Added: 5 years ago
From: type3secretion
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  • You can feel this open your soul

  • august rush :D

  • Love this.. the dynamics in his playing is amazing..

    Legendary player..

    R.I.P Michael Hedges.

  • chills!!!

    

  • first time I've ever seen or heard of mr. hedges. sufficed to say, I will be spending the next 3 hours watching everything i can find of this guy.....wow! How is it I have never heard of him before?

  • Look up Beethovens life mask. It is Michael Hedges. Almost indistinguishably. I don't think it means anything, but it's certainly interesting, especially given Hedges love of classical symphonic music.

  • omG ! amazing ! <3

  • this man is legendary

  • i have learnt this song and can play the notes, but i will never be  able to do it quite like him. playing along with it is a surreal and wonderful moment

  • the man was possessed by an ancient indian

  • thats wird... awsome

  • thats my name !!!!!

  • kaki kings version flows way bettter, and is more relaxing. THIS IS JUST PASSION AND PURE AWESOMENESS! ALRIGHT!!

  • @otty2800 Wow. I listened to Kaki King for the first time earlier after listening to a whole lot of Michael Hedges. I mean absolutely no disrespect but it practically hurt my ears. She may have potential but boy, she ain't no Michael Hedges.

  • @andrewkeen24

    Right on,her attempt at Preston Reed falls way short. The sad part is that Preston Reed is a master at perhaps his own style, yet in some of the almost obtuse ratings(lol), King is rated one of the best guitarist of all time. While there are certainly amazing guitarists these days,and some get views of millions,it's sad again that videos of true creators(Hedges) only get scraps.

    MIchael Hedges is an anomaly,there will probably never be an influence on the guitar like his again

  • @ZOMBIELANDakaUSA I tend to agree. Honestly the level of playing that people consider virtuosic nowadays is pathetic.

  • @otty2800 And her version just sounds like a pretty good cover, that's about it.

  • The people who dislike anything by Michael Hedges is obviously retarded!!! They don't know their heads from their A**

  • WHOLESOME AWESOMENESS!!!

    Michael is my favorite acoustic player bar none...

    Namaste

    Kensho

  • should be called 'making me happy'

  • Pure Passion at its best! What an Incredible interpretation of skill and music! Sounds like two guitars playing!

  • what an inspiring player! truly one of the all time acoustic greats. I have covered this beautiful song in tribute to this great man here : /watch?v=yHJEI9k1m2s

  • Я открыла для себя Майкла недавно.Удивительный музыкант и артист! Восхищаюсь и наслаждаюсь его музыкой.Жаль.что его нет с нами.

    I like Michael Hedges,I enjoyed him,I sorry, that he don` t with us.

  • there's this really strange moment when you're a player....everything just goes right....all you can do is smile because you're surfing. Nothing smug or fancypants about it....the whole thing just makes sense. It's an incredible joy

  • @Rikk303 best quote i have seen on youtube in years

  • @nmcc69 Strangely enough, got a really bad reaction to a quote I made concerning Johnny Marr along with your positive vibe when I opened the Mailbox..I love balance!

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  • @ perp,rock on !!,@electrice:),so true,all we can do is reap what he left us

  • Today is the first time I hear from Michael Hedges, I've been hearing this song on and on from 9:00pm to 2:40am. Unbelievable.. I've been waiting all my life to hear this song and see this guy performe it.

  • kaki king is a good guitarist, but NEVER EVER like Michael. By the way, its nice that she did a maybe more complicated cover, but she kind of ruined the happiness and feel about it. You can feel its not s song by michael. but shes good dont get me wrong, just that, she killed michaels passion in that song.

  • @pinchosalcarbon she ruined the ending thats for sure.

  • My god, his dynamic control is just awe inspiring. Even at that pace, and with such difficult material he's completely in control of his instrument. 

  • I was placed in a mental hospital and now all connection i have to the world i lived in before is my Beyond Boundaries cd by MH, my stereo and my 300 dollar acoustic guitar.

  • RIP Michael. Awesome

  • This performance is one of my favorite of all time.

  • Micheal would say there are no bounderies to anything ,only the bounderies you make up in your mind ..

  • How are Jimi Hendrix / Eric Clapton, etc better than this guy ? I don't understand . What am i missing here ?

