Michael Hedges Guitar Seminar Part 1

[marko228]

By all accounts- he was a 'Lefty' that played guitar right-handed

[iowaozone]

Anyone notice he wrote on the chalk board with his left hand and plays right handed? Hmmm.

[laservius]

Did anybody else catch this? He was writing on the board with his left hand! Was he ambidextrous?

[type3secretion]

@laservius I think he was left handed actually, played guitar right, which gives some insight into his amazing left-handed techinques!

[musicalcoffeedreams]

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.

[1NewUser4Me]

so where can I get a VHS copy? I've got a nice usb transfer program i can make real nice copies....

[catamaranman333]

Beautiful!

[JackRoarkk]

where is the original of this?!? jeez!

[horacrux]

i love how he is tunning with his right and writing on the board with his left.He could not shut off. i saw him 2x in boston and it was some of the greatest playing/emotional stuff i have ever seen

[horacrux]

thumbs up anything micheal did.He is/was 1 of the true artists of our generation.Like jimi and lenon he pushed himself to the extreme and loved everyone else around him

[Cavin8r]

Hey, I remember this. lol, he was sort of a jerk, but either way he was cool about it and we all loved him.

[LHG1952]

Ever see someone replace a broken string while continuing to play the song? I did! Michael Hedges in a converted movie theater.South Hills Pitsburgh. Things like that tend to stick with ya. One of a kind!!

[studiomiracles]

Thank you. I remember everything he said that day. This was the greatest experience ever.

[K9Thundr1]

Imho, these students just don't get it. MH is telling them to forget what they know but they wrangle him into talking about what note come after what and how he trims his nails. Watch him play Aerial Boundaries. You get the sense that the guitar's geometry, not just it's tuning but it's physical shape, defines his compositions and that the guitar plays him as much as he plays the guitar. He communes with it, That's the joy. He wants you to develop your own relationship with your instrument.

[jazzpsalti]

@K9Thundr1 MH was quite understanding of this hunger for rudiments from the students, because without a doubt he was there once.

Of course the students don't get it... they're students!!! Many of them probably get it now :)

[cvand3]

Truly amazing! M is so missed

[Giuliozzzz]

greatest musician ever...

[mark1800]

shame, i'm sure a sound/video techie manipulate the right frequencies to make the sound a bit clearer and maybe even de-interlace the video or whatever... darn.

[mark1800]

holy fucking awesome - he just rocks out ragamuffin for those people as if his life depends on it. so inspiring as an instrumental acoustic player.

[southngirl59]

hey, anyone know his birthdate? thanks :)

[dsanzo]

just look for it in wikipedia

[1pick2sticks]

I wonder what he would have thought about all this digital music? Mp3 music.

[funnyandydick]

What song is he playing here?

[jazzpsalti]

ragamuffin

[SvenTwelve]

too bad he couldn't drive a car as well as he played guitar.

[metaloldman]

I can not thank you enough for posting this video. I had the chance to see Michael play live back in the day. What a loss.

[ruckerd2324]

wow! there's a seminar I would have given my left one to attend! What a great way to keep this Legend alive! Can you imagine how far he would have gone were it not for his tragic demise? THANK YOU for posting this seminar! RuckerD

[mchar69]

I have loved him since '85. This video is awesome. Thank You.

[ehsanul]

whoa, so this is where all this talk about using ping pong balls for fingerpicks and supergluing them to ur nails comes from.. i always thought you'd glue them to the top though, but he says it's to the underside of ur nail :S

[zxXTruMpXxz]

Actually when he breaks a string michael picks up his guitar to play it

[zxXTruMpXxz]

But he doesnt break it until part 5

[zxXTruMpXxz]

My guitar instructor is actually the one who taped this

[OmegasWill]

really? well please slap him for using the worst camera ever made..

[iamjezuzchrist]

LOL!!! Im playing a right handed guitar... ummmm let me write some stuff on the black board with my left hand. Did anybody get that lesson on ragamuffin?

[banjojambo9]

on the highway between cloverdale and albion is a turn just befor yountville the road is cantilevered in the wrong direction there is a very steep drop that goes down about 50 feet its easy to see how on a rainy day a car could easily slide right off the edge

[Gomtom1]

i love michael hedges and his music is unbelievable. great post. Also you people who are saying he writes left and plays right he only does that because he is holding his guitar and he would either have to take it off or knock it into the wall to write with his right hand

[Ricardo323]

HOLY CRAP! he is a lefty playing right handed?

geezuz. did anyone else notice that??? he wrote on the chalkboard with his left hand and plays right handed. i would hate to shoot pool with him if he was still around. love his music.

i'm sure he is smiling down on Don Ross and Andy Mckee

[thisisjustjeff]

I write lefty and play righty... it's just easier to learn something that is so widely accepted one way.

