The face of solo guitar is changing. It's about time. Guitarist Yasmin Williams in Washington, April 18, 2021. Since the heyday of John Fahey, the genre of solo guitar has been seen as the province of white men. A new generation of diverse players is rapidly changing that. Amr Alfiky/The New York Times. by Grayson Haver Currin (NYT NEWS SERVICE) .- Before Yasmin Williams became a teenager, she found her perfect sport: Guitar Hero, the dizzying video game where aging rock staples enjoyed an unlikely second life through players wielding plastic controllers fashioned after vintage Gibsons. Williams parents purchased the game for her two older brothers, but the suburban D.C. family soon realized she was the household champion. They would try to beat me, Williams said on a recent afternoon in the sunroom of her grandmother Marshas home, near where she grew up. But they couldnt.