Sixteen was a significant year in Andy’s life as not only did he discover the direction in which he wanted to pursue his guitar playing, but the direction he wanted to take his life in, and at first his parents were worried. He studied their techniques, listened carefully to their albums, explored the tunings they used, all the while trying to figure out, by ear, how they were achieving their sound and style.
He’s a huge influence on my style.”Īndy swapped his electric for an acoustic and started listening to such innovative acoustic players as Reed, Don Ross, and the late Michael Hedges. “His use of percussion and different tunings to play songs that would be impossible to play otherwise, made me dive right into modern acoustic guitar. “I went to see Preston give a masterclass in Topeka and was amazed at what he was doing,” says Andy.
Reed’s unorthodox technique of over the neck fretting and double handed work on the guitar neck, along with his left hand simultaneously strumming and performing percussion on guitar body, changed Andy’s approach to playing forever. However a major turning point came when Andy was 16 and he saw the extraordinary talent of Preston Reed for the first time. He took a year of formal lessons for electric guitar while his cousin Richard Kimzey showed him various “Eddie Van Halen techniques”. Most guitarists start learning the acoustic before graduating to electric, but for Andy it was the other way around. I asked for a guitar after I heard Eric Johnson doing an instrumental on the electric guitar.
“My dad gave me a guitar for my 13th birthday. “Most of Kansas is very agricultural, there’s a lot of wheat fields and cornfields and playing the guitar gave me something to do when I came home from school,” Andy tells me during our Monday morning interview. Then there is a third breed, those who possess rare and rich talent and who are prepared to learn, to work, and push themselves fully to explore their gifts, and by such effort, they, and we, both benefit.Īmerican guitarist Andy McKee is one who fits into this category and Galway will have a chance to see his magnificent abilities and hear his wonderful music when he plays the Live Lounge at The Radisson Blu Hotel on Thursday March 3 at 7.30pm.Īndy McKee was born in Topeka, Kansas, and playing guitar was a good hobby for a young teen to have in a place where, “there wasn’t whole lot going on”. Others have more modest abilities but strive hard, and by their efforts, make the very most of them. SOME ARE born with an abundance of talent but never fully realise their potential, letting their gifts go to waste.
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