You probably have walked past him around campus. You may have heard his music. You might even know him. His sound is unique, and he is Tim Mitchell, one of Tufts' very own "finger-style" acoustic guitarists.
The 22-year old junior hails originally from Connecticut. Here in Boston, Mitchell frequents both the Brown and Brew coffee house and the Davis Square T station, sharing his interest in music and his gifts with those around him.
As early as second grade, Mitchell became intrigued by the guitar. He explained that his parents were not active in his learning at first, but started him in lessons in fifth grade. Mitchell played the electric guitar exclusively for many years, including a stint in a high school band. During that time, Mitchell had no dreams about serious playing; he and his band mates were "just having a good time." However, everything changed three years ago. Tim Mitchell was introduced to his current venue of music: the finger-style method of playing an acoustic guitar.
Mitchell eagerly rattled off a list of musicians that have influenced his musical evolution: Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Ralph Towner, Pat Metheny, and Peter Mulvey, all of whom he described as "phenomenal guitar players." The five men come from a variety of guitar styles, from singing and songwriting to pure jazz. He also mentioned John Stropes, whom he called "the authority on finger-style guitar." However, the most influential player in Mitchell's life by far has been the aforementioned Hedges, who he described as "the best instrumental acoustic guitar player."
Mitchell elaborated on Hedges' form of playing, which includes techniques he tries to incorporate into his own playing. Hedges uses alternate tunings on his guitar that allow him to produce a wide tonal range. With that done, he can play bass, harmony, and melody all at the same time. Hedges' complicated, technical pieces use both a two-hand tapping technique and a right-hand muting technique, which allow one to separate sounds on the guitar. Both of these methods require "a lot more effort" on the part of the guitarist.
Mitchell described some of his hero's songs as "little stories... novels. The music tends to be a simpler form that's more accessible... like verse-chorus-verse-chorus." He also credited traditional Irish music as an influence on his own style. "It just makes sense to me," he explained, referring to the structure of the music: short, repeating ideas with a strong rhythmic beat.
Mitchell took a year off between high school and his matriculation at Tufts. This gave him the opportunity to work troubleshooting and repairing electronic musical devices like amps and effect pedals. There, he met a professional guitar player who did a lot of guitar playing for professional songwriters.
"He really introduced me to more folk-inspired songs - with lyrics. I had been on an instrumental kick for a while, Michael Hedges-type stuff." During this time, Mitchell also took six months of lessons with a classical finger-style guitar player, "just to get me grounded." He spent an average of 20 hours a week practicing, working especially at his transcription skills.
As most performers do, Mitchell plays a combination of covers and original material. His covers largely come from the influences noted above, especially - and not surprisingly - Hedges. In talking about original material, he explained that "it almost seems like it's not writing material, but discovering something that was already there." In arranging his music, he uses his intuition; in certain situations, he feels that, "I am going to play this note because it's right."
Mitchell doesn't listen to the radio much. His listening tastes follow a similar vein to his performing tastes: old and new folk singer/songwriters. And, of course, his favorite CDs are recordings of live performances.
On the same note, Mitchell goes to a lot of concerts, averaging at least two a month. He also frequents the Burren, a bar in Davis Square, which is known to host many traditional Irish music performers.
Nowadays, Mitchell plays mostly solo work, but will occasionally play with someone who stops by in the subway for some impromptu music. He once played with a viola player down in the T-station, an experience that he described as "awesome." Playing in the subway, apparently, is "casual; I get feedback from people who aren't even there to hear me play."
Mitchell then offered another story, one that would make many aspiring players envious. Going to play a normal set in a T-station, he found one of his idols, Peter Mulvey, already playing there. Of course, Mitchell deferred the spot to Mulvey and merely hung around to listen. After a little while, however, Mulvey asked him, "You want to play a couple of tunes?" The two then entertained the crowd together. "It was a dream of mine," Mitchell said
While Mitchell is perfectly relaxed about "not gigging around" right now, he also refuses to stop playing music. Recently, he started to learn to play the violin - a tie to his influence from traditional Irish music - and to sing. Tim regards the latter as being just important as playing an instrument. "It's something you need to practice," he said. "It's a direct connection between what you are hearing in your head and producing music... without an instrument." He added, smiling, that it "is really easy to suck."
His current plans, aside from establishing a website for himself (he has registered the domain name www.timmitchell.org), involve looking into Ph.D. programs in both computer science and mathematics, his two undergraduate majors. He did say, however, that he wants to study music eventually, to find "where my potential really is."
"Ideally, I would do both," he admitted. "Whether I make money from it is not as important as whether I am doing it.... If others can enjoy what I do - that's a wonderful feeling."
In addition to Brown and Brew and early-morning T-station performances, look for Tim Mitchell Friday afternoons down in the Davis T-station around rush hour.
