Slack-key guitar
Encyclopedia
Slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle
genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii
. Its name refers to its characteristic open tunings: the English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hōalu, which means "loosen the [tuning] key". Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a classically tuned guitar and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until the six strings form a single chord, frequently G major.
cowboys "vaqueros" in the late 19th century. These paniolo (a Hawaiianization of españoles—"Spaniards") provided guitars, taught the Hawaiians the rudiments of playing, and then left, allowing the Hawaiians to develop the style on their own. Musicologists and historians suggest that the story is more complicated, but this is the version that is most often offered by Hawaiian musicians. Liner notes from early slack-key album covers and historical references to guitars brought on whaling vessels have led to the possibility of introduction of the guitar and accompanying playing style from merchants. Slack key guitar adapted to accompany the rhythms of Hawaiian dancing and the harmonic structures of Hawaiian music. The style of Hawaiian music that was promoted as a matter of national pride under the reign of King David Kalākaua
in the late 19th century combined rhythms from traditional dance meters with imported European forms (for example, military marches), and drew its melodies from chant (mele and oli), hula
, Christian hymns (hīmeni), and the popular music brought in by the various peoples who came to the Islands: English-speaking North America
ns, Mexicans
, Portuguese
, Filipinos
, Puerto Ricans
, Tahiti
ans, and Samoa
ns.
The music did not develop a mainland audience during the Hawaiian music craze
of the early 20th century, during which Hawaiian music came to be identified outside of Islands with the steel guitar
and the ukulele
. Slack key remained private and family entertainment, and it was not even recorded until 1946-47, when Gabby Pahinui
cut a series of records that brought the tradition into public view. During the 1960s and particularly during the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance
of the 1970s, slack key experienced a surge in popularity and came to be seen as one of the most genuine expressions of Hawaiian spirit, principally thanks to Gabby Pahinui
, Leonard Kwan
, Sonny Chillingworth
, Raymond Kāne
, and the more modern styles of younger players such as Keola Beamer
, his brother Kapono Beamer, Peter Moon
, and Haunani Apoliona
.
Many currently prominent Hawaii-based players got their starts during the Cultural Renaissance years: Cindy Combs, Ledward Kaapana
, George Kahumoku, Jr.
, his brother Moses Kahumoku, Dennis Kamakahi
, Ozzie Kotani
, three Pahinui brothers (Bla, Cyril, and Martin), the Emerson Brothers and Owana Salazar
. These artists, and slack key in general, have become well-known outside of Hawaii largely through George Winston
's Dancing Cat Records
record label, which has most often showcased the music in solo settings.
One indication of slack key's increasing visibility beyond the Islands is that the first four winners of the Grammy Award
for Best Hawaiian Music Album
were slack key collections: Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2 in 2005, Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Volume 1 in 2006, Legends of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar—Live from Maui and "Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar - Live in Concert from Maui." Players from outside Hawaii have also taken up the tradition, for example, Chet Atkins
(who included slack key pieces on two of his albums), Yuki Yamauchi (a student of Ray Kane's and advocate of Hawaiian music in Japan), and Canadian Jim "Kimo" West (perhaps better known as guitarist with "Weird Al" Yankovic
).
is played on the three or four highest strings, using any number of fingers. Many kī hōalu players incorporate various embellishments such as harmonics (chimes), the hammer-on
, the pull-off
, slides, and damping
. Slack key compositions exhibit characteristics from indigenous Hawaiian and imported musical traditions. The vamp or turnaround
(a repeated figure, usually at the end of a verse) is descended from the hula tradition, and other harmonic and structural features are descended from hīmeni and from the hula kui encouraged by King David Kalakaua.
Nearly all slack key requires retuning the guitar strings from the standard EADGBE, and this usually means lowering or "slacking" several strings. The result is most often a major chord, although it can also be a major-seventh chord, a sixth, or (rarely) a minor. There are examples of slack key played in standard tuning, but the overwhelming majority of recorded examples use altered tunings. The most common slack key tuning, called "taro
patch," makes a G major chord. Starting from the standard EADGBE, the high and low E strings are lowered or "slacked" to D and the fifth string from A down to G, so the notes become DGDGBD. As the chart below shows, there are also major-chord tunings based on C, F, and D.
