Homeskoolin’ Contest Results – XTS String Bending Contest – Tom Bukovac

Here are the videos from Uncle Larry’s recent string bending contest….and the winner is…..

MILK Aka(Drew)!!

“The winner, Milk/Drew, man, blew me away. It’s just one of the most sick twisted things I’ve ever seen. This bendy thing he’s got going on. Milk, you’re a sick man, sick chords. I even sent it to a few friends of mine, and said, look how sick this guy is. Amazing! You’re the winner Milk!” – Tom Bukovac

“Hell yes! Ok, pretty tough to beat that! You know where that takes me? I’m in a 1974 Dodge Dart driving down the highway in the desert, with a real shitty radio, like the guy in Duel, remember Dennis Weaver? I’m looking for a truck stop because I’m gettin’ hungry, that’s where I’m at in my mind when I hear that. Amazing!!” – Tom Bukovac

“OK, here are some other guys that were great!”

Congrats to the
18 Honorable mentions

(in no particular order)(quotes are from Tom’s contest video from Uncle Larry himself):

Andy Casile

“Quite Nice!” – Tom Bukovac

Tanner Pirovolidis

(new assigned rock name “Reek Havoc”)

“You need a rock name bro! Reek Hovoc!” – Tom Bukovac

Dustin Hofsess

“Nice Playing!” – Tom Bukovac

Slim Tannberg

“He won it on tone alone. Nasty tone comin’ out of the Les Paul Jr. Beautiful tone!” – Tom Bukovac

Michael Aadal

“He’s a well known Youtuber, fantastic guitar player!” – Tom Bukovac

Daniel Newell

“I can feel what’s he’s doing..he goes off. He reminds me of me after 5 or 6 Yuenglings, gets way up in there, orbiting on these bends.” – Tom Bukovac

Jake Van Noy


“Man, sexy ass bends, very tasty stuff man. You can tell he was feelin’ it man when he plays” – Tom Bukovac


Stephen Cameron

“Very nice stuff man!” – Tom Bukovac

Thomas Mireles

“I particularly love this young cat! Man, beautiful stuff he’s playing…” – Tom Bukovac

Zak Hobbs

“Beautiful playing!” – Tom Bukovac

Zach Haney

“Young fellow, got some southern rock in him..Rockin’ quite nice” – Tom Bukovac

Trent Waterman

“Trent wins the award for the perfect copy of the 4 minute bender video! I don’t know how in the hell he remembered it! Played the entire thing note for note…how do you do that? Amazing!! ” – Tom Bukovac

Paul Chronopoulos

“Nice Greek name I suppose. I emailed him and said, you feel and hear melody the way I hear it! I can tell! It’s my contest, so of course, I’m going to like those guys!”

Shane Tiller

“Playing an old Gretsch Elliot Easton doing some nice bends man!” – Tom Bukovac

Paul Cook

“Longtime Youtuber…who barely got his submission sent in in time. I used to see Paul’s videos years ago and I can tell he’s getting even better. Hopefully, we’re all growing musicians. We don’t want to plateau like my chess game. Paul has some nice stuff cookin’ It’s that 1% that makes shit special…get it to the one yard line, it’s what happens between that and the goal line that makes the difference!” – Tom Bukovac

Alex Farran

“Beautiful playing and nicely decorated house, you want to come over and fix up my bachelor pad? Style man, style is everything!” – Tom Bukovac

Bart Dietvorst


(new assigned rock name, simply “Billy Blow”)

“You need a rock name too bro! Let’s see…how about Billy Blow?” – Tom Bukovac

Teemu Viinikainen
(new assigned rock name “John Dust”)

“Amazing shit bro! Great playing, great touch..bending on a hollow body. Gettin’ all nutty! You’re new rock ‘n’ roll name is John Dust” – Tom Bukovac

32 thoughts on “Homeskoolin’ Contest Results – XTS String Bending Contest – Tom Bukovac”

  1. Thanks for sharing the winner and honorable mentions with us via this page. Outstanding job. Congrats to all who entered and especially to those who won and got mentions. Outstanding job by everyone involved. Cheers

  4. I’m so thankful for this page! Coming back from a gig and chillin’ with a glass of wine before I can go to sleep, this is as good as it gets for me! Thank you!

    • Thanks Chris! Yeah, I like to sit back after gigs as well with a glass or two of vino before hitting the sack. Hope your gig went well my friend.

  5. Thank you for stringing this highlight reel together…I had picked several of these entries as my faves, and I even chided Paul Cook about the lateness of his entry earlier in the day, to which he responded, ” Late as Usual😆”, just a few hours before he was revealed by Uncle Larry to be an honorable mention…a good time was had by all…THANKS UNCLE LARRY!

  10. This was a way cool Tom Bukovac “rabbit hole” of guitar joy! Thanks for putting together all the clips. Makes me happy to see all you other “lifers” out there just playing for the sheer joy!

    • Thanks Tom, yeah, when I discovered Tom during the pandemic, the videos brought so much joy to a terrible time. It’s been so great to follow Tom’s guitar shenanigans as a session man and hired gun. I’ve played for years and really enjoy playing around Austin. I play with a variety of artists including singer songwriters, blues, and rock and it does bring me sheer joy.

  14. Thanks for this! You’re Awesome! Not sure how this guy”Michael Aadal” Made the list or even the entry into this contest as he never “ever” bent a single string in a “String Bending Contest” (and he put TB’s name in his title) which the man said would be grounds for DQ.

    • Thanks so much…oops, my bad, I had the wrong video on there, from an old contest years ago with a similar title. He also does not use TB’s name in the current video. I updated the page with the appropriate video for the bending competition. I apologize to Michael Aadal for the mixup, please be sure to check out the corrected video…and thanks, Todd, for brining it to my attention.

  15. Such a great contest I’m only a bit over a year into Homeskoolin and I’m a huge fan. My fellow classmates have some serious chops. Thanks to all the contestants and to Dave for putting this collection together.

  18. Thanks for doing such a great job getting these vids in one space 🙂

    While I can see why Milk won…I would have been hard-pressed to not put Teemu Viinikainen in the number one slot. Although, everyone is a winner for putting themselves out there!

    Thanks again to you and Tom for this.

    Take care and all the best.

    Lyle – http://www.thejazzguitarlife.com

  19. I’m late to the party but wanted to say how much I enjoyed each and every video. I’m going to sub pages too! I’m all calm and chillin’ now after listening to all of you guys going on a “bender.” Thanks for the page as well Bass4genx. Homeskooler’s rule!

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