Raul Midón Premieres "Pedal to the Metal" Music Video

Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of "Pedal to the Metal," a new song and music video by guitarist Raul Midón. The track is from Midón's new album, Bad Ass and Blind, which will be released this Friday, March 24, via Artistry Music.

Blind since birth, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Midón has been shattering boundaries in the jazz and pop worlds for the past decade-plus.

Midón, whose career began as a background singer for Shakira, Julio Iglesias and Jose Feliciano before his unorthodox guitar skills became known, has since collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves and Bill Withers.

As for his guitar playing, there's plenty to get excited about in "Pedal to the Metal" and the rest of Bad Ass and Blind. Midón is so respected in guitar circles that he was the subject of a recent Guitar World lesson by Dale Turner, "The Unorthodox, Percussive-Slapping Style of Singing Guitarist Raul Midón."

"Midón first picked up a guitar at age 6 and grew up in a household where modern 'classical' music was heard just as often as flamenco and Argentine folk," Turner writes. "One key ingredient in Midón’s percussive guitar style points directly to these roots, a palm slap approach derived from flamenco techniques and Argentinian rhythms, where the open hand is used to rhythmically 'pat' the strings over the sound hole."

Bad Ass and Blind is available now for preorder via iTunes.

For more about Midón, visit raulmidon.com, and check out his free workshop at Guitar Center in New York City at 6 p.m. today (March 23).