When it comes to rock groups, few are as well-known as Imagine Dragons.
Their song “Believer” is upbeat and meaningful, and has being used in many movie trailers and other media. Although it’s incredibly well-known, one guitarist decided to do a completely new take on it.
The guitarist was Eddie van der Meer, and his fingerstyle guitar cover of it is rocking the internet.
The video was posted on YouTube two years ago and has since reached 25 million views! Although fingerstyle guitar covers have become popular in recent years, this is definitely one of the best ones we’ve seen.
Who is the man behind this sensational guitar video?
For those who don’t know, van der Meer is a musical prodigy and a fingerstyle guitarist from the Netherlands. He started playing the guitar at a young age of 10 and buildt his audience on YouTube by arranging and covering all kinds of songs. Since then, he has built a successful career for himself and capitalizes on his reputation as a fingerstyle guitarist.
Van der Meer’s fingers can pluck, tap or do anything on a guitar.
In this clip, van der Meer performs his own arrangement of the song “Believer.”
He literally made his guitar sing in this video—clearly, precision and control are not a problem for him! Even though he was playing all the different parts himself, each part came out clearly and beautifully. He plucked the strings with dexterity and his fingers did a great job sliding effortlessly through the notes.
In addition to playing the melody, he also works plenty of tapping in for a little percussion.
His graceful string tapping added another layer of musicality to the piece. Each abrupt note he played using that technique made the song better and better.
Because there was no drum backing the song, he drummed on the guitar instead. The whole time, he performs the song without much difficulty, showing off his skills as a fingerstyle guitarist
Though the original is great on its own, his arrangement takes the song to a new level.
The arrangement of the song was unique in its way. Instead of the upbeat, hype-boosting musicality of the original, van der Meer made his arrangement serene and inspirational. His approach definitely attracted many people because of its freshness and originality—even Imagine Dragons would be proud of this version!
In the end, he definitely did justice to the song—and he might’ve even made it better.
If you liked this video, van der Meer also has plenty of other performances on his YouTube channel.
If you check his YouTube channel, he has plenty of instrumental covers of songs posted, each its own unique arrangement. Millions and millions of people have been viewing these videos. He even uploads some of his unique tablatures to the internet to share with people who want to play exactly like him.
As a humble and skillful craftsman of music, he gathered 24 million views and a total of 1.7 million likes on YouTube! Without a doubt, van der Meer is a skilled musician. He has his own website, and can be found on all kinds of different streaming platforms.
Thanks to Eddie van der Meer for this awesome performance! Be sure to watch the whole thing in the link below:
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