An instructor from Prart Music School is this year's Worldwide Guitar Idol

His students and pals have long known that the guy they call Jack is a gifted musician, but now the world knows it too. Thammarat Duangsiri, aka Jack, a rock guitar instructor at Prart Music School, a columnist for guitar magazine Overdrive, as well as producer, composer, arranger and studio musician, has just walked off with the title Worldwide Guitar Idol 2009.

"I was confident I could win as I was very well prepared for this second guitar contest," says the 30-year-old musician during a party on Sunday night at Overtone on RCA to celebrate his victory.

Jack was among the 120 victorious qualifiers out of a total of 1,000 guitarists who uploaded video clips of their guitar performances to YouTube and sent them to GuitarIdol.tv. In the final online round of 12 contestants, Jack was one of the eight guitarists chosen by the judges but just missed out of being in the Top 4 from the public vote. He was crowned Guitar Idol 2009 after playing live in front of thousands of guitar fans at the London International Music Show in the UK on June 13.

Stage fright

"I achieved my championship victory thanks to my newly written song and stage experience," he says. "During the final, a competitor was so frozen by stage fright, he just couldn't move while he was playing. We had no time to do any soundchecks before performing though we were allowed a one-hour rehearsal with a backup band the day before."

Jack's instrumental, titled "On the Way", is a rock number with Thai hints, a pentatonic scale and an easy-listening melody.

"Prior to the contest, I looked at the video of last year's contest to find out why the Brazilian guitarist won. I figured it was down to his striking stage performance and a song that communicated with the audience and judges, more than his guitar technique," he says.

Jack's prizes include two guitars - a Paul Reed Smith and a Mayones Regius 7 - plus a full stack of Marshall JVM410H amps and speakers.

"The award has also made me better known, both local and internationally," he smiles. "But I hope I'm more than just a guitar hero."

 INTERNET STAR

>> Listen to Jack's riffs at www.MySpace.com/JackThammarat and www.YouTube.com/|User/JackThammarat.

 >> For more about the competition, go to www.Guitar|Idol.tv.