Slack-key guitar

Slack key guitar is a style of guitar fingerpicking that originated in Hawai`i. The English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hō‘alu, which means "loosen the [tuning] key." Nearly all slack key requires retuning the guitar strings from standard (EADGBE), and this usually (but not always) means lowering or "slacking" several strings. The result will most often be 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.)

In the oral-history account, the style originated from Mexican cowboys in the late 19th century. These paniolo (a Hawaiianization of espaniolo) gave Hawaiians the guitars and taught them 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 many Hawaiian musicians prefer.) 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 under the reign of King David Kalākaua as a matter of national pride combined rhythms from traditional dance meters with imported European forms (for example, military marches), and drew its melodies from chant (mele and oli), Christian hymns (hīmeni), and the popular music brought in by the various peoples who came to the Islands: North Americans, Mexicans, Portugese, Filipinos, Puerto Ricans, Tahitians, and Samoans.

The music did not receive 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-generation players such as Keola Beamer, his brother Kapono Beamer, and Peter Moon.

Currently, the music is most well-known (outside of Hawai'i) through George Winston's Dancing Cat record label, which has most often showcased the music in solo settings. Some other popular players include Ledward Kaapana, Ozzie Kotani, Cyril Pahinui, Dennis Kamakahi, George Kahumoku, Jr., and his brother Moses Kahumoku. One indication of slack key's increasing visibility beyond the Islands is that when The Recording Academy instituted a GRAMMY Award for Best Hawaiian Music Album, the first two winners were slack key collections: Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2 in 2005 http://starbulletin.com/2005/02/14/news/story1.html"Slack key wins firstHawaiian Grammy," by Tim Ryan, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 14, 2005 and Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Volume 1 in 2006.http://starbulletin.com/2006/02/09/news/story02.html"'Masters' of the Grammy," by John Burger, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 9, 2006

There are many slack key different tuningswith some tunings only commonly used for a single song, or by particular players. The most common tuning is Taro Patch, which is a G-major tuning. Mike McClellan and George Winston have developed schemes that organize the tunings by key and type. The chart below follows their categories and naming conventions.

Kī hō‘alu 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 melody is played on the three or four highest strings, using any number of fingers. Many kī hō‘alu players incorporate various embellishments such as harmonics (chimes), the hammer-on, the pull-off, slides, and damping.

Common slack key tunings

Common Slack Key Tunings	Notes Used
Open D	D A D F# A D
D Wahine	D A D F# A C#
G Major or Taro Patch	D G D G B D
G Wahine	D G D F# B D
C Major or Atta's 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	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

Notes

External links

*Homepage for Dancing Cat Record Label, including George Winston's Short History of Slack Key Guitar
*Keola Beamer's Homepage
*Mika'ele McClellan's page on slack key tunings
*TaroPatch.net: Online Resources & Community for Slack Key players
*Hawaiian Concert Guide Podcast A free podcast featuring Hawaiian music, including kī hō`alu (slack key).