Watch & Download "Solitaire" by Kenny Hill

In March 2020 here in California we slid into quarantine like so much of the world. At first it just meant more binge watching and cooking at home, but after a couple of weeks of that I decided to use some of the time to compose something. Solitaire was that first piece. It’s a stylistic change from other music I’ve been writing recently, calmer and more transparent. As difficult and tragic as this lock down has been for so many, there is also a sense of peace and reflection in stepping out of the rat race for a while. I’m fortunate to be at a stage in life where inspiration and letting-go hover more or less in balance. And that’s good enough for now.

This is dedicated to my wife Roberta who’s strength, humor and goodness is there always, in good times and in bad. I’m grateful for the opportunity to make music, which can relieve and purify out of nowhere, and not do any harm at all.

Solitaire is really just a homemade folk song. It’s simple, though not exactly easy. The harmonics require care both in the left hand and the right. They’re sweet when it comes out right.

Kenny Hill

May, 2020

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Play From Home Update!

Hello Friends,

As we continue to live this new status quo I want to share a new guitar piece “Solitaire” that came out of our isolation. It’s dedicated to my dear wife Roberta who has been especially strong these days. Please feel free to download it and play it. I’ll publish it later, but for now it’s good to just get it up and out of the house.

We at Hill Guitar are continuing to offer our New World Guitars at the "Play From Home" 20% discount while things are so limited. Thankfully our work is by nature socially distanced so we feel confident sharing our wonderful guitars by shipping, and can even disinfect instruments before they go into the package.

In our custom shop are also able to make some truly unique guitars for individuals, somehow our imagination seems released in all this. We are still able to offer 10% discount on select Hill Guitars in inventory, please feel free to inquire about what you might be interested in.

I’m deeply grateful for our clients and friends who have been so encouraging. We continue trying to make the best of the present and build for the future.

Keep playing! It’s one of the best comforts we have.

Kenny Hill

May 2020

Download Solitaire Sheet Music

Play From Home Sale!

With this new kind of time on our hands maybe the way to make the best of it is to dive into our music and use it as a windfall to catch up on creative and therapeutic time with our instrument. I’m trying to finish up half-written compositions that are spread across my kitchen table, and take advantage of these creative moments that can be crowded out by busy regular life.

To encourage this, we at Hill Guitar are offering our inventory of both Hill Guitars and New World Guitars at discount prices of 20% off retail prices through the month of April.

At strategic times in life there’s nothing like an upgraded guitar to raise your commitment, up your game, give comfort and alleviate stress. Moreover, the right guitar can make you a better player from the minute you pick it up. Our inventory is limited, but we would love to see these guitars in the hands of devoted players and want to do something to help keep the creative blood flowing through our musicians world.

Please contact us if there is something you’ve been thinking about that we might have. We really want to offer some kind of brightness into these very murky times.

Please call or email if there is something that catches your imagination. The inventory in our on line showroom is by no means comprehensive so feel free to inquire if there is something else on your mind.

Stay safe & healthy!

Kenny Hill

How to Humidify a Guitar: Online Article

Understanding how to properly humidify your instrument can be tricky. But we've found a great article from Dr. Guitar on all the questions you may have about the process. Click the link to access the article! 

Read Here

End of Summer SALE!

Browse Sale Guitars Here!

Stolen Moments: A Composition by Kenny Hill

Last December at the Santa Cruz Guitar Christmas party I ran into multi-talented Sandor Nagyszalanczy and he offered his facilities to do some audio video project. I haven’t really done any recording in a very long time, but what the heck, let’s try it. It’s challenging, hard to play well on a good day, let alone on camera. And unnerving to see how much I have become my father. Sandor was great to work with and very supportive, and I thank him for his work. 

Stolen Moments represents a comeback to composing music for my lifetime instrument, the classical guitar. While I have been actively playing for over 50 years and building guitars for almost as long, there has been a nagging instinct to compositionally explore the instrument in my own way. I’ve been procrastinating so long until, at this stage of life, if not now, when? 

The title refers to an interview I did with Santa Cruz legacy composer Lou Harrison. I asked him how he manages his prolific output, where does he find the time? His response was “Oh there's never time, I just write in stolen moments.” This has been helpful wisdom for me getting deeper into composing. There is a double meaning as well. I asked the great guitarist composer Johannes Möller if there was any of his contemporaries whose music he would play in his programs and he said “No, no, if I hear something I like I just steal it.” Well I stole the tuning system for this piece from Johannes’ composition “A Star in the Sky, a Universe Within.” Johannes has been a great inspiration and supporter for me.

Recently I was looking through drawers of sheet music in my office and I came across a big stash of manuscripts I had written between 1974 and 1979. I was vaguely aware they were there, but I was stunned at how much there was. It was all jumbled up, pages mixed up or missing and smelled like a mummy. There are at least 15 compositions. Then nothing until 2010. Then nothing again until 2018. There have always been ideas, but not follow through. It’s curious how related in style that 4 decades old music is to what I come up with now. The main difference is that I’m a little better editor and architect now, but the feelings are pretty much the same. Currently I’m working on several pieces in various stages of progress and trying to remember Lou's advice and take advantage of the “stolen moments” to start — and finish the new pieces.

The playing trick with Stolen Moments is that it uses a capo on the first 5 strings at the 4th fret, with the 6th string unfretted. This produces an elfin, wind chime like upper resonance and a nice low bass note. The score is notated in the key of C, even though the actual pitches are key of E. The open 6th string is treated as a low C. The piece is in 4/4 but for much of the piece the rhythmic count is grouped 5,5,6 which keeps the recurring arpeggios swaying a little off balance.

Kenny Hill 

May 2019


Buy "Stolen Moments" now!

Giacomo Fiore Performs "Stolen Moments"

On March 30th Giacomo Fiore performed the world premiere of my recent guitar composition “Stolen Moments”or the New Music Works Night Of the Living Composer concert at Cabrillo College. 

Giacomo only had the score for a few short months and he really got the piece, including playing from memory. He did it beautifully! I was thrilled to hear someone else playing it, and so well! I loved listening to it from the audience. I am proud of Giacomo and proud of the piece. 

Barry Phillips recorded the whole concert and it sounds quite good. Please take a listen to this clip. It comes with good timing because I also just completed the sheet music for Stolen Moments, now available for publication. I’ve got more pieces in the works and we’ll be releasing them over the next few months. This is something I’ve wanted to do for some time and now, finally, there’s some momentum. 

Philip Collins is the artist director of New Music Works and a profound supporter of living composers, as well as a fine and tireless composer himself. His recent two piano piece was on that program, amazing. I’m grateful to be included in this program. I don’t know how he does it all. 

Kenny Hill, April 2019