"He’s playing pretty badly, but he is playing”: Controversy surrounds Corey Feldman’s guitar ‘skills’

You remember Corey Feldman, don’t you? Little kid. Starred in '80s films like The Goonies and Stand By Me.

Well, that little kid is now 53 and in the intervening decades has had what you might diplomatically describe as a ‘chequered’ career. Of late, though, he has been attempting to reinvent himself as a musician, and has recently opened up for Limp Bizkit on the nu-metal band’s Welcome To Loserville tour.

And Corey can certainly play guitar. Or can he? His instrumental skills have been put under the microscope after clips of him went viral.

Some TikTokers have accused him of ‘fake’ playing; of essentially miming all the notes that can be heard in the clip. Indeed, one commenter said: “Every single person who has ever picked up a guitar can tell that he’s not actually playing. Like, at all.” It probably doesn’t help Feldman’s cause that he has a habit of scrunching up his face in a hackneyed ‘guitar hero’ pose while he’s doing his stuff.

However, some more measured voices have defended him. In a new video he posted this week, YouTuber KDH has argued that Feldman absolutely is playing and that the truth is actually more prosaic: Feldman’s shredding just isn’t very good. He’s hitting some of the right notes. But with no consistent accuracy.

“As a guitar player, from looking at the videos of Feldman playing, I can say 100 percent he’s not faking. He’s playing pretty badly, but he is playing,” says KDH, who then promptly demonstrates the ‘technique’ that Feldman has been using.

“For a beginner he’s doing what I did when I was a beginner and I got my first electric guitar,” KDH argues. “I turned the distortion to 10 and I just moved my fingers as fast as I could, hitting some notes and the rest was noise that was hidden by the distortion. I can’t say it was musical, but you know, I can’t say that it wasn’t fun.”

Not surprisingly, Feldman has defended himself vigorously against accusations that he’s faking it. He wrote on Instagram: “I’m laughing so hard, cuz that would imply some gr8 guitarist played it 4 me & I’m (the) air guitarist (sic). The best part is I’m not even that good, hence the guitar hero faces.”

The Welcome To Loserville tour continues through to 24 August.