I clearly remember the first time I saw a video of Don Ross playing live on NPR performing "This Dragon Won't Sleep". It was almost a religious experience for me. He's just an incredible player with a unique vision of how an acoustic guitar should be played. This is a typical Don Ross song which showcases his ability to play bass and melody lines, slaps/taps for percussion, harmonics and horn parts...creating a "full band" sound all by himself on one track on acoustic guitar. About a year ago, my inner voice said "you'll never be able to play like that". I watched that video for weeks before I convinced myself to try and learn this song. I found Don's web site, ordered the tabs and some of his DVD's. I worked very hard at trying to learn "Dragon". I learned all the parts, but it just never sounded right. I ended up shelving it until a few months ago, when I finally started to get the groove of the song. The tuning of the song is very different: C-Eb-Eb-F-C-D. In the midsection of the song, I have to tune down the low C to a Bb (down a whole step) and then tune back to C to finish the song all while continuing to play without missing a beat! (almost )
This week, I also picked up a good 2 channel Art mic pre-amp and a set of MXL603's and decided to give it a whirl this morning. For the first try, I'm very happy with how the guitar (Taylor 314CE) recorded with the new equipment.
http://drrufftuff.com/Mike O - Mike O - This Dragon Won't Sleep.mp3
Let me know what you think!
This week, I also picked up a good 2 channel Art mic pre-amp and a set of MXL603's and decided to give it a whirl this morning. For the first try, I'm very happy with how the guitar (Taylor 314CE) recorded with the new equipment.
http://drrufftuff.com/Mike O - Mike O - This Dragon Won't Sleep.mp3
Let me know what you think!