Guitar Teacher REACTS: Mk.gee "Candy" (Live)

[@jonathanambrose8238]

Michael you remember your reaction to "Big Mike's" by Dijon? Mk.gee was the guitarist and harmony vocals in that video!

[@_WeDontKnow_]

he had a similar reaction to that video haha

[@brianbonifacio7536]

That was such a great performance. Became an instant fan from it

[@Vrodys]

^^ one of my fav teacher vids

[@dariansoto3110]

Yes!

[@tat2edcubantrash]

And for some context to him doubting that most of this happened on the bus I would recommend Mike watches the beginning of the dream police (live) on the bus which shows how much gear they actually had. Also recommend his live rockman performance on SNL or are you looking up (live)

[@Clfgy]

He plays into an old roland VG-8 and Tascam 424 4-track as a pre-amp with some effect pedals so the sound breaks up and distorts as he plays harsher and gets a clean tone when not. Its a super cool effect that rewards dynamic playing. Thats not something I'm aware of anyone else doing before

[@coachsteve.]

The Rainger FX Reverb X (gated reverb) is a big part of the sound as well.

[@captainradio5894]

using tape player or other electronics for guitar or bass pr-amp is nothing new. You can imagine he discovered it just like everyone else who couldn't afford higher end stuff. But yeah it's a cool sound and he developed it, curated it into something his own.

[@FerociousMrWolf]

Tame impala have always recorded guitar like this except using a boss br 800 instead.

[@riverbankfrank4896]

@@coachsteve. The gated reverb and the the tascam are the secret sauce here

[@johnm2494]

@@captainradio5894 yeah i think its more the combination, i mean when you get a cosign as the next great guitarist from eric clapton you must be innovating in some way!

[@Jameson004]

He uses a VG-8 Roland synth pedal that creates his tone. He also splits the signal that gets sent to a tascam 424. One clean signal from his guitar and the other from the midi pickup. It is actually happening right there in the bus. This is his live tone during shows

[@playmoreguitar5393]

+ Rainger FX Reverb. Huge part is that distorted reverb.

[@eckce]

Yep! Hope Michael reads this! That's the "post" he's hearing, such an awesome sound

[@Mikewatters99]

Mk.gee is unreal. You need to watch 'are you looking up (live)' and 'little bit more (live)'

[@christianjackson3524]

I second Little Bit More (Live)

[@erikcnelson]

What's funny about this is Michael's Dijon video is what turned me onto Mike (Mk.gee) in the first place. That led me to his back catalog; Museum of Contradictions, Pronounced McGee etc. and why I got Two Star the day it came out. I saw him 4 times on this last tour, the best shows I've seen in a decade. His guitar is a standard scale MIJ 90s Fender Jag converted to handle baritone flat wounds tuned to A. The reddit kids have a million ways of recreating the tones, some of which are pretty close ... the key components are the Tascam 424 as preamp, Roland VG-8, Rainger FX Reverb.

[@hipski]

upvote this^ - that's 100% accurate

[@masonbauer7543]

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE BIG MIKE’S!!!!

[@camdenatkins9560]

So to break it down: 1.He plays into a Tascam portastudio and uses the preamp as a drive pedal 2. He uses a rager FX gated reverb pedal to only make the reverb present when he gets loud 3. The driving bass you hear is actually his thumb, he’s playing a baritone guitar 4. He also uses a Roland VG-8 synth pedal that makes it have that interesting synth-like sound I may be missing something but that’s the basic premise of it

[@armanneto]

You've heard him before! He is the guitarist for Dijon. The one that caught your attention.

[@QuincyJamesMusic]

He plays a Baritone Fender Jaguar into a Tascam 4-track using a FX rainger for modulated breakup. Basically, he plays a guitar with extended range into a tape machine/mixer’s cranked pre-amp that can be hyperclean or dynamically hard clipped with modulation coming in from his FX rainger pedal. You also can't ignore his use of vintage casio piano and synth pads contributing to his 80's production sound. Very unique player, we probably haven't had a trailblazing player this infamously break into the mainstream since Tim Henson.

[@RecoveryAdvocates]

Dude that’s technical. Your like the ChatGPT of audio

[@QuincyJamesMusic]

@@RecoveryAdvocates I’m a producer, composer and guitar player myself lol.