  • @brobro565656 Don't drag Hendrix and Clapton into this. They play totally different music.

  • @ManosOfTerra they both play rather obvious riffs on Strats, this is a bloke playing a Martin acoustic though...differently...tuned otherwise and played oddly time-wise

  • @Rikk303 I mean't don't compare Hendrix / Clapton with this guy. I didn't mean comparing Hendrix with Clapton, because they play almost the same style of music.

  • @ManosOfTerra and there shit

  • @Ryanoh44 Well.. So are you but who cares, right?

  • @ManosOfTerra obviously you do lolol

  • "Hedges was left-handed but played right-handed guitars."

    This guy wasn't a human being. Lets cut the bullshit. WHO writes LEFT handed but plays guitar RIGHT handed. Absolutely bizarre. Personally, I have accepted he wasn't human. I will let you all decide for yourselves......just listen to the song, r u kidding me ?????

  • @brobro565656

    It's not that uncommon... I write left left-handed but play the guitar right-handed. I guess I'm some kind of fucking robot or something?

  • @brobro565656 I think more people thank you think actually do this.

  • @brobro565656 i am left handed, and play right handed because my parents couldn't afford a left handed guitar for me when i was little. its how i learnt to play, and to pick up a left handed guitar is very strange for me.

  • @chrisshootsicd paul McCartney played a right handed Martin on his Mull of Kintyre vid. The scratch plate being uppermost is a bit of a giveaway!.....and he's not short of a few pennies!!!! Just get the guitar you want, fit a new nut and mirror image the scratchplate

  • Man this guy gets so into what he does. It's Insane.

  • The original is on an album called "Taproot" -- that I think he won a Grammy for (or was nominated for one). Either way, it's superb. On stage at the Iron Horse in Northampton, for the last few bars he started spinning on one foot -- all while playing -- and missing not one note.

  • I'm wondering how you can dislike this...

  • I saw the video with Sungha Jung playing this, having never heard it before, and I didn't like it. It's pretty cool to hear Michael play it, and sort of get to understand it, hearing how it should be played.

  • MAN this is someone who puts the their heart and SOUL in the guitar! I see now why he calls it ritual dance he dances w/ the guitar! lol ;p its all in love im just now learning the guitar and this song is on the list!!! RIP mikey! you forever live on through us playing your beautiful music!

  • Micheal past a few years ago ...dude

  • @Electrice yeah I know ...just giving him props and respect thats all :)

  • Balancing disaster

  • ....also listen to Leo Kottke's "Busted Bicycle"

  • Look at the person bobbing back and forth in the lower left in his seat at 2:33

  • awesome

  • @erlinetitchener93

    Do the funds go to his family from there?

  • He was the best. I remember seeing him at the New Varsity in Palo Alto when I was in Highschool in the early 80s. We had him to ourselves for awhile until he got famous and Windham Hill signed him. Saw him at least 10 times all for the cost of a diet coke as he was just playing for free. Those were the days.

  • Man! Michael.. what kind-of Godly conduit do you have? Amazing!... Meleasdaddy

  • WOW...

  • What about Tommy Emmanuel's "Initiation"? =)

  • @ABCM15 well said

  • Didn't know that Kaki covered his song. Love em' both!

  • Guitar has been through many phases in a short time.

    And throughout it there have been players that have been credited with the turning tides, and taking to the next level for the world to feed off and expand as it will.

    I fear time will almost forget Michael Hedges amidst the McKees and Mayers in the realm of acoustic guitar. Whoever controls his estate should really consider re-releasing some material . . "Artist Profile" and such . . I'll be first in line to buy a copy and share the joy.

  • No epic Will Farrel jazz video?

  • @MSTFreak yazz flute?

  • @me700gnomes This is baby makin music right here

  • Will Farrel can play the guitar like a mothafucker!

  • @MSTFreak haha im a jazz flutist

  • @MSTFreak Will Ferrell also plays drums for the red hot chili peppers :D

  • @ryushiRj38 and cowbell for blue oyster cult

  • Was he a lefty?

  • @7donkeys - Yes, he was left handed but unlike J. Hendrix, played right handed guitars -

  • The term Legend exists for a reason, and used sparringly for a reason. He is Lendary.

