John King

I'm guessing most of you who visits this blog already have learned about the passing of John King. He was a great ukulele historian and virtuoso in classical music. While I did not follow him like I did Jake Shimabukuro, I've always respected his music very highly. I've seen some of his Youtube videos and his skills has always amazed me. One of my favorite ukulele videos is Carol of the Bells that he played on a DaSilva Santo reproduction ukulele. I was very impressed by it the first time I saw it as it sounded great yet seemed so difficult to play. Now that I own one of those Santo reproduction sopranos, I appreciate John's virtuosity even more as it is definitely not an easy ukulele to play high up on the frets due to its shorter scale length. After seeing John's video for the first time, I wished that some day I can play this tune on this ukulele. Now I have the ukulele, but it may take a lifetime to try and learn to play it like him.

John King is definitely an inspiration to many ukulele players out there. While I have never met him or seen him play in person, it's not hard to see how much he was respected by the ukulele community. It's sad anytime when someone passes away so young (John was only 55), but he does leave with a great legacy and I hope his music will live on forever.