Another important group of tunings, based on major-seventh chords, is called wahine
. G wahine, for example, starts with taro patch and lowers the third string from G to F#, making DGDF#BD. Wahine tunings have their own characteristic vamps (as in, for example, Raymond Kāne's "Punahele" or Gabby Pahinui's 1946 "Hula Medley") and require fretting one or two strings to form a major chord. A third significant group is Mauna Loa
tunings, in which the highest pair of strings are a fifth apart: Gabby Pahinui often played in C Mauna Loa, CGEGAE.
George Winston
has identified fifty slack key tunings Some only are commonly used for a single song, or by particular players. Mike McClellan and George Winston have developed a scheme that organize tunings by key and type. The chart below follows their categories and naming conventions.
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....
genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Its name refers to its characteristic open tunings: the English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hōalu, which means "loosen the [tuning] key". Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a classically tuned guitar and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until the six strings form a single chord, frequently G major.
History
In the oral-history account, the style originated from MexicanMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
cowboys "vaqueros" in the late 19th century. These paniolo (a Hawaiianization of españoles—"Spaniards") provided guitars, taught the Hawaiians the rudiments of playing, and then left, allowing the Hawaiians to develop the style on their own. Musicologists and historians suggest that the story is more complicated, but this is the version that is most often offered by Hawaiian musicians. Liner notes from early slack-key album covers and historical references to guitars brought on whaling vessels have led to the possibility of introduction of the guitar and accompanying playing style from merchants. Slack key guitar adapted to accompany the rhythms of Hawaiian dancing and the harmonic structures of Hawaiian music. The style of Hawaiian music that was promoted as a matter of national pride under the reign of King David Kalākaua
Kalakaua
Kalākaua, born David Laamea Kamanakapuu Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua and sometimes called The Merrie Monarch , was the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawaii...
in the late 19th century combined rhythms from traditional dance meters with imported European forms (for example, military marches), and drew its melodies from chant (mele and oli), hula
Hula
Hula is a dance form accompanied by chant or song . It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form....
, Christian hymns (hīmeni), and the popular music brought in by the various peoples who came to the Islands: English-speaking North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
ns, Mexicans
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Filipinos
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Puerto Ricans
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
ans, and Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
ns.
The music did not develop a mainland audience during the Hawaiian music craze
Tiki culture
Tiki kitsch culture is a 20th-century theme used in Polynesian-style restaurants and clubs originally in the United States and then, to a lesser degree, around the world...
of the early 20th century, during which Hawaiian music came to be identified outside of Islands with the steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
and the ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
. Slack key remained private and family entertainment, and it was not even recorded until 1946-47, when Gabby Pahinui
Gabby Pahinui
Charles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui was a slack-key guitarist.Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s...
cut a series of records that brought the tradition into public view. During the 1960s and particularly during the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance
Hawaiian Renaissance
The First and Second Hawaiian Renaissance was the Hawaiian resurgence of a distinct cultural identity that draws upon traditional kānaka maoli culture, with a significant divergence from the tourism-based "culture" which Hawaii was previously known for worldwide .-First Hawaiian...
of the 1970s, slack key experienced a surge in popularity and came to be seen as one of the most genuine expressions of Hawaiian spirit, principally thanks to Gabby Pahinui
Gabby Pahinui
Charles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui was a slack-key guitarist.Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s...
, Leonard Kwan
Leonard Kwan
Leonard Kwan was one of the most influential Hawaiian slack-key guitarists to emerge in the period immediately preceding the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance of the 1970s. He made the first LP of slack key instrumentals, co-wrote the second slack key instruction book, and composed a number of pieces...
