Ledward is quite the gym rat and enjoys a brisk walk around the neighborhood as well. Ive been showing him some of my favorite trails, and he came up with the idea of shooting a video up on the scenic Acalanes Ridge. We packed up guitars, cameras, mics, and recorders and hiked up into the hills on the Mt. Diablo – Briones Reservoir Trail www.ebparks.org The day was one of the warmest so far in 2013, and we arrived just as a hang glider was finishing up his ride on the thermals at the peak of the ridge. We found a comfortable spot on a magnificent spreading live oak, set up the gear, and played through a few of our favorites. There was a lot of traffic on the trail with dog walkers, hiking groups, photographers, and exercise buffs passing by with big grins and thumbs up. "Aloha `Ia No `O Maui" is a classic Maui praise song composed by Alice Johnson, telling of famous and beautiful sights on the Valley Isle. www.huapala.org Ledward recorded the song as an instrumental on his Grammy-nominated CD "Ki Ho`alu – Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" and I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. Were both playing in taropatch or open G tuning, with the strings at DGDGBD from low to high. Ledward is using his 90s era Martin 000-16. Im playing a Composite Acoustics OX Raw, my tuning is actually one whole step low, or F taropatch, so Im using a capo at the second fret to sound in G. The video was captured on a Panasonic Lumix GH2 and a GoPro Hero HD3. Audio was recorded using <b>…<b>

3 thoughts on “Aloha `Ia No `O Maui – Slack Key on Acalanes Ridge

  1. Cracking effort Fran. Love both the video and the playing. Thanks for posting, and for the effort of getting there with all the gear. 🙂

  2. I’m glad you enjoyed it. The blue object is a Snark tuner.

    On the body of the Martin you can just barely see the mic we used, an Oscar Sound Tech headset mic of all things. Unfortunately it was bumping into Ledward’s leg and making an occasional click noise, but I love the way it captures the guitar.

    Fran

  3. Thank you! I enjoy not only very much the music but you giving all the details! (What is the blue plastic thingy on the Martin, please?)

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