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Michael Hedges
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Michael Adam Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer and acoustic guitarist born and raised in Enid, Oklahoma. He is widely considered to be one of the best solo acoustic guitarists of all time. His music features his own unique performing style which features harmonics, fingerpicking, knocking and slapping.
Michael Hedges was a conservatory composition major who applied his classically trained musical background in combination with radical innovation to “reinvent” the steel string acoustic guitar. He combined many unusual techniques on the acoustic guitar with a wide range of musical styles, and was also considered a dynamic performer in concert - in short, a “Paganini” of the guitar.
He is known for extensive use in several pieces of two handed tapping techniques (nearly a contrapuntal style of multiple voices). He used the fingers of his right (typically picking) hand to slap harmonic “chords” at the 12th, 7th or 5th fret (or elsewhere). He made use of right hand hammer-ons, particularly on bass notes, and often used the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, as well as unusual strummings, that played, as mentioned, independent voices to the right hand. These techniques tended to convert the guitar into a quasi-keyboard like instrument for certain musical purposes. He also made extensive use of string dampening as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. Other facets to his playing were percussive slapping on the guitar body and extensive use of artificial harmonics.
Michael Hedges was a conservatory composition major who applied his classically trained musical background in combination with radical innovation to “reinvent” the steel string acoustic guitar. He combined many unusual techniques on the acoustic guitar with a wide range of musical styles, and was also considered a dynamic performer in concert - in short, a “Paganini” of the guitar.
He is known for extensive use in several pieces of two handed tapping techniques (nearly a contrapuntal style of multiple voices). He used the fingers of his right (typically picking) hand to slap harmonic “chords” at the 12th, 7th or 5th fret (or elsewhere). He made use of right hand hammer-ons, particularly on bass notes, and often used the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, as well as unusual strummings, that played, as mentioned, independent voices to the right hand. These techniques tended to convert the guitar into a quasi-keyboard like instrument for certain musical purposes. He also made extensive use of string dampening as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. Other facets to his playing were percussive slapping on the guitar body and extensive use of artificial harmonics.
Top Albums
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Aerial Boundaries
Michael Hedges
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Oracle
Michael Hedges Buy- Download Album
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Live on the Double Planet
Michael Hedges Buy- Download Album
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Torched
Michael Hedges Buy- Download Album
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Aerial Boundaries
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Rickover's Dream
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Bensusan
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Ragamuffin
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Because It's There
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Ritual Dance
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Java Man
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Ursa Major
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Hot Type
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Eleven Small Roaches
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Chava's Song
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Jitterboogie
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Shoutbox
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teckhi5 wrote:
check this out --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Aix07MLHE
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rickthelup wrote:
Salut la gang...j'ai rédigé une bio en français concernant notre ami Michael...une bonne chose de faite!!...Michael Hedges forever!!
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InASafePlace wrote:
Thanks to Erik Mongrain for making me discover this wonder...
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TheOnlyHelicon wrote:
Genious.
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haloinahaystack wrote:
amazing
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dirtbubble wrote:
Michael please come back
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jayakiran wrote:
R.I.P
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QQbone wrote:
God bless Michael, you are dearly missed.
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listener49 wrote:
Einer der besten Gitarristen aller Zeiten - überirdisch! Ich hatte das große Glück ihn live in Montreux zu erleben. Ein Musikerlebnis, das ich nie vergessen werde. Ich vermisse ihn sehr.
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timmyjbone wrote:
MH r.i.p you are the best
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harrykar wrote:
agree with Ashluke. He's spatial
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Ashluke wrote:
Not a human guitarist
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earaCarae wrote:
so good.
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her035 wrote:
wow.
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guybuttery wrote:
eish!
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wendell3 wrote:
Agree with dabigcheeze. Where's the love? Andy McKee gets way more!
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directorsulo wrote:
Aerial Boundaries is just awesome record but sound quality is sux
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dabigcheeze wrote:
Freshen up the comments box people! Michael Hedges is undoubtedly the most amazing guitarist who ever lived.
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Flipsta92 wrote:
A legend and a half.
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darqilem wrote:
Listen to http://www.lastfm.it/music/Dario+Chillemi it' s great
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Recent Activity
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zinaquas, dansail, fridge69 and 15 other people added Michael Hedges to their libraries. 1 hour ago
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Bagotti and zachawry added Michael Hedges to their libraries. 17 days ago
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concretica tagged Michael Hedges with guitar, acoustic guitar and acoustic. 18 days ago
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Groups (31)
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Michael Hedges
34 members
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Windham_Hill
39 members
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Fingerstyle Guitar
209 members
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Antoine Dufour
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Andy McKee
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