to Schénberg. How did he craft such a singular guitar style from such diverse influences? “You listen to people, it goes into your spirit and then your spirit grows,” suggests Hedges be- tween bites of bagel the moming after two dev- stating sets at New York City's Bottom Line. He Ex. 1 J=ca.1es Em add9 Em7 ; BD pip mp oe Fingerstyle let vibrate uses a recently recorded duet with one of his idols, Pat Martino, to illustrate his point: “If you put me with an electric guitar in standard tuning and tell me to try to play a solo with a jazz band, Vltry to think of something of Pat’s that I used to listen to. It’s spiritually charged part of me that emotes Pat. But I dont do much of that—its more just listening to music and trying to cul- tivate that musicianship, rather than hands-on guitar work. I don't want to just play the guitar. Iwant to have ideas and live and enjoy music.” ‘Those sentiments may frustrate those who ‘wish Hedges would focus more on the revolution- ary solo acoustic style of his early-’80s recordings. But paradoxically its Hedges’ refusal to be solely a guitarist that elevates his solo acoustic work above mere fingerboard flash. His latest Windham. Hill album, Oracle, highlights his compositional Asus2, Asus2/G Fadd #1 craft, stylistic breadth and stunning solo style. ‘What inspired Hedges to venture beyond the acoustic guitar's conventional pick styles and tunings? “The first catalyst was Leo Kottke first record,” he recalls. “That got me into alternating bass lines. I still remember the first thing [wrote just after hearing Leo Kottke.” The standard tuned excerpt shown in Ex. 1 reveals much about Hedges’ formative take on Kottke/Travis fingerpicking, where the thumb thumps outa thythmically anchoring quarter-note bass line while the index and middle fingers play the ‘melody. Bars 1 through 4 are based on open-po- sition chords. Pull-offs are introduced in the fol- lowing Hand F¥ chords, and the E/G# ascends to the fifth position for the next A minor section, ‘The progression eventually cycles to the relative major key of G. Although the music is notated [Loe eee ed Am7 Fadd11“et vibrate,” Hedges pays meticulous attention to string damping to avoid over-ringing. “The second piece I wrote was a little bit ‘more spacey,” continues Michael, “I started lis- tening to a lot of Todd Rundgren, and I was try- ing to get those suspensions.” The progression in Ex. 2 does smell particularly Runty, a point Michael drives home by pausing on the A/G chord and belting out “City in my head,” the EG Ar wai 2 4 oo Disus4) DD G@) opening line from Rundgren's “Utopia Theme.” “The next catalyst,” he notes, “was Joni Mitchell—a whole different ball game, because she just went wacko with her tunings. She played a lot of open sounds with harmonics, as did David Crosby. The sonorities were all right there—I didn't have to contort to finger them. ‘That's what got me into that style of playing. I was also inspired by something Leo came up f DeyFR Dmajg/A AG