Tag Archives: Holualoa

LIVE 142 • Hualalai Sunrise (Early Take)

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, Holualoa, hualalai, kailua kona, kalaoa, ki ho’alu, nick borho, North Kona, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Slack Key, taylor 414ce-NR, taylor classical guitar, taylor nylon, Telefunken M60

“Hualalai Sunrise” was inspired by the morning sunrises in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Much of North Kona – from Kalaoa where I spent much of my early childhood to Holualoa where I later lived – can see the sun shining over the top ridges of Hualalai in the morning, bathing its warm light over the slopes from the summit to the ocean. This is an early version of this song, though I have improvised several slightly different versions since. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce grand auditorium nylon string) and a Telefunken M60 microphone.

LIVE 133 • Meadows Slack Key (912ce)

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island, blue sky guitar, Elixir Polyweb, fingerstyle guitar, geckos, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, Holualoa, Kailua-Kona, ki ho’alu, Mamalahoa Highway, Neumann TLM 102, nick borho, open G, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Slack Key, Taro Patch, Taylor 912ce, taylor grand concert

“Meadows” is a slack key song I wrote during a full moon in Kailua-Kona. I think the song was influenced by the night air and night sounds – the occasional chirp of geckos, the distant sounds of traffic on Mamalahoa Highway and the waves in the ocean. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 912ce (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light strings) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

103 Minutes Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Instrumental Music

Slack KeyAli’i Drive, big island, blueskyguitar, City of Refegue, Hawaii, Higashihara Park, Holualoa, Honaunau, Honokohau Harbor, Hookena Beach, Kahaluu Snorkel Beach, kailua kona, Kailua Kona Pier, kainaliu, kalaoa, Kaloko, kealakekua, Keauhou Bay, ki ho’alu, King Kamehameha Hotel, kona coffee, kona district, Kua Bay, Magic Sands, mauna loa tuning, nick borho, North Kona, Old Airport Beach Park, peace, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Slack Key, South Kona, Taro Patch

For your listening pleasure here is another collection of Ki Ho’alu a/k/a Hawaiian Slack Key guitar instrumentals. This compilation is an alternate mix from another one recently posted on my other channel (Blue Sky Guitar), and includes a few classic chestnuts – or rather, kukui nuts maybe – as well as original songs. The songs here are both energetic and relaxed, though I’d say the overall vibe is relaxing. I like to listen to some of those longer “relaxing music” videos while working on the computer and became inspired to produce some videos featuring my own performances. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 113 • Meadows

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island, blue sky guitar, Elixir Polyweb, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, Holualoa, Kailua-Kona, ki ho’alu, ksm141, Mamalahoa Highway, nick borho, open G, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, shure, Slack Key, Taro Patch, taylor 310ce

“Meadows” is an original song I wrote during a full moon in Kailua-Kona. I think the song was influenced by the night air and night sounds – the occasional chirp of geckos, the distant sounds of traffic on Mamalahoa Highway and the waves in the ocean. This version was probably recorded within a year of when I wrote it. Hope you enjoy.

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, 10/9/07.

77 Minutes Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Instrumental Music

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, hanalei, Hawaii, Holualoa, kailua kona, kapaa, kauai, ki ho’alu, love, maui, mauna loa tuning, nick borho, open tunings, paia, peace, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Slack Key, Taro Patch, taylor grand concert, tranquil song

For your listening pleasure here is a collection of Ki Ho’alu a/k/a Hawaiian Slack Key guitar instrumentals. This compilation includes both energetic and relaxed tunes, though I’d say the overall vibe is relaxing. I like to listen to some of those longer “relaxing music” videos while working on the computer and became inspired to produce some videos featuring my own performances. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 112 • Saddle Up! Slack Key

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island, Elixir Polyweb, Hawaii, hawaiian cowboy, Holualoa, ki ho’alu, kona coffee festival, ksm141, pa’u rider, paniolo, shure, Slack Key, taylor 310ce, wahine tuning

Here is a song I wrote years back called ‘Saddle Up! Slack Key.’ It pays tribute to Hawaii’s unique Paniolo cowboy culture, including the beautiful Pa’u riders I would see at the Kona Coffee Festival Parade among other events. Hope you enjoy.

