Zach Guiltner got involved in music seven years ago after being influenced by his friends’ interest in music. Depending on his mood he will usually start feeling a groove of a song and practices for an 30 minutes to about an hour and a half.

“I discovered that I really loved it,” Guiltner said, ”I discovered that music was an outlet like a universal language and when it’s used right everyone can feel what you feel when you can’t express those feelings with words.”

Eventually he decided to pick up the mic and give singing a try around three years ago. Guiltner got the inspiration for singing from his favorite band NeedtoBreathe. He saw that the lead singer was playing lead guitar as well and thought, “Why not give it a try?”

He started posting videos on his Instagram and got remarkable results from it. The people who commented thought he sounded so good.

That’s when it hit him. He thought of all the platforms he could go to try and get his music career started. He found out “American Idol” was coming to Little Rock. Toward the end of summer he packed his bag and was on his way. Even though he normally performs with a band, he was ready to try a solo effort.

“We had to be up and in line by 4:30 in the morning,” Guiltner said. “So we stood in line from about 4;30 to about 9, then they started letting us go on through and get our registration.” 

After having to go back and forth between inside and outside he was finally able to get his ticket. Waiting an additional hour and a half to two hours, Zach Guiltner was ready to get started around 10:30.

“There are eight different stations, four people at each station, and they sent you to a station and that person decided whether or not you went through or not,” Guiltner said. “If you got through the next then you finally got to the judges.”

Although suffering from a sore throat, he didn’t let it stand in his way for this incredible experience.

Zach was told he was not what they were looking for unfortunately, but he’s already planning on going to “The Voice” or “America’s Got Talent.” However, he’s not stopping there. He already has a future in music planned.

“If everything goes the way I want it too hopefully I will be able to be a performer or maybe a studio musician or possibly even a music producer or maybe a music teacher,” Guiltner said.