Don Ross - Robot Monster - www.candyrat.com

[washburnmyguitars]

wow!

[Cereghini]

Damn...not to be rude or anything, but that guitar is his B*TCH!

[ClassicTracks2]

From the liner notes: "I've always been a big Steve Reich fan. He's a New York-based composer who, for the most part, has made his mark musically by using slowly-changing repetition in his music and slowly-changing movements in and out of phase among pairs or groups of instruments. Well, I don't write 30-minute pieces, but this is more of a modular minimalist construction for solo baritone guitar... A lot of pent-up emotion behind this one" [Clarendon, Ontario 1999].

[RedCurlyHead]

is he stoned or the song sux

[zygrottwanger]

@RedCurlyHead You might be stone. But you also suck. Stay in school, kid.

[RedCurlyHead]

@zygrottwanger hahah :D you're damaged from my words haha cuz the fuckin song sux :D

[zygrottwanger]

@RedCurlyHead You might be stoned. But you do suck. Stay in school, kid.

[jackalopin]

This song is inspiring. Turn the lights off, close your eyes.

[Edoss1]

Just wanted to pipe in here. Tried learning this a while back and oh my christ, there is so much more to the song then I realised. All of his fingers are picking pretty much all of the time. Yet when it comes down to it, the passion comes through really clearly.

It's really a brilliant piece of music. Wish it was more popular.

[JetJoeStudios]

i just cant get over how few views this has...:L

[DonkeyKol]

Great song, again, it makes me think about "rythme future" of Django reinhardt

[alanofawesome]

So... real. O.o

[whouston33wh]

There is only one explanation for this. Don Ross is the Robot Monster. No human could ever dare play this 4 minutes of insane music without their mind being blown away.

[thiscantbegood9]

sweet jesus

[SuperGamer87]

37 people got scared and hit "I dislike this." I hope the robot monster gets them.

[IHatePowerSaws]

@SuperGamer87

wow i've never laughed at a comment before.

[MrMacaros]

oh~~oh!!!  nice!!!!

[JRushable]

it sounds like a persons bent up frustration not quite let out but its presence is easily known

[Cereghini]

My dad swears that he has an extra hand or two that do chords along with the normal two. How can anyone with only two hands play like that?

I saw him live on one ocassion. He's a funny guy.

[naeem24]

Wow...I can't believe that there is so much power and intonation concealed inside of this song...love it

[Santuario70]

Holy @#$%.... this stuff is amazing!

[SuperGamer87]

@Santuario70 Welcome to CandyRat music! These folks are made of awesome!

[kentokanazawa]

OMG.

What the hell is that harmonics progression!??

It's fast!!!

[marcgravelballer]

It's a shame you can't hear the harmonics that well. I had the priviledge of seing it live the other day, what an experience.

[JustMyJuice]

Don Ross... I'm sold.

[MrMinhtien]

i love beneteau fan fret guitar!

[hyackje]

what  is your tuning?

[MrTaylorN]

@hyackje EBDGBE

[MrTaylorN]

@MrTaylorN (the tuning I just gave is what it would be on a standard pitch guitar. He uses a baritone for this song. If you have a baritone all you do(when it is in standard baritone tuning)is tune the 5th string to the 2nd string. Baritone standard tuning is a 5th below a standard pitch guitars tuning.)

[metalmatthias]

I tink thers sumtin rong wit my monitor. da frets looks wierd lololol roflrofl brb jk

[MrTaylorN]

@metalmatthias HA! He said exactly that in a joke last month when I saw him. Thats great.

[xxxslayerxxx666]

@metalmatthias hahaha i think i see what your talking about, the right side of the fret board tilts to the right, and the left side of it slants to the left!!!

