“In that last year of his life, I said to him one night, ‘Les, I don't know, but I swear, you're playing better than you were last year’”: Tommy Emmanuel recalls his final moments with guitar legend Les Paul

Tommy Emmanuel had the opportunity to play side by side with the legendary Les Paul in his later years – moments he looks back on fondly, recalling the polymath's determination to continue performing and improving his playing even past the age of 90.

“The funny thing is, after hanging around with Les Paul those few years before he passed away, watching him deal with the pain in his hands, and watching him playing melody, using four fingers to get one note... that's dedication,” gushes Emmanuel in a new interview with Rick Beato.

“I guess he must have thought, ‘Well, I'll go home and put on some old black-and-white footage of me just tearing the crap out of it.’ Because he did – he tore it up like crazy. But it didn't mean that what he was doing when he [was] in his 90s was not as important. It's just different.”

Emmanuel recalls the time he played with the guitar innovator on his 90th birthday at Carnegie Hall, an experience he describes as “beautiful”, and an event that sparked a lasting friendship.

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Following that encounter, Emmanuel visited Paul at his usual Manhattan haunt, The Iridium, where Paul jammed every Monday night from 1995 until his death in 2009.

“In that last year of his life, I said to him one night, ‘Les, I don't know, but I swear, you're playing better than you were last year,’” Emmanuel adds.

“He said, ‘I better be. I'm practicing more.’”