, Sonny Chillingworth
Sonny Chillingworth
Edwin Bradfield Liloa Chillingworth, Jr., known as Sonny Chillingworth, was an American guitarist. Widely influential in Hawaiian music, he played slack-key guitar and is widely regarded as one of the most influential slack key guitarists in history.-Life:Chillingworth was born in Oahu in Hawaii,...
, Raymond Kāne
Ray Kane
Raymond Kaleoalohapoinaʻoleohelemanu Kāne , was one of Hawaii's acknowledged masters of the slack-key guitar. Born in Koloa, Kauaʻi, he grew up in Nanakuli on Oʻahu's Waiʻanae Coast where his stepfather worked as a fisherman....
, and the more modern styles of younger players such as Keola Beamer
Keola Beamer
Keola Beamer is a Hawaiian slack-key guitar player, best known as the composer of "Honolulu City Lights" and an innovative musician who fused Hawaiian roots and contemporary music.-Family:...
, his brother Kapono Beamer, Peter Moon
Peter Moon (musician)
Peter Moon is a ʻukulele and guitar player.-Career:Peter Moon was born on the island of Oʻahu to Wook and Shay-Yung Moon. From the late 1950s through the 1960s, he gained musical inspiration, insight, and knowledge; playing as a Maile Serenader with Gabby "Pops" Pahinui in the 1960s. Later, in...
, and Haunani Apoliona
S. Haunani Apoliona
S. Haunani Apoliona is a native Hawaiian elder and activist for the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Held in great esteem among Hawaii residents, Apoliona was elected to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees and became its chairperson...
.
Many currently prominent Hawaii-based players got their starts during the Cultural Renaissance years: Cindy Combs, Ledward Kaapana
Ledward Kaapana
Ledward Kaapana is a Hawaiian musician, best known for playing in the slack key guitar style. He also plays steel guitar, ukulele, autoharp and bass guitar, and is a renowned falsetto singer.-Early life:...
, George Kahumoku, Jr.
George Kahumoku, Jr.
George Kahumoku, Jr. is a Grammy award-winning musician specializing in slack-key guitar.Born in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, he was labeled a Hawaiian "renaissance man" by Maui Time Weekly...
, his brother Moses Kahumoku, Dennis Kamakahi
Dennis Kamakahi
Dennis David Kahekilimamaoikalanikeha Kamakahi is a Hawaiian slack key guitarist, recording artist, and music composer. He has won multiple Grammy Awards, and in 2009 was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.-Professional music career:...
, Ozzie Kotani
Ozzie Kotani
Ozzie Kotani is a slack-key guitar player and a well-respected teacher, arranger, solo performer and accompanist.Kotani was born in 1956 in Honolulu, Hawaii in the neighborhood of Pauoa...
, three Pahinui brothers (Bla, Cyril, and Martin), the Emerson Brothers and Owana Salazar
Owana Salazar
Owana Kaohelelani Mahaelani-rose Salazar is a musician who is related to the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She used her popularity to promote discussion of Hawaiian sovereignty issues.-Early years:Owana Salazar was born October 30, 1953....
. These artists, and slack key in general, have become well-known outside of Hawaii largely through George Winston
George Winston
George Winston is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up mainly in Miles City, Montana as well as Mississippi and Florida. He attended Stetson University in Deland, Florida and lives in Santa Cruz, California.-Background:...
's Dancing Cat Records
Dancing Cat Records
Dancing Cat Records was a record label founded in 1983 by pianist George Winston to publish both his music and music in the Hawaiian slack-key guitar style. Its mission later expanded to cover other Hawaiian musicians. The label has a distribution deal, but is not owned by Windham Hill Records or...
record label, which has most often showcased the music in solo settings.
