Hilo Rag is a super fun tune to play from Dennis Kamakahi’s oeuvre. Better known for lyrical songs like Koke’e, Hilo Rag makes me wish I heard more of Dennis’s instrumental work. I was fortunate enough to meet Dennis and son David years ago and see them play, both on stage and in smaller back porch style jam sessions. I remember Dennis dressing sharp in his kind of urban paniolo style, complete with boots and cowboy hat. Like I say, this is such a fun song to play I can never just play it once when I’m running through songs (and will be posting an alternate take on my other channel soon). Hope you enjoy.
Tag Archives: relaxing guitar
Moonglow (Alternate Take)
Here is an alternate take of Moonglow, a song I wrote years ago while sitting outside under a full moon. I’ve played it on and off for years, most always on steel string guitar. More recently I tried it on nylon and found it worked quite well – perhaps even better. Hope you enjoy.
Morning & Night (alternate take)
Here is another take of my original fingerstyle song, Morning and Night. I like this version because you can hear it breathe, with overtones blending and blooming between musical phrases. Hope you enjoy.
Kaiminani Slack Key
Here is an original slack key song I named for Kaiminani Drive in Kalaoa, North Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kaiminani Drive is a main mauka-makai road that connects the Queen Kaahumanu and Mamalahoa highways (lower and upper roads, respectively). It also runs through the Kona Palisades neighborhood where I lived for a number of years as a child. Back then, the neighborhood was less developed, and my friends and I would build tree houses and play in the vacant lots. We could also watch the planes come and go at Kona International Airport at Keahole Point (KOA), and had easy access to then-uncrowded OTEC (Wawaloli) and Pine Trees (Kohanaiki) beaches. Hope you enjoy.
Moment in the Sun & Crossing the Field
“Moment in the Sun” and it’s companion song “Crossing the Field” were recorded as a pair of songs to set the stage for the second half of my “Awake Again” album. Following the dramatic strumming of “Make” that closed the first half of the album, “Moment” & “Field” frame the mellower vibe of the album’s remaining songs. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 4/20/09.
Outro (Awake Again)
This short piece was recorded to provide a final track for my “Awake Again” project. The outro echoes the intro’s use of harmonics and changing of the guitar’s tuning during the piece. It’s short, but provides a few sweet phrases to close the album. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 6/20/09.
Transition I (Awake Again, 3/1/09)
This is another improvisatory piece recorded for my “Awake Again” project, which included a handful of songs that were connected by mostly shorter and improvisatory ‘transitions’ such as this. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/1/09.
Bull by the Horns
Bull by the Horns is a longer folk fingerpicking piece from my “Awake Again” project. I don’t often use a capo, but sometimes it’s nice to have that bright, chimey sound and snappy playability you get from moving up the neck. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 2/14/09.
Ohio River Rag (Awake Again Version)
Here is a version of my song “Ohio River Rag” recorded for the Awake Again project. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/1/09.
Morning and Night (Awake Again Version)
Here is a version of my song “Morning and Night” recorded for the Awake Again project. Hope you enjoy.
Recorded in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 6/20/09.