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, 3/5/08.

Awake Again

Blue Sky Guitar, Fingerstyle, Live, Slack Keycoffee farm, Fingerstyle, Holualoa, Ki Ho'alu, Slack Key

“Awake Again” is an unfinished project I started working on in in early 2009 and only recently revisited. Now, assembled here together for the first time since it was recorded, the music in this playlist brings the project to a conclusion of sorts.

This music here was recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, on 11 different dates ranging from 2/14/09 through 6/20/09. Rather than a finished product this is the complete ‘first draft,’ comprised of the best recordings from that time in the order I had envisioned for the completed project. Hope you enjoy.

Track List:
1 – Intro 6/13/09
2 – Dust Yourself Off 2/24/09
3 – Ohio River Rag 3/1/09
4 – Transition I 3/1/09
5 – Straight Ahead Blues 2/26/09
6 – Hand Dancing 6/20/09
7 – Home Abroad 3/18/09
8 – Make 3/19/09
9 – Moment in the Sun 4/20/09
10 – Crossing the Field 4/20/09
11 – Morning and Night 6/20/09
12 – Brownsboro Road 4/20/09
13 – Bull By the Horns 2/14/09
14 – Kona Snow 6/20/09
15 – Transition One 3/16/09
16 – Momentum 6/8/09
17 – Outro 6/20/09

LIVE 100 • Jewel Ponds

Open Tunings, Songsacoustic guitar, big island, blue sky guitar, Elixir Polyweb, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, Holualoa, kailua kona, ksm141, nick borho, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, shure, Slack Key, taylor 310ce, Taylor Dreadnaught

This improvisation is named for the beautiful anchialine ponds you find along the leeward coast of Hawai’i Island. These ponds are an ultra rare and pristine habitat (please do not bathe in them) that host rare tiny red shrimp – ‘ōpae ‘ula – and can have a magnificent array of turquoise and opaline colors, like jewels. Some of these ponds are tiny indeed, almost more of a puddle than a pond, and legends tell of ponds that would mysteriously appear to someone only to vanish when visited again. There can be no denying the strange, quiet magic of Hawai’i’s anchialine ponds.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 10/08/07.

LIVE 099 • Mauna Loa Slack Key

Slack Keybig island, blue sky guitar, Elixir Polyweb, Hawaii, Holualoa, ki ho’alu, kona coffee, ksm141, mauna loa, nick borho, shure, Slack Key, taylor 310ce, Taylor Dreadnaught

Here is my cover of “Mauna Loa Slack Key,” one of the relatively few surviving original songs from legendary slack key kupuna Fred Punahoa. Though “Uncle” Fred never made a full album, he did make a notable appearance on the Waimea Music Festival album which features Mauna Loa Slack Key along with another of Fred’s originals, “Punahoa Special.” Uncle Fred’s legacy also includes fostering amazing Big Island talents of the next generation such as Ledward Ka’apana and Sonny Lim. Like the Punahoa Special, Mauna Loa Slack Key is an often covered song in the slack key world. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 10/11/07.

LIVE 092 • Opihi Moe Moe (Taylor 310ce)

Fingerstyle, Slack Keybig island, blue sky guitar, Elixir Polyweb, Hawaii, Holualoa, kailua kona, Ki Ho'alu, kona coffee, ksm141, leonard kwan, nick borho, open G, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, shure, Slack Key, Taro Patch, taylor 310ce, Taylor Dreadnaught

Here’s a recently found cover I did of Leonard Kwan’s signature tune, Opihi Moe Moe. One of the most popular songs in the slack key repetoire, this song has been covered perhaps most prominently by Led Kaapana; in fact, Chet Atkins even recorded a version after hearing it from Leonard on a visit to Hawai’i. Notably, Leonard himself recorded several versions of this song including variations such as Opihi Bounce. Opihi Moe Moe is a fun song to play that lends itself to little variations, and everyone seems to bring something different to this deceptively simple song. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 1/4/2008.

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