Andy McKee

[Tubbs]

yeah i discovered this guy a while ago and was like WOAH. but after a while it just got old and after a few songs sounded pretty limited.

Welp. After watching all of his songs I started noticing that as well.

 

[affinityband]

Ya, still after re watching my father, it would take me a fair while to learn that.

edit: mainly cuz i cheat and usually only use three fingers and a thumb where as he uses four heh

 

[HoursOfDebt]

i tried to play that. all i can do is slap my guitar. god i suck.

 

[affinityband]

give it a while mate, its not hard when you get the hang of playing it upside down. The second ones harder..for me anyways.

 

[Jester-Race]

This guy is amazing. I can't believe he's from my home state, i'm gonna HAVE to go see him perform sometime. Talent is subjective, and honestly if he "isnt the best" it really doesn't matter. He's still amazing at what he does, and he makes great music.

5/5.

 

[affinityband]

not quite 10/10 though is it?

 

[Jester-Race]

Since when can you give a youtube video 10 stars?

 

[affinityband]

it was a joke.

 

[FerretallicA]

without watching it, its nothing really special. Its not even that difficult to do, beginners could do it with a bit of practice...

Spoken with true ignorance. With the exception of the overhand grip which is unnecessary for most of the song, he makes it look a lot easier than it is.

who the hell got 1st?!?!?!

This is the kind of skill it takes to come first. The Canadian Guitar Festival's fingerstyle competition is one of the better music contests going, both in terms of the sheer talent that enters and the objectivity of the judging. Andy McKee still did extremely well to even come second.

Reminds me of Kaki King, though I don't know shit about this kind of music...

Kaki King is a hack at best. Andy McKee leaves her for dead.

One of the better guitarists with a heavily percussive and unconventional style which helped pave the road for many of the above guitarists is Justin King (no relation to Kaki King ).



Another worth checking out is Bob Brozman who takes things to a whole new level. His talent extends beyond immediately obvious percussive flourishes and complex fingerings to include odd timings and poly-rhythms, slide techniques, vocals and various "world" music influences rarely embraced in Western music. He definitely takes a lot more effort to appreciate than the more immediately flashy guitarists above but he's well worth the effort.



...and of course Tommy Emmanuel owns all your arses

 

[annt]

The last one reminded me of Gogol Bordello.

Nice videos!

 

[affinityband]

Spoken with true ignorance. With the exception of the overhand grip which is unnecessary for most of the song, he makes it look a lot easier than it is.

Not at all Ignorance. Its just another way of playing, Just like re-learning the guitar. After a couple of weeks of practice it begins to sound correct. Tons of people did this percussive way of playing before he did in a much more skillfull way. John Martyn and rodrigo a gabriela to name two

 

[dwoakee]

This is the kind of skill it takes to come first. The Canadian Guitar Festival's fingerstyle competition is one of the better music contests going, both in terms of the sheer talent that enters and the objectivity of the judging. Andy McKee still did extremely well to even come second.

iirc in this competition it's not only the virtuosity that counts but also the expressiveness and emotion/feeling created. In this respect, Andy McKee really rules. I don't mind if Andy is the best, second best, or third best guitarist. He's definitely brilliant and has created some great tunes.

One of the better guitarists with a heavily percussive and unconventional style which helped pave the road for many of the above guitarists is Justin King

That video was kinda creepy! When he played that double-neck guitar with one hand on each neck it looked to me like there must be two people playing or he must be having four arms but just uses two of them ... does that make sense to you?

Another worth checking out is Bob Brozman who takes things to a whole new level.

Yeah, checked him out, really a great guy and guitarist! I watched that documentary from oc-tv which was also in the playlist.

When I found out about Andy McKee on youtube I immediately searched for other guitarists, finding Don Ross, Antoine Dufour, Craig D'Andrea, Eric Mograine, ... and generally noticed that there is really a load of great guitarists out there that you normally wouldn't find anywhere in your local record store ... it's a big universe out there ...

 

[naboo]

The king of this style of music. This is my favorite song by him.

Oh, and it's Michael Hedges by the way.

 

[FerretallicA]

R.I.P.

... and generally noticed that there is really a load of great guitarists out there that you normally wouldn't find anywhere in your local record store ... it's a big universe out there ...

Youl'l probably also notice that a lot of the killer unsung heroes of acoustic guitar (Andy McKee included) that you'll find on YouTube are already or ultimately end up signed to the Candy Rat label. Labels like Candy Rat and Magna Carta with consistently good artist registers are too few and far between so it's one instance where actually buying the albums is a worthy cause not only for the artist but the label as well.

Another great place to discover new talent is Tommy Emmanuel's "Tommyfest" where he hand-picks outstanding acoustic talents from all over the world to tour with him. I found Jake Shimabukuro and the absolutely godly gypsy jazz guitarist Joscho Stephan that way in particular.