Pierre Bensusan - Half Moon, London - 2 (So long Michael)

[SquigglyJ0e]

In an era of lazy kids learning to play covers from youtube, with scarce or no knowledge at all of their instrument, it's a pleasure to find a gifted guitarist playing in more than one damn key.

I really had enough of random tappers and slappers desperately trying to look cool whackin guitars in DADGAD or other open tunes that would sound ok even if they fell down the stairs.

A whole life in one lousy key using 3 chords...

Pierre is a very talented musician.

[Nikos47]

le meilleur incontestablement !! :) je te rejoins totalement Mikejohnw1111 !! C'est LE meilleur , l'unique selon moi

[froggyantbear]

fuck yeah. Metronome WILL defeat the freedom of the solo guitarist. Rock on. folk on. whatever on. Absolute legend.

[xXConfuocoXx]

love this song, love pierre, but his intro here seems messy as hell. just my opinion, maybe it was the just the recording who knows

[Tiniandrea]

@xXConfuocoXx I think this intro was completely improvised right there on the spot..

[xXConfuocoXx]

@Tiniandrea well yeah, i would hope it was improvised, but that doesn't change the fact that it was improvised messy. I would rather him go write a new cool intro learn it, make it pretty, THEN play it, as opposed to improving something kind of badly. Just my opinion. i mean some people can improve beautiful stuff right on the spot, i dont think pierre is one of those people.

[alexcoe]

@xXConfuocoXx If you're truly improvising then you will write both beautiful and awful music. Improvising necessitates doing something new, and something new isn't something that's always beautiful. You can't predict, and thus be choosy, with what you're improvising. You can only judge it after the fact.

As for technical mess-ups, that's just the human aspect of the guitar.

[acoronab]

@xXConfuocoXx Messy? I thought it was excellent... it's a matter of taste

[SquigglyJ0e]

@xXConfuocoXx

He is no fast lick oriented guitarist, if you like that you can check out Tommy Emmanuel.

Bensusan is an incredibly subtle improviser with a very personal approach to complex harmonies. You can tell because he is still searching for the right note or single voicing and that can lead to a slight fuzz here n there. Joe Pass used to chick notes too now n then, just because he was improvising most of the time.

Licks at the speed of light can be cleaner but hardly new stuff...

[SuperBeanson]

technically, of course he is a brilliant guitar player, but who cares about that- as a composer- as a CREATOR- this man is simply in a class of his own, high above in the stratosphere. I could listen to this piece a thousand times and not hear everything it has to offer up, the poetry, the colour, the emotion the sheer ability to communicate something profound to the listen simply stops those with ears in their tracks.

[tswrench]

An achingly poignant and beautifully played tribute. Michael's soul is smiling when Pierre performs this piece.

[marorococa]

gawd i could never play that. hes so amazing. especially live

[isa2222]

PURE GENIUS!

[fouramhq]

My wife and I both play guitar. I love Bensusan. I am mesmerized by him. My wife goes nuts.  She says "He needs a metronome." I say.."No, no!! it would negate everything he does."

[crackferry]

pretty unreal....Pierre practices like mad. Like all day every day....always in conversation with the guitar. That's pretty damn cool.

[dac8781]

This guy is really good. I listen to the intuit album while playing call of duty 4

[Mikejohnw1111]

I saw him in Lincoln recently. I've seen a lot of great players. I reckon he's the best player in the world.

[pechanko]

Thanks for posting this! It's great to hear Pierre's recent performance, especially with his new Lowden signature model.

Agree with arnomil completely.

[banpreso]

haven't seen many new pierre bensusan videos lately, thanks for posting this.

i will see him in concert in october, that's a while away still...

[arnomil]

wow... beautiful version of "so long michael". thank you for sharing this.

Wonderful tribute. And amazing introduction (until 2:10). Bensusan's music is very precisely written, but it's always fascinating to see his ability to "re-read" his own work. Talented players will play hours and hours to be able to play a very honourable version of this tune, but when you listen to a live take like this one, all you can do is sighing in front of this amazing musical sensitivity.

[Tiniandrea]

I agree completely..

[Qpidon]

well said.

[DanielGillismusic]

That's exactly how I feel. I concentrate so hard on every note, because I feel it is perfect. Then he goes and recreates perfection off the top of his head.

[112358miau]

@arnomil Yeah, that's right, I can play it even with my eyes closed and perfectly but it doesn't sound like Bensusan's and never will, we can only keep respect making our best on cover, but it takes time