Category Archives: Fingerstyle

LIVE 193 • Hummingbird Melody

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Live50th Anniversary 812ce, acoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Firefly Melody, guitar instrumental, Hummingbird Melody, hummingbird mint, Hummingbird Prelude, hummingbirds, lightning bugs, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Serene Summer Suite, Sinker Redwood tone, Taylor 812ce LTD

Hummingbird Melody is the third song in the Serene Summer Suite, a musical offshoot of the songs and improvisations found in the Dragonfly Songs. While the Dragonfly Songs often explored multiple registers within the same song, the songs of the Serene Summer suite explore separate, but overlapping parts of the fretboard. Firefly Melody focused mostly on the lower and low-middle ranges of the guitar, creating a sonorous but mellow landscape.

With Hummingbird melody, I wanted to focus on the middle and upper ranges of the fretboard, also using the pad of a rich bass note at times to underscore the full range of the instrument. As a result, the song has a sunnier, crisper feel. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 188 • Iris (Original Fingerstyle, K22ce)

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, guitar instrumental, Hawaiian koa, koa taylor, nick borho, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, taylor grand concert, Taylor k22ce

Here’s a take of my song Iris recorded on the K22ce. Iris has a lot of harmonics, which creates a light, chimey atmosphere. This guitar provides a different overall effect than the rosewood & spruce guitars I’ve also recorded this song on. The koa has a crisp feel – bright harmonics but with an overall bloom that’s a bit more controlled. The bass is present, but understated, resulting in a melody forward sound that complements the song. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor K22ce (solid koa grand concert with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light gauge set) and an Ear Trumpet Labs “Edwina” microphone. Music by Nick Borho, all rights reserved. Note: this is my original fingerstyle song titled Iris; no relation to the Goo Goo Dolls song by the same name though that is cool too. 🙂

LIVE 192 • Hummingbird Prelude

Fingerstyle, Live50th Anniversary 812ce, acoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Firefly Melody, guitar instrumental, Hummingbird Melody, hummingbird mint, Hummingbird Prelude, hummingbirds, lightning bugs, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Serene Summer Suite, Sinker Redwood tone, Taylor 812ce LTD

Though related, the songs of the Serene Summer Suite explore similar ideas and musical themes from different perspectives. Hummingbird Prelude is the second song in the suite, the bridge between Firefly Melody and Hummingbird Melody. It came about as an improvisation between takes of Hummingbird Melody, mostly just enjoying the sound of the guitar and reflecting on some of the elements of Hummingbird Melody. I like to keep improvisation and semi-improvisation as mainstays of my music. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 166 • Morning in Paia (Instrumental, K22ce)

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, Anthony’s Coffee, Baldwin Avenue, blue sky guitar, Café des Amis, fingerstyle guitar, Flatbread Company, Hana Highway, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, Hawaiian koa, Island Fresh Café, koa taylor, Mana Foods, Maui Yoga Shale, nick borho, North Shore Maui, open tunings, original fingerstyle, paia, Paia Bay, Paia Bay Coffee, Paia Maui, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, taylor grand concert, Taylor k22ce, Telefunken M60

Here’s another take of my guitar instrumental, “Morning in Paia.” Alternately titled “Paia Morning” or “Paia Kakahiaka,” the song began life as the harmonic laden intro/outro figure and grew into the mellow yet energetic song here. Paia Morning captures some of the mellow yet entrancing vibes of a morning in Paia, Maui: from a cool morning stroll to Paia Bay Coffee or Anthony’s, to hanging out at Mana Foods, then perhaps a visit to Paia Bay before wrapping up with lunch at Flatbread Company or Café des Amis. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor K22ce (solid koa grand concert with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light gauge set) and a Telefunken M60 small diaphragm condenser microphone. Music by Nick Borho, all rights reserved.

