ON SONGWRITING
beautiful instrument and I love taking on the
road to play for folks.”
Like many top acoustic players Andy is very
interested in tone woods—the actual materials
that go into crafting a guitar—because every
type of tone wood can make an instrument
sound radically different. He also uses Novax
Fanned Fret fingerboard on several of his axes;
so let’s listen to him explain his preferences:
“I’m partial towards the darker tone woods,
like rosewood and ebony. My Greenfield G4.2
guitars are ebony back and sides. As for
the fanned frets, I use them for the added
intonation—that’s what it’s all about for me.
And the fanned frets look fancy, too!” he adds
with a laugh.
The road goes on forever for Andy McKee.
The hardworking acoustic ace is in the prime
of his career and loves bringing his music to
DECEMBER SPECIAL
fans in every corner of the globe. He’ll tour
into early 2017 (tour dates can be found on
andymckee.com) and then start a new solo
album. But it all goes back to “Drifting” – the
song that made McKee a guitar sensation a
decade ago. We asked him what made that
song go viral and strike a chord around
the world.
“I think it was a combination of many things,”
Andy reflects. “Of course, I am playing the
guitar in an unusual way so visually it was
interesting. And I got onto YouTube pretty early
so I think that helped. The place wasn’t already
loaded with millions of amazing guitar videos at
that time so it was easier to get noticed. Finally,
I think that the song itself resonated with
people. Of course, hitting and tapping the guitar
is all well and good, but I like to think that the
tune is compelling all by itself.” ■
DIGITAL EDITION
GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
47