Bonnie Raitt said it best when she was quoted as saying, “There was simply no one like him,” when speaking about Michael Hedges. That pretty much sums it up about the man who, back in the early 80’s completely revolutionized how the acoustic guitar can be played, and inspired thousands of guitarists the world over to rethink how they approached the acoustic guitar. Seeing Michael Hedges play, you couldn’t help but think, “I didn’t know you could do that with an acoustic guitar.” It was if a veil had been lifted from the collective minds of guitarists the world over. It was absolutely uncanny. The video below is of Michael playing “Rickover’s Dream.” This was the first song where he introduced using hammer-ons and pull-offs not just as a part of a phrase, but as a foundation for the entire song. Hammer-ons and pull-offs weren’t anything new, but this type of application of them had not been done like this by anyone up to that point.
The next video of Michael is a medley of three songs from his Taproot album. These show yet another side of his composition and style.
I’m writing this entry because now and then, I run across something that sparks my memory about Michael. You see, he died tragically in a car accident in 1997. Of all the people I’ve encountered in my life who’ve had a huge influence on me musically, Michael Hedges played a huge role; not from just a technical perspective, but also from the perspective of extension – moving past old paradigms and exploring new territory. He inspired me to look beyond my own perceived limitations as a musician to discover things I never thought possible. I’ve never stopped missing him.
Today, what sparked the memory was seeing Kaki King play on a YouTube video. Personally, I’m not really a fan of Kaki King – her music is just a bit too abstract for me. Compositionally, I just can’t “get” her music, because unlike Michael Hedges, there doesn’t seem to be message or thought to convey. To me (and remember, this is strictly an opinion), it’s as if she cobbles together a string of experiments – okay, I can do this, then add this, then add this, and return here. Good. That’s a song. Add to the fact that her technique is also only okay (again, IMO), and I just can’t get out my head that she pales in comparison to someone of Michaels technical and compositional genius.
If you’re interested finding more about this incredible musician, the best place to start in on the Wikipedia entry for him.
Guitar Gear 
I dragged my wife to 3 Michael Hedges concerts in our time, and I had the opportunity to meet him briefly when I worked for Taylor. You’re right, there was no one like him. The first song I ever heard that ever moved me to tears was “Menage a Trios.” from “Aerial Boundaries”
I love the final movement in that song with the flutes moving in and out of counterpoint harmony. That really was a masterpiece song. My favorite from that album is “The Magic Farmer.” That still brings chills…
Hedges has been a huge influence on my playing… He’s probably the only artist I never seem get tried of listening to. It’s a shame he passed away so soon. Just think of all the great music loss.
That’s awesome!!! I look for acoustic guitars for my boyfriend.And how to choose it.Which brands is the best ?I saw many web about this but your web is the best for me.Thank you.
Thanks so much for the warm regards! There really is no “best” brand in my opinion, only what sounds good to the player. However, there are brands that you can trust, and depending upon your budget, you can pretty much rely on their tonal performance.
On the lower price range, I’d definitely consider one of the Yamaha FG series guitars. Back in 1979, my father gave me an old FG335 which until recently I played all the time. Most were made of rosewood, but mine was mahogany, and it sounded like a total dream. Great guitar! In any case, the FG series guitars have really nice features (such as a solid top) and sell for under US$300.
Going into the midrange, you just can’t go wrong with a Takamine. I believe they have a real cheap series, but their typical starter model starts at around US$400 and goes up from there. The have some REALLY nice high-end guitars. Another midrange to consider is Ovation. I have one of the Celebrity models, and I’ve been playing that one for over 15 years. It has gigged with me and I also record with it to this day, even though it’s probably much worse for wear, it still sounds great!
Finally, going in to the upper price range, there are your Martins and Taylors, but also some smaller run acoustic guitar luthiers such as Santa Cruz that make superb instruments.
Hope this helps!
I had the priveledge to meet Michael when running the stage at an Alaskan festival in 1984. As a younger aspiring musician, he really changed the course of my music. Only saw him perform one other time at Red Rocks a year later. Hard to believe so much time has passed.
On guitars, I’d have to say that saving up for my own Martin HD-28VR was worth the wait. In the meantime, I’d concur with the recommendation on the older Yamaha FG and many Takamine models. I’ve also had good luck with a number of Alvarez-Yairi’s.
On a recent store survey, I thought the moderately priced Taylor 110 was a perfectly adequate starter in the $500-$600 range, but tend to find the Taylor sound a bit on the thin/bright side.
At the moment, I’m experimenting with a mid-range Breedlove that does pretty well under amplification. It’s got laminated back and sides, but still has some promise I think. I’ve played other Breedloves in the $800-$1,200 range that were really pretty good.
For me, it’s largely going to be “all about the wood”, although setup and bracing and a bunch of other issues will come to bear. The one thing I can tell you about my Martin is that it’s a very light and responsive guitar. Huge bottom, huge sound, delicate in some ways, but very alive.
I know that many favor the Ovations, but I just don’t know how you can get the same resonance without the wood. I’d consider some laminated models (like the Breedlove, for instance), but would be inclined to think you can find some real bargains in older solid wood guitars….with a little digging, to be sure.
Case in point: I’m getting ready to do a fret replacement and pickup install on an older 70’s vintage solid-wood Ibanez that shows some real promise. The owner guesses he only spent $200 on it and it does have issues….a bad refret that needs to be fixed, for one thing. Still, it’s got really great tone and (potentially) good action.
If I was starting from scratch, I’d just go play every guitar in the store…especially the used section. You just have to dig to find the nuggets.
BTW, appreciate your website. Keep up the great work.
Thanks so much! I used an Ovation for years, and it served me well. I loved that guitar! Ovation got the electronics right. And that has been the criteria for me: It has to sound good plugged in, as I play almost exclusively onstage, so unplugged is less of an issue. Case in point: My Fender Stratacoustic’s acoustic tone SUCKS! But plugged in, it’s a great-sounding guitar. Same goes for my Yamaha APX900. That ART system is incredible, giving me limitless tonal possibilities. Definitely worth checking out!
Hey Quilsaw, I was on the Solstice Board and was instrumental in bringing Hedges, Liz and Alex DeGrassi to Fairbanks. Were you at that Festival?
Would really like to connect, a bit.
Louis
Louis – Well, it seems I owe you a share of my gratitude for that experience 🙂 Yes, that was the concert. Hard to believe it was almost 30 years ago now. Are you still in the Fairbanks area? – quilsaw
I also use Altium professionally, and have been using it for about a decade too, and love it. I’ve only scratched the surface with Allegro & PADS (as my employer already had available licenses for both, so I had to justify the purchase of Altium), but from what I’ve seen they are more suited to a cleanly separated workflow where someone does design capture, then another does the layout, and the layout guy does nothing but layout, ever. As such, these tools have more in the way of “power features” but unless you’re spending years doing nothing but layout, you’re unlikely to be making good use of them. I find Altium has much better support for an iterative workflow, where I can change the schematics and libraries during layout and check things in layout and libraries during schematic design. Altium feels like one cohesive product, whereas the other tools from what I’ve seen feel more like a loosely coupled bunch of tools that you can use however you like. The later is of course more powerful if you need it, but since I only do board design perhaps 10-20% of the time, I appreciate something cohesively unified and simple to pick up again after a gap working on something else.