Tag Archives: relaxing music

LIVE 045 • Transition One (3/16/09)

Acoustic, Blue Sky Guitar, Liveacoustic guitar, big island, Elixir HD Light, fingerstyle guitar, Fred Kelly, Hawaii, Holualoa, kailua kona, kona coffee, love, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, Taylor 310, taylor 310ce, Taylor 310e, Taylor Dreadnaught guitar, Taylor guitars, thumbpicks, tranquil song

Here is an improvisatory piece recorded for a project I had a few years back. The idea behind the project, called “Awake Again,” was to have a handful of songs that were connected by mostly shorter and improvisatory ‘transitions’ that would act as both glue and palette cleanser between the slightly more structured songs. The wallpaper shows me with my old Taylor 310ce that I used to record this song. 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, 3/16/09.

LIVE 043 • Earlybird Sunrise

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, altered tunings, celtic guitar, Elixir strings, fingerstyle guitar, Fred Kelly, love, open tunings, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, taylor 310ce, Taylor Dreadnaught guitar, Taylor guitars, thumbpicks, tranquil song

Today’s song is a demo from years back called “Earlybird Sunrise.” Earlybird is a fingerstyle song with an expansive palette and ambitions of invoking a wide landscape. I also thought it would be fun to pull an old photo of myself – replete with long hair – from around the time I recorded this song. I have my old Taylor 310ce in the photo – a trusty guitar – but Earlybird was probably recorded with a budget model from another brand that was nonetheless fairly playable. It’s in an alternate tuning that I haven’t used since and I can’t recall how to play the song, but I still find it fun to listen to and hope you will enjoy as well.

LIVE 046 • At Dawn – My Morning Jacket

Classic Rock, Fingerstyle, Liveacoustic guitar, altered tunings, Elixir HD Light, fingerstyle guitar, Fred Kelly, jim james, love, mmj, my morning jacket, open tunings, peace, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, rosewood taylor, Taylor 400 series, Taylor 412ce-R, taylor grand concert, Taylor guitars, thumbpicks, tranquil song

Today’s song from the vaults is a cover of My Morning Jacket’s “At Dawn.” The song and its eponymous album came to me at a formative period, becoming both anthem and inspiration for pursing musical goals in life. Sometimes you wonder if music guides you in a certain direction, finds you at the right moment, or if you attract it when you need change and encouragement. There’s a Nick Drake style intro not on the original cut, but it seemed to work. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 412ce LTD (Rosewood/Spruce, strings are Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD gauge set) and a single Beyerdynamic MC 930 microphone in Honolulu, 9/20/14.

LIVE 042 • Star Waltz

Live, Open Tuningsacoustic guitar, altered tunings, drop C, fingerstyle guitar, kentucky guitar, Ki Ho'alu, louisville fingerstyle, open tunings, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, simple guitar, Slack Key, Taylor 310, taylor 310ce, Taylor 310e, Taylor Dreadnaught guitar, Taylor guitars, tranquil song

One day in the fall of 2012, I sat down to record a set of improvised songs with a Taylor dreadnought acoustic guitar. I improvised five original songs and two versions of Amazing Grace. With only one or two false starts, they were mostly first takes. The set was nothing really mind altering, but it had some cool songs with good vibes – so I considered it a success. It’s not the kind of thing I do often – in fact I haven’t done the exercise since, haven’t played any of the original songs again, and don’t consider it the most incredible thing I’ve ever done. Yet somehow it stands out in my mind as a creative milestone, a memorable event. Sometimes it’s important to break out of the mold with such experiments to reach a new frame of mind, a new level. This was the fifth song in the set, “Star Waltz.”

Recorded with a Taylor 310 and a Tascam DR-40 in Louisville, Kentucky, 9/29/12.

LIVE 041 • Magic Sands – Slack Key Guitar

Fingerstyle, Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, big island beach, ear trumpet labs, edwina, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, kailua kona, Ki Ho'alu, Magic Sands, open g tuning, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, rosewood taylor nylon, Slack Key, Taro Patch, Taylor 400 series, taylor 414ce-NR, taylor classical guitar, taylor grand auditorium, Taylor guitars, taylor nylon guitar, tranquil song

Here is a slack key style tune I wrote a while back while hanging out around Magic Sands beach in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. I originally wrote it on an old nylon string guitar. While I have a recording of this song played on steel string already posted, I wanted to go back and do a recording with my nylon string Taylor as well. There aren’t many songs I like to play on both steel and nylon, but this is one of them for some reason. Hope you enjoy.

