Kent Nishimura Shares Acoustic Cover of Thriller

Japanese fingerstyle guitarist Kent Nishimura prepared a new acoustic arrangement of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a track originally released on Jackson's 1982 album of the same name. The performance video was filmed in Mannheim, Germany, with contributions from Bob Ma and Alex Valsamakis.

For this performance, Nishimura developed a custom tuning of B flat, F, E flat, G, B flat, and C. He played a Natasha KN-SE Shimaenaga acoustic guitar equipped with Sunrise S-2 and R-Zero Contact Pro BACNT pickups, using a G7th Performance 2 capo and La Bella 7ZPS Light phosphor bronze strings.

Nishimura, whose repertoire also includes a rendition of Toto's Rosanna, has over 450,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. The musician has also announced a Christmas live concert in Osaka for 2026.