[@LunarProxy123]

No its a jaguar guitar and also the biggest part of his sound is the vg 8. Songs like Candy and dream police are almost completely only the vg 8 tone

[@QuincyJamesMusic]

@@LunarProxy123 Jaguar is what I meant, offsets man. But I mean I don’t really think it matters what guitar you plug into a tape machine/mixer. I’ve recorded on many and If you dime the levels they all produce a comparably similar form of saturation. The porta studio in particular that he uses has a pointed and warm sound when played lightly and a piercing sound that distorts the wave form and cuts through the mix when given higher attack. Of course the 424 has a specific use case but it’s still tape clipped saturation that he’s going for when cranking the pre-amp.

[@mememan4842]

pretty sure its just a standard jag with fat strings and a good set-up for the lower tunings. the bari jags have a different bridge

[@Psychic.Octopus]

This is my favorite reaction video of all time. The way michael starts vibing immediately is just the best. Exactly how I felt.

[@NickJardine]

Very cool! Clapton was recently asked about guitarists who are exciting him and he brought up Mk.gee. To quote: “It sits in a bit of a pop category for me, It’s unique. He has found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else.”

[@captainradio5894]

maybe texture wise

[@ayushgvrg]

finalllyyy ive been waiting for this video for so long

[@kalman703]

I'm ecstatic that you've discovered Mk.gee! His new album and videos that accompany it compelled me to go see him live TWICE this year. He's totally changed the way I play and listen to guitar music.

[@christianjackson3524]

Howard & Fillmore yesir

[@kalman703]

@@christianjackson3524 those are the shows I was at!! Did we meet?

[@christianjackson3524]

@@kalman703 I was at both, saw you at the first show but wasn’t close enough to say what’s up. I knew you always had good taste in music lol, I’m Mr7oh3 if you catch the throwback to 8th/9th grade. Get my best in remix haha

[@kalman703]

@ throwback!!! That’s awesome man. Say what’s up at the next show if you get the chance! Btw If you’re interested I’m still making music with a band now called Cowpoke

[@moneymoses]

YOU FINALLY REACTED TO THE GOAT!!!!! Please react to more of his live stuff, he's insane

[@dpclerks09]

Name 10 Guitarist.

[@ribbbsy]

It happened on the bus. Slamming the direct input.

[@aaroncreighmusic]

His playing is definitely live. That’s what makes it so good and unique. He’s got some percussive and ambient backing tracks but they all meld together in such a way that confuses your ear because his guitar tone embeds in it so perfectly creating almost this affect of not knowing sonically what’s what. Definitely special and hasn’t been done before. The way his tone breaks up because of the old cassette preamp that rewards his dynamics. It’s Hendrix vibes to me. In the sense that one of the things that was so brilliant about Hendrix other than his playing was the fact that he created sounds out of his guitar that nobody had heard before, that were so different. Nobody had heard anybody use a guitar like that before. Mk.gee is definitely doing that on some scale. There’s even a video of Clapton talking about how special Mk.gee is on KZbin 🩵💕

[@979259]

how is he powering and mic'ing all the gear on a bus? I'm pretty sure he did record a live version but I don't think he's actually playing that on the bus. they're definitely heavily processing the vocals if they're mic'ing live on a bus.

[@aaroncreighmusic]

@ it’s not that hard to get a portable system on a bus. The only real thing being recorded is his guitar. He seems to be using either a small lapel mic or almost like some kind of boom mic for his vocals which is really cool it gives this ‘in the room’ authentic, yet edgy and trashy sound because you’re hearing the room too. I’m certain he got this idea from the Big Mike sessions with Dijon where they were using lapels for the vocals and it added to the vibe tremendously. As far as his guitar tone, I doubt he’s using an amp he’d just be running straight into a laptop after his preamps and pedals or whatever he’s using. One of the appeals to his tone is its digital sound. Then he’s got a backing of some ambient sounds that he plays to which really goes with his theme of this weird modern, synthetic sound living in a world of unaffected authenticity and unscripted, edgy realness. That’s it. It’s definitely being performed on the bus as you’re watching it. It would be almost impossible and way harder to mime those parts especially when he starts to get into it because it feels like a random take not a planned flow. I imagine he’d perform this (especially the solo) different every time 🩵

[@enriqueortiz5036]

You could do a whole video series on mk.gee and we’d be here for it. I went down a huge rabbit hole with this album and the live performances posted on his YT; read a post from a redditor who said they were one of the extras on that bus on one of the other videos, and that every single sound was produced live and that it was only mixed and mastered for the posted versions. I also saw him live in Chicago about two months ago and can confirm it all sounds just as good if not better, the dynamics were unlike any other artist I’ve seen. Mk.gang rise up!!!!

