Have You Seen This? ‘Beat It’ classical guitar cover

(MiguelRiveraGuitar/YouTube)


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STRUMVILLE — The late Michael Jackson isn’t known as the King of Pop for nothing. The man had a true musical gift, producing songs that the world will listen to for years to come.

In light of that, it’s always a risk to cover one of Jackson’s hits, unless you can bring your own twist or incredible talent to it. And that’s precisely what Spanish musician Miguel Rivera did with his fingerstyle acoustic guitar cover of “Beat It.”

Rivera strums and thumps his way through a smooth rendition of the song with palpable passion and more than considerable talent. It’s the kind of musical talent that makes my 10 years of piano lessons feel like I’ve barely graduated from “Chopsticks” and “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater.”

In the video description, Rivera said he made the arrangement to challenge himself.

“When you listen to the chorus of the original song, you can hear the main riff (recorded by Steve Lukather) sounding together with the Michael's vocal melody, and, of course, drums, bass and other instruments. My objective was to play all of (these) parts together: the main riff, the vocal melody and the percussion part,” the description reads.

As far as I’m concerned, Rivera's challenge to himself is a resounding success and perhaps even a touch magical. Take a listen and see if you agree.

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Martha Ostergar

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