Hi David,
Insightful topic.
I think that early on, it's evident that Michael Hedges incorporated a lot of his classical schooling into his compositions.
One in particular which comes to mind is "The Happy Couple" from his early Breakfast in the Field album. In it he makes use of a concept popularized by Arnold Schoenberg called "Klangfarbenmelodie" in which a melody is constructed from notes of the same pitch but with different timbre. On the guitar he achieved the effect with the same note plucked on different strings, in order to add overall "color" to the melody line. Very effective on his Martin D-28!
. In the ending of the same tune, he phrases the melody as part of an arpeggiated set of sixtuplets, something that you see more often in classical music. (I think). He also made use of dynamics much like they do in the classical repertoire. I'm thinking here of identical passages that repeat at different volume levels (forte vs. pianissimo?) as a musical message. I also thought his arrangement of the prelude from Bach's 1st cello suite on steel harp guitar was pretty special.
Obviously, a pretty good learner.