LIVE 185 • Firefly Melody

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Live50th Anniversary 812ce, acoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Firefly Melody, guitar instrumental, lightning bugs, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Serene Summer Suite, Sinker Redwood tone, Taylor 812ce LTD

Firefly Melody was born following a recent group of improvisations around ideas from my song Welsh Dragonfly, which were collectively dubbed the Dragonfly songs. While the Dragonfly songs were influenced by the bucolic acoustic music of Led Zeppelin, Firefly Melody sought to continue from that same area but expand in a slightly different direction. In this case, I sought to maintain the mellow mood and reimagine the music with some inspiration from the guitar parts of Nick Drake. Following that path, Firefly Melody emerged. From there, Hummingbird Prelude and Hummingbird Melody came next, completing what I’ve dubbed the Serene Summer Suite. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 186 • Iris (912ce, alt take)

Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, guitar harmonics, guitar instrumental, Iris, lush harmonics, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Taylor 912ce, taylor grand concert

Here’s an alternate take of my song Iris recorded on the 912ce. Iris has a lot of harmonics, which creates a light, chimey atmosphere. The 912 has a lot of resonance, echo and bloom (even moreso than the 412ce I had previously recorded this with) which I thought would pair well with the cascade of harmonics in this song. Hope you enjoy.

Note: this is my original fingerstyle song titled Iris; no relation to the Goo Goo Dolls song by the same name though that is cool too. 🙂

LIVE 189 • Greensleeves

Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, Christmas Guitar instrumental, fingerstyle guitar, Greensleeves, guitar instrumental, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Taylor 912ce, taylor grand concert, What Child Is This

Here is an arrangement of Greensleeves I did back when I was teaching guitar full time. The arrangement was meant for intermediate to advanced students, and is both a little challenging and fun to play. Greensleeves (a/k/a What Child is This?) is often thought of as a Christmas classic, but the song actually originated as a love ballad in late 1500’s England. The tune quickly became a staple of popular culture, even to the point of Shakespeare seeming to have a bit of fun with the song’s widespread prevalence in The Merry Wives of Windsor. And the tune remains well known, even to this day. Hope you enjoy.

“Let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’…”
— William Shakespeare, via Falstaff, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act V, Scene 5)

LIVE 160 • Butterflies (Original Fingerstyle)

Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, awesome little song, blue sky guitar, butterflies, fingerstyle guitar, nick borho, original fingerstyle guitar, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, signs music has changed your life

Today’s song from the vaults is called “Butterflies.” It’s a meditative song with a mellow, ethereal quality suitable to the title. Butterflies is a track from a project I had called Signs Music Has Changed Your Life. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 177 • Irish Well Wishes

Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar tone, blue sky guitar, celtic guitar, fingerstyle guitar, guitar instrumental, Hawaiian koa, koa taylor, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, Open D, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, taylor grand concert, Taylor k22ce

Irish Well Wishes is an improvisation inspired by my love of Ireland and the Irish people. When I recorded this, I had recently been reflecting on my visit to Ireland years ago; the beauty of the land and the warmth of the Irish people is often talked about and portrayed in various films, etc., but actually traveling there I found it really did meet and exceed expectations (and yes, it really was ‘that green’). Also, at the time of recording this, I had been listening to a fair amount of Tony McManus and Martin Simpson – all of this gave rise to the improvisation here around some pieces of melody from Danny Boy and various other Celtic guitar ideas. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 171 • Ohio River Rag (Alt Take)

Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic blues, acoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, Elixir Polyweb, fingerstyle blues, fingerstyle guitar, guitar instrumental, ksm141, nick borho, ohio river, open G, open tunings, original fingerstyle, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, sapele tone, shure, taylor 310ce

Here is another take of “Ohio River Rag,” which was recorded as part of my Awake Again album project. While revisiting that project and remixing the album (the full album is on this page), I came across some alternate takes of a couple of songs that I thought it would be fun to publish; this is one of those songs. The Awake Again album featured a good mix of both Hawaiian Ki Ho’alu / slack key and traditional acoustic blues influences, though I tend to think of songs like this as more of a blues number.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Sapele/Spruce, Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i.

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Slack Key and Fingerstyle Guitar