One indication of slack key's increasing visibility beyond the Islands is that the first four winners of the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Hawaiian Music Album
Grammy Award for Best Hawaiian Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Hawaiian Music Album was an honor presented to recording artists from 2005 to 2011 for quality Hawaiian music albums. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, are presented by the National Academy of...
were slack key collections: Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2 in 2005, Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Volume 1 in 2006, Legends of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar—Live from Maui and "Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar - Live in Concert from Maui." Players from outside Hawaii have also taken up the tradition, for example, Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
(who included slack key pieces on two of his albums), Yuki Yamauchi (a student of Ray Kane's and advocate of Hawaiian music in Japan), and Canadian Jim "Kimo" West (perhaps better known as guitarist with "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
).
Techniques and tunings
Kī hōalu is often characterized by the use of an alternating-bass pattern, usually played by the thumb on the lower two or three strings of the guitar, while the melodyMelody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
is played on the three or four highest strings, using any number of fingers. Many kī hōalu players incorporate various embellishments such as harmonics (chimes), the hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
, the pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...
, slides, and damping
Damping
In physics, damping is any effect that tends to reduce the amplitude of oscillations in an oscillatory system, particularly the harmonic oscillator.In mechanics, friction is one such damping effect...
. Slack key compositions exhibit characteristics from indigenous Hawaiian and imported musical traditions. The vamp or turnaround
Turnaround (music)
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song...
(a repeated figure, usually at the end of a verse) is descended from the hula tradition, and other harmonic and structural features are descended from hīmeni and from the hula kui encouraged by King David Kalakaua.
Nearly all slack key requires retuning the guitar strings from the standard EADGBE, and this usually means lowering or "slacking" several strings. The result is most often a major chord, although it can also be a major-seventh chord, a sixth, or (rarely) a minor. There are examples of slack key played in standard tuning, but the overwhelming majority of recorded examples use altered tunings. The most common slack key tuning, called "taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
patch," makes a G major chord. Starting from the standard EADGBE, the high and low E strings are lowered or "slacked" to D and the fifth string from A down to G, so the notes become DGDGBD. As the chart below shows, there are also major-chord tunings based on C, F, and D.
Another important group of tunings, based on major-seventh chords, is called wahine
Wahine
Wahine, the Maori and Hawaiian word for woman, can mean:* Kihe-Wahine, a Polynesian goddess* A female surfer* Any of several ships named Wahine, one of which foundered in the Wahine disaster during the "Wahine storm"....
. G wahine, for example, starts with taro patch and lowers the third string from G to F#, making DGDF#BD. Wahine tunings have their own characteristic vamps (as in, for example, Raymond Kāne's "Punahele" or Gabby Pahinui's 1946 "Hula Medley") and require fretting one or two strings to form a major chord. A third significant group is Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, and the largest on Earth in terms of volume and area covered. It is an active shield volcano, with a volume estimated at approximately , although its peak is about lower than that...
tunings, in which the highest pair of strings are a fifth apart: Gabby Pahinui often played in C Mauna Loa, CGEGAE.
George Winston
George Winston
George Winston is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up mainly in Miles City, Montana as well as Mississippi and Florida. He attended Stetson University in Deland, Florida and lives in Santa Cruz, California.-Background:...
has identified fifty slack key tunings Some only are commonly used for a single song, or by particular players. Mike McClellan and George Winston have developed a scheme that organize tunings by key and type. The chart below follows their categories and naming conventions.
Common slack key tunings
| Common Slack Key Tunings | Notes Used |
|---|---|
| G Major or Taro Patch | D G D G B D |
| G Wahine | D G D F# B D |
| D Wahine | D A D F# A C# |
| Open D Open D tuning Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are: D A D F♯ A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D, the root note; A, the perfect fifth; and F♯, the major third... |
D A D F# A D |
| C Major or Atta's Leland Isaacs Sr. Leland "Atta" Isaacs, Sr. was a Hawaiian slack-key composer known for his C major Tuning , and for his work with Gabby Pahinui.-External links:* http://www.dancingcat.com/skbook1-history.php... C |
C G E G C E |
| Mauna Loa | C G E G A E |
| C Wahine or Leonard's C | C G D G B D |
| C 6 | C G C G A E |
| Old Mauna Loa | C G C G A D |
| Open C Open C tuning Open C Tuning is an open tuning for guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are CGCGCE. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a C major chord: C, the root note; G, the perfect fifth; and E the major third.... |
C G C E G C |
| F Wahine | C F C G C E |
| Open F | C F C F A C |
| Double Slack F | C F C E A C |
List of slack-key guitar players
- Keola BeamerKeola BeamerKeola Beamer is a Hawaiian slack-key guitar player, best known as the composer of "Honolulu City Lights" and an innovative musician who fused Hawaiian roots and contemporary music.-Family:...
