It sounded like a band tuning up for a gig. But the sharp twangs and loose bends coming from Mark “Guitar” Miller and his blues band last Friday afternoon in Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine were part of a one-of-a-kind class.

Miller, who has opened for artists such as Taj Mahal, Waylon Jennings and Peter Wolf, agreed to let students in UMaine assistant professor Mark Wellman’s recording arts class record him and his band live. In return, the musicians had a receptive audience to hear “Sweet Love” and other tunes that could become tracks on a future album.

“We thought we’d come together and play some tunes and see if something comes out of it,” Miller said before launching into the first set.

A longtime friend of Miller’s, Wellman saw the session as a chance for his students to record a nationally known artist. He also saw it as an opportunity for the veteran bluesman to record before a good crowd in the 280-seat auditorium.

“He plays better to a crowd than a recording studio,” Wellman remarked. “It’s hard to play to a piece of felt on the wall.”

An East Millinocket resident and a 1969 graduate of Schenck High School, Miller first picked up the guitar at the age of 8 and began playing with his first band at 11. Over his 40 years as an axman, he has received plenty of praise. Brad Delp, lead singer of the pop-rock group Boston, even lent his voice to tracks on the bluesman’s upcoming album, “Whatcha Gonna Do?”

But Miller, who performs both with his band and solo, is far from being as famous as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf or Robert Johnson.

“It’s been a long road,” Miller said of his career. “Blues just doesn’t produce many stars. How many blues performers are household names? B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan … who else? All the rest of them have been made into jazz or country stars. The blues has never really come into its own. But I’m not dead yet.”

In the recording session at Minsky, Wellman and his students hoped to capture Miller’s unique style and intensity when playing live and maybe that signature song. From noon on, they kept busy checking mikes and fine-tuning the sound.

“Usually, they get bands up here and we mess around with them in the studio,” 20-year-old UMaine student Chas Bruns remarked. “This time they get a live audience. It’s the first time something like this has happened.”

“This isn’t a rehearsed concert,” Miller warned the audience. “We’ll start with something easy so it’s not that big of a risk.”

Miller, along with keyboardist Robyn Worthley, drummer Lance Burpee, and bassist Krister Rollins, began playing. A twangy, bluesy start rang out and then …”Stop!” The tape wasn’t rolling.

Unfazed, Miller and company started in again with a long, warm-up blues jam, the bass, drums and keyboard following the guitarist’s confident plucks and strokes.

During the two-hour recording session, Miller and his band played a mostly instrumental mix of covers and originals including one of his own compositions “Sweet Love.”

“I like ‘Mustang Sally,’ I grew up with ‘Mustang Sally,’ but sometimes when it gets overrequested it can bring the atmosphere of the room down,” the guitarist said.

A rocking Miller original, “Sweet Love” stood out as the number with the most potential for becoming that signature song.

But whether or not they cut a surefire hit last Friday, Miller and his band will continue to do what they do best: Play live. Friday’s performance at Minsky was followed later in the evening by a show at The Chocolate Grille in Old Town. Miller also will perform in coming months at The Whig & Courier Pub in Bangor.

“When you’re out playing the blues music in the bars, it’s like when you’re in church and listening to a preacher and he says ‘let’s pray,'” the guitarist reflected as he wound down the show with a final jam. “This slow stuff, the 12-bar blues, it’s like praying.”

To learn more about Mark Miller and his upcoming releases visit the Web site: www.jetspeedrecords.com.