Andy McKee is arguably the most popular fingerstyle guitarist to emerge in recent years. His performance videos were featured on YouTube late last year, and - after receiving millions of views – are now some of the most popular music videos on the internet. Andy has also received various awards for his fingerstyle playing, including placing first in the Kansas Fingerstyle Guitar Competition and second in the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition. He has played with artists such as Don Ross and Michael Manring, and recently recorded with Grammy-nominated singer Josh Groban. Since 2004 Andy has released two successful solo albums on CANdYRAT Records, and he’s currently touring around the world in support of his music.

An Interview with Andy McKee

IC: This interview marks the beginning of InstruMentalCase.com’s coverage of fingerstyle acoustic guitarists, so thanks for joining me, Andy.

I’ve read that you were interested in some rock and metal music with progressive guitar playing before you were turned on to virtuoso fingerstyle acoustic music. You even cited Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, and Dream Theater as some of your earlier influences. Were you already a fairly proficient electric guitarist before you started seriously pursuing the acoustic style you now play?

McKee: Yeah I was fairly proficient, I guess you could say. I dropped out of high school at 16, got my GED, and played along with Eric Johnson and Dream Theater CD's all day. I had a couple of the transcription books for Images and Words, Awake, Ah Via Musicom, and I think the entire Satch collection. I could play along fairly well, it was fun. I still occasionally play along with the CD's for nostalgia, but I don't nail the licks half as well as I used to!

IC: I assume you used a flatpick back then – was it difficult approaching the fingerstyle technique?

McKee: Yeah I used to use a pick all the time for that stuff. But I actually started playing guitar with a pretty fair mix of fingerstyle and regular plectrum playing. The first two pieces of music I bought a few weeks before I even owned a guitar, were "Unforgiven" by Metallica and "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. Both of which feature fingerstyle playing. I also had a cousin who was attending a local university and studying classical guitar. He would come over sometimes and play something really cool that he learned in class. I'd always have him try to teach it to me or give me the music, which I would struggle with for days trying to read, but I would eventually work something out. So anyway, when I got really focused into playing and writing fingerstyle guitar, I already had a fair amount of experience with it.

IC: Did you learn from any particular instructional material, and do you have any recommendations for guitarists who are learning acoustic fingerstyle?

McKee: I never really did have much instructional material other than a few artists videos or books. These are my favorites: Preston Reed’s "The Guitar of Preston Reed" DVD, Michael Hedges’ "Rhythm, Sonority, Silence" book, and Don Ross’ "The Answer Video" DVD.

IC: A lot of fingerstyle guitarists go to great lengths to perfect and maintain their nails, so what – if anything – do you do about your nails?

McKee: Nothing actually. I only keep my thumbnail long on the right hand. The other fingernails are kept short on the right hand, so as not to interfere with tapping.

IC: Oh, and while we’re on the subject; how do you maintain that majestic beard?

McKee: Scotts™ Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer!

IC: You have some very beautiful guitars! Could you tell us a little about them?

McKee: Yeah sure, the guitar in all of the YouTube videos is actually a Lowden owned by Rob Poland. He's the owner of Candyrat Records, the indie label I am on. It's a great guitar! But the guitars I am primarily performing on these days are an Andrew White jumbo, Lance McCollum baritone jumbo, and a Ron Spillers harpguitar. The Andrew White is my main "regular" guitar. It has mahogany back and sides with a cedar top. Andrew is a great young luthier, about my age, from West Virginia.

(Andy McKee - Heather's Song)

The Lance McCollum is kind of a dream guitar for me. It's a baritone meaning it is designed to be tuned a fourth lower than regular pitch, BEADF#B. It's got Brazilian Rosewood back and sides (love it!) and a spruce top. Lance is a well known acoustic guitar luthier living in California.

My Ron Spillers harpguitar has maple back and sides with a spruce top. Ron has kind of gone into hiding and I do not know how to get a hold of him really. He's built some nice instruments though, and my good friend Dan LaVoie plays a Spillers harpguitar as well.

IC: Do you still own any electric guitars? If so, do you have any plans to record with them in the future?

McKee: I do still own my trusty Steinberger electric. I got it from that same cousin who was doing the classical guitar studies years ago. He was rather generous, I gave him a real cheappy guitar, a delay pedal, and like $200 in exchange for it. I've been playing it now for about 12 years. I do not really have any plans at the moment to record with it, but perhaps in the future.

IC: Who got you interested in harp guitar, and when did you finally acquire one?

McKee: I first heard a harpguitar on Michael Hedges' album "Live From the Double Planet". The first time I saw one being played was at the Walnut Valley Festival in 1999 by Stephen Bennett. I was blown away by his music. After his performance, I met up with him and we became friends. After a few years, Stephen offered to sell me one of his harpguitars, and it happened to be the one he was playing on stage in 1999! I bought it from him in 2002 or 2003 I believe.

IC: Which of your songs utilize it now?

McKee: Building a Memory, Into The Ocean, The Friend I Never Met, Gates of Gnomeria, and I have an arrangement of the theme from Schindler's List for the harpguitar.

IC: Do you tour with it, or is it too big to lug around all the time?

McKee: Only when it is feasible. This last time I went out, I left the HG at home because I needed to bring my baritone guitar for some recording I was going to do in Milwaukee. So I couldn't bring my regular guitar, baritone guitar, suitcase, and HG. But yeah, I'll bring it whenever I can. People love to see it / hear it.

(Andy McKee- Gates to Gnomeria)

IC: Currently you have some tablature available for purchase through candyrat.com. Do you have any plans to release any instructional material aside from song tabs?

McKee: Yes, I have been talking with a company in Florida about a DVD and online course. Their website is at truefire.com. No official dates yet or anything.

