Tag Archives: fingerstyle guitar

Acacia Improv (K22ce)

Acacia Improv is an outtake of some improvisation done one day while I was recording “Acacia Just Noticed.”  That song as well as this short little improv were meant to highlight the koa guitar’s warm low-mid tone with a touch of sparkle in the treble register, to bring out the characteristic warmth and sweetness of the wood.  Hope you enjoy.

Acacia Just Noticed (K22ce)

Acacia Just Noticed came to me one day while improvising on my koa guitar.  Once aged a little, koa (part of the Acacia family, thus the titular play on words) imparts a warm low-mid tone with a touch of sparkle.  Sometimes, depending on how you’re playing, koa can be a little thin and bright, but here I’m playing without a pick and using part of the pads of my fingers to soften things up – especially useful with some of the snappy parts here.  Along with that, I feel like the the two sections of this song are played in registers that particularly lend themselves to bringing out warmth and sweetness of koa.  The overall combination of these elements melds together in a way that I felt made the wood shine through, thus the nod in the title.  Hope you enjoy.

After the Solstice (Early Take)

After the Solstice and its harmonic laden chorus came to me one day after a winter solstice.  It’s a quiet, peaceful time of year where the days are gradually getting longer and your mind turns to the hope of a new cycle.  (I think it’s also fine for the already long days of summer too though.)  Hope you enjoy.

Here Comes the Sun – Fingerstyle Beatles Cover (Taylor 412ce)

One of the classic George Harrison songs from the Abbey Road album, Here Comes the Sun is a bright, happy tune that sounds great on acoustic guitar.  This is an alternate take of my  fingerstyle arrangement of the song.  Hope you enjoy.

Keiki Slack Key (412ce)

Here is another version of the Ray Kane classic “Keiki Slack Key” I recorded on my Taylor 412ce-R steel string guitar.  Keiki Slack Key (not to be confused with the Sonny Chillingworth song of the same name) is one of the first slack key songs I transcribed, and has stayed on my setlists ever since.  To me, Ray Kane is probably the best example of an ‘old style’ slack key player, and his tracks are always nahenahe.  Hope you enjoy.

 

 

Meditation on Which Will (Nick Drake Guitar Part)

Nick Drake’s guitar parts (and music in general) seem to live in their own magical realm that we can tap into whenever listening to an album like Pink Moon.  I was trying a new recording set up one day and decided to see how it would sound playing my version of the guitar part from “Which Will,” which is not really meant as a note-for-note copy of the original guitar part.  Rather, I wanted to do a sort of meditation on the part and just enjoy the mellow vibes that Drake’s music always impart to me.  Hope you enjoy.

Crossing the Field (Original Fingerstyle)

Here’s another take of “Crossing the Field,” a song from my “Awake Again” album.  “Crossing the Field” was recorded as part of a pair of songs (along with its companion song, “Moment in the Sun”) to set the stage for the second half of the album.  Following the dramatic strumming of “Make” that closed the first half of the album, “Moment” & “Field” framed the mellower vibe of the album’s remaining songs.  Hope you enjoy.

 

Slack Key Number 1 (Taylor 412ce)

Here is an alternate take of Slack Key No. 1, the classic showpiece of slack key master Sonny Chillingworth.  I first heard it on the Dancing Cat release “Endlessly,” and it also appears on his 1964 solo release “Waimea Cowboy.”  The Waimea Cowboy version sounds like it was recorded on an electric guitar, while the version on Endlessly was recorded on acoustic guitar.  Both versions are very similar, though with some slight differences.  I have incorporated elements from both versions in the arrangement I play.  Hope you enjoy. 

Dive In (Original Fingerstyle)

Today’s song from the vaults is Dive In, which I recall as being inspired by Celtic and Bluegrass fiddle tunes, but it also has some distinctly guitar-ish strumming and rhythms.  “Dive In” is a track from a project I had called Signs Music Has Changed Your Life.  Hope you enjoy.