Hedges' first two albums for Windham Hill were
Breakfast in the Field and
Aerial Boundaries. He wrote nearly exclusively in
alternate tunings. His early recordings and most of the
Breakfast in the Field album were recorded on the Ken DuBourg guitar and his Martin D-28, named "Barbara". Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a
harmonic node), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic
hammer-ons and
pull offs, percussive, syncopated slapping on the guitar body, as well as unusual strumming. He made extensive use of string damping as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. He played guitar variants like the
harp guitar (an instrument with additional bass strings), and the
TransTrem guitar. He was a multi-instrumentalist who played piano, percussion, tin whistle, harmonica, and flute. Virtuoso bassist
Michael Manring contributed to nearly all of Hedges' records. Frustrated that his published work reflected only the instrumental side of his creative output, Hedges convinced Windham Hill to release
Watching My Life Go By, a 1985 studio recording of his vocal originals written over a span of five years—songs often performed at his concerts leading up to the album's release. His fourth album, a live recording called
Live on the Double Planet, was assembled from 40 of his live concerts from 1986 to 1987. He also contributed the song "Because It's There" to the soundtrack of the 1986
Naomi Uemura biographical film Lost in the Wilderness. His musical education was largely in modern 20th-century composition. He listened to
Martin Carthy,
John Martyn, and
the Beatles, but his approach to composition owed much to
Igor Stravinsky,
Edgard Varèse,
Anton Webern, and
Steve Reich, in addition to experimental composers such as
Morton Feldman. He saw himself as a composer who played guitar, rather than a guitarist who composed music. He was often categorized as a
new-age musician because of his association with Windham Hill. Hedges toured briefly with
Leo Kottke. These shows included solo performances by Kottke and Hedges and, as a finale, a number of duets including performances of Kottke's "Doodles" with Hedges playing a high-strung
parlor guitar. Hedges'
Aerial Boundaries album, released in 1984, included a tribute piece to the works of acoustic guitarist
Pierre Bensusan, simply entitled "Bensusan". Bensusan posthumously returned tribute on his 2001 release
Intuite ("Favored Nations"), with a composition entitled "So Long Michael". ==Personal life==