Mike opens with improvised blues and pentatonic phrases, comparing muted cross-string picking, pull-offs, directional changes, and the articulation that makes simple vocabulary sound personal.
Setup Improv 1
Setup Improv 2
Blues First
Pentatonic Crosspick Muted
Pentatonic Crosspick - tk1
Pentatonic Crosspick - tk2
Pentatonic 2wps Pulloff - tk1
Pentatonic 2wps Pulloff - tk2
Pentatonic 2wps Pulloff - tk3
Pentatonic 2wps
Influences And Musical Language
Mike discusses learning from records, jazz and rock influences, and the ear-led process through which lines become part of an improvisational vocabulary rather than memorized demonstrations.
Brecker Lick - tk1
Brecker Lines And Scale Picking
Michael Brecker-inspired cells, major scales, and escaped downstrokes show how Mike adapts horn vocabulary to the guitar while allowing the picking mechanics to follow the phrase.
Brecker Lick - tk2
Brecker Lick - tk3
Brecker Lick Improv
Major Scale
Escaped Downstrokes
Lullaby
Touch, Dynamics, And Tone
A quiet lullaby, wide blues dynamics, and Danny Gatton-style harmonics explore Mike’s unusually broad range of touch and the relationship between pick attack, amplification, and expression.
Blues Dynamics
Gatton Harmonics - tk1
Gatton Harmonics - tk2
Phrygian Arpeggios
Arpeggios And Octaves
Phrygian arpeggios, Wes Montgomery octaves, chord tremolo, and Jim Hall-inspired tension demonstrate several ways Mike turns harmony into melodic texture.
Wes Octaves
Wes Octaves Swing
Wes Octaves Picked
Jim Hall Tension
Trem Chords
Downtime Improv 1
Angular Harmony
Triadic inversions and an angular repeating figure become raw material for improvisation, showing how Mike develops a compact shape by changing its harmony, direction, and placement.
Downtime Improv 2
Angular Thing - tk1
Triadic Inversions
Angular Thing - tk2
Angular Thing - tk3
Angular Thing - tk4
Angular Thing Improv - tk1
Angular Thing Improv - tk2
Diminished Symmetry Improv
Diminished Symmetry
Mike maps diminished sounds across the neck, changes directions within symmetrical shapes, and converts a theoretical structure into fluid improvisational vocabulary.
Diminished Symmetry
Diminished Symmetry Positions
Diminished Symmetry Directions
Diminished Scale
Diminished Improv Short
Mideast
Bop And Melodic Cells
Middle Eastern permutations, circular bop lines, suspensions, Coltrane colors, and short melodic cells illustrate Mike’s habit of extracting many connected ideas from a small amount of material.
Mideast Permutation
Mideast Permutation Short
Circular Bop Descending
Circular Bop Improv
Circular Bop Ascending
Circular Bop
Suspensions
Suspensions Improv
Suspensions Coltrane
Cell Improv
Cell Upstroke Ascending
Cell Upstroke Descending - tk1
Cell Upstroke Descending - tk2
Bridge Texture Improv
Picking And Harmonic Vocabulary
Soft fast picking, fully articulated lines, minor horn figures, diminished permutations, and Herbie Hancock tritones bring Mike’s mechanical freedom and harmonic imagination together.
