I encountered Jake Shimabukuro through his much-admired rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," a piece that went viral in YouTube's infancy. Since then he's toured with Jimmy Buffett and played the West Hollywood House of Blues, B.B. King's Nightclub in New York, Bumbershoot and popular TV and radio talk shows. He's a household name in Japan, where he's the ambassador for Hawai'ian tourism. His instrument has only four strings with little sustain and can cover a mere two octaves from middle C up, but that's close to the range of the average human voice. Thus, Shimabukuro has all of the popular music at his disposal.

Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on Jake Shimabukuro in the Music & Culture section.

JAKE SHIMABUKURO, 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 13, Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, $19-$69, 253.591.5894