Don Ross - Afraid to Dance

[ChrisHaspeck]

Simply Amazing is right. I've been following and worshiping Don Ross for well over 20 years now. And I even had the honour of having him as a teacher for a short while. Tell all your friends to listen to Don Ross

- Heavy Wood !!! \m/ ^_^ \m/

[upabittoolate]

@ChrisHaspeck Lucky bastard.

[DeadBeatBlast]

i saw this guy 3 times as a kid. Blew my mind, this was the only song I ever managed to learn but it's my fav.

[dimondcage]

he will be a cool guy to hang out with

[XWingRepair4cheap]

Woah - I just had the most amazing dream!!!! I dreamed that there was this guy named Don Ross jamming on a guitar but it was too outstanding to be real. Oh well, back to the real world.

[MrTantarian]

Let's face it: don Ross doesn't really exist, he goes beyond the limits of the physical world. This video is only imaginary.

[BrittonDeJong]

@MrTantarian my guitar teacher touched his belly... hes real

[lonewolf975]

it doesnt even look like that high quality of a guitar either :0

[Esjar207]

in what tune is that guitar geez o.o this sounds orgasmic

[FidelxCatrated]

Whenever i hear the part of the riff at :25 aeconds in it makes me think of the music from toe jam and earl

[kennybosefus]

@FidelxCatrated dude.. you took that outta my brain for real.. lol.. at least someone else notices.

[mctribble]

..grandson of Benny Hill..

[kiowaaa123]

this tune grooves SO HARD.

Much repsect Ross!

[SebastienLoong]

This version is better than his newer one, not rushed, it allows not just grooviness and funkyness and the to breath but gives more majestic outlook which gives the music dimension, whereas you got the impression that the other one is a bit rushed... frantic, and and this one there feels like there's more dynamic variety.

Not to attack this great Master of course.... Don Ross is probably my favourite guitarist regardless of genre! :D The true emperor of the guitar!

[crazynerd3422]

its gimley's father! :P

[121jigawatts]

Tuning is BADASS.

[byange821]

wow!!

[BoomaOwl]

If his fingers were a car they'd be traveling through time right now...

[whouston33wh]

he's making that guitar his bitch

[Suckthebeef]

@Recedite If this were facebook, I would have hit the 'like' button =]

[33dave]

CASCAC

[33dave]

ASCASC

[ChrisHaspeck]

Solid Performance

Don Ross is truly one of the BEST fingerstyle guitar players in the world.

Don went to the National Finger Picking Guitar Championships in the US and won it on his first visit. He went back the second year after and won again. He then decided he'd never enter that competition again - to give other players a chance to win !! I'm going to see him perform TONIGHT in London Ontario Canada.

I've met Don several times and even had the luxury of having him teach a masters class

[howardmorgen]

Don Wow! What a groove Made my day! Howard

[radgemasterben]

haha aaaaaiiiii!

[Lord8116]

нормально

[d22587]

as much of a headbanging metalhead that I am, I always had a soft spot for stuff like this, this is awesome, this proves how amazing the guitar is(depending on whos playing it) sorry Jonas Brothers, you talentless douches cant match up to guys like Don Ross. fame and money dont mean shit. this is proof.

[radgemasterben]

evry1 on some level appreciates this kinda stuff. :)

[SebastienLoong]

God given creativity. :)

[Dfiredragon5]

sound like this guitar wasnt made for this song XD still sound awesome

[booglain]

some funky ass shit right there

[tdepreacher]

reminds me of ani difranco... really punchy style

[fzyaso]

krala bak ya. sinir küpüyüm şuan

[Bananentosti]

sappy son of a bitch

[ElimRem]

i didnt know kevin smith could rock the guitar

[cowassasin]

lauren is silly

[beghilhorst]

I really like this version because of the pacing. It's a bit slower than other videos on youtube which makes the licks more pronounced.

[ItsJohnnyAppleseed]

I was thinking the same thing.

Sometimes slower is just better.