[RyanSchell8String]

@xxxslayerxxx666 The guitar is just melting

[HEREoverHERE]

Unearthly

I can not believe my ears

[lucasjacobclark]

sorry was not thinking that was stupid to say i love your music when you play it paints a story for me its better than t.v and books

[lucasjacobclark]

he most beat it all night

[QuiChiYang2]

All genius's have an unbelievable command over their artistry, this dudehasdemaddest skills wit a guitar, he kills this thing, all these compositions we are privy to hear come from this man's soul. Could you imagine being this for a second, I couldn't even contain myself and yet Don, right here expressed it with this tool, the freak'n thing is smok'n after he's finished. I think the robot here is the guitar, and he fuck'n programmed that damm thing straight. Freak'n Whooh! Dammmmmmmmmmmmm!

[DBoVolente]

WORD!

:D

[TimmeyGER]

amazing :O

[danesopeezy93]

whoa

[ftreww]

Hey, don't overact now.

[josinho2]

fricking fingerstyle....

[L0wps]

I JUST GOT THE CHILLS SO BADLY listening to this song all by myself at night. the "robot monster" is such a seemingly bromidic, yet surprising POWERFUL and FRIGHTENING idea. i can literally feel the concentrated rage, confusion, and "monsterness" embodied in this song. what an intense, moving, disturbing piece of music. THIS IS ART.

i'm going to bed before i'm too scared to turn the lights off.

[penn4tennis]

Really? While reading your description, I imagined some'n that might come out from Dexter's Laboratory...

[Salami730]

Check out the amazingly awful B-movie for which the song/album is named.

[KhaoNeu]

@L0wps You must be high. lol

[Meerkatkid14]

hey, he has the same guitar that andy mckee has. at least 1 of them

[LoafofCat]

I think the song is about himself, cause it'd take a robot monster to play like that

[marcgravelballer]

@LoafofCat Actually it's about crappy old horror movies where the monster is a dude in a gorrila suit with a deep sea diving helmet. No jokes lol, he gave a history behind each song he played at a concert the other day :P

[bkink34]

kinda weird but what ever.

he got some SKILLZ!!!

[L0wps]

just watch that right hand go.... holy cow

[hollowsguitarist]

this blew my mind

[MrTaylorN]

HOLY HARMONICS!!

[melosmtd]

pure awesomeness. i go to plattsburgh state (hour south of border and montreal) hopefully ill get to see him sometime soon

[ghestalz]

this guy is a monster.

[coooolibri]

wenn er zupfen würde...

am daumen hat er ein... ähnlich wie plektrum

(genauen begriff kenn ich nicht)

und mega lange nägel^^

[oskybrandon]

muy bueno!!!!!

que viva la musica clasica

[paddawahn1986]

Das Lied ist jetzt nicht unbedingt mein Fall, aber sein Zupfmethode ist einfach phänomenal!

[urudufusmisrael]

Art!

[Belfire4]

hahahaha whaatta BEAST

[JPriceless101]

Fingers of fury! Don Ross is mind blowing. Even if I sold my soul, I'd never be able to play that well.

One of the many greats in the Candyrat Records family. Never can get enough of Candyrat.

[house1918tyler]

GET'EM DON!!! yah thats right, wheres the covers for this song??? lmao

[jkshoujk]

If you think about it, his live versions are a cover of his own song :).

[maugbj]

or they're not

[DragonsSpirit]

frets fanned, don talented...happy end

[rocketman676]

charlie hunter plays a custom novax guitar based upon the same principle with fanned frets, except he has 3 bass strings and 5 guitar strings.

i've never seen an acoustic with fanned frets though.

[acoustified1]

the frets are slanted its a custom baratone the lower frets need to be wider to resonate properly

[Drumtome]

Such a sick song, and the song name just sets me into a trance and i start imagining shit. :) SWeeeeeeet song.

[gooooooble]

is it just me or are the frets like slanted?

[frederickbauer1]

Fan fretted guitar. It basically allows one to maintain a normal scale length on the high strings whilst having a relatively longer scale length on the bass strings. Thus you can tune the bass strings to very low pitches whilst maintaining the standard pitch on the high strings giving you a larger tonal range on the guitar.

[frederickbauer1]

The frets are slanted in order to maintain correct intonation for the varying scale lengths of each of the strings.

[xp1teusx]

lol... its true.. they are slanted.

