. Much like how Stormzy snapped up Rabea Massaad through social media, there's every chance Collins' next gig could arrive under similar circumstances.
“That's an instant yes,” Collins says when asked if a hypothetical Bieber session gig would appeal to him. “I would drop everything! That would be a drop everything moment.”
It’s been a whirlwind few years for Collins – we haven’t even discussed how Covid interrupted his Berklee studies, sent him packing back to England and threatened to undo his music career before it got started – but the young player is now firmly back on track as a professional player, spearheading the next generation of session stars.
Any ideas that he might not want to play guitar for a living well and truly eradicated, and Collins has his sights set on a bright future filled with more session gigs and maybe some original releases. It's not been without a few early wobbles, though.
“I remember my first road gig I did here, when I was in this Sprinter van in the middle of nowhere in Missouri,” he reflects. “I was a bit tired and I was like, ‘I wish I was home.’
“And then I thought, ‘15-year-old me will be foaming at the mouth knowing that I was on the road in America.’ So yeah, it's cool. This is what I want to be doing.”
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