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

LIVE 040 • Saturday Song

Acoustic, Live, Open Tuningsacoustic guitar, altered tunings, drop C, fingerstyle guitar, kentucky guitar, Ki Ho'alu, louisville fingerstyle, open tunings, peaceful guitar music, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, simple guitar, Slack Key, Taylor 310, taylor 310ce, Taylor 310e, Taylor Dreadnaught guitar, Taylor guitars, tranquil song

Recorded with a Taylor 310 and a Tascam DR-40 in Louisville, Kentucky, 9/29/12.

LIVE 039 • Henry Street Slack Key

Live, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, altered tunings, big island, borders, East Indian Rosewood, ebony, EIR, fingerstyle guitar, Fred Kelly, Hawaii, henry st, kailua kona, Ki Ho'alu, kona coffee, kuakini, Larrivée, open G, open tunings, P-09, palani, parlor guitar, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, rosewood, sitka spruce, Slack Key, Taro Patch, thumbpicks

Here is a demo of a song I wrote a while back called Henry Street Slack Key – named for what was then the still developing Henry Street, which runs between Kuakini Highway and Palani Rd in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The street had a lot of places I went to at the time – a healthfood store, a Border’s Books (with a great music selection, in the days when CD’s ruled), Wal-Mart (a place to run into people in small town Kailua-Kona), Safeway, several coffee shops, and a Korean BBQ. This is also one of the few recordings I made with my Larrivee parlor guitar – a rosewood / sitka spruce P-09, which I have since sold. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Larrivée P-09 Parlor guitar (Rosewood / Sitka Spruce) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, 8/26/07.

LIVE 038 • Punahele – Ray Kane

Fingerstyle, Live, Open Tunings, Slack Keyacoustic guitar, altered tuning, Elixir HD Light, fingerstyle guitar, Fred Kelly, g wahine tuning, Hawaii, Ki Ho'alu, nanakuli, open tunings, peaceful guitar music, punahele, Ray Kane, Raymond Kane, relaxing music, rosewood taylor, Slack Key, Taylor 412ce-R, taylor grand concert, Taylor guitars, thumbpicks, tranquil song

Here is another Ray Kane cover – this time his classic song Punahele. According to the Dancing Cat liner notes, Punahele (“favorite” or “pet”) came to Ray “one night in 1938 at Zablan’s Beach in Nanakuli. ‘Back in those days there were no cars, it was pitch black. So I sit there in the dark in the nice cool breeze and I hear the waves bouncing on the sand and see the moonlight flicker on the water. It inspired me, something so nice. So mellow. That’s what gave me my inspiration.’”
Similar to other songs Ray composed on the beach (Keiki Slack Key for example), this mellow laid back songs exemplifies Ray’s nahenahe approach that to me represents the archetype of ‘old style’ slack key. Like Keiki Slack Key, Punahele is one of the first slack key songs I learned, and has stayed on my setlists ever since. I recently improvised a few new licks into the song, and recorded a half dozen takes – some 5-6 minutes long. I think this short three and a quarter minute version gets the point across though. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce nylon string) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

LIVE 037 • Home Abroad – Slide Guitar

Acoustic, Liveacoustic guitar, altered tunings, big island, blues slide, Elixir strings, fingerstyle guitar, Fred Kelly, Hawaii, Holualoa, kailua kona, Ki Ho'alu, kona coffee, Open D, Open E, open tunings, relaxing guitar, relaxing music, Slide Guitar, Taylor guitars, thumbpicks

From the vaults, here is a slide guitar song I wrote called Home Abroad. I used to play a fair amount of slide guitar, but I don’t play it much anymore. I figured I’d either have to go all in on the slide or not, but couldn’t just dabble with it – so I decided to work on other areas instead. This is a fun leftover from when I dabbled with it though. 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, 3/18/09.

LIVE 036 • Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Open Tuningsacoustic guitar, altered tuning, celtic guitar, fiddle tunes guitar, fingerstyle guitar, Hawaii, kona, Martin Simpson, O’Carolan songs, Open D, open tunings, Pierre Bensusan, relaxing music, rosewood taylor, Slack Key, Taylor 412ce-R, taylor grand concert, Tony McManus, tranquil song, Turlough O’Carolan

Here is my arrangement of Si Bheag, Si Mhor (Little Fairy, Big Fairy), reportedly the first song composed by famous 17th century bard Turlough O’Carolan. This version of the song is played a little on the slower side of what you normally hear, but I may record a slightly more uptempo version later on. I think the song works well both ways to be honest, one of the many interesting things about it. 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.

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