[tsubasaISfun]

Slower makes it sound funkier...which is pretty awesome.

[SICKMurderface]

Will you teach me your ways?

[zentah]

for someone who's afraid to dance....this is pretty groovy

awesome

[Bowoglo]

He was born in MONTREAL YEAH LOL!

[hitandjog]

Anyone know where I can find a good tab for this song? I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out!

[RustyCyler]

dons site is gobyfish dotcom and you can buy his tabs at candyrat dotcom

[SSShino]

holy shit! :D

[Katieindrag]

He. is. my. hero.

[fishyboy757]

man my fave song of his

[jayhunttttttttttttt]

funky

[mavy10]

i would sell my soul to be this good at guitar

[smgman13]

me too lets go on a roadtrip to the crossroads in missisippi haha

[TransAmFormulaV8]

LoL! Awesome reference man!

[barispulat]

He is amazing Wow o_O

[mechapilot58th]

good job late john lennon

[ang3lita666]

Wow =)

[OnTheRoof1]

He is incredible. Goin to see him with Andy on tues!!

i've uploaded a vid of this song with some added drums, if anyone cares to take a look.

Xavier

[bowchikawahwah1234]

I saw him and andy mckee last night it was amazinggg, and i met him 3 times once before the show when he was getting dinner ! :p

they will wait after the show too

[upabittoolate]

lucky bastard. how good was THAT.

[dagawood1]

I love this tune.

[mosthated123]

Mind blowing

[mabwannabe]

@unchie979 Really? He directed Lord of the rings?

[TriviumFan15]

@mabwannabe Nah it was really Peter Jackson. Don Ross looks exactly like him. Or I guess I should say Peter Jackson looks a lot like Don Ross :]

[chemoman1]

@TriviumFan15 Both are fucking awesome at what they do, that's for sure.

[TriviumFan15]

@chemoman1 Absolutely!

[mdmoynihan]

this guy has made me feel absolutely pathetic at guitar my whole life. He is so good that i couldn't even edit one of my songs to sound this good. thanks Don. Keep on living the dream and eliminating all of the rest of ours.

[rovinglycan]

dont get to emo.

[Panserborne1]

How does one "get to emo", rovinglycan? Where's emo?

[rovinglycan]

too* and it was a responce to someone.

[samducker]

amazing don ross great musician

[spankymcjim]

haha hagrid just got funky :PP

[xmtone]

This is the motherufkin sihzz!

[rmbsk8r]

crazy

[Christmanite]

Tell me this guy does not bring a smile to your face!!! Thank you.............

[tossrosssoss]

its hagrid of harry potter! lol na don ross is amazing!

[xmtone]

DAMN, dude... (same thing every time I see him play)

[bewillon]

when was this recorded?

[rapirs]

jajaja...diossss pero que crack eres....

[tsubasaISfun]

where can I find a tab for this?? Doesn't have to be free.

[jazu40]

google

[deegan989]

thats chong man....not just an old hippy....show some respect

[TCupSipper13]

the funkiest don ross song for sure

[lilmark816]

nah drac and friends is id say

[MushroomMarshmallow]

osome O.o

OwO

[solothyrn]

and put them all together and youll have a Mini-Series staring that guy from lost, directed by Peter Jaskson and sound track by Don Ross.

[IllegalySmiling]

OMG....freaking beautiful...wish I could play like that

[Tr33sRul3]

don ross is that guy from lost. i knew it.

[RishadanPort]

LOL... no... hahahah

[tgerule]

or peter jackson lol!

[overloaded999]

lol xD

[calidoniaismyhome]

oh i agree...

i also prefair Dons music, i wasn't trying to put him down or anything ... someone just dissed self taught musicians and i like an idiot got offended lol.

[deadhead812]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to hate on self-taught musicians... I'm just trying to point out how much classical training and music school help. Believe me, most professional musicians will agree with me, rigid classical training is great, and will help most people improve a lot.

[atomgang]

pointless banter. good stuff.

