Shun Ng

Shun Ng embraced acoustic fingerpicking as a teenager after a friend challenged him to tackle Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” on solo guitar, including the bass lines. “For subtlety and tone, it just somehow made sense,” says the Singapore-bred Ng, who had first gravitated to playing electric blues guitar.

Last month, Ng earned an audience with Quincy Jones, producer of “Billie Jean” as well as other classic tracks for Jackson and other greats. A Singapore jazz pianist sent Jones the video for Ng’s new “Get on With It,” and the famed producer invited the guitarist/singer to his home for a chat and performance. Ng played originals rather than “Billie Jean” and reports that Jones was duly impressed and remains in the loop.

“It’s like a fairy tale because I had just moved to America in hopes of pursuing my music,” says Ng, who completed one semester as a student at Berklee College of Music. “Nobody has his sort of instinct toward music and what sounds good, and he breaks boundaries ’cause he was a jazz guy, but he also did pop stuff and hip-hop.”

Ng says he likewise shuns categories and moved from his early love for Jackson and James Brown to guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy to classical composers Bach and Debussy. But dyslexia hampered formal schooling. “I was struggling,” he says. “When I found music, I poured my entire soul into it. I felt like my soul had been kept in a dark, dark place. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t comprehend the world.”

Now his world’s opening up, echoing the brisk snap of his virtuoso fingerplay (described in the name of his 2012 debut, Funky Thumb Stuff) on a custom guitar of Malaysian rainforest wood. He vows to further develop his singing and songwriting on his upcoming second album, though he’s already shown insight in songs like empowerment anthem “Slam!” and “Angel,” inspired by a friend’s cancer-stricken mother.

“Sometimes you just listen to a song, and it makes you feel like a child again,” Ng says. “When I play, I want to make people feel like they’re listening to music, or listening to the guitar, for the first time.” - Improper Bostonian

Shun Ng embraced acoustic fingerpicking as a teenager after a friend challenged him to tackle Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” on solo guitar, including the bass lines. “For subtlety and tone, it just somehow made sense,” says the Singapore-bred Ng, who had first gravitated to playing electric blues guitar.

Last month, Ng earned an audience with Quincy Jones, producer of “Billie Jean” as well as other classic tracks for Jackson and other greats. A Singapore jazz pianist sent Jones the video for Ng’s new “Get on With It,” and the famed producer invited the guitarist/singer to his home for a chat and performance. Ng played originals rather than “Billie Jean” and reports that Jones was duly impressed and remains in the loop.

“It’s like a fairy tale because I had just moved to America in hopes of pursuing my music,” says Ng, who completed one semester as a student at Berklee College of Music. “Nobody has his sort of instinct toward music and what sounds good, and he breaks boundaries ’cause he was a jazz guy, but he also did pop stuff and hip-hop.”

Ng says he likewise shuns categories and moved from his early love for Jackson and James Brown to guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy to classical composers Bach and Debussy. But dyslexia hampered formal schooling. “I was struggling,” he says. “When I found music, I poured my entire soul into it. I felt like my soul had been kept in a dark, dark place. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t comprehend the world.”

Now his world’s opening up, echoing the brisk snap of his virtuoso fingerplay (described in the name of his 2012 debut, Funky Thumb Stuff) on a custom guitar of Malaysian rainforest wood. He vows to further develop his singing and songwriting on his upcoming second album, though he’s already shown insight in songs like empowerment anthem “Slam!” and “Angel,” inspired by a friend’s cancer-stricken mother.

“Sometimes you just listen to a song, and it makes you feel like a child again,” Ng says. “When I play, I want to make people feel like they’re listening to music, or listening to the guitar, for the first time.” - Improper Bostonian