So that’s what I’m trying to do, just write really good music, not necessarily like, play six guitars at once or something (laughs). I’ve just been focusing mostly on using techniques and trying to come up with the best compositions that I can that are interesting to people, that they’ll remember and that they’ll have an emotional attachment to - those things that people really love about music that stick with them for the rest of their lives. McKee: Well, I guess the whole thing with YouTube and the song “Drifting,” the one that really took off, was me playing the guitar over the top of the neck and hitting the guitar body and stuff, but all those sort of pyrotechnics and things where you’re sort of putting on a show, I really try to use those things to just write good music. Hatchet: You’ve crafted a solo act that’s so novel in how it keeps audiences engaged - even people without an understanding of music can see your hands move and see the finger tapping and be impressed. But there is something about the more smaller audiences, where people can see you better, and the way that I give a show as well when I’m doing my solo thing, I really like to engage with the audience, talk and joke, and I like to be able to see their faces. On both of those instances, there were people really into it. McKee: I think so! As well as that tour, last year I also opened for a really great band that I’ve always loved called Dream Theater, so on those shows as well, it was really large audiences over in Asia. Hatchet: What was that departure like from small, intimate venues to arenas? Do you feel like your music translates well in that large setting? It was really an honor to play with him, he really is a musical genius and can play all kinds of instruments and it was just an amazing opportunity to play a lot of those larger audiences. We didn’t think it was real at first! He had discovered my music on YouTube as well, so I went up there to Minneapolis where his studio is and met him and a couple of the band members and just sort of played a bit together, and the best thing I knew, he wanted to tour together in Australia. McKee: It was crazy, we got an e-mail from Prince’s management saying he was interested in working together.
Hatchet: You toured with Prince last year on his “Welcome 2 Australia” tour.
If people are aware that they can get them from me directly and for a good price, it helps, but I’m sure I’ve been affected by all the other versions out there for free. McKee: One thing that I wanted to when I made those tablatures available on my website was just to make it really affordable.
#SYNTHESIA SONGS ANDY MCKEE FREE#
Is that a hard sell when there are a lot of free guitar tab sites with your music on it? Hatchet: You also sell guitar tablatures online. Pirating sort of takes the money right away from the artist that you like. I guess I try to make it obvious how it affects independent artists like me or artists that are sort of with smaller labels. I don’t really try to file lawsuits or anything like that, but I’ve tried to let people know that buying my music legally definitely helps me and my family, it’s a way for me to have an income. Hatchet: But with the online territory comes the trouble of pirated music and shared files. It was a crazy, freak thing but if you get on early and playing guitar in an unusual way helped me get out there in a big way. We had no idea it would kick off like it did, we were really pleasantly surprised with that of course. YouTube is such a huge website now it can be hard to maybe break out on there now.Īt that time I had just joined an independent record label that was focused on acoustic guitar, the kind of stuff that I do, it was their idea to put videos on YouTube, at that time I was just ignorant of what YouTube even was. I was fortunate to get in kind of early when YouTube was still pretty new. McKee: I don’t know if it’s critical, but it definitely helped me out. Has that kind of online forum been critical for smaller, independent artists? Hatchet: You came to prominence on YouTube. The Hatchet caught up with McKee to talk about music and the internet, jamming with Prince and topping himself with new EPs. tour at The Hamilton tonight at 7:30 p.m. His innovative approach has given him droves of fans on YouTube, earning him over 25 million views with tracks like “ Rylynn.” Rather, his fingers tap along the guitar’s neck, pat against the body and glide along the frets, using the instrument as a percussive tool as well as a melodic one. When Andy McKee plays the guitar, he plays more than merely the strings. Photo courtesy of Perpetual Media Relations. Famed for his innovative playing style, guitar master Andy McKee will perform at The Hamilton Nov.