- Kealii BlaisdellKealii BlaisdellKealii Blaisdell , multiple Na Hoku Hanohano Finalist for Most Promising Artist and Hawaiian Language Performance, Hawaiian slack key guitarist, recording artist, and music composer...
- Sonny ChillingworthSonny ChillingworthEdwin Bradfield Liloa Chillingworth, Jr., known as Sonny Chillingworth, was an American guitarist. Widely influential in Hawaiian music, he played slack-key guitar and is widely regarded as one of the most influential slack key guitarists in history.-Life:Chillingworth was born in Oahu in Hawaii,...
- Ledward KaapanaLedward KaapanaLedward Kaapana is a Hawaiian musician, best known for playing in the slack key guitar style. He also plays steel guitar, ukulele, autoharp and bass guitar, and is a renowned falsetto singer.-Early life:...
- George Kahumoku, Jr.George Kahumoku, Jr.George Kahumoku, Jr. is a Grammy award-winning musician specializing in slack-key guitar.Born in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, he was labeled a Hawaiian "renaissance man" by Maui Time Weekly...
- Dennis KamakahiDennis KamakahiDennis David Kahekilimamaoikalanikeha Kamakahi is a Hawaiian slack key guitarist, recording artist, and music composer. He has won multiple Grammy Awards, and in 2009 was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.-Professional music career:...
- Raymond Kāne
- John KeaweJohn KeaweJohn Keawe is a Hawaiian musician and slack key guitar player from Hawi in the North Kohala district of the Big Island of Hawaii.He has toured throughout Hawaii and the Mainland U.S. and regularly performs on the Big Island...
- Ozzie KotaniOzzie KotaniOzzie Kotani is a slack-key guitar player and a well-respected teacher, arranger, solo performer and accompanist.Kotani was born in 1956 in Honolulu, Hawaii in the neighborhood of Pauoa...
- Leonard KwanLeonard KwanLeonard Kwan was one of the most influential Hawaiian slack-key guitarists to emerge in the period immediately preceding the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance of the 1970s. He made the first LP of slack key instrumentals, co-wrote the second slack key instruction book, and composed a number of pieces...
- Sonny LimSonny LimElmer "Sonny" Lim is a Hawaiian musician and slack key guitar player from Waimea on the Big Island of Hawaii. Sonny is part of the musical Lim Family, which is also famous in the 50th State....
- Makana (musician)Makana (musician)Makana, born Matthew Swalinkavich, is an American slack-key guitar player and singer. He has been called "Hawaii's Guitar Hero" and "the greatest living [slack-key guitar] player"...
- Gabby PahinuiGabby PahinuiCharles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui was a slack-key guitarist.Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s...
- Jeff Peterson (guitarist)Jeff Peterson (guitarist)Jeff Peterson is a slack key guitar player from Maui, Hawaii. The son of a paniolo at Haleakala Ranch, Jeff was exposed to the sounds of slack key at an early age....
- Fred PunahoaFred PunahoaFred Punahoa was a Hawaiian musician and slack key guitar player from Kalapana, Hawaii. Though only two known recordings exist of "Uncle Fred," he remains one of the most influential slack key artists of all time....
External links
- George Winston's A Brief History of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar
- Winston's annotated chart of 50 slack key tunings
- Mika'ele McClellan's page on slack key tunings
- TaroPatch.net: Online Resources & Community for Slack Key players
- FREE internet radio show featuring Hawaiian Slack Key music.
- Free web site showing upcoming Slack Key concerts.