Hayden Pedigo’s Avant-Folk Fingerstyle | Acoustic Guitar Sessions

With a focus on melody and a distaste for flash and complexity for complexity’s sake, Hayden Pedigo has become a leading voice in the acoustic fingerstyle soundscape. “I believe fingerstyle guitar pieces should be simple enough where any skill level can approach the song and play it in a convincing way,” Pedigo says. “That’s what makes it folk music: the song is sharable and can be passed around. I think that gets lost in a lot of modern-day fingerpicking music.”

For this AG Session, Pedigo performed three original pieces on his Yamaha FG9: “The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored,” “Rained Like Hell,” and “Elsewhere.” And while the music is simple, it’s also transfixing; there is a lot to learn from listening to (and playing) it.

The guitarist also spent some time discussing his exploratory approach to composition, the feeling he gets from hearing other guitarist’s interpreting his music, and the lasting influence of John Fahey. With self-effacing Texas charm, Pedigo says he doesn’t know how to play in standard tuning . . . and we almost believe him!

Pedigo kicks off an East Coast tour next week; tickets are available here. And be sure to check out his recent live album, Live in Amarillo, Texas.

Support Acoustic Guitar on Patreon and get access to an exclusive video lesson with Hayden Pedigo! In this video lesson Pedigo shows his approach to embellishing a simple guitar part using slides and hammer-ons.

Joey LustermanOpinionated creative slash beginning guitarist. Joey has worked in every department at Acoustic Guitar in the past 10+ years: front desk, ad sales, editorial, sound guy, camera man, booth babe, email coder, podcast editor, photographer, book designer…