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When normal jazz guitar players dreams of a solo like he did here....Benson he's relaxing during take with an effortless thumb guitar solo who personally knock me down...bravo George !....
Benson was born to play. After 31 years of playing (originally influenced mostly by benson and martino), I still can't get over how beautiful he plays. There is just something he has over every player that no matter what line he plays it sounds so sweet coming out of his hands. God bless you Benson,
I must say this is one of the best pieces of this music I have ever heard and it really brings tears to the eyes! George is simply the best musician ever!
George Benson is one of the few guitarists that I can always recognize by his playing style 😍👉 It's very unique. Nobody plays guitar quite like George Benson
no matter who you are....you just can not touch him....his phrasing set him apart ...on top where every body can look up to him and fix yourself musically...thanx
Amazing depth of emotion in George's playing here.Better than what was on the Live in Ireland DVD. This is the definitive version right here. Thanks for posting this. It was gone from youtube for some time. Sample kills it here too.
No I don't think he's a show off. He's generous w/other players that share the stage w/him(Chet AtkinsEarl Klugh etc...) I do think that he knows that he really doesn't have any peers. I think there are brilliant guitar players but none that have his level of mastery. He can play completely from his stream of consciousness and his solos always seem to have a destination. My personal feeling is that we're looking at THE greatest guitarist of all time right here.
@@235buz One of the greatest, yes. I don't know that I'd say greatest. But he can definitely hold his own WITH the rest of the greatest. Look for the video of him cutting with Santana in 77. Jaw dropping.
What I see as being a cut above the rest is his rhythmic sophistication and phrasing. It's all exhibited here in this ballad. What I really notice a lot with melodic instrumentalists is when they play a solo,the vast majority play a lot of 16th notes right on the downbeat and on the upbeat but not a lot in between. To me syncopation in phrasing at that level of ability is almost everything because all top players have great licks. Benson plays using really interesting grace notes and has the rhythmic sense of a great drummer. I think that's exceedingly rare. Other guys that had that were Oscar Peterson,Monk,Dizzy. What I really dislike are solos or even melody lines based around landing notes evenly on top of one-an-a ,two-an-a cadence throughout. I hear that in Tommy Emmanuel tbh. He plays beautiful stuff,don't get me wrong, but to me Benson is stronger rhythmically. I think I do have bias for players that have an R&B sensibility to their style too. A loose blues- inflected feel. As far as Wes,Benson isn't what he is without Wes. He's in a lot of what George plays. I have nothing negative to say about Wes. He had it all but I think George has an advantage of time. He has the luxury of extrapolating ideas from Wes,Chet and all the other greats and building on their styles and technical ability. I think Wes lived in a time that had fewer great predecessors to derive ideas from and that's part of why he was brilliant and a pioneer. Like I said in my original post,it was "my personal feeling". I'm hearing an extra layer in George's playing and it's advanced rhythm.
It's really amazing how someone can create something so beautiful that can touch both humans and animals alike...it's really something to think about. Thanks for posting.
He plays faster using his thumb than I do using a pick... Also, remember when he uses a pick, he's infinitely faster. He's not even showing a tenth of his skills here. George is bad ass.
Joe Sample on piano. Is that Christian McBride on bass? Nice to hear the actual arranging going on and learn from it. Nice to know the greats have to work at it too.
Yes the guitar looks like a Gibson Johnny Smith model mid 60s, with the moustache headstock design, Kluson sealfast tuners , the diagonal split diamond headstock emblem as well as the diagonal 3 piece position markers and L5C tailpiece. The floating McCarty pickup has only a volume control on the pickguard. The jack should be at the bottom of the lower bout, but it cord seems to be plugged into the center. It would also have "Johnny Smith" engraved on the TP emblem. .
Well spotted- and Dude that's because that's not just any guitar- that's THE GUITAR!!! The one he used on the Breezin' album! It's now on display in a museum in Phoenix Arizona where George currently lives.
so... calm pleasent is to listen to these tones, actually he will play in Yerevan, Armenia on November 12... I got ticket... so I long for this performance
there were many great jazz guitarist well before George Benson - Charlie Christian, Django Reindhart, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Grant Greene, Tal Farlow, Kenny Burrell,
@928Nupe Well as far as i know, the newer ones are made in Korea. The older ones are made in Japan. Unmatched craftsmanship for the money. The new ones are nice, but the older ones are in a league of their own. Ive played both, though I own neither =).
the song is called "Lately" and its by stevie wonder. i dont know if george recorded it, but its on stevie's "Hotter Than July" album. its a great song, and george does a beautiful arrangment of it!!
@SirFrancisBurton lol i was being sarcastic.. if you're a jazz guitarist and you don't know wes then there's something wrong.. that's like a basketball player saying they don't know who magic johnson is
Hey guys i'm a fan of George Benson=) but I have a question. Is George Benson a show off? I heard somebody say this, I just wish that it's not true, cause it breaks my heart=( what do you think?
Jim Mullen is one to check out! Maybe the fastest with the thumb alive. Lots of practice and note his hand position! Legato playing using the Left hand creates that seamless effect. GB is a master and uses lots of Legato when needed. His guitars are setup to be so easily played. Strings basically almost lay on the frets and straight neck! His touch is very light but his reflexes are abnormal as well as his grade of perfect pitch! He absorbed what mattered to survive quite well and then added a few of his own things.Cloning was not accepted during his day like most do today using transcribe 7 or the like to slowdown licks.