[joohj1187]

they are slanted. I just saw him yesterday and apparently it's a new type of fret system that's based on the idea that the lower strings get sharper as it plays higher up the fret - it's supposed to reduce that and allows higher strings to be tuned lower.

[mongooseblackdiamond]

shit me

is he using a thumb pick?

[moonturkey]

No.

[chadography]

most perfectly tuned guitars.. fan'd frets still amaze me. too bad i havnt gotten a real chance to sit down and play one.

[SretsnapLrak]

this might almost be my favourite don ross video

[Fmassura]

The best right hand ever..

[jkshoujk]

No kidding; it must have a mind of it's own! I'm surprised Discovery Channel hasn't considered making a documentary on it.

[L0wps]

how do you know he wrote this right after his wife died of cancer? i'm just curious =D

for the record, i dont think flaming someone for saying they think the song is repetitive is right. he gave his opinion and he didnt do it in a demeaning manner. whats wrong with that? he has a different taste.

i also think the song is a little repetitive. but it's obviously the way don intended it sound. and it sounds great.

[scimindd]

Amazing!

[Twonez]

Very cool, but it's a little repetitive.

[whouston33wh]

Its all about the emotion put into it. It's about all the feelings he had after his first wife died of cancer. You gotta look deeper!

[hyoni0314]

My brain is thrilled by this music.

What an awesome playing!

[buckleyboy666]

I never used to like this song much :) meaning i didnt dislike it, but slowly and unexpetcedly it really speaks to me now.

I gave this song a chance and in the end it got me. Im glad i dont dismiss things on first impressions.

Thinking about it, all the music i really love after years of listening,, i wasnt bowled over the first time i heard it. Pop music however.....

[Merceval]

Hey man, that's wisdom !

Be sure far away from you (France) someone is thinking exactly the same ;)

Anyway, what and right hand on this man !

[grrl4jesus]

What a right hand indeed. Hey how did you hear about Don Ross?? I saw him perform near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Has he been over there to France?

[Merceval]

I've learnt about him via the web. But be sure that if he comes to France, i'll be there ;)

[grrl4jesus]

This song is perfect for playing TETRIS to!

[kanapatipulai]

don ross is the greatest guitarist EVER!!!!

[bmxer9410]

the virgin diaries

[stevethepilot]

In the words of Bob Brozman "you play well, but how does it sound?".

[Goof995]

I don't get it. :|

[Lolalovesamba]

Keep listening and keep taking the tablets

[crunkykong]

...exactly as it should?

[whouston33wh]

hell yah!

[whouston33wh]

this sounds the way he wanted it to. He's not trying to show off. He wrote this song with a ton of emotion, right after his wife died of cancer. So you ask how does it sound? It sounds like constant pain, anger, fear, discomfort, unsettling, disturbing, and overwhelming. You used that quote for the wrong song, bud

[jkshoujk]

True that! To me, Robot Monster implies that maybe he's lost a part of his heart, seeing has how Robots don't show emotions.

[whouston33wh]

yah thats true. Good connection.

Don Ross wrote on the comments for this video and said that is was not meant to impress and was not meant to have a melody. It is supposed to be the way it is.

[WALRUSGooGooGooJoob]

I remember when you and andy were here in hawaii and you were saying that people always said it was repetitive, for the record I still don't think it is.

[yulittle03]

wow u lost alotta weight :D

very good for you my favorite acoustic guitar player =]

keep on writing these amazing songs.

i love your "michael, michael, michael"

freakin awesome song =]=

[kratoserick]

lol, omgosh he ended up tired at the end of the song, now that's use true power xD, kickass song

[Kemmitt76]

Don that is really, really, great! I always keep tabs on what you're up to. Very inspiring...I only snake a few licks here and there...lol take care man

[Merceval]

Quelle main droite ! et quel feeling !

[kruczyy]

That song hypnotises

[crazylamprey]

I dont know what emotion that is, he should definately write music for science fiction!

[justsayadamnname]

i bet if you were on acid (im just saying this as a joke) i bet this song would make it seem as if your head was gonna explode haha

[lilmark816]

Lol i bet it would ill try n next week when I get it some from the lab

[feal2]

This song is all intensity, incredible.

[raaen1000]

its called a fan fret guitar, the frets are like that to help the sound of the lower strings ring truer.and "yes" it is strung as a baritone guitar because he uses a hundred plus tunings to play.

[lilmark816]

how old is Don's wife brooke?

[collywobblemac]

haha what kind of question is that?

[8005219319n]

holy shit !!!

[THATS1CK]

hey guys there is this hilarious movie called robot monster search it on youtube--its effin funny so check it out it is a old movie

[Jornibo]

What's amazing is his right hand that he's picking with. The chord progressions wouldn't be too insanely hard but the isolation he has between his fingers is insane.

[orlandofantasma]

i think he has a nail pick....i don't know the name of that in english...i call it nail pick...you know ?

the kind of pick that goes in the thumb ?

maybe i am wrong...

peace !

[sarngiber]

Thumb pick perhaps?

Also I'm fairly certain he wears fake nails on his right hand

[BlakkDuv]

thumb pick and long fake nails like antuoine dafour or however u spell it

[Dgc2003]

If anything its the other way around, Antoine Dufour has a thumb pick and fake nails like don ross :P

[collywobblemac]

antoine uses real nails except for the thumb pick

[Dgc2003]

@ Collywobblemac

In Antoine's FAQ video he explains that he used fake nails

[collywobblemac]

o ur right. his look really real tho cuz they are fake nails instead of ping pong balls.

[garchetto]

hey how do you use ping pong balls?, i`ve never heard of that, but i`m interested.

[CristyS89]

you know there's a specific way to hold your left hand on the neck in fingerstyle, like in classical guitar.

[6Hellbilly6Deluxe6]

well. don holds his left hand the same way i hold mine ... and i play electric ... (metal.. and John Petrucci's stuff)

[CristyS89]

yes, well, i see a lot of people wrapping their hand around the fretboard, and i do it myself when i play electric blues and stuff...

[jupskids]

don ross is the fuckin best

[AstromartienAberrant]

Is it me, or are the frets of the guitar at the end (low tones) of the fretboard not parallel?

I noticed the same in the duo of Ebon Coast... But maybe it's just an optic illusion...?

[llikkill]

yep... frets are not parallel. Since that's a baritone guitar, to help get the low tones exact the frets are that way. think of a piano, the lower the string of that note is, it's actually longer so this guitar emulates that for a more accurate tone by siding the frets a bit.

[DJReiko]

Yeah, they call it "Fanned Frets".

[DedHedJosh]

Yeah it's a different style of guitar...and it's not a baritone like someone posted. Baritone has parallel it's just a fifth deeper. This is guitar is used a lot with jazz stuff because of the stretches you can make with it...Charlie Hunter plays one...and well so does Keller Williams on a couple of songs.

[BlakkDuv]

ben kweller?

i thought he always used that gibson humming bird

[altstorm118]

well, not really - it'll probably just be 5 lines and written over them will be "Improvised - (watch don ross)"

[L0wps]

yeah they really dont look parallel...

i wonder how that would help his playing

[xis333]

has to do with intonation with lowered tuning,which he uses alot

[delomalonicon]

The sheet music for this is probably hilarious.

[yurith182]

omg , when you look at him at the end, you can see this has a releave tot play, all his 'cropped up' ( right word?) emotions just went straight out! Absolutely amazing!!

[G0D666]

i think it was just a really hard song to play haha

[falln2chaos]

whao! this reminds me of secrets of evermore

good ol days :)

[BlackTopRevival]

Good God!Ijust pooped!

[BluesBrother93]

One day I wanna be like you Don (:

[cantalapdance]

Saw Don play this song last night in Woodstock, Ontario, CAN. Seeing it for reel up close is pretty intense. He set it up by stating that he wrote it during a difficult time in his life when his first wife died of cancer and then said, gulp, and now "I am going through another difficult time in life - I am burying my son tomorrow who died of an overdose." You could of heard a pin drop.

