Connor Lynn - Instagram Guitar Plagiarist

[Tom_Gilroy]

EDIT 19/04/2026

Connor Lynn Guitar @connorlynnguitar on Instagram has directly plagiarized my work and my writing here on this forum in several of his videos. Almost all of the text in these videos had been directly quoted from my comments here on the CTC forums without any proper acknowledgment.

I am upset about the lack of credit for my work, but I am much more upset that Connor used my work to misrepresent himself to his viewers and potential students.

In an effort to cover his tracks, Connor has removed the original videos. However, I had saved screenshots, which are available at my Google Drive here.

The first video, concerning economy of motion and discussing the physics of forced oscillators and Fitts’ law of motor control is a direct quotation of my original comment here:

Question about picking velocity & orientation

Hi @pickfly . Sorry I couldn’t respond to this question sooner, I’ve been very ill this last week and I’m just starting to improve. I hope you can forgive any typos, etc. I very strongly recommend that you aim to make large, powerful movements which change direction rapidly and which feel effortless. The usual idea of economy of motion is that smaller movement are faster or more efficient is incredibly naive. It is totally incompatible with the physical and motor control realities of the situ…

The second video was concerning the physiology of fretting hand technique. I am known here for my work on this subject and I have written on it extensively. This video was cobbled together from several comments across several posts. Most notably, the video seems to have been inspired by my comments on this recent post.

Fixing left hand tension / pinky control

Heya guys, I’ve been inspired by @Joep36 to “rewrite” Eric Johnson licks so they fit my DSX style. It’s been super cool to play EJ stuff with a comfortable right hand. Now I’ve run into something with my left hand. I started playing at 18 (16 years ago), but never really worked on proper technique. A violin player recently pointed out I have a lot of tension in my left hand, and my pinky tends to flail. Lately I’ve been working on finger exercises to get more control. It’s actually fun, espec…

I am not the only person who Connor has plagiarized, though I am probably the least publicly visible. I am not usually active on Instagram and I do not post guitar content there. However, I have made a series of posts on this series of events. I have invited @Troy and @tommo to be collaborators on these posts, given the circumstances.

I would appreciate it greatly if you could share these posts in every online guitar space where you are active. Send them to your guitar playing friends, or link to them on social media. The online guitar community deserves more honesty and more decency than this.

Connor Lynn Guitar Plagiarism - Part 1

Connor Lynn Guitar Plagiarism - Part 2

Connor Lynn Guitar Plagiarism - Part 3

Connor Lynn Guitar Plagiarism - Part 4

[Riffdiculous]

He just came on my radar the other night. I will never understand how anyone could lift something from another and try to pass it off as their own. It’s as slimy as it gets.

[Tom_Gilroy]

This is absolutely egregious. Most of the text in his video is pulled directly from my comments here, or modified only slightly when the content is non-technical. Absolutely zero credit is given to me for my work on this subject.

Edit: Another one, totally derivative of my work here.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXAS-NDDBwm/?igsh=aTVvMjkybHN3Nnp3

Edit 2: Obviously, the content of this video is material I’ve been writing about here for years. However, the similarity between the video and my comments in this recent thread are very clear

Fixing left hand tension / pinky control

Your pinky is regularly held in abduction/opposition. This indicates that your hypothenar muscles are under constant tension. You also appear to have some degree of constant extension at the MCP joints, indicating that your extensor digitorum communis is active. Fretting a note ballistically isn’t a problem unless the note bends sharp. It’s literally the mechanic of a hammer-on. The “slap” you’re hearing is probably the string ringing between the fret and the nut, which doesn’t matter at all on…

[joebegly]

Once this hits the international guitar courts he’ll be known as Gon-ner Lynn.

I’ll see myself out, bye.

[GuiTardyon]

Connor is a sleazebag autist.

[AustinK]

Broh must be using the same social media team as Geese and Magoo lol

[ShadowoftheSun]

As someone who is autistic, can you not?

[lukasgraesslin]

That whole instagram channel seems to be full of things taken from others without giving credit. If you look at the other videos there’s also other content clearly from CTC and also some things from those public Anton Oparin videos.

[tommo]

That looks like plagiarism proper, sorry to hear Tom!

Would be interesting to know what the relevant authority would be for such cases. I have this feeling that social media is evolving and growing too fast for “the law” to catch up. Plus, of course, which law of which Country would be relevant here?

[RG550DX]

plagiarism like this is not subject to legal action lol.

it’s a douchebag move but it’s not illegal in this context.

[Tom_Gilroy]

@tommo

That looks like plagiarism proper, sorry to hear Tom!

It’s almost copied verbatim.

I’m not at all bothered that somebody is teaching material I shared here. Anybody who has read my work or who takes a lesson with me is free to teach or share that material elsewhere.

