Don Ross

[dave d]

There's a fantastic guitar player by the name of Don Ross who I had the fortune to see up close yesterday. He came to a guitar show and kindly played a couple of tunes on each of 4 guitars made by Ontario luthiers.
Sorry for the quality of my video. Here's a clip of Don playing a guitar made by Ron Belanger.




.ps If you ever get a chance to see him in person, do it!

[Dave Bagwill]

I've listened to him quite a bit - very good technique - too busy for my taste, but maybe I'm just jealous cause I cannot play any of his arrangements :-) - it was nice of him to give his attention to those luthiers. Where is the clip of yours being played, Dave??

[Herman]

Don is super. This number is indeed a bit too full. A few years ago I bought music on paper from Don. But it's too difficult for me. Here's the piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkidVP0AcQ8

[Dave Bagwill]

The dude has chops. That's a good arrangement, I'm sure I could learn it it 10,000 years of practice or so. :-)

[Kyle Barbour]

Didn't he do a song about happy trees? Or was that Bob? Very talented. Liked the song.

[Ken Hundley]

Definitely has chops, but I agree, too much in the song. It's interesting when some guys have such incredible technical ability, it is very difficult balancing between the beauty of good composition and the stunning capabilities of some players....the two don't often go well in the same song. I felt this was a case of a good backbone of composition, yet the technical flair was there as a "hey, look what else I can do...", didn't always fit the song well.

[Dave Bagwill]

He makes it look effortless, I guess all the really talented people make it look that way. I keep thinking 'If I just put in the time practicing then I could...' but I know it's not true. I'm happy just playing, though - if I had to compete with other guitarists at Don's level for a limited market of venues and recording opportunities, I'd go for a lot of flash also. If I could.