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Kihoalu.org Guide to Instructional Materials
Prior to the "second" Slack Key renaissance brought about by Dancing Cat and newer artists, there was little Slack Key instructional material available. While there's still not a whole lot, more materials are available now than ever before, and some are quite good. Most are beginner materials (*see below*), making it a great time to learn.
Advanced = Accomplished player, solid right and left hand technique. Not new to the slack key tradition and knows a good number of songs in the style - both slow and fast. Knows 3-4 tunings and can play several songs in each, some songs in more than one tuning.
Intermediate = somewhere between Advanced and beginner. Been playing for a while, possibly knows a lot of songs in standard, a decent finger picker. I suppose "Dust in the Wind" would get you through. Possibly new to Slack key, but probably knows a handful of songs.
Beginner = not a "true beginner," but someone who has picked up a guitar before, can play some chords / songs in standard tuning, and has done a little fingerpicking.
If you are a "true beginner," who has never played the guitar before, I would recommend learning a little standard before you learn slack key to develop your technique and give you a perspective on what makes slack key unique.
***
Index of Materials
Keola Beamer Teaches Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar - Intermediate
Guitar Playing Hawaiian Style, by Ozzie Kotani - Beginner
Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar by Mark Hanson - Intermediate to Advanced***
Buy "Keola Beamer Teaches Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" Intermediate: Keola Beamer Teaches Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, by Keola Beamer. Homespun, 2001.
Keola's book is great for beginner to intermediate slack key players. The book walks you through a nice selection of his songs and arrangements, including some from his "Soliloquy" album (see our "classic albums" page), all nicely tabbed out with performance notes and explanations. The accompanying CD lays out the tunings and songs with Keola's explanations to make going through the book feel more like a 'personal' lesson with Keola.
The songs were well chosen by Keola, and ultimately his selection is the strength of the book. I particularly enjoyed "Mino'aka" and "Moana's Laundry Basket," which like most of the songs are slower tempoed but require feel and touch to pull off - thus making great practice for players with all levels of experience. Throughout the book are nice turnarounds and melody phrasings that make it interesting for more advanced players as well.
Tunings covered include the ever present Taro Patch, but also the less common C Wahine and F Wahine tunings. Techniques range from the typical hammer-ons and pull-offs, to alternating bass patterns, to some inventive and tasteful "chimes" or harmonics. While the techniques and tunings will get you through the day, the best part of this book is the insight into Keola's phrasing and arrangements; these more advanced concepts can still rub off on beginner students working through the book.
Playing along with the accompanying CD is a good way to focus on your phrasing. As you work through the songs, it also becomes apparent that less is more- each song can tell a story with variations based on a few simple phrases. This is an important lesson to learn in slack key, and can be applied to other genres as well. Keola's use of 'breath' and space in these songs is a deceptively simple thing that he has made fairly digestible and easy to absorb- the mark of a good teacher.
Overall, this book will help ground you in the essentials if you are a beginner, but can also hone the style and touch of intermediate players and beyond.
***
Buy Ozzie Kotani's "Playing Guitar Hawaiian Style" Beginner: Guitar Playing Hawaiian Style, by Ozzie Kotani with Dennis Ladd. Mel Bay, 1996 / 2000.
This is a great book for beginners, and may well be the best book to start with if you have relatively little experience overall. Ozzie Kotani is perhaps Slack Key's premier living teacher. Ozzie himself began taking lessons from legendary master Sonny Chillingworth (along with the likes of George Kuo and Makana), and has continued Sonny's tradition of teaching anyone interested in learning slack key. Not content to reach those who live on Oahu, he has written this excellent book so that the rest of the world may also learn from him.
Ozzie's book is focused around 9 tunes - either songs he wrote (i.e. the into from Kani Ki Ho'alu, ) or traditionals arranged by him (i.e. Manuela Boy). The helpful CD has the songs recorded at both slow speed and regular tempo for practicing along. The book covers the basics of alternating bass, as well as techniques such as hammer ons, pull offs, and harmonics- all of which are summarized in the introductory Pages. Tuning-wise, this book covers the essentials. Most of the songs are in Taro Patch, with the G Wahine (Punahele or "Double Slack") and Drop C (Leonard's C) tunings also explored.
I have had the pleasure of taking a lesson from Ozzie, and having taught lessons myself I can say that he's truly a gifted teacher. I've seen him take advanced students and teach them a lot, but the true mark of teaching genius is starting people out from the beginning, and I've also witnessed Ozzie excel at this. Yet while this book is great for beginners, more advanced students will no doubt be able to pick up a few good licks from here, and appreciate Ozzie's grasp of subtelty with regard to the style.
Overall this is is a great book and resource for learing about Slack Key guitar. Ozzie not only conveys the mechanics, but also part of the history and culture to give you a feel for the style. Recommended. - October '07
***
Buy Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Intermediate to Advanced: Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, by Mark Hanson. Accent on Music, 2001.
This is probably the best book I've found for learning advanced aspects of Slack Key guitar. It is not for beginners, though some songs are close to beginner level (i.e. Sonny Chillingworth's "Dream Slack Key").
The book's main focus is transcriptions of songs from masters like Ray Kane, Sonny Chillingworth, Led Kaapana, Ozzie Kotani, Leonard Kwan, and Cyril Pahinui. The author also includes some of his own songs. Overall, this is an excellent approach to learning Slack Key- much better than running scales in Taro Patch - since you're learning not just a style but a tradition.
The book includes a lot of standards like Hula Blues, Radio Hula, and Punahele, as well as some more obscure but well chosen songs from the artists. Overall, the material shows a diverse array of commonly used Slack Key techniques and tunings. The book covers such essentials as Taro Patch, G Wahine (Punahele / Namakelua's Tuning), and Drop C / Leonard's C. There are also some more unusual choices, such as Open D6/9 (Cyril Pahinui's arrangement of "Sanoe") and Mark Hanson's "C Wahine."
Some of the techniques are best heard, and the accompanying CD is well done and will help you with this... However, I recommend buying some of the CD's the songs come from (see our "classic albums" page) and listening to the recorded versions. I suspect that some transcriptions are based on versions of the song other than cited, so don't be confused if one of the transcriptions isn't spot on to the particular recording you end up with; it should still be a useful guide.
The performance notes for each section are also helpful, and there is a short but helpful section at the beginning of the book about how to play common shapes like parallel sixths in taro patch, common picking patterns, etc.
Overall, this is THE book for the intermediate to Advanced player. Beginners would do better to start with Ozzie Kotani or Keola Beamer's book. - Sept. '07***
