Tag Archives: open G

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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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)

SLACK 402 • Coffee Bean Slack Key (Slow)

Open Tunings, Slack Key, Songs, , , ,

Coffee Bean Slack Key played at a slow tempo. This song was written as a study piece, however it works as a fun, simple song in its own right.

The song can be played 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 other versions of the song for you to check out (links below). Feel free to play along to these recordings, 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.

Please see the related lesson for this song (link below), as well as other lessons on my channel.

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)

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

Open Tunings, Slack Key, Songs, , , ,

Coffee Bean Slack Key played at a medium-slow tempo. This song was written as a study piece, however it works as a fun, simple song in its own right.

The song can be played 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 other versions of the song for you to check out (links below). Feel free to play along to these recordings, 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.

Please see the related lesson for this song (link below), as well as other lessons on my channel.

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)

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

Open Tunings, Slack Key, Songs, , , ,

Coffee Bean Slack Key played at a medium-fast tempo. This song was written as a study piece, however it works as a fun, simple song in its own right.

The song can be played 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 other versions of the song for you to check out (links below). Feel free to play along to these recordings, 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.

Please see the related lesson for this song (link below), as well as other lessons on my channel.

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)

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

Live, Open Tunings, Slack Key, Songs, , , ,

Coffee Bean Slack Key played at a fast tempo, with some improvisation. This song was written as a study piece, however it works as a fun, simple song in its own right.

The song can be played 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 other versions of the song for you to check out (links below). Feel free to play along to these recordings, 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.

Please see the related lesson for this song (link below), as well as other lessons on my channel.

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)

OPEN 101 • How to Tune Your Guitar to Open G Tuning

Open Tunings, Slack Key, , , ,

This lesson shows you how to tune your guitar to Open G tuning, which from low to high (in pitch) is D-G-D-G-B-D. When playing a G chord using the open strings (or the related ‘one finger’ bar chords), you generally want to leave the 6th string out of the voicing as it sounds muddy. Keith Richards went so far as to take the 6th string off his guitar when playing in Open G, though when playing slack key or fingerstyle you will use the 6th string (i.e. for a D or D7 chord) and thus want to keep it on the guitar. Open G is often called “Taro Patch” tuning by slack key guitar players, and most slack key songs – especially traditional ones – are in Taro Patch or a close variant.