Gamer Nails Through The Fire And The Flames On Guitar Hero At Record Speed

A gamer has demonstrated dizzying dexterity to set a new speed record on Guitar Hero. William Fox smashed DragonForce classic 'Through the Fire and the Flames', widely considered the toughest song on the game, without any errors at 165 percent speed - 15 percent quicker than the previous record.

But as the professional Twitch streamer's handle 'GHAddict' suggests, he was only able to achieve this world first with a hell of a lot of practice.

The 22-year-old first started playing Guitar Hero II when he was only eight years old and pursued his goal of becoming one of the very best, practising for five hours a day.

William, from London, has spent the past two months attempting to beat the record, finally achieving his goal at around 10pm on Tuesday night (28 April) as his followers watched on.

Twitch/GHAddict

Speaking to LADbible, he said: "Truthfully, whilst there were definitely some physical nerves towards the end, I wasn't too worried. My mindset is that either I complete what I'm going for or that I get to spend more time on the journey with my friends.

"Of course missing towards the end is upsetting, I did it twice before I got it after all, but at the end of the day it's a video game and I'm just trying to put a smile on people's faces."

While it is quite clearly a staggering feat, a common riposte is that all the time spent practising could be put to better use learning how to play a proper guitar.

However, such snide jibes are embarrassingly misdirected in William's case, as he does play guitar - for the band Thousand Thoughts no less.

William Fox

He said: "If I had a dollar for every time that someone said 'imagine if he played real guitar instead of wasting his time', I wouldn't need to play real guitar. Of course you'll never be able to please everyone, but at the end of the day I'm lucky enough to be doing what I love so none of that really matters.

"I'd definitely say that Guitar Hero has helped me in terms of dexterity and timing. Unfortunately it won't teach you music theory though.

"I'd definitely say I'm better at Guitar Hero, although it's a little hard to quantify given 'Through the Fire and the Flames' at 165 percent speed is physically impossible on a real guitar - either way, I love them both and I will continue to strive to be better."

Topics: Viral, Awesome, Music, record, Community

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey