Category Archives: Slack Key

LIVE 035 • Glass Ball Slack Key / Chicken in the Straw

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From the vaults, Glass Ball Slack Key is a favorite chestnut (or kukui nut) of uke players throughout the islands. Also known as “Chicken in the Straw” or “Turkey in the Straw” in Hawai’i (though different from the Bluegrass / fiddle song), this is a fun little ditty that is sure to please aunty or uncle. I learned this song watching and listening to the great Led Ka’apana (it’s also on the classic Led Live CD). Many other ukulele players have covered the song over the years as well. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Koaloha Pineapple Soprano ukulele and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 3/6/08.

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Something – Ukulele Cover

Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

LIVE 034 • Holualoa Blues

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From the vaults, here is a demo version of my tune Holualoa Blues. This song is primarily a blues piece, but with some slack key influence as well. Done in open G / taro patch tuning. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 10/11/07.

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Tranquility – fingerstyle on nylon string guitar

Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

LIVE 027 • Banyan

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Banyan (a/k/a “Banyans,” or “Banyan Tree Slack Key”) is a slack key style song I wrote about 10 or 12 years ago on nylon string guitar. I used to play my gut string ‘beach’ guitar around beaches and surf spots in Kona like Magic Sands, Banyans, and Old Airport. For one, the nylon strings aren’t as affected by the salt air, and for two, it was less expensive than my other guitar at the time, a Taylor 310ce that I didn’t want to take to the beach. So I guess this song is partially named after the surf spot, but also after some banyan trees near Magic Sands – some of which have since been cut down – or even those mystical banyan trees in general. Shortly after writing this song, I sold that nylon – an Ibanez, sort of crossover model – though I continued to rotate this and a few other related songs in and out of my set. Until recently though, it had really been a while since I played this song. Once more, owning a nylon string guitar again inspired me to go back and revisit some older material. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce nylon string) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.)

All rights reserved to this song, however students may perform the song in public.

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Magic Sands

Pua Lililehua

LIVE 026 • Keiki Slack Key on Nylon String Guitar

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Live, Open Tunings, Slack Key, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s song is a cover of the Ray Kane classic “Keiki Slack Key” (not to be confused with the Sonny Chillingworth song of the same name). To me, Ray Kane is probably the best example of an ‘old style’ slack key player, and his tracks are always nahenahe. I never got to take a lesson from Ray, though I did get to speak to him and his wife Elodia on the phone once, not long before he passed – a cherished memory. Keiki Slack Key is one of the first slack key songs I transcribed, and has stayed on my setlists ever since. This arrangement was inspired by my recent purchase of a nylon string guitar; I really think this song works well on nylon for a number of reasons. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce nylon string) and a Neumann TLM 102 microphone.

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Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

Magic Sands

GEAR 532 • Taylor 414ce-NR through a Fishman Loudbox Artist

Amps, Fingerstyle, Gear, Open Tunings, Slack Key, , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is a video featuring a couple of relatively recent purchases for me – a Taylor 414ce-NR (nylon string, rosewood/sitka) and a Fishman Loudbox Artist. This is meant to serve as a sound demo for what the Loudbox sounds like with a nylon string guitar and what the Taylor nylon pick-up (ES-N, not the ES2) sounds like. I close miked the amp to get a truer representation, but you get a little bit more open sound when you hear it from across the room.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce nylon string) into a Fishman Loudbox Artist amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone. Reverb is from the amp, not an added effect.

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Tranquility – fingerstyle on nylon string guitar

Pua Lililehua – Slack Key Guitar

LIVE 017 • Pua Lililehua

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Here is a rendition of Pua Lililehua from the vaults. I always enjoyed this song because it is mostly sweet and mellow, but still has a bit of tension that creates a sense of yearning in it. I recorded this while living in an ohana unit with a large, tiled room that I kept mostly empty because I enjoyed the acoustics. (Plus, I don’t own a lot of furniture.) Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 310ce (Elixir Polyweb 80/20 Bronze) and a matched stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 microphones in Holualoa, Hawai’i, 2/27/08.

All rights reserved to this arrangement.

GEAR 504 • Polytune Clip with Open & Altered Tunings

Fingerstyle, Gear, Open Tunings, Slack Key, , , , , ,

Not long ago I picked up the Polytune Clip from TC Electronic and have since been very pleased with the way it works on acoustic guitar in particular. (Of course it also works on electric guitar and other instruments as well.) I do a lot of open and altered tunings and this tuner handles them like a champ. In addition to latching on to notes quickly and accurately in chromatic mode, the Polytune picks up the low 6th string bass notes well (I tune down as low as Bb). Tracking is great and you can see the note steadily move into tune as you turn the tuning pegs. Of course the polytune mode doesn’t really work with open / altered tunings, but the Polytune Clip works so well as a chromatic tuner that it’s worthwhile for that alone. Highly recommended.

TC Electronic: http://www.tcelectronic.com/polytune-clip/

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Video on the Gotoh 510 tuners I have on my guitar here

Here Comes the Sun fingerstyle guitar arrangement

How to tune your guitar to Open G

SLACK 401 • Coffee Bean Slack Key – Lesson on How to Play

Open Tunings, Slack Key, Songs, , , ,

Coffee Bean Slack Key is a simple, slack key tinged song that I wrote so that you could have fun learning to play it. 😉 It works well at a variety of tempos: beginners can play it slow and more advanced players might have fun improvising around it. To that end, I’ve recorded several versions of the song for you to check out (links below). Feel free to play along, though I didn’t use a click track or metronome so tempo varies a little. Also note, most of the example versions are just played with an A-B-A format, however you can play longer versions of the song (i.e. A-B-A-B-A). I hope you have fun with this song.

All rights reserved to the song “Coffee Bean Slack Key,” however students are allowed to perform the song in public.

SLACK 401 • Coffee Bean Slack Key – Lesson on How to Play

SLACK 402 • Coffee Bean Slack Key (Slow)

SLACK 403 • Coffee Bean Slack Key (Med-Slow)

SLACK 404 • Coffee Bean Slack Key (Med-Fast)

SLACK 405 • Coffee Bean Slack Key (Fast, with some improv)