Anyone born with autism is bound to face huge mental challenges, and overcoming these difficulties would be a major achievement.
Ryan Woodard, a 16-year-old musician, is smashing all preconceptions about the capabilities of people with autism. In a now viral video, the talented autistic teen sings with YouTuber guitaro5000, and shares how music changed his life.
The two met at NAMM convention, an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants, and is described as the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound, and entertainment technology communities.
There, guitaro5000, whose real name is Reginald Guillaume, was asking random people to sing with him.
Guillaume has around 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he uses music to get to know people, give them encouragement and confidence, or simply make them smile.
He plays covers and his original music and likes to approach people on the street to sing with him, crush their fears, and just enjoy their favorite music.
In the video with guitaro5000, the autistic teen sings with such passion, which quickly impressed the YouTuber, particularly when he learned about Woodard’s story.
Woodard was diagnosed at three years old with autism, which limited his verbal expression. He couldn’t talk until he was 10 years old.
Music freed Woodard, and he first learned to communicate by memorizing lyrics to music until they made sense.
He went through all the Beatles albums for a year, and then the Michael Jackson albums for six months, before moving on to other artists.
Now, the autistic teen sings like a natural, and no one would have ever thought that he had early communication and interaction problems.
He said, “What changed my life is music. It made me feel more verbal, and it made me feel more confident.”
At age 9, Woodard learned to play musical instruments and can now play the guitar, piano, harmonica, drums, bass, ukulele, and mandolin. He sings, writes music, and plays at various concerts and events, either solo or with his band, the Ryan Woodard Band.
In the video with guitaro5000, the autistic teen sings “Gravity” from his favorite musician, John Mayer. Without knowing his early childhood history, one would assume that Woodard has been singing his whole life.
When the School of Rock opened in Santa Rosa in 2019, Woodard became one of the first students there and soon led the private music school’s house band, a position he’s held for the past four years. He was even selected as one of their Allstars.
Woodard’s father said, “School of Rock has been one of the most positive influences on Ryan’s life. It’s given him something he can feel confident about. It taught him about leadership, and it has given him a great community with similar interests.”
Woodard made headlines at age 11 when blues musician Buddy Guy invited him on stage during a show at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, California.
The autistic teen sings with such an amazing voice, as well as outstanding guitar skills, that the audience was simply floored by his performance.
At the time, the local news outlet The Press Democrat reported that Woodard’s guitar teacher believed him to be at the college level in music comprehension.
Woodard is currently a junior at Montgomery High School and hopes to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston.
At the NAMM convention, the autistic teen sings with such skill that he did justice to John Mayer’s song, wowing both his host and the passers-by.
When gitar5000 asked what he wanted to do with his life, Woodard answered that he wanted to write and record his own music. Looks like this young talented teen is well on his way to achieving his dreams.
Watch the amazing chance encounter below:
To see more videos of random strangers singing, go HERE. And if you want to learn more about Ryan Woodard go here.