[ToiletsRuleAll]

are u kidding me? this guy is a genoius. its a little stupiid. but its super good .

[ASteveVaiFan]

Guitar playing isnt a competition. An arsehole in my shoes could waltz in here and say "Steve Vai is better!!!" but really, he isnt-They play music at opposite ends of the spectrum. You cant compare these guys because they write what THEY like. Their goal is to please themselves with the music. What sounds great to one person sounds bad to another. Dont argue who's the best! Just either say "That's a good song" or "that song just isnt for me". It's as simple as that!

[Spauchi]

well said!!

[jupskids]

beautiful words my friend. i guess it depends where youre placed on the musical political spectrum.. radical or conservative ;]

[calidoniaismyhome]

both musicians are amazing, just when you say you need to be taught to be as good as don etc. your pretty much telling me to quit guitar as i'll never be good enough.

[jonnytonna]

what is it with big canadian men with funny hair and guitar playing thats so goddamn amazing

[TheDirtyPope]

lol idk thats a good point

[calidoniaismyhome]

im quoting this haha.... *yoink*

[broatchg]

this is beyond sick, sounds like regular Nintendo music played on guitar, like any Mega Man game for NES

[BluesBrother93]

Let me just pick my jaw up a sec, serious.

[121jigawatts]

his guitar looks like it just got outta bed. I don't wanna dance when I first get outta bed either. It looks like Don maybe did the same! Ha! Song rocks.

[Grambo4]

Don Ross is one of the most talented musicians/guitarists around, this song is one of his best, and both Don and his music are favorites of mine. However, this video does not show Don at his best. But hey, I can't even play half as well as Don Ross on one of his worst days, so who am I to talk?

[Memorandumi]

True, I can kind of see where you're coming from on that, but you know, this is classic Don Ross right here man haha

[tomgamble100]

In response to everyones arguments, I think that this is the sort of music you listen to once you've heard Tommy Emmanuel. This is hardcore acoustic guitar

[BlueBarrier782]

I think tommy is good but i just find his music not that interesting. just personal taste nothing u can say objectively.

[BluesBrother93]

Agreed.

[dvon21]

tommy is better at creating beautiful melodies, nothing taken away from don ross, but ross is good at fast paced songs that always have good bass accompaniements.

I still prefer Emmanuel but Ross is also a God.

[Neversummered]

I'm afraid I don't agree...

I really don't think that Tommy has much composing talent, and i don't think he really feels the music like some on candyrat artists(Andy Mckee, Antoine Dufour, Don of course and I would add Craig D'andrea) do.

Not making him a bad guitar player, actually he is extremely talented...

But not in the right way for me.

Just a word about this song, I think this one is really well put.

As good as usual, Don :)

[tomgamble100]

I agree, whilst Tommy is an amazing guitarist almost all of his songs have the same structure. Plus Don Ross went to music college so I'm guessing he has a better knowledge of composition

[calidoniaismyhome]

its not always about going to university or college for learning... infact don will know all the structuring it should be in for a certain key... but if you teach yourself.. you'll know what sounds good together just as well as someone who was taught what sounds good together (if not more so because you are less restricted by key/mode or whatever)

[deadhead812]

The important thing to remember is that it is almost always about going to a university or college for learning. Sometimes it isn't, but many of these cases could be improved by a formal education. For example, McKee taught himself, is an amazing guitarist, and could have better technique. Besides keys and modes don't restrict you, people have always done what sounds best. Composers that have been extremely rigidly trained have been putting accidentals in their music for hundreds of years.

[tomgamble100]

all I'm saying is that there is a difference between "writing a song" and "writing a piece of music". Don writes music not songs.

[calidoniaismyhome]

the guy b4 me stated that McKee is self taught ... does he write songs or music ? being self taught does not make you worse than schooled musicians...

this part should be in a reply to deadhead... but im lazy so, deadhead812:

"and could have better technique"...

don ross himself states that he believes McKee's technique is better than his own (which is why in "the thing that came from somewhere" McKee plays lead in even dons songs.)

