I think it’s about time to show off the leading edge of the guitar universe. Or so it seems. I have been a fan of this song and artist for a long time, and this recording is just so fine. Someday, I might be good enough to play the first phrase of this song. I can dream.
I haven’t even said his name yet: Don Ross. It seems unfair to watch a video of someone sitting on their bed, playing a cover song on their ukulele, and getting millions of views. Y’all should be watching this video! Yeah, it has over a million views, but relatively speaking, that’s not enough. Don Ross bridges sophistication with accessibility. His music is both complex and familiar. His songs fit nicely into the background but reside comfortably at center stage. Get the picture? Rant over. There are loads of great Don Ross videos, I would suggest you listen to RockBarra, With You in Mind, and Berkley Springs. He also made a number of songs with Andy McKee and they are amazing.
This video shows a live performance of the song Klimbim. The performance is perfect. His use of harmonics is stunning, adding complexity to the soundscape. This is important as solo guitar can sound too uniform across an entire song and lead to listener boredom. Don Ross uses the diverse library of guitar sounds available to him, and thus creates a vibrancy for the entire song. I hope you enjoy this enough to explore his other songs. Cheers.