[CrazySnake1066]

I am also a left hander who plays right handed. It's not such a big deal. It's just the way I learned. It's not like I was doing anything I had to unlearn first. Guitar playing is a more or less unique experience.

[brianmi40]

Same here, but I'm a mix in many ways, guitar, Scissors, throw right-handed, bat and write left handed...

[SvenTwelve]

i'm totally right-handed, but i bat left-handed. i learned to throw a frisbee when i was very young (right-handed), so whenever i tried to hit a baseball, i always wanted to use the same motion. similarly, my backhand in tennis was initially stronger than my forhand.

[zacharyallen23]

Thanks for posting this. I wish more material was available. Surely there is a backlog of stuff (recordings, video etc..) that could be marketed. I wonder what the hold up is?

[type3secretion]

those running the estate (not his children yet) have been either uninterested or conflicted (in several possible ways)

[zacharyallen23]

I just don't get it. I know people would pay for it. I guess it will just take time...

[AlwaysAbiggerFish]

Start a petition to release it, we could all sign it

[idahostudios]

God, He was so amazing. It's really nie to see him in this type of setting.

I noticed that some people were taking photos....did you take any stills? It would be really nice to see a slideshow of some of the still photos from this session, as they would be clearer, visually.

But hey, I'm NOT compaling. Just wishing wishing wishing to see some of the photos from this.

Thanks so much for sharing these.

[type3secretion]

sorry, not my footage- got it in trading

[walkflydesign]

This is so GREAT! Thank you so much for posting type3.

John Renbourne uses ping pong balls also. The tonal distinction of the shape and length should be a grand ah-ha to many finger style players. Thanks again.

Didn't know Michael was left handed.

[guitargrinch]

This is the most awesome seminar keep up the good work type3!!!!!

[cosmothespook]

If you turn the bass all the way down on your speakers you can hear him speaking better.

[trafficjuzz]

please don't apologize!! it is only thanks to you me and other people can see so much of michael!! thank you!

[trafficjuzz]

wow ...it's such a pitty the quality is so bad..this footage is so unique and valuable..a can't understeand almost nothing..:(..

[type3secretion]

sorry - it is all i've been able to get my hands on; i'll definitely update anything i've put up if i can get better footage and/or audio

[mark1800]

assuming this is from vhs - but does it always look/sound this grainy, through a normal tv?

it would be super super awesome if you could try to re-upload these in better qual now that youtube does HQ by default.

thank you anyway

[type3secretion]

it's clearly from VHS from the look, partially degraded tape from overuse or poor storage; at the time it was recorded, there was nothing else; no point in high res, as the original is like this; i'd love to come across a better original, of course!

[mark1800]

so you don't have the original tape? cause then you could maybe try and c;ean it up a ltitle, i dunno... but if it's just a copied dvd/tape you have, and it already looks/sounds this bad straight from the source, then i guess there is no point.

[savagemyth]

This tape was circulated through fans in pre-youtube days, my copy is 10th-15th generation or more, as is this one...

[Twoosy]

did anyone post the Tuning for this song; also, is this musician still around today?

[mark1800]

he died in 1997... the tuning is DADGAD for Ragamuffin

[Twoosy]

Oh my gosh, how young was he and what type of background (family, schooling, hobbies, etc.) did he have?

[mark1800]

um, i don't know. ever heard of wikipedia?

[AlwaysAbiggerFish]

43 years old when he died

[johnnyguitar2001]

Wow. I was there for this...good to see it again.

[type3secretion]

that's amazing - so how did the class respond?

[idahostudios]

Hi there! Since you say you were there for this, I don't suppose you have ANY still photos? I see that a few people are taking pics. Please if you do, would you make a slideshow movie? See my message above.

[tommytheblade]

Anybody notice he wrote with his left hand?  Interesting...

[type3secretion]

yes, lefty who plays guitar righty orientation - might explain some of the agility with the left hand techniques!

[taproots85]

You truly are the keeper of the secrets type3.

[3eom]

Treasure, indeed. Thank you, t3s

[capo420420]

super thanks for posting .. totally looking at ragamuffin in a new way ..

[zacharron]

Wow, this is RARE stuff. Thanks for sharing!