Alternate guitar tunings were nothing new in 1984. Many flamenco and folk guitarists deviated from the standard EADGBE, and of course John Martyn and Joni Mitchell were innovators whose own ingenious tunings aided their compositions.
But when Sacramento-born guitarist Michael Hedges recorded the title track from his album Aerial Boundaries – released 40 years ago this weekend – he created something new under the sun.
For a start, it’s remarkable that all of this sound came from one guitarist – no overdubs. He used hammer-ons, pull-offs, tapping (often ‘clawed’ or barred with one finger), finger-picking and harmonics to build up layers of counterpoint. The independence of limb is pretty staggering. This guy must have been a great drummer. And all performed on a bog-standard steel-string acoustic guitar (reportedly with heavy strings and a very high action).
Other contemporary guitarists like Stanley Jordan and David Torn used tapping and hammering-on to a great extent too but arguably never to the smooth, rolling, melodic effect that Hedges achieves.
‘Aerial Boundaries’ is certainly a jewel in the Windham Hill Records’ crown, and sounds completely unlike any of the label’s other solo guitarists. Hedges called it a ‘systems’ piece, a la Steve Reich, Philip Glass etc. The tuning is CC(an octave higher)DGAD but he pretty much used a different one for every composition. Most guitarists try a common alternate tuning and then noodle around until they find something interesting. Not Hedges. It seems the music came first, then the tuning.
It’s a real challenge to play and has inspired many YouTube cover versions – this guy has nailed it. Hedges made it look ridiculously easy when he played it live and sometimes even added in a riff or two from Iron Butterfly’s ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’.
Hedges’ music is frequently described as ‘new age’ but he was actually a big Prince and Genesis fan who died in a car crash in 1997 at the age of just 43. Arguably he never topped ‘Aerial Boundaries’. Happy 40th birthday to a solo guitar masterpiece.
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Great to be reminded of this, Matt. The album has drifted in and out of my listening over the decades, but I’ve never *not* loved it. Andy McKee played the title track in concert down here in Brighton a few years ago and I cried!
As for the “new age” tag, I always thought the harmonically speaking the album is as much “ECM” as “Wyndham Hill” – indeed at times it’s not a million miles from Metheny, if guitaristically very different of course. And listening to it as I prepare dinner this evening, prompted by your post, I’ll stand by that.
Lovely stuff – thanks for the reminder!
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Yes there’s a distinctly ECM-like reverb on ‘Aerial Boundaries’ isn’t there? Very different to other Windham Hill productions. I see that the album was nominated for a Best Engineering Grammy too, so apparently someone else noticed it… I don’t know Andy McKee, will check him out.
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Ooh, you’re in for a treat then – indeed, there’s a whole generation of acoustic guitarists following in Hedges’ steps! You might also enjoy Matt Greif’s brilliant arrangement of “Aerial Boundaries” for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duA8g6-vyyk
I’ll shut up now!
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Thanks for sharing but couldn’t get with that LA Quartet version… Seems to me it doesn’t benefit from a quartet version at all.
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