[@neonrays28]

I was at the chicago show and he's definitely on my top list for best love shows.

[@enriqueortiz5036]

@@neonrays28 gonna tell my kids about that show. The disco ball moment during breakthespell was something else bro😭

[@_chueyee_]

more Mk.gee !!!!!!

[@JojiJr02]

The kids are going to be ok! It was just good to just see your face while he was soloing with pure joy

[@benmills9411]

Watch his other live videos , he sounds very much like that live if not better!

[@CrazyLazyDave]

Definitely prefer him live. I love the live videos and videos of shows. I honestly don't care much for his album oddly.

[@64ccd]

Mkgee is the biggest thing to happen to guitar in 2024. There's so much to unpack here for you.

[@GabeWilliams]

I’ve noticed a trend with his songs where he actually creates a loop that doesn’t get annoying because it’s usually a little longer with a couple sections to it. He did this well with Dijon too on Absolutely like Big Mike’s

[@ryanricopico]

You can't recreate this sound on a pedalboard alone. Reddit figured it out already. AVRI 60s jaguar w/ baritone strings tuned to A standard. The same jaguar runs 2 signal chains in parallel; a roland midi pickup runs into a VG-8 running a synthpad voicing, and the other signal chain is a pedalboard into a tascam 424 straight into house speakers. It's maybe a 65/35 mix of midi/pedalboard

[@matthughes5325]

I’ve gotten super close with my octa psi at the end of my chain w an expression pedal

[@PINE_333]

No post production in this one man. He’s the real deal and we’re lucky to be alive to hear it

[@ShaneAOF]

You're kidding yourself if you think this is live off the floor

[@PINE_333]

@ watch the other videos from that bus session

[@LunarProxy123]

@@ShaneAOF it is complelty live but there is a band in the bus you see andrew the other guitarist in the dream police video

[@hugh444]

Saw mkgee live and can tell he's a very big deal, what an amazing musician, him and his band

[@rsr_brian]

Very happy to see this pop up - A friend turned me onto mk.gee earlier this year and yes VIBE is key. And I love how you described it as being electronic-feeling but also heavily analog. It’s such a wild tone and vibe he pulls off

[@smitty1321]

Never clicked so fast

[@jaredwrightart]

same! been waiting to hear his take on Mk.Gee, im obsessed with this album!

[@smitty1321]

@ me too - easily my album of the year

[@benmills9411]

Same 😂

[@fleenbiz]

PLEASE DO THIS TYPE OF VIDEO FOR EVERY LIVE SONG HE DID FROM THE ALBUM. THEYRE ALL AMAZING

[@jaehn7]

I kept waiting for you to react to Mk.Gee! Thanks for this great video :) Please do more of this, i could watch you listen and analyze everyone of his "live" clips! Great job, i'm sure you'll enjoy most of his work!

[@Nuffdawg12345]

Guitar and vocals were live/ look into his production and his pedal board tascam use, super unique. He’s probably the coolest guitar player right now that serves the song which is kind rare.

[@littlemac1208]

We all kinda love this too 😅 now take the journey through all the lives like this and you’ll end up questioning the studio album then end up getting it halfway through your 2nd listen and it will be on repeat for the next 6 to 9 months… maybe longer. We all did the same thing

[@BrendanFrancisMusic]

“When it comes to being lucky, he’s cursed” Great cover of Yusuf!

[@wright.boy_]

This tone is exactly what he sounds like live, but he pushes the grit and metallic textures even more. Unbelievable tone and expression. No one doing it like this

[@7davidmartin]

YES! MORE MK.GEE

[@KenDay]

Thank you Michael - I find such treasures watching your channel

[@911dannys]

I can’t stop listening to this album. It’s perfect. I hear frank ocean, Phill Collins, Prince, and The Police.

[@RonaldEllenburg]

Music , especially guitar music is really changing on this level particularly. The few new artist doing this are all at that stellar point of including every kind of electronic input available right now....and they are all aranging some amazing productions!! The times , they are a changing.....and i for one love the newness of it all. Thanks again good brother Palmesano for always staying on top of everything guitar. Best wishes for your personal success , as well for your program. Keep it coming good sir....cheers always , ron

[@jesseekstrom]

Please check out his other live stuff. Including his SNL appearance. He’s incredible. This is just scratching the surface. Love your channel man!

[@johnpearson5000]

Rhett Shull made a video breaking down what Mk.Gee does with his guitar earlier this year.

