“The game shaped my experimental approach to guitar. On really tricky levels, I’d put the controller in my lap and hammer the buttons super-fast”: Yasmin Williams on how Guitar Hero inspired her lap-tapping acoustic technique

Yasmin Williams performs during day two of the 2021 Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park on July 24, 2021 in Newport, Rhode Island. .

For neo-folk fingerstyle and lap-tapping guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and film composer Yasmin Williams, 2021 was a big turning point.

It was the year the inventive guitarist reached more than 700,000 people via NPR's now-iconic Tiny Desk Concert series, released her breakthrough album Urban Driftwood, and performed a game-changing set at the Newport Folk Festival. Since then, her career has taken flight – a trajectory Williams credits to Guitar Hero.