Pino Forastiere: No Reason To Play Fast

My guitar pal Gary Reed sent this video of  Pino Forastiere to me.

Well, I have not have heard of Pino Forastiere, who had this video out for quite some time  (2011) on the Candyrat label.

This vid so far has received over 93,000 views and I wasn’t one of them.

Of course, if this is something put out by Rob Poland of CandyRat, well, I always expect something excellent. Sure enough, this is not only excellent but quite different than usual. I like Pino’s use of floaters.. (open strings used in a scale or progression). Got to be a lot easier to play those with fingers rather than a flatpick.

Pino Forastiere Biography from: http://www.forastiere.it/

“The music of Italian guitarist Pino Forastiere comes from a solid classical, contemporary and rock background, and it’s hard to be defined. He “employes a dazzling blend of slapping, tapping, strumming, altered tunings and harmonics, combined with classical phrasing and a focus on distinct and addictive melodies” (Anil Prasad, Guitar Player).

His music is “something like a mix of Steve Reich’s interlocking rhythmic patterns meet Michael Hedges’s techniques, all while admiring Eddie van Halen” (John Schaefer, WNYC).

Born in Latronico, a small village in Southern Italy, Pino moved with his family to Rome in his early childhood. In 1992, he graduated from Santa Cecilia Conservatory with a degree in classical guitar, taking his final exam with a ten-string classical guitar. In the following years, he used the ten-string guitar to play baroque, contemporary and original repertoires.

In 1996, he decided to pick up a six-string acoustic guitar, which is now his only instrument. Pino has studied composition and chamber music; he has performed in various ensembles with classical or original repertoire, collaborating with jazz, experimental, electronic and pop projects. 

Pino lives in Rome, Italy; he performs in venues and festival in Italy, Europe, Canada and USA, for both finger-style and classical societies.

In 2008, Pino Forastiere premiered in Rome “Why Not?”, an epic concerto for electro-acoustic guitar and string orchestra which became the titletrack of his third solo album (“Why Not?”, Candyrat 2008). In 2009, he released “Live DVD/CD” (Candyrat 2009), a collection of 15 tracks from his previous three solo album, performed live in a very inspired one-day session.”

Okay, so that video is a little old. Here’s the latest from a TV appearance..

You might want to fast forward a little to get to Pino’s performance.