[deathbog0007]

wow

[BONOUTUBE]

GEnial, sonido embrujado

[tomdotcom88]

so wicked@ words cant describe it

[Edoss1]

He finally wrote a song about himself. Yes Don, you are THE Robotic Monster about which you write!

No, that was fantastic. Really felt a lot of pent up emotion coming through. He wrote this shortly after Kelly died I think, so he was probably pretty close to emotionally exploding. Bravo!

[basstremor]

is that an LR Baggs M1 Active he's using?

[fantom919]

wow..can't imagine what the sheet music would look like for this song...haha

[delomalonicon]

lol i agree

[beanozez]

The pure precision and attention to deal would make any classical guitarist smile. A very raw tune. There is definitely a place for this one in his legacy.

[TheCrispenator]

I think a lot of the appeal is in the mechanical groove, with just ever so slight changes in the tone and phrasing.. like good trance on acoustic guitar

[terryosh]

A lot of people have commented somewhat negatively on this song, saying that it was unimaginative or unemotional - mechanical. Actually, I think the song is full of pent-up emotion - just on the verge of blowing, like having your engine revving on the inside. I believe this was written after right after his wife died. Seems to have an incredible amount of energy, but not expressed in the usual lyrical way that most of his music does. I thinks that's the beauty of this song - it's authentic.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox65]

I got the feeling of the song within 20 seconds of it starting, to be honest I find it hard to believe that anyone would interpret it as mechanical at all...

[lubu525]

his wife brooke is still alive and kicking and playing guitar and singing but other then that yeah ur right

[ualbanychemist]

yes but thats is his 2nd wife his first wife kelly died in 2001

[terryosh]

Brooke is his second wife. His first wife, Kelly died in 2001 after a long, difficult struggle with cancer. She was a gifted musician, and mother of his two daughters.

[ssjraven]

The fanned frets are not to have lower notes on any string. Its purpose is to attain better intonation across the entire fretboard

[tp500]

Thanks for straightening that guys facts out. People could read his comment and go, yeah, I know what fanned frets are. I hate when people lie about things they don't know anything about...obviously...what would the fanning have to do with lower tunings? Lol.

[yumpin]

uh yeah he was right, because the scale is longer on the bass string, therefore more tension is required, therefore you can tune the bass string lower without getting rattle, and yes it does give better intonation for each string.

[Minekom2007]

how many years of training before playing like this....

[A5p3r07h]

umm....ok

[superlobao]

I dont know why, but that song remminds me of another song from Dave Matthews Band that i dont remmind the name. lol!!

[jamesdouglastx]

why does this guy get 2 thumbs down. makes no sense youtubers!

[ehsanul]

i'm a big Don Ross fan... but gotta say, didn't like this piece at all, his other songs are wayyyy better IMO

[RickChimera]

I agree.

[wimale55]

Amazing !!

[tgarepjans]

wow... he frets arent parallel.

has anyone else noticed that?

[skyseye]

yeea wow! it must be very difficult to addapt to those frets i guess... or maybe it's just an optical illusion

[llikkill]

That's a special baritone guitar that Don has. To get the perfect tone in the Lowest strings they have to be longer (like in pianos and other string instruments) so this guitarr emulates that by giving an angle to the frets.

[napalmmice]

It's actually a fanned-fret guitar for quicker movements up and down the fret board during fast left handed work, like arpeggios.

[Spauchi]

It´s special built for Don from Marc Benetau...a canadian who makes all guitars for Don

[napalmmice]

It's a fanned-fret guitar.

[MetabaronIsnogood]

It's called fan fretted guitar. The purpose of this, is to have the low strings, able to handle LOWER THAN USUAL tunings.

[JANCAKJLIERDJGKLAJFK]

nice nice man i love it :)

5 stars ..

[kcilegless]

has he lost weight..... you look healthy and great...btw amazing

[criminalcopkilla]

yeah tis is pretty sweet!!!! i really like the song godzilla by don... and i really want to see a video but i cant find one!!! damn it!! can anyone help???

This song