[tomgamble100]

but then what is good technique? Classical technique for example states not to use the left hand thumb over the top of the guitar, but this is sometimes essential in acoustic fingerstyle.

[calidoniaismyhome]

good thing don isn't playing classical guitar then isn't it....

good technique must be relavant to what you are playing, otherwise its bad technique...

so i guess Don ment McKee had a better fingerstyle technique, which is the self taught technique... taking me back to .. you dont need to be schooled to be as good as the best.. you just need the patience and the determination.

[tomgamble100]

which I think we have concluded that Don is an amazing guitarist!

[deadhead812]

Yeah, but that's has very little to do with what I'm saying. Don's technique would probably be quite a bit worse than it is if he had not gone to music college, and Andy's would probably be immaculate if he had. And I obviously don't need to support the rest of my argument any more... so please don't belittle classical and traditional musical training any more.

[calidoniaismyhome]

im not belittling it at all... im simply saying that being self taught does not make you worse than those who are trained...

if anything... your belittling all the self taught musicians out there ...

and if Andy had gotten training his style would be differant to the one he has now.. so there is no way to tell...

and my last comment.. "don't need to support the rest of my argument" .. you haven't supported any of your argument.. it was all "probably"'s.

[jazzpsalti]

I don't know where don ross went to music school or what kind of degree he has, but his compositional style is pretty narrow for someone who went to music school, so I'm wondering what he learned

Andy McKee's playing would probably be worse if he went to music school. I say this because I went to music school and my technique went down because in music school you have to do so much stuff so many genres, so many different things that you can't necessarily focus. I'm outta chars hope i made sense

[MrFinklestein]

This didn't make any sense. You first said that if he went to music school he would have a broader musical edge, but then you said that going to music school doesn't let you focus on one genre. Which of these are you trying to pin on the guy?

[jazzpsalti]

I'm not trying to pin anything. It's impossible to lay out an absolute about art. What I laid out there is my experience: Music school broadens knowledge of the art of music, but in doing so one gets exposed to so many different genres that while in school it is difficult to focus on one genre. Any music professor will say "well, duh! that's what you do when you get OUT of music school!" Make sense?

[zKristopher]

dude... like i don't care about the futile point your tring to make here i just want to say that.. yeah he may have gone to music school for traing but, atleast he did so.. that alone speaks volumes of ones' character. and i'm sorry but i'm rather at learning guitar on my own myself and i've considered it m0re than a few times..

[calidoniaismyhome]

was this comment to me ?

[Lokiin420]

LOL I almost expected him to start break dancing. Good to see he has fun playing his songs.

[salviaguy27]

damn, guys, y'all need to calm down, it's just a video. If people want to be ignorant, let them be ignorant.

[abeman42]

good stuff, but he is no Tommy Emmanuel

[RabFr]

yeah he's not..he's better!pfff

[Geruk6]

Tommy Emmanuel is great guitarist there is no denying that, but the guitarists from candyrat have one thing that Tommy's music doesn't have and thats soul.

[dvon21]

I wouldnt say that exactly, if you watch some videos of him playing since we met or questions or even his percussion bits he puts alot of soul into it.

[GRtheMan]

listen to "those who wait" and tell me tommy doesn't have soul

[just6822]

"I look up Don Ross videos so that I can say Tommy is better"

Get a life ya homo, no one cares about your spam.

[JonP1961]

@abeman42

Went and listened to some Tommy Emmanuel because, to be perfectly honest, I had never heard of him...

good stuff, but he is no Kevin Eubanks

>pfft<

-----

Anyways...

I like the sound this guy is getting. Combination of the strings he's using and his technique.

[SeXiIDouDou]

In class we heard this song and i tough it's was drum and 3 guitars and base ... but it's just 1 guitare is so good!!

