Let’s talk about something that’s been making waves in the guitar community lately – and not in a good way. You’ve probably seen Giacomo Turra on your feed. Funky, smooth lines. Killer tone. That tight, polished production. He blew up during the lockdown era, going from bedroom jams to Spotify playlists and gear endorsements faster than you can say “flatwound strings.”
But here’s the thing: a lot of that viral content wasn’t actually his.
Over the last week, a video by YouTuber Danny Sapko dropped like a bomb. Titled “I Caught This Famous Instagram Musician Stealing Songs,” it takes a hard look at Turra’s catalog and compares some of his most popular posts to solos and arrangements from other guitarists – artists like Jack Gardiner, Alex Hutchings, Tom Quayle, Marco Baldi, and even Jacob Collier and Ben Romano. The comparisons are damning. We’re not talking “inspired by” or “a nod to.” These are near note-for-note copies, and in several cases, they were sold as original transcriptions on his site and Patreon.
Now, as someone who lives and breathes music, and knows how much heart and time go into every bar, every lick, we can’t overstate how gutting this is.
Giacomo Turra and the Controversy Over Stolen Solos
Jack Gardiner, a phenomenal player and improviser who many of us admire, had his solo over Luther Vandross’ Never Too Much copied pretty much exactly. No tag, no credit. Just Giacomo uploading it, racking up hundreds of thousands of views, and deleting any comments that mentioned Jack. Meanwhile, Jack’s original video sits at a fraction of the views. Worse yet, Jack discovered that his entire arrangement, along with those of other musicians, was being sold as if Turra had written them himself.
Jack reached out privately at first, asking for proper credit and a promise to stop selling work that wasn’t his. For a minute, it seemed like things were resolved – until it happened again. Same solo, this time reposted by another page, still with no credit, and Jack’s polite comment got him flooded with hate from Turra’s fans. Imagine reading, “You should be grateful he played your solo, bro” when it was yours in the first place.
Alex Hutchings, another absolute monster on the instrument, had a nearly identical experience. He found one of his solos posted by Turra and initially thought, “Huh, sounds inspired by me.” Then he rewatched his own original clip from years earlier and realized it wasn’t inspiration – it was mimicry. His solo, down to the details. His version had just a few thousand views. Turra’s had over 300,000.
Alex put it beautifully: “My musical DNA has culminated in me being able to improvise in that way. For someone to come along and pretend it’s theirs… that’s the thing that’s difficult.”
This whole thing cuts deep because we’ve all been in the shed, grinding, studying, learning to build our own sound. That’s the beauty of this art form, it’s personal. It’s a language, and every phrase you play is a reflection of who you are, what you’ve practiced, and what you’ve felt. So when someone skips the work, lifts your exact lines, and posts them with a filter and a smile, it’s more than just shady. It’s stealing.
Inspiration is a beautiful thing. We all borrow, learn, and echo what came before us. That’s part of the lineage. But there’s a huge difference between learning from someone and profiting off their work without giving them the time of day.
Turra's Response
After the backlash, Giacomo Turra responded with an apology video. He admitted that maybe the credits weren’t “evident enough” and that he should’ve responded to comments more clearly. He said he only ever released one official songbook, and that most of the covers were his own arrangements – though he did acknowledge using a Travis Dykes bass arrangement in one of them.
The thing is, if this were a one-time thing or a misunderstanding, maybe we could chalk it up to inexperience or poor communication. But it’s been a pattern. And it’s hard to ignore the impact it’s had, not just on big names, but on smaller, lesser-known musicians whose work may have been buried in the process.
Following Sapko’s exposé, Andertons took down their video with Giacomo Turra. Laney and D’Angelico removed his artist pages from their websites. It’s clear that this isn’t just online drama – this has real consequences.
Still, Jack and Alex both expressed something important: they’re not out for blood. They just want honesty. They want credit where it’s due. And they hope Turra can learn from this, go back to the music, and find his own voice the right way.
Jack put it best: “Rebuild and keep playing music. Build your own vocabulary, but do it the right way. Don’t steal a living off someone else’s hard work.”
To all the up-and-coming musicians reading this: let this be a reminder. Chops will get you followers, but integrity builds a career. It’s easy to be tempted by the fast track, but what we’re all really chasing is something real. Something ours.
Let’s keep it that way.
