BlueSkyGuitar.com

LIVE 193 • Hummingbird Melody

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 21:21:36 +0000

Hummingbird Melody is the third song in the Serene Summer Suite, a musical offshoot of the songs and improvisations found in the Dragonfly Songs. While the Dragonfly Songs often explored multiple registers within the same song, the songs of the Serene Summer suite explore separate, but overlapping parts of the fretboard. Firefly Melody focused mostly on the lower and low-middle ranges of the guitar, creating a sonorous but mellow landscape.

With Hummingbird melody, I wanted to focus on the middle and upper ranges of the fretboard, also using the pad of a rich bass note at times to underscore the full range of the instrument. As a result, the song has a sunnier, crisper feel. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 188 • Iris (Original Fingerstyle, K22ce)

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 21:31:25 +0000

Here’s a take of my song Iris recorded on the K22ce. Iris has a lot of harmonics, which creates a light, chimey atmosphere. This guitar provides a different overall effect than the rosewood & spruce guitars I’ve also recorded this song on. The koa has a crisp feel – bright harmonics but with an overall bloom that’s a bit more controlled. The bass is present, but understated, resulting in a melody forward sound that complements the song. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor K22ce (solid koa grand concert with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light gauge set) and an Ear Trumpet Labs “Edwina” microphone. Music by Nick Borho, all rights reserved. Note: this is my original fingerstyle song titled Iris; no relation to the Goo Goo Dolls song by the same name though that is cool too.

LIVE 192 • Hummingbird Prelude

Sun, 31 May 2026 23:07:26 +0000

Though related, the songs of the Serene Summer Suite explore similar ideas and musical themes from different perspectives. Hummingbird Prelude is the second song in the suite, the bridge between Firefly Melody and Hummingbird Melody. It came about as an improvisation between takes of Hummingbird Melody, mostly just enjoying the sound of the guitar and reflecting on some of the elements of Hummingbird Melody. I like to keep improvisation and semi-improvisation as mainstays of my music. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 166 • Morning in Paia (Instrumental, K22ce)

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 23:47:01 +0000

Here’s another take of my guitar instrumental, “Morning in Paia.” Alternately titled “Paia Morning” or “Paia Kakahiaka,” the song 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: from a cool morning stroll to Paia Bay Coffee or Anthony’s, to hanging out at Mana Foods, then perhaps a visit to 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 Light gauge set) and a Telefunken M60 small diaphragm condenser microphone. Music by Nick Borho, all rights reserved.

LIVE 185 • Firefly Melody

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 22:38:38 +0000

Firefly Melody was born following a recent group of improvisations around ideas from my song Welsh Dragonfly, which were collectively dubbed the Dragonfly songs. While the Dragonfly songs were influenced by the bucolic acoustic music of Led Zeppelin, Firefly Melody sought to continue from that same area but expand in a slightly different direction. In this case, I sought to maintain the mellow mood and reimagine the music with some inspiration from the guitar parts of Nick Drake. Following that path, Firefly Melody emerged. From there, Hummingbird Prelude and Hummingbird Melody came next, completing what I’ve dubbed the Serene Summer Suite. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 184 • Naupaka Slack Key

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:33:32 +0000

Here is a full length version of Naupaka Slack Key, a song that pays tribute to ‘beach’ naupaka, a cheerful bush that can be found near many beaches in Hawai’i. While the story of separated lovers embodied in the ‘half flowers’ of beach and ‘mountain’ naupaka is poignant, I often think of the little white berries bobbing around in the water at such places as Kamakahonu beach near the King Kamehameha Hotel in Kailua-Kona where I used to swim as a keiki. Not long ago, an old friend reminded me of the ‘lilikoi man’ who used to walk by the beach there selling passionfruit from a KTA shopping bag for a quarter. As kids, we would build sand castles, explore the nearby pier, and take small fishing nets to catch little minnow-sized fish for our beach bucket filled with seawater (which we would return to the ocean not long after). Anyway, the naupaka plant was often nearby during those childhood hours (small kid time, as they say) spent at various Kona and Kohala beaches – mellow and relaxing days with ohana and friends. Hope you enjoy.

LIVE 191 • Keiki Slack Key on Ukulele (Ray Kane Cover)

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:27:47 +0000

Here is a version of the Ray Kane slack key guitar classic “Keiki Slack Key,” played on slack key ukulele. Keiki Slack Key is one of the first slack key songs I learned, and I still enjoy playing it. 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.

Recorded with a Kamaka Koa Tenor ukulele (Kamaka HF-3, low G with stock Kamaka brand black nylon strings and a Thomastik-Infeld CF-30 flat wound fourth string) and a Line Audio CM4 small diaphragm condenser microphone.

LIVE 187 • Bron~Yr~Aur (Led Zep Cover, 812ce)

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:20:20 +0000

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. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 50th Anniversary Builder’s Edition 812ce LTD (Rosewood/Sinker Redwood), with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light gauge set) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

LIVE 186 • Iris (912ce, alt take)

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 23:09:30 +0000

Here’s an alternate take of my song Iris recorded on the 912ce. Iris has a lot of harmonics, which creates a light, chimey atmosphere. The 912 has a lot of resonance, echo and bloom (even moreso than the 412ce I had previously recorded this with) which I thought would pair well with the cascade of harmonics in this song. Hope you enjoy.

Note: this is my original fingerstyle song titled Iris; no relation to the Goo Goo Dolls song by the same name though that is cool too.

LIVE 190 • Slack Key Bach (Bourrée in Open A Taro Patch)

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 23:39:42 +0000

I went through a phase a few years back where I was regularly listening to the Pablo Casals recordings of the Bach cello suites. They were on the USB stick with music I had in my car, and for some reason the memory of listening to them that stands out is that of making my way home from Kapiolani Park after yoga class. Driving along Paki Avenue, listening to the mellow cello suites as the moon was coming out, looking up through the sunroof of my Honda at the moonlight filtering through the intricate silhouettes created by the canopy of Monkeypod trees lining the avenue, an amazing textured design.

Recently, I decided to arrange part II of the Bourrée from Bach’s Cello Suite 4 (BWV 1010) in Taro Patch tuning. Rather than the usual Open G, I used a capo on the 2nd fret to play the piece in Open A which helped make some of the stretches a little easier. This arrangement is based on Stanley Yates’s excellent arrangements of the cello suites for guitar (Mel Bay). In further adapting it for Taro Patch, I decided to use various fingerings and add some harmonics in place of fretted notes – things that one wouldn’t normally do, but which were part of the fun of playing this piece in an open tuning. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 912ce (Rosewood/Spruce, with Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze HD Light strings) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.