Category Archives: Live

LIVE 020 • Make (Demo)

Blue Sky Guitar, Live, , , , , ,

Here is a strum intensive song from the vaults called “Make”. The louder strumming in this song was meant to provide a counterpoint to some of the mellower fingerstyle and slack key songs I was playing at the time. I recorded this while living in an ohana unit with a large, tiled room that I kept mostly empty because I enjoyed the acoustics. (Plus, I didn’t own a lot of furniture.) Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/19/08.

All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform it in public.

You may also like:

Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

Magic Sands

LIVE 019 • Blue Bells (Demo, Open Tuned Electric Guitar)

Fingerstyle, Live, Open Tunings, , , , , , ,

From the vaults, here is a demo of a tune I wrote some years back called Blue Bells. I think this might be the only recording I have of this song, and although it’s not fully finished there’s something I love about this take that made me want to stop working on it for a while. Sometimes you capture a feeling – for yourself alone even – well enough to leave a song be – to come back to it later, or not at all.

Recorded with a late 90’s Olympic White Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster and a ’68 Fender Vibro Champ with some sort of Boss delay pedal in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, 6/18/06.

All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.

You may also like:

Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

Magic Sands – Slack Key Guitar

Here Comes the Sun – fingerstyle guitar arrangement

LIVE 018 • Something – Ukulele Cover – Beatles / George Harrison

Classic Rock, Live, , , , , , ,

From the vaults, here is a cover of George Harrison’s wonderful song Something that I performed on ukulele. What can I say, Pattie Boyd Boyd must have been quite the muse. Something is arguably George’s greatest song with the Beatles or even his entire career, which is saying something. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Koaloha concert ukulele and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/5/08.

All rights reserved to this arrangement.

You may also like:

Magic Sands

Here Comes the Sun fingerstyle guitar arrangement

LIVE 016 • Iris

Fingerstyle, Live, Open Tunings, , , , ,

Iris has a lot of harmonics, which creates a light, chimey atmosphere. A thunderstorm rolled in while I was recording and gave some interesting punctuation to the take. I’ll probably try to record another version of this song, but thought the lightness of the song coupled with the thunderstorm left an interesting contrast. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, Gotoh 510 tuners, strings are Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.

You may also like:

Bron Yr Aur – Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin

Here Comes the Sun fingerstyle guitar arrangement

LIVE 015 • Morning and Night

Fingerstyle, Live, , , ,

Morning and Night started out as a fingerpicking study I wrote for one of my students way back when. I added a little to the study to perform it as a slow, relaxing solo piece and it has stayed in my repertoire ever since.
A few years back I decided to write a harmony part for the song, which I almost forgot about until I found a demo take while combing through some old files. I think it’s interesting to hear the song both with and without the harmony. Hope you enjoy both versions.

All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.

You may also like:

Bron Yr Aur – Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin – Fingerstyle Guitar

Magic Sands

LIVE 013 • Lágrima by Francisco Tárrega

Live, , , , , , , , , , ,

Lágrima is one of my all time favorite songs on guitar. Written by one of the premiere composers for classical guitar, Francisco Tárrega, it plays to the guitar’s strengths and offers many possible interpretations. The song is simple, yet profound, saying a lot in a short amount of time. I also think Lágrima translates well to the steel string guitar – the ringing sustain brings an added brilliance to the song.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, Gotoh 510 tuners, strings are Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

LIVE 012 • Bron Yr Aur by Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin

Classic Rock, Live, Open Tunings, , , , ,

Bron-Yr-Aur is probably my favorite Led Zeppelin acoustic song. Written about a tranquil cottage in the Welsh countryside, the song is meditative and bucolic; it always puts me in a different place whenever I hear it or play it. This is a relatively straight forward read on the song… The original version is a bit shorter, but I usually take a few extra passes through. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

LIVE 011 • Ohio River Rag (Rough Cut)

Live, Open Tunings,

Here is a rough cut of my original song Ohio River Rag. My normal preamp setup has a software bug, so recording with just my phone in the meanwhile. Sometimes you have to push through.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set).

All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.