Jason Becker is a musical prodigy who could play Eric Clapton guitar solos flawlessly at age 12. By 16, he had a contract with Shrapnel Records and was playing virtuoso riffs on albums and in concert. A few years later, he won what was then one of the most coveted gigs around, as the lead player for former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth’s solo effort.
Soon after he turned 20, Becker was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease that felled Lou Gehrig. With inexorable cruelty, ALS paralyzes, but leaves the mind intact.
“Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet” is a crowd-funded docu-mentary that chronicles this story, but as indicated by the defiant title, refuses to paint Becker as someone to be pitied. Instead, he comes across as a warm, funny man blessed with a devoted family and friends. Now in his early 40s, he uses a system invented by his father that reads eye movements and enables people to transcribe his music and his speech.
There’s extensive, blurry archival footage that establishes just how gifted a player Becker was. Oddly, though, for a film so dedicated to celebrating what he can still accomplish, his early performing career gets a lot more emphasis than the music still being composed. And that’s a pity, because what little we hear is entrancing. Anyone wanting to hear more of what Becker is composing now — and I do — will have to look elsewhere.