A few months ago, 9-year-old Maya Neelakantan graced us with her guitar cover of Tool's Fear Inoculum track "7empest," which went viral. Her rendition was so impressive that Adam Jones himself has gifted her a signed Gibson Signature 1979 Les Paul Custom guitar as a token of his admiration.
Neelakantan's father took to the Tool Reddit page to share the news, stating that it was the best moment of his daughter's life.
"None of us can believe Adam Jones did this. What a kind hearted, caring and a generous man he is! Tool already changed our life so much but now this made us respect and adore them even more," he wrote in the post.
"Ever since [Maya] started listening to Tool, her love and passion for guitar increased astronomically! It shows in all of her videos. That's all because of Adam Jones," her father continued. "She started analyzing his music so much, started learning how to use the effects like him, seeing how Adam makes simple sequence of notes sound so beautiful just the way he plays him, how his playing makes Maya transcend to a journey, Adam is the biggest inspiration for her!"
The youngster's family took a video of her reaction when she received and opened the gift to commemorate the moment, which was an emotional one for all of them.
The person who filmed the video brought the Gibson box into Neelakantan's room, and she immediately recognized that it was Jones' signature model sitting inside the case when she opened it. She didn't realize at first that he had signed it himself, but she grew even more excited once she saw it on the back of the headstock.
"He actually messaged me a while ago saying that he does have a gift for me, but I never expected it to be something like this," she said, embracing the instrument. "Thank you so much, Adam Jones. This is really the biggest moment of my life!"
She then proceeded to play the guitar to show viewers how it sounds. Check out the full video, the Reddit post — which includes photos of the guitar — and her cover of "7empest," below.
Adam Jones Gifts Guitar to Viral Tool Cover Kid, See Her Reaction
Maya Neelakantan - '7empest' (Tool Cover)
