Slack Key Medley

[Gcunplugged]

Hi all,

A simple but beautiful song to hopefully brighten your day. While the song is simple, playing it cleanly (for me) was not. With slow finger-picked songs, if you make a mistake, there's no hiding it with the next note :-)



The Guitar is a Cordoba Fusion Orchestra Pro SP/IN

The video was recorded with an iPad, and iRig Acoustic mic, which you can see clipped to the sound hole.

Hope you enjoy,
Gary

[Fast Frank]

Absolutely beautiful Gary. I love the relaxed sense of timing in this music.

[Robert M]

Beautiful, thank you.

[Fran Guidry]

Sweet stuff for sure, both the playing and the tone from the guitar and mic combo.

I was trying to recognize the tunes that made up the medley, thinking it was something Ozzie had put together, but I pulled out my Vol 2 DVD and saw that it was an old recording by George Nainoa, so no luck getting the info.

I thought I was hearing "Nahenahe" in the second section, but either Leonard Kwan was inspired by that part, or the drop C tuning just makes those licks mandatory (grin).

Fran

[Gcunplugged]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

I thought I was hearing "Nahenahe" in the second section, but either Leonard Kwan was inspired by that part, or the drop C tuning just makes those licks mandatory (grin).

Fran

Hi Fran, you are correct, it definitely has some similarities to Nahenahe. Also, I'm working on your Medley of "My Yello Ginger Lei / E Huli Hili Ho`i Mai" so thanks for sharing that!

And thanks everyone for the kind words. Much appreciated!
Gary

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Gcunplugged

Hi Fran, you are correct, it definitely has some similarities to Nahenahe. Also, I'm working on your Medley of "My Yello Ginger Lei / E Huli Hili Ho`i Mai" so thanks for sharing that!

And thanks everyone for the kind words. Much appreciated!
Gary

If you're using the tab I hope you've gotten the latest version. It went through several iterations and I think the latest one is pretty close. I put it up in July.

http://www.kaleponi.com/2018/06/02/m...lei-in-drop-c/

Fran

[Chickee]

I enjoyed your playing and the sound of your beautiful guitar very much. Would you be kind enough to tell me what the term slack key means? Thank you in advance.

[Gcunplugged]

Originally Posted by Chickee

Would you be kind enough to tell me what the term slack key means? Thank you in advance.

Hi Chickee

Slack Key is really short for Hawaiian Slack Key, where the guitar is tuned down, or in other words, the strings are slackened. While this seems like a simple change, it results in a very mellow relaxed sound, and with lots of resonance due to more use of open strings.

There are many slackened tunings, and they are not exclusive to Hawaiian culture. In this case, I am using what is referred to as "Drop-C" tuning. That means the strings are tuned (from low to high) as: C-G-D-G-B-D.

Thus strings 6, 5, and 1 are slackened, while 4, 3, & 2 remain at standard pitch.

If you want to hear the pro's who use this style, here are a few to check out:
Keola Beamer
Leonard Kwan
Ledward Kaapana
Sonny Chillingworth
Jeff Peterson
Ray Kane
Cyril and Gabby Pahinui

And also check out our forum's own Fran Guidry, who you will see has commented in this thread!

Hope that helps!

[Chickee]

Thank you GC! I will look into these players, but I must say you gave me a good listen to start with! Thanks again for the explanation,
frank

[Glennwillow]

Hi Gary,

Very nice job! Very enjoyable! Nice playing!

- Glenn

[Gcunplugged]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Hi Gary,

Very nice job! Very enjoyable! Nice playing!

- Glenn

Thanks Glenn, it’s always great to get encouraging words from fellow guitar slingers!