  • @gothicwitch87 Some people even prefer that feeling over sex (from what I'm told)

  • COCAineE

  • that was a martin d-28, right?

  • dance to this song.

  • A true genius.

  • He sure can play the shit out of that guitar. To me, the name of the song fits perfectly, because it makes me want to get up and start dancing uncontrollably, and I don't dance.

  • I just drill a hole in that shit and fuck it.

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  • @gringochucha dude, relax. without this song being covered for august rush, i'm sure a lot of the people here listening to this performance wouldn't know about this song. i'm not here to get into a fight about who did it better, king or hedges, because honestly they're both great arrangements..just let people use whatever avenue they do to find masterpieces like this. wouldn't you want more people seeing this and liking it so that maybe there would be less bieber in the world? i know i would.

  • @knolan15 Yeah, true.

  • I heard this song on August Rush and totally fell in love with it. I just found it today. It is such an amazing song!!

  • Do people even really know what this means to me ? R.I.P. Micheal . I've learned a lot of passion from him...

  • Do people even really know what this means to me ? R.I.P. Micheal

  • This is so intense and beautifull...magical...

  • My GOD ! how incredible was that !

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  • As soon as it started I was like "OH SNAP!" lol I've never heard this song before, it's incredible!

  • omg, this is great

  • so i blind folded myself ,to better listen to this wikked ass tune, and id have to say, this version is the tops for me ..i have yet to find a better version then this, and yet to find an artist that can even come close . and though i can injoy and respect kaki king's verion its still so far from the guitar god that is Micheal Hedges....

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  • An acoustic guitar god that passed into the heavens before we were ready.

  • a pure genius who dies way ahead of his time.

  • totally agree with you

  • @MrSHITEMISTER all geniuses seem to die ahead of their time :(

  • @drenvoroth1 And also seem to be born ahead of their time too.:)

  • Nobody plays it like the creator.

  • simply DIVINE!

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  • what r u trying to say,

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  • This song seems so easy, but honest to whatever higher being, it's totally not easy at all.

  • Can not forget 2002 when i was on the last day of a 7 day trip in barcellona, when i was just waiting to go to lunch i was walking around in a music shop where i found two cd of him.

    I had money only for lunch and a very light dinner.

    Needless to say i did not eat that day !!

  • True talent there. I only know of him through my father, who listened to his music when I was a kid.

    Wish I'd known more about him. When he died, I was barely 16 years old.

  • Amazing musician, I regret never having the chance to see him live (as a 15 year old). He also reminds me vaguely of Will Ferrel in appearance >.>

  • Man he surely was such a badass!

  • absolutely love it

  • This man is a God...

  • he brings an amazing energy to people when he plays. he is a great man and a great guitarist. i wish he was still alive so i could see him in concert

  • great song i listen to it everyday and it never gets boring

  • this song was in the movie august rush (a great movie)

  • @shadow16616 OMG I thought this soing sounded familiar xD

  • he plays it different in every video i see of him. pretty sick. liking the change ups. song doesn't need to be the same every time. depends how you feel it at the time.

  • @dubteenine

    there's a hole philosophy related to this in which musicians must not make a show based on a program, or based on any structure. Every gig must be different meaning maybe different instruments, or even formations, and of course, different arrangements of the songs whit plenty of space for improvisation.

  • perfectly balanced. not even a word is needed to be added to this melody.

  • 1990 and 20 years later no one even comes close to Hedges! Definitely a one-of-king guitar Master.

  • You can feel God in this... and see it in the way he becomes almost possessed by the music.

  • I feel more God in Fusion of The Five Elements for some reason, but I agree with you, it's in there.

  • then do it!!!!

    lol

  • no shit i will. even if it was hard i would learn how to play it cause it is an awesome song

  • cool!!!!!!!

  • its true it really isn't, especially for a hedges tune

  • A song that qualifies as "easy" for a Hedges tune is still pretty damn tough! I'm a mediocre guitarist, but I really don't see myself being able to play this without many more years of practice.

  • haha yeah no doubt, you might surprise yourself tho!

  • I've only played for like a year and I've managed to play a choppy version (actually the beginning sounds more like Hedges', near the middle it's more like Kaki's, and near the end it's more like Hedge's again)

    It's not actually as hard as you'd think, the tuning is just a bit wonky.

