Tag Archives: open tunings

LIVE 145 • Morning in Paia (Original Fingerstyle)

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

Alternately titled “Paia Morning” or “Paia Kakahiaka,” the song “Morning in Paia” 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: you start out strolling the sidewalks – still sparsely populated this time of day – perhaps pick up some fresh fruit from Mana Foods while catching a little bit of local news at the North Shore outpost, or head up the road a short ways to Island Fresh Café for some breakfast nosh. Next, travel back down the road to grab coffee at Paia Bay Coffee or Anthony’s, maybe taking a meditative stroll along the sand at 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 gauge set) and a Telefunken M60 small diaphragm condenser microphone.

LIVE 144 • Sound and Solace (Original Fingerstyle)

Live, Open Tuningsacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, fingerstyle improv, Neumann TLM 103, nick borho, Open D, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Taylor 912ce, taylor grand concert

This song was born of my desire to improvise around some familiar ideas and possibly discover some new ones. Using familiar shapes and runs, perhaps I would come to appreciate them from a new angle, or juxtapose them in a way that I hadn’t before. I wanted to explore textures, try to accent some of the notes in a different way, give the strings a staccato strum or two, play some lush harmonics. Sometimes rather than trying to come up with something totally new, you want to explore the familiar ground of existing templates, maybe change them just a little – not to the point they’re unrecognizable, but to explore how they can be tweaked and see if it suits.

In addition to trying out some musical ideas, I wanted to see how they would sound with a microphone I hadn’t used lately, recording with a different sound. The mic I chose sounds crisp, picking up all the harmonic details and giving clear note separation. It’s quiet, and also good at gathering room ambiance. The bass is not as bold and the mid-scooped rosewood sound isn’t as prominent as another mic I had been using lately, but this mic would provide a nice, hi-fi, detailed sound – one I might now want to explore even more. Anyway, sometimes it’s important to try something a little different with your sound, to record an improvisation and see what happens. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 912ce (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light strings) and a Neumann TLM 103 microphone.

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 138 • Little Grass Shack, Pua Tuberose – Slack Key Medley

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, kailua kona, Keauhou Bay, Keauhou Bay Resort, ki ho’alu, little grass shack, nick borho, open G, open tunings, outrigger Keauhou bay, peaceful guitar, pua tuberose, relaxing guitar, Sheraton Keauhou Bay Hotel, Slack Key, Taro Patch

From the vaults, here is an old recording of a slack key medley performed during an informal kanikapila at what was then the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort Hotel (it has since changed hands from Sheraton). The medley starts out with a rendition of Little Grass Shack, followed by the classic Pua Tuberose. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 131 • Hula Blues (Nylon String Guitar)

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, ear trumpet edwina, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, Hula Blues, Johnny Noble, ki ho’alu, nick borho, open G, open tunings, Slack Key, Taro Patch, taylor 414ce-NR, taylor classical guitar, taylor nylon

Here is a version of the classic Johnny Noble song “Hula Blues” recorded on nylon string guitar. Hula Blues is a steel guitar and slack key staple – a quick check of my iTunes library shows over a dozen versions by everyone from Sol Ho’opi’i to Sonny Chillingworth, Led Ka’apana, Leonard Kwan, Bobby Ingano, as well as separate versions from Gabby Pahinui and his son Cyril. This song is fun to play and captures a certain energy that many find appealing. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce grand auditorium nylon string) and an Ear Trumpet Labs “Edwina” microphone.

LIVE 136 • Wayvvs Crashin

Fingerstyle, Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, Hawaiian koa, ki ho’alu, koa taylor, Line Audio CM4, nick borho, Open D, open tunings, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Slack Key, taylor grand concert, Taylor k22ce

Here’s an isolated track that I recorded for a collaboration a few years ago. That particular collaboration didn’t end up coming together, so I thought I would release this track as a stand alone piece. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor K22ce (solid koa grand concert with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a Line Audio CM4 microphone.

LIVE 140 • Bron Yr Aur (K22ce)

Acoustic, Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaiian koa, Jimmy Page, koa taylor, Led Zeppelin, nick borho, open C6, open tunings, peaceful guitar, Physical Graffiti, relaxing guitar, taylor grand concert, Taylor k22ce, Telefunken M60, Welsh Countryside

Bron-Yr-Aur is probably my favorite Led Zeppelin acoustic song. Written by Jimmy Page 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 version was recorded on my Taylor K22ce.

Recorded with a Taylor K22ce (solid koa grand concert with Elixir Nanoweb 80/20 Bronze HD gauge set) 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.

LIVE 126 • Opihi Moemoe (improv on K22ce)

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, blue sky guitar, ear trumpet edwina, Hawaii, hawaiian guitar, Hawaiian koa, koa taylor, nick borho, open G, open tunings, opihi moemoe, peaceful guitar, relaxing guitar, Slack Key, Taro Patch, taylor grand concert, Taylor k22ce

Here’s a recently found recording where I’m improvising some ideas around Leonard Kwan’s classic slack key song Opihi Moemoe. One of the most popular songs in the slack key repertoire, this song has been covered by everyone from Ledward Kaapana to Chet Atkins. Opihi MoeMoe is a fun piece that lends itself well to improvised variations, and everyone seems to bring something a little different to this deceptively simple song. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor K22ce (solid koa grand concert with Elixir HD Light gauge set) and an Ear Trumpet Labs “Edwina” microphone.

LIVE 115 • Mino’aka (Alt Take)

Slack Keyacoustic guitar, altered tunings, blue sky guitar, fingerstyle guitar, harmonics, Hawaii, keola beamer, ki ho’alu, nick borho, open g tuning, open tunings, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, Slack Key, soliloquy, Taro Patch, Taylor 912ce, taylor grand concert, tranquil song

Here’s an alternate take of Keola Beamer’s Mino’aka (Smile), from his awesome Soliloquy album. Soliloquy is one of my favorite Dancing Cat era albums from Keola and a highly recommended listen. Keola’s book is one of the first I picked up when I really delved into the slack key style years ago, and this was one of my favorite songs featured in the book. In fact, I also recommend Keola’s book for beginner to intermediate fingerstyle players who are looking to learn some slack key. Although the version I recorded here is at a slightly faster tempo, I hope it still captures the original’s relaxed feel. Hope you enjoy.