Michael Hedges

     Most fans of rock music have a guitar hero. For many it's Hendrix, for others Jimmy Page or Clapton or Eddie Van Halen. My guitar hero is Michael Hedges. I'm hoping most of you know who he was, but for those who don't I'll tell you.
     In a previous post, I mentioned going through a New Age phase. This was during the late 80's, early 90's, when hair metal was dying and alternative hadn't quite taken over yet. I dabbled in meditation and Buddhism and started buying New Age tapes. I listened to Shadowfax, Kitaro, Nightnoise, Mannheim Steamroller and Windham Hill samplers. It was on one of these samplers that I discovered an unusual guitarist named Michael Hedges. He sounded like no other guitarist I'd ever heard before. His playing style was very percussive and his tunings were all over the map. I went out and found a cassette called Live From the Double Planet and a cd called Taproot. I played the hell out of them. I bought a guitar and wanted to learn how to play like him. However, I still suck at guitar and could never get the tunings right. Besides his violent strumming style, he also had an amazing ability at finger picking. And he had that crazy Harp Guitar. He started out as an instrumentalist, mainly because he was on Windham Hill. He railed at being called a New Age artist, preferring "New Edge" or "Heavy Mental". However, he really was kind of new age, yoga hippie.
     As his career went on, he added more and more vocals to his songs. Sadly, he died in 1997 when his car slid off a cliff in California. He wrote many brilliant songs, such as, Because It's There, Rickover's Dream, Aerial Boundries and Ragamuffin. He also performed dozens of covers, the best of which are All Along The Watchtower, Gimme Shelter and Come Together. If you've never heard him please check him out on Youtube. If for no other reason, do it to see him play the Harp Guitar. The term genius is thrown around quite liberally, including by me, but he really was. I would recommend Live From the Double Planet to my kids.  As long as I'm on the subject of guitar heroes, here's my list of favorite guitarists. Peace.

* Michael Hedges
* Alex Lifeson
* David Gilmour
* Jack White
* J. Mascis
* Pete Townsend
* Ronald Jones (Flaming Lips)
* Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
* Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick)
* Mark Knofler (Dire Straits)
* Steve Hackett (Genesis)
* Steve Howe (Yes)
* Peter Buck (R.E.M.)
* Ritchie Blackmore
* Chuck Berry
* Brian May (Queen)
* Rik Emmet (Triumph)
* Jimmy Page
* Tony Iommi
* The Edge