Guitar Friday: Unconventional

by M A N @roquesdoodle

(NOTE: Mike, I embedded the tagged videos. Thanks for keeping the blog going! See you when I get back from Portland - JR)

There are as many styles of playing guitar as there are players. But there are some who use the instrument in ways that leave the rest of us players just sort of scratching out heads and saying to ourselves, "How did you even THINK of that?"

I'm not talking about the kind of pyrotechnics that we've all heard before, but ways of playing that most guitar players wouldn't even consider. Guitar as a drum? Playing melodies with the tuning keys? Fretting notes by rolling your hand knuckle over palm? Never would have occurred to me. And yet there are players out there who reinvent the instrument just by the way they play it.

This is Ronnie from Botswana. I forget how I stumbled onto this video, but I just love how she uses every part of her hand to fret the guitar.

My next example is Andy McKee performing "Hunter's Moon." I don't even know how to explain the mastery over the instrument he has, so you'll just have to go and watch. Just. Sick.

Lastly is a guy named Michael Kelsey (and a fellow Hoosier). I first heard about him in college (oh so long ago). At the time, I thought I was all cool with my pony tail and Dream Theater sweeps until a neighbor gave me one of Michael's CD. I pouted for a week after hearing him. This was before the days of Youtube so I had no idea how he was doing what he was doing. When I finally looked him up on the internet, I actually had a chance to see how he does what he does. I pouted again. Here's his winning performance at the 2004 Guitarmageddon showdown.