"Java Man" by Michael Hedges

Friends:

I'm pleased to feature the work of Michael Hedges again this month. There are always many twists and turns as the days of each month count down. Frankly, I had no intention of doing this piece but it got in my ear around the first of the month and I found myself unable to put the guitar down, finally feeling on track to finalizing a score after transcribing bits and pieces over the last 10 (or so) years. An unpredictable choice given my comments in the last poll, but the beauty of this composition can't be ignored and this will always be one of my favorite fingerstyle solos. For those waiting on some of the other suggested titles, I have a strong feeling a Salsburg solo is coming next month.

"Java Man" is among one of the last instrumentals written by Hedges before his tragic passing late in 1997. It was included on the album Torched in 1999, a posthumous release that intended to honor what was believed to be Hedges' concept of the album.

Unfortunately there is no publicly available video of Hedges performing this, and I am unaware of any live bootleg recordings that exist. This obviously posed a huge challenge while transcribing the piece. Hedges has such an extraordinary palette at his disposal in terms of technique, notes could be articulated with either hand, nearly every piece of his is in a different tuning so it's hard to get a sense of common chords or fingerings used, and percussive elements on the guitar could come from just about anywhere.

What can certainly be heard in the recording is his use of the "in-out" technique that he has used in so many of my favorite pieces; "Gospel," "Hot Type," and "Follow Through" are some examples. Although I'm not sure if I have captured every single element of nuance, I think this presentation is a great start. My main focus in this lesson is in helping fans of Hedges and this specific technique gain a better understanding of it's tendencies and how they are likely executed in the recording.

I would highly recommend watching the lesson video to get a better understanding of the techniques used in this piece, as well as more information regarding the symbols used in the score. To briefly summarize:
- Black squares at the bottom of the tablature stems represent some type of percussion on the face of the guitar. Historically, these symbols represent hitting the top with the palm of the hand which is typical of the in-out technique. I suspect Hedges is utilizing additional approaches to top percussion here.
- A rectangle with a diagonal line on the stem is a snare, the side of the thumb comes down on a string with enough force to bounce it against the frets of the fingerboard.
- A rectangle with a horizontal line is used to show when the right-hand thumb makes a percussive thunk on the neck of the guitar.
- Horizontal pink lines over the staff lines are used to show when the fingers should be resting on the string, a means of either stopping a previously ringing string or helping control the voicing of chords, so a string is not accidentally struck as part of a flick or a strum.

Please check the lesson video to hear some additional thoughts on the mechanics of the "in-out" technique. Hedges primarily uses only three right-hand fingers here, thumb, middle, and pinky. Using the correct fingers and mechanics is important to achieving the correct sound. Rhythmically, this technique often lends to a highly syncopated piece of music. That is, most of the chords will be occurring off the beat. Firmly grounding yourself in the technique will help with your rhythmic stability.

I tried to give as much detail as I could in the lesson video but realize there still may be questions, so please, post them below! The lesson video can be accessed here:
https://youtu.be/lBOHonhAFiU

The score is attached below. Enjoy!