[@JS-ir7wh]

Pauses to make a comment, doesn't know what to say. This was very cool. Thanks to your community member for sharing.

[@ericpage]

Finally I’ve been waiting for you to discover my new favorite album.

[@ericfradenburg754]

You gotta check out all of his live stuff! "Are you Looking Up" "A little but more" and the many live shows from his tour. The guy has time traveled here on his outer space guitar.

[@ericfradenburg754]

Also, it is a bus... the live videos he's recorded are done in it/on it while driving around. Check out "Dream Police"

[@simonstott6571]

You need to do more Mk.gee live reactions. He is the most creative guitarist right now!

[@Pritzx]

I BEEN PRAYING FOR TIMES LIKE THIS 🙏

[@trashhead7989]

Please do more man , gotta do a deep dive into his live sets and the two star & dream police album .

[@simply2341]

I was hoping you would get to Mk.gee eventually, as well as this video specifically. He's the best!!

[@jk.9300]

Dude had the sparkle in his eyes

[@chrismcallister9038]

Ok so the best ive been able to come up with on how Mk.Gee and Moonshiynin did these videos: Mike is notorious for his use of an analog tascam tape recorder to run his gear through. I think he prepared the synths, backing guitar, bass, and other ethereal effects and recorded them into the tascam prior to recording the video. They then did live takes of him playing his guitar into the recorder with a live feed in his ear. When he sang it was picked up by whatever microphone was used during the live recording. No audio from the tascam got into the video mic They then mix the tascam and video mic together in post to give the impression of it sounding entirely live when its not. I think the easiest examples of this to demonstrate are Alesis Live and Little bit More live takes. As mentioned by other people the distortion and inexplicable guitar effects come from cooking the shit out of the recorder and playing at a volume where it clips.

[@SiahJbeats]

Not knowing who mk.gee is this far in 2024 being a guitarist is crazy, please check out his other stuff, my number one listened to artist this year

[@Dervlin]

Always loved your channel for putting me onto gems like this, but man this might be my favourite one. What an absolute vibe!

[@xKegz]

More mk.gee reactionssss

[@charles9487]

As a side note, I think the move towards baritone tunings from a lot of the new/upcoming/less-known players has really opened up a new world particularly in more pop-aligned alternative rock. Tuning down over half a step used to be a metal thing but anyone who’s ever tried playing in C, B or A will know that something inherently melodic and musical starts to appear from your fingers. It forces you to play in a slightly different way and hearing the shapes and positions that you’re used to playing produce totally different sounds really opens up a lot of doors.

[@salmonsdavid]

I don't ever comment on videos but would love to see you react to the whole album. I think it is definitely worth your while.

[@adharaperez9665]

Saw him live in London…. Sounds and lighting was unreal

[@TheBattlesUnseen]

That was absolutely impressive! You do not see many musicians today doing something like this, or think outside the box. The way he uses the guitar NEVER would have crossed my mind. ✌

[@LunarProxy123]

All those weird fx are his vg 8, tascam and rainger fx pedals (plus flanger). There is also a backing track and a second guitarist which is playing some very small parts. But everyone is there on the bus

[@mrluisr]

THIS!

[@davisfaulkner9035]

to explaing the "Live" question.... There is behind the scenes footage of him actually playing on the bus. The only thing that is in "studio" is the drum track. The rest of it is straight DI to an audio interface. In the dream police video (another one of his "live" songs) you can also see his ENTIRE live rig in the back of the same bus.

[@davisfaulkner9035]

also his "rythym" guitarist, Andrew Aged, is just behind the camera doing a lot of those higher complementary melodies.

[@GAMEH0R5E]

please check out more of his live performances, they are immaculate

[@kierancreed2655]

I knew you would understand brother!

[@brittanybeaudoin4064]

So glad you did this one!

[@ejx1038]

Finally been waiting for mkgee for soo long!!!

[@descendingforth]

Hes sooo good!

[@seancurtin6572]

His pedal allows each string to be processed individually, with different fx. It also requires a special pickup mounted on the guitar. Some presets have the low two strings pitched down, allowing him to play bass and lead at the same time. There are also dynamic effects like gated reverb, gated distortion etc. Pedal system is called Roland VG-88 (he has the EX version)

[@seancurtin6572]

The VG-88 also lets you use different tunings without even changing the actual tuning of your guitar, hard to believe it’s like 30 years old technology

[@alexrhcp]

michael i am a huge fan of both your channel and mkgee so this is a dream come true. please check out more of his stuff he is a generational talent. thankyou for making this content and i hope to see some more mkgee!

