Helen Ibe advances to semifinals of the Martin No Limits Challenge
Ibe's none-more-funky acoustic take on David Bowie's Fame beat out Ruben Wan's impressive interpretation of Destiny's Child's Say My Name
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This week, Martin – in partnership with Guitar World – kicked off the first round of its No Limits Challenge competition.
The first quarterfinal round of the competition – which sees eight guitarists face off against one another, covering tunes you wouldn't normally associate with an acoustic using a Martin SC model – saw Ruben Wan and Helen Ibe take on a pair of funk/R&B classics.
Wan put an acoustic spin on Destiny's Child's Say My Name, while Ibe took a swing at David Bowie's Fame.
We asked Guitar World's readers – with the help of GW's editors – to weigh in, and vote for their favorite of the two covers. Both were fantastic, but in the end, Helen Ibe's ultra-funky take on Fame won the day, and advanced her to the semifinal round.
Each round of the competition revolves around two guitarists covering classics of a certain genre. The other three quarterfinals are '80s rock, '90s rock and classic rock-themed, respectively. There will be two genre-based face-offs in the semifinals, and the winners of those, of course, will advance to the finals.
Be sure to check back on Monday to watch the next quarterfinal match-up, which will see RJ Ronquillo and Colin Scott tackle a pair of classic rock standards.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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