Magic Hands

Saw Tommy Emmanuel's Center Stage gig last night on PBS's pledge eon. Fifteen minutes of playing, then fifteen minutes of asking for money, but since you can time it, you can skip most of the latter.

If you haven't seen Tommy play acoustic guitar and you know anything about the instrument, have a look. He opened with this Beatles medley -- watch how that capo just ... goes away about a minute and fifteen seconds in, during "Here Comes the Sun."

Those scratch patterns on the guitar come from playing them like percussion instruments -- he sometimes sounds like he's got half a band onstage with him -- and if there's anybody better who enjoys what he does more, I've never seen him. If you watch the vid, bear in mind, this is one guy with a guitar making all this music, and making it look a lot easier than it is.

Bonus vid: Tommy's version of "House of the Risin' Sun." Listen to the drum brushes he makes with his nail on the box toward the end.