[@FerociousMrWolf]

Love Mk.gee seen him twice he's using interesting effects like rainger FX reverb, anda tscam to get the pre amps to distort. But essentially he's doing this to get a synth flanging sound with his guitar. Synth was massive in the 80's obviously and this era of music is a huge inspiration for him. Plus having Phil Collins produce this album was always going to help.

[@ajayaids]

MORE MK.GEE REACTIONS PLSSSS

[@mskcouric]

mk.gee being played on that PRS should have been banned at Geneva in seriousness, watching a skilled guitarist watch this guy and have his mind melted in real-time is good content -- I think we all have this experience with mk.gee. There's nothing quite like it. Prince is a good comp, and so would be Metheny, but he's doing something very new and special with all of that influence. Awesome shit, huh?

[@b__c7538]

Been WAITING for this!

[@KeilaHipolito-o5d]

Mk.gee is soooo good!!

[@CrazyLazyDave]

He is playing to backing tracks. He uses some effects that trigger by dynamics, that is what the crazy sounds out of nowhere come from. Particularly a RangerFX Reverb.

[@haganblankenship1056]

There may be backing track but I think the crazy sounds are from how he has his guitar set up to the Tascam

[@nolanleduc2062]

Been waiting for you to check him out!! Need to watch “Are you looking up” live and “Dream police” live as well

[@paxxous]

I read on a post from an extra that there were other musicians and actors on the bus and the entire thing was recorded in a single take live.

[@dylanvickers1764]

He did 2 songs live on SNL recently they're definitely worth checking out. You'll be able to see and work out more of how he gets his sound that way

[@theoknottenbelt2413]

Need you to do the other songs he’s done in this style

[@heerobigby]

There’s definitely studio tracks under what he’s playing but all the guitar tone is live, he has an old Roland vg -8 setup that he runs parallel to a crazy pedalboard doing other stuff and that runs direct to a tascam portastudio. And he’s tuned baritone. His other touring guitarist Andrew Aged was also on this bus playing with him so those are the other textures your hearing aside from the studio drums and random bits.

[@NinjaInstitute]

LETS GOOOO BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

[@joMojojojo]

YOU MADE IT TO MKGEE YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

[@nrivera0717]

Nothing additional in post, saw him live this is how it sounds irl

[@EricFryMusic]

this guy isne of those "holy crap, how has nobody thought of doing this before, eveything is different now" artists

[@dangerkadung]

Mk.Gee is my jam.

[@novander]

There's a whole live band in that bus with him that isn't shown in this video but it's shown in the live video for Dream Police

[@cscheid]

And when you actually go see him live (and you should) it's just as good... if not better. Unbelievable musician

[@TomSweeney-s9k]

Been waiting for this one

[@whatisiswhatable]

he's basically got a studio running on the bus.. the whole backing track is playing underneath and he's playing 100% live on top

[@danielmaciasbrun864]

Me encanta Prince y me gustó mucho este músico. Saludos.

[@roxannetoth5026]

Eric Clapton turned me onto this! His daughter turned him on to this 26 yr old artist. Thx Michael! Peace and love

[@chrisjbauer3170]

Now check out the other live versions too, Sooo good

[@Dubious_George]

There are a few other videos shot on that bus where they're mixing takes visually but on the audio side it's hard to tell how much is actually happening on the bus, There are other band members and a bunch of audio gear on the bus but it's hard to tell if it's just props! Either way, it's a vibe and I guess that's the most important thing.

[@tkz6734]

Mkgee the GOAT

[@michaelweber932]

I think I saw in another video someone explaining that he has a noise gate on the tascam, so that when he attacks the strings with a certain force, it kicks on the reverb.

[@MrMercurii]

The studio versions of his songs are what mainly sound like they have never been done before, candy, how many miles and dnm

[@iamwe7035]

Great videos you make!

[@concept8407]

So dirty and princey ….. i feel the same way.. he gives me prince vibes but makes it his own 5:06

[@kaimundo]

the low bassy notes are played live on his baritone tuned jaguar!

[@spencerquayle2488]

I love this! Just got onto him too

[@harryz721]

that guitar sound is mainly coming from a roland vg-8 "bowed pad" setting as well as a rainger fx reverb

[@novander]

i have been waiting for this

[@StanleyBarlowe]

4:04 is gold!

[@Agns-o5f]

please check out the rest of his live videos from this album AOTY !

[@PatrickNorris10]

You gotta have that Ranger effects reverb and play into a Tascam