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Michael Hedges
By Ernesto | May 11, 2008
While I was In Berklee I got deeply into the music of Michael Hedges. I bought all his CD’s, got myself an acoustic guitar (yes, a Martin…) and tried to learn any song of his I could. But, as with all my phases, I soon moved on to other things (Mr. Bungle and Meshuggah, go figure), and forgot about Hedges for the most part. Sure I still listened to his music, but I got tired of the whole solo acoustic thing. I have a very short attention span.
Anyway, I recently started re-discovering his music and I have to say, I am still impressed. If anything, I appreciate it even more now than when I was a fanboy. There are a lot of great fingerstyle guitarists out there right now with terrifying technique, but as far as composition goes, none of them come even close to Michael.
He truly had a unique language. Somewhere between Renaissance, Modal, Contemporary Classical and Americana. The detail in his compositions is amazing. The textures, the transitions, the harmonies, I could go on…
To be honest, I was never crazy about his vocal music or his more new-agey sounding arrangements. But when it came down to solo acoustic guitar, no ones comes close, as far as I’m concerned. This guy was DEEP.
If you’re interested in Michael’s music, there’s a great book of transcriptions called "Rhythm, Sonority, Silence" by John Stropes with a lot of information on Michael’s technique, sound, and composition process; a lot of it written by the man himself. And it wouldn’t hurt to listen to Aerial Boundaries.
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May 14th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Ernesto, have you heard the amazing solo baritone guitar album by Pat Metheny, “One Quiet Night”? The guitar is a Linda Manzer bari, and he uses a modified Nashville Tuning - the D and G are tuned an octave higher (Not sure what those are on a baritone, as I’ve never even SEEN one). I think it’s the greatest solo steel string guitar album of. all. time.
There is exactly zero flashy technique on the whole CD - every tune is mostly subdued and introspective - but it is absolutely captivating music. For the first year or so after it came out, I listened to almost nothing else.
I’ve seen Pat perform in several situations over the past 25+ years - my previous favorite was his straight BeBop ensemble at Ryles in Cambridge back in the early 80’s (I was at Berklee then) - but “One Quiet Night” totally floored me. I had no idea he had that kind of thing in him.
Adios,
George
May 17th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
You know, I have that CD but never really sat down and listened to it. Don’t know why really. I should sit down and have a good listen one of these days.
That guitar does sound beautiful, though…