  • @iamthebyron

    Keep tryin don't cut your self down . You need to allow this to grow for you . Micheal and I where personal close friends .He would have wanted me to encourage you . it's all about how much fun and beauty you can find in it. Micheal complimented me on my talents years ago before his death . I miss him ,what a great talent and large loss to the world of music.

  • @Electrice What would Michael say about learning his music?

  • @hackingtime88 you are sorely mistaken

  • Is that a *pick* he's using in Ritual Dance? That's certainly enheartening! I can't grow strong nails so I'm stuck either using a pick or fingertips that make my steel-string sound more like a classical, and my classical sounds like a harp.

  • I'll omit the tired Michelangelo cliche, but he releases music that's already in his guitar. The instrument's geometry defines the composition. As much as he plays the instrument, the instrument plays him. The communion between man and wood is percussive, rhythmic. Like love. Thank you, Michael Hedges, for having existed. As a guitarist myself, I have learned.

  • He's great,as personality reminds me a lot of Neil Young on stage.

  • Your Music echoes trough time Michael.

    Rest in peace...

  • thank you Michael for what you gave to the world

  • Outstanding! Thank you for posting this.

  • first hedges tune i ever heard. certainly wasnt the last though! always my favourite though. :-)

  • they used this song on august rush!!

  • @pharaunn In which part? I want to look it up.

  • Michael is a hero and when I play in public , (which is not that often) I always cite Michael's influence on my playing. There are a few guitarists out there always worth mentioning. Andy McKee, Tommy Emmanuel, Presto Reed etc.

    Michael did use a chorus as a compositional tool, its worth checking out his book (co authored with John Strope) in which he is very open about his pick ups, effects, techniques and settings.

    The world has been a little darker since Michael died. RIP Michael.

  • The new acoustic guitar movement was clearly his invention.John Fahey,Windham Hill Records/Will Ackerman,Leo Kottke and Hedges were the cornerstones.I just hope that all these guys who ripping off his riffs everyday have that in mind and thank him.R.I.P. Michael.

  • Sounds like he's running through a chorus pedal

  • I think you are right but rack mounted. He is using a Jim Kaufman Sunrize pickup worth hunting down, simply the best soundhole p/u.

    Kind regards

  • Needs a bloody good preamp though. I've a Rane AP-13 and TBH it sounds pretty shit through it. It also needs some mid scooping (as Michael Hedges did).

  • Its the 2 higher strings tuned to C that create this effect

  • dude this was in the 90's. Who cares how he looks.. personally he looks fkn sweet. He has so much style in guitar too.

  • born2wreck, go back to watching your August Rush DVD. Some of us are trying to watch Micheal Hedges play his song.

  • this guy is new to me. everybody finds things at different times. He is absolutely amazing! Sorry I missed his time on earth

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  • He's not "raping " the guitar. His body is overcome with the emotion as he channels it through his guitar. Its called passion. If you've never had such a connection with an instrument and the music your playing, then no one can describe it to you. Its the most exhilarating feeling.

  • this is soooo true. it's so hard to describe. i agree with you, 100%.

  • @gothicwitch87 YES!!!!!!!! :)

  • that is so true brotha! @gothicwitch87

  • @gothicwitch87 .... Your american arent u?

  • @shwazz Yes I am, Why do you ask?

  • @shwazz You're*

  • @MrFaulconbridge Wow, you got me there grammar nazi. 

  • @shwazz It's basic english.

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  • @gothicwitch87 Jesus stop crying. Yapping on about a comment I wasn't even being serious about, and your telling me to lighten up? And that other guy was correcting a typo in one of my comments when really there was no need to get anal about the correct spelling of "you're" or "you". So is there any need to get annoyed over a tiny harmless comment?

  • @shwazz If you didn't think it was a big deal , and didn't mean it to be serious, then what the hell was the point? It wasn't funny and neither was it witty. and you just pointed out that "there is no need to get anal about correct spelling"..then seriously what the hell was the point of pointing it out? All you did was show you are prejudice. If you're trying to make a joke out of something, learn how to make one literally because you suck at it at the moment.

  • @gothicwitch87 Yeah your right, thanks for the pointers! :)