What is a "Slack Key"?

I have a reader! One reader. But, damn, now I have to watch what I write - knowing that someone might actually see it is bound to affect the content