Tag Archives: peaceful guitar music

Saturday Song

Songs, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 third song in the set, which I dubbed “Saturday Song.”

Recorded in Louisville, Kentucky, 9/29/12.

Punahele – Ray Kane

Songs, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

Blue Bells (Demo, Open Tuned Electric Guitar)

Songs, , , , , , ,

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 in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, 6/18/06.