[Neegtab]

this man is without doubt one of THE greatest acustic guitar players thats ever lived..in skill and creativity and has done so much for this kind of music. don't be fooled..candyrat artists own..i actually prefer slightly differnt acoustic to this sort of stuff..but ANYONE who plays guitar really fucking well knows they are almost 1000th of the way to being as good as don :D antoine..andy..they all look up to him. pure GOD

[Glimfellow]

I saw him preform live and i couldn't clap at the end.. I was in pure shock over the amount of genius. He's amazing.

[EB308]

clearly takes a lot of influence from the late great rupert torp

[planetearth42]

who the fuck is rupert torp?

[carlitozik]

Well Done!!!! Nice Groove!

[mofemobile]

ive got this song on record, but 2 c him play it.. wow

[tj1111111222]

i whent to see him live that was like wow X99999

[upabittoolate]

what the hell???? this guy is insane

[tsubasaISfun]

You said it. And 'they' (yes, "them") say that the line between 'insane' and 'brilliant' is kinda very blurry.

For those that don't understand "indirect-ish" I'm saying that Don Ross is awesome.

[upabittoolate]

my man joe from england hipped me to this guy. i thought i had some inkling about what creative meant. BOY WAS I WRONG!! this dude is an utter lunatic

[ZackBellman]

mate your message is right but poorly written its " there is a fine line between insanity and geniousity!" ( i think he has erased that line...)

[DrChemicalX3]

LOL. He is isn't he, truly, it's almost like he is some kind of guitar playing god that has these supernatural powers or something.

[upabittoolate]

i hate to be a dickrider but the very moment i saw him go to work, i lost my mind. i cant even describe technique, is that plucking, hammering, octave scaling? WHAT? every now & again i really have to reevaluate what creativity means he & people like him are the very reason why. maybe he's possessed by the ghost of jimi, django & stevie ray. what bugs me more is that the audience doesnt even know what's going on, theyre barely clapping at the end. maybe they were in shock

[jupskids]

its probably some fuckin english people. they dont understand guitar. but hes just slappin harmonics in an octave scale

[upabittoolate]

no, he's canadian. also, he's doing a little more than slapping harmonics. either way though, it's creative & more than you can pull off. post something or stfu. nobody likes a hater.

[jupskids]

im not hatin. im statin facts, cocksucker. i meant the audience is people that dont understand guitar. haha and i dont have a camera. the intro is slapping harmonics on the 12th and 7th frets then followed by a little octave scale, 3rd 5th 7th frets, then a slide

[upabittoolate]

whateva man. post & i'll give you your due propers. until then, stfu

[curlyamadurly]

you are pretty gay to think you can just play this, like it's nothing.

Yes, your right about what he does with fingerplacement, but you try to play it yourself before you say your the man, it's very hard to make it sound like he does< rhytm and all.

so to recap, YOU ARE A COCKSUCKER, BIATCH

[BluesBrother93]

I'm English, and I understand what he's doing very well.

[mrbettynuggs]

hey...Kevin Smith can play a mean guitar :D

[tonyrosam]

what tuning he in?

[wisey1wiseone]

EBDEBE

[ubustang]

I wondered where Eric Turnbull got his inspiration for his song Bomba Checka. God, after this it sounds like almost a straight copy.

[Ca2roline]

This just goes to show that real musicians like Don Ross aren't getting enough recognition. Those who only listen to the computer enhanced garbage on MTV are missing out. This is true music!

[Rina160889]

yeah..

[berstklumpen]

he makes a mistake at 2:45, then he smells ;)

[berstklumpen]

i mean smiles, sry4bad english

[Drumtome]

Honest to god, does Don play hagrid? cuz hes his fucking twin if not. ONE HELL OF A MUSICIAN. jesus...*envy*

[roen04]

HAMMERING HAGRID!!!

[Halo3NinjaSpartan]

He makes it look so darn easy.

[erzangel22]

i saw someone else post this on another one of his songs and i have to agree HAMMERIN' HAGRID STRIKES AGAIN!

[amsgnoj]

hes coming to play at band camp for my school this year, im so excited

[hammarsson]

fucking awesome