It’s the blatant dishonesty that bothers me. It’s not even that he’s quoting my work without credit, it’s that he’s claiming it as his own in an attempt to mislead people.

There’s an honest, respectful and decent way to do this.

@lukasgraesslin

If you look at the other videos there’s also other content clearly from CTC and also some things from those public Anton Oparin videos.

At least I’m in good company.

[GuiTardyon]

The only thing more cringe than his drooling slack-jawed plagiarism of other people’s work and ideas is his hack physics butchery attempting to lend credence to his plagiarisms.
Also he is doing a lot more than ripping off Anton’s public videos…

[joebegly]

Uh oh @Tom_Gilroy it’s even worse than we feared. There’s someone else out there named Lynne Connors and they’re trying to take credit for some of your best work.

Jk…Just an AI prank I made in this case. I’ll see myself out once again. Bye.

[Tom_Gilroy]

I won’t lie @joebegly , you had me for a second.

@GuiTardyon

The only thing more cringe than his drooling slack-jawed plagiarism of other people’s work and ideas is his hack physics butchery attempting to lend credence to his plagiarisms.

It’s clear from reading his comments that his actual understanding of the material is lacking.

[joebegly]

On a positive note I will say Connor’s technique is very very good. One of the best wrists I have seen.

How you get from that level of dedication to outright plagiarism though I have no clue. They aren’t mutually exclusive but ought to be. Humans are a very unusual species I guess. I’ll never understand them.

I quote/cite Tom here and elsewhere online frequently and I always give him credit. It’s good info that will help people play better and in ways it’s good to out in front of more people. Credit where it’s due though, please. Sad situation.

[steve506]

This is totally indefensible and really lame but, at the same time, it is a kinda twisted testament to how good you are.

What I find “funny” is going to the extreme of just carbon copying everything like the dude’s in the middle of the most extreme case of writer’s block.

To be fair, Tom, I refer to your insightful takes on guitar technique almost every time the topic comes up in a conversation. However, I usually start with something like “there’s this Internet guy who scientifically demonstrated that my right hand doesn’t suck”.

[Tom_Gilroy]

@joebegly

On a positive note I will say Connor’s technique is very very good.

It’s almost as though doing what Anton, @Troy and I teach actually works!

@steve506

This is totally indefensible and really lame but, at the same time, it is a kinda twisted testament to how good you are.

I see that, and I suppose it’s inevitable to some degree.

@steve506

What I find “funny” is going to the extreme of just carbon copying everything like the dude’s in the middle of the most extreme case of writer’s block.

I saw the fretting technique video first, it appeared in my Instagram feed.

It was clearly based on my work and what I’ve written about across many comments here. I couldn’t pin down exactly where I had written the text the video was based on, but I knew.

When I saw the video about forced oscillators and Fitts’ Law, I was actually stunned by how blatantly I was plagiarised.

I’m the least publicly visible person he’s plagiarised, but did he really think I wouldn’t find out about this? Even if I hadn’t seen this, I’m sure one of my students would have.

@joebegly

I quote/cite Tom here and elsewhere online frequently and I always give him credit. It’s good info that will help people play better and in ways it’s good to out in front of more people.

@steve506

To be fair, Tom, I refer to your insightful takes on guitar technique almost every time the topic comes up in a conversation.

This is totally fine. I absolutely deserve to be cited and credited for my work, and I am upset by the level of disrespect to me. I am much more upset that he’s passing my work off as his own in order to mislead his viewers.

I’m not usually active on Instagram but I’m planning on calling him out publicly.

[lukasgraesslin]

Seems like he removed some of the videos on his insta page? The linked reels are no longer available.

[Tom_Gilroy]

He’s trying to cover. I have screenshots, I’m making an Instagram post about it.

EDIT: Connor has deleted the videos in an effort to cover his tracks. As such, I have edited the original post to include the screenshots of his videos and the evidence of plagiarism.

I am not usually active on Instagram and I do not usually post guitar content there. However, in this situation, I have decided to make a series of posts exposing the plagiarism. I have invited @Troy and @tommo to be collaborators on this posts due to the circumstances.

I would appreciate it greatly if you could share help to spread these posts in the online guitar space. Please, share with your guitar playing friends and post them on whatever social media sites you use.

The online guitar community deserves better than this.

EDIT: Wow, he has deleted his entire account. Can people be on the lookout for him reappearing and trying this crap again?

[joebegly]

@Tom_Gilroy

It’s almost as though doing what Anton, @Troy and I teach actually works!

@Tom_Gilroy

EDIT: Wow, he has deleted his entire account. Can people be on the lookout for him reappearing and trying this crap again?

Wow, I didn’t see that coming. I am pretty old but I think this is what kids these days mean when they say someone “eff’d around and got caught”