IC: Later this year you’ll be teaching alongside Don Ross at his 10th Cannington Guitar Weekend. How did you first discover Don’s music, and what has it been like playing with one of your biggest influences?

McKee: I first heard Don about 8 years ago or so. A student of mine at the time brought in Don's album Passion Session and wanted to learn the first track, Klimbim, for his lesson. I put the CD on and was just blown away. I fell in love with Don's music. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! We worked on the song for 1/2 an hour and at the end of the lesson, I told the student I would learn the rest of the song and teach it to him next week if he would let me take the disc home. So that's what I did. That album is a masterpiece guitar album. I eventually bought a copy for myself and spent some time learning nearly every song on there. I learned so much about groove from Don.

Performing with Don has been a dream come true. And getting to know him personally has just been unreal. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of my favorite musicians, but Don and I are like brothers from different mothers. I feel so fortunate to have become close friends with him. And although we are good friends, I still feel humble in his presence.

IC: It looks like you have some dates scheduled with Tommy Emmanuel as well! … Is there anyone else who you’d especially like to collaborate with in the future?

McKee: Yeah, crazy about the Tommy gigs. His tour manager over there in the UK hooked all that up. Tommy is such an amazing, skillful guitarist. It's great to watch him live!

I am likely to have a couple of tracks on my next CD featuring amazing bassist Jeff Schmidt. We just did a few gigs in the upper midwest together. He's fantastic! In the future, I am thinking it would be fun to join some electronica with acoustic guitar. It would be a dream to collaborate with someone like Imogen Heap.

IC: Speaking of touring… you’ve been all over the world in recent years… are there any places you’d still like to visit?

McKee: Yeah, more of Europe would be cool! I would love to play in Ireland, that's my heritage. Norway would be cool; I get so many emails from fans in Norway. You know, anywhere really. I am overjoyed that I am getting these opportunities to see the world. It's amazing, I never really thought I'd get to see some of these places in my lifetime.

IC: Do you have a favorite song of yours to play live?

McKee: I don't know, not particularly. I just try to invest myself into each tune when I am performing them. I started to close my eyes when performing about 2-3 years ago. It really helps me to shut out everything else and connect with the music. I try to express all of my songs in the best way possible to the audience.

IC: Do you perform any covers during your solo concerts?

McKee: Yes, I frequently do my arrangement of "Africa" by the band Toto. Depending on the gig, sometimes I might throw out a tune by one of my favorite guitarists.

(Andy McKee- Africa)

IC: Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see you live yet. Are there any plans for a live DVD or CD?

McKee: Yes, I just recorded a DVD project in Milwaukee. It will feature myself and my good friend Antoine Dufour, a fantastic musician from Quebec. It should be available later this summer at candyrat.com.

IC: Your last album, “Art of Motion” was released back in 05’. How far along are you on your next album, as far as writing and recording is concerned?

McKee: I finished recording my newest album in Milwaukee just a couple weeks ago as well. It will be out in August. It will feature 11 tracks, 5 of which are old tunes from my first album Nocturne (re-recorded + remastered) and 6 new ones. The original Nocturne album is out of print and I was never too happy with the recording quality so I've been re-releasing the tunes from that album on these newer discs. Art of Motion featured 4 tracks from Nocturne.

IC: Do you have any advice for aspiring young guitarists who want to make a living as a musician? (Other than, “upload some songs to YouTube!”)

McKee: Well, I actually just posted a blog on my Myspace page yesterday about this topic. The main point of that blog was to remind guitar players to not get caught up in the technical aspects of music. It's a good idea to try and become fairly skilled with your instrument of choice, but don't let it be your focus. If you are going to begin writing music, don't focus on the accuracy of your sweep picking, the speed of your alternate picking, or the skill involved in your tapping. Unless you want to write music that only appeals to other guitarists, then that's fine. But if you want to really touch people with your writing, your focus should be on expressing something to your listener. Something they will feel. That's what music is about.

Try to remember what music was like for you before you picked up an instrument. Music was probably all about how it made you feel back then. Perhaps now when you listen to some music, all you can do is think about the key, tempo, brand of guitar, type of wah-wah pedal, time signature, whatever. I was having this sort of problem myself but eventually, I just had to put music back into perspective. It's honestly about the way you feel listening to music.

(Andy McKee - Rylynn)

IC: Your videos really exploded in popularity late last year, and have now received millions upon millions of views! What kind of an impact did all the publicity have on your career?

McKee: It's been stunning to say the least. I had been teaching guitar for the last 10 years but recently stopped due to all of these gig opportunities. I was on the late night show Last Call with Carson Daly back in February. Someone there had seen the YouTube videos and emailed me. I recorded a tune for Josh Groban's next album in late April. He was really a nice guy - unreal voice. Apparently he saw my videos while on his tour bus in Arizona! I performed in England, Germany, and Austria a couple months ago, and will be in Portugal in June, Canada this summer, Japan in September. The impact has been huge on my life to say the least. CD sales are going strong as well as transcriptions. I'm really living my dream, making a decent living playing music! It's all I've wanted to do since the age of about 14.

IC: This is an instrumental guitar site, so before I let you go I have to ask, which instrumental albums do you recommend to our readers? … Aside from your own, of course!

McKee: BUY THESE:

Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries
Don Ross - Passion Session
Preston Reed - Metal
Billy McLaughlin - Out of Hand

IC: Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this, Andy. Keep me posted about your upcoming releases!

McKee: Thanks Dave, it's been fun!

Essential Andy McKee links:

www.andymckee.com

www.myspace.com/andymckee2

www.youtube.com/candyrat

... and don't forget to buy, "Art of Motion"!

-- Dave B.