Does Giacomo Turra deserve a second chance?

The guitarist was caught red-handed stealing other guitarists’ content and passing it off as his own – now Giacomo Turra is angling for a comeback

Italian guitarist Giacomo Turra broke the internet for all the wrong reasons earlier this year when his social media empire, which includes over 700,000 Instagram followers, disintegrated.   

His reels were generating crazy numbers of views, and his creativity was impressing many. He worked with D’Angelico and Fender, even winning over YouTube legend Rick Beato, who invited him onto the channel for an interview – not an honour bestowed to any old Tom, Dick or Harry.

Then his actions caught up with him. In April, a score of internet shredders spoke out against him, with Danny Sapko's video, entitled ‘I caught this famous Instagram musician STEALING songs’, particularly damning. More and more victims came out the woodwork. His entire foundation was a sham. He was found out. End of story?   

Well, like a super villain in a far too predictable movie, just when you thought he was dead and buried, Turra is clawing out of his grave, and is angling for a comeback. He’s back posting – this time it seems to be clear cover songs, which at least brings a little honesty to his previously mischievous (some would say underhand) shtick – but does he deserve a second chance?

A second coming?

Granted, the Italian has only posted twice since shit hit the proverbial fan – but the last, with the caption “how do you like me now?” makes it clear he wants to dust off his guitars and get back in the groove. He didn't even use correct punctuation. Can he do anything right?!

Turra's video addressing the scandal has since been deleted, and in the video, he was hardly apologetic. So, is he trying to wipe it under the carpet and pretend it never happened?  

“I had him on because he presents himself as a great player,” Rick Beato had said in a video with a now tragically iconic thumbnail. “When Giacomo came in here, I realised he couldn't play well enough to put the video out.”

Then the stealing scandal came to light, compounding him as a faker. He isn’t the world’s worst guitarist, sure, but there was a huge amount of inauthenticity – of lying to his audience – in his content. The gig was up. But it seems he doesn’t want it to be.

The case against a return

In a series of passionately written Instagram story posts, put out last week, Intervals’ mastermind Aaron Marshall, one of countless guitarists with bucketloads of talent, creativity, and hard work – a triumvirate every player needs to be successful – laid out his reasons why we shouldn’t forgive and forget here.  And he makes some powerful points.

“Look, I am not a proponent of ‘cancel culture’ but there is no redemption arch that should allow for the collective conscience of the community to forgive the blatant theft of intellectual property from honest, hardworking artists in this space,” he begins. “This is a dangerous precedent to set in not only a world full of wolves in sheep's clothing, but also the advent of Suno, and other Al nonsense.

“There are already enough bad actors in the guitar community who play fast and loose with the truth in your feed every day. Do not allow this behaviour to proliferate. The self-esteem and mental health of an entire generation of young guitarists hangs in the balance. That is not hyperbole.”

Some might hatred should be pointed at the game, not the player. The industry is, and the sheer, brutal, warp speed pace and vanity-driven social media world – which is, in a world of streaming and touring challenges – a musician’s most viable route for turning a hobby into a career, is ultra-competitive. That means you will get players who cheat the system to get ahead of the curve, to get more clicks than the rest.

Disingenuous posts are everywhere, but generally speaking, the rest of the guitar community is pretty wise to them. Most can tell the difference between a mimed playthrough for the sake of a good-looking video, playing a part they genuinely wrote and recorded without tricky edits, and what is stretching beyond the realms of realism. The game almost forces the players to cheat, I get that, but cheaters don’t survive long in the wild. Find yourself in front of genuine talents like Rich Beato, and you’ll be found out.    

“I have been concerned about this for years now, and the silver lining is, this fool finally gave me a reason to put this crap on blast,” Marshall continues. “He's not alone either. I was happy to see all of his ‘endorsements’ do the right thing [and ditch him], but it blows my mind that things like signature products and the like ever existed in the first place.”

A failed redemption arc

Moreover, when Giacomo was caught, he didn’t exactly handle matters well. His apology was hugely insincere, it read like deflection, rather than admission. He was scrambling to save a career that was at that point on life support.

He didn’t just steal licks from people and pass them off as his own, either, or make him look a far better guitarist than he was. That’s why Marshall feels that allowing him a space to continue his ways is “dangerous.”

“As I'm seeing some comments about redemption, [I ask you to] please, watch the videos and do the homework,” he urges. “Giacomo was asked numerous times over the course of many years, by the very people he was STEALING from, to stop. He wasn't 'covering' songs the way his horrendous 'apology' video (since taken down) stated.

“Is covering music where you don't credit the artist and then sell transcriptions of their music on your website?! No, I didn't think so.”

“All of the guys (of whom I call friends) have showed this punk more than a lifetime of mercy.More than anyone should be allowed for his actions. He also stole instruments on loan from luthiers and sold them.”

Authenticity

Again, I understand that the pressures of the social media hustle took Turra down some morally questionable routes, but letting him return like he never wronged a huge portion of honest, hard-working musicians seems strange. Especially when there’s clear arrogance to him still, and that his apology was nothing more than an attempt to cover his tracks and save face.

There’s an old saying that tells us that nice guys finish last. I get that. But, Turra and other internet fakers who are, ultimately, giving this generation of social media savvy players a bad name are proving otherwise. Authenticity is what gets you to the top. People can see what is genuine, what is honest, and what is a poser vying for stardom, their talents don’t rightly warrant. Don’t get lost in the quest for likes and recognition.

Remind yourself why you picked up a guitar in the first place, and focus on what makes you happy. If you’re genuine, and have something people naturally engage with, the rest will figure itself out. Or not. But it’s better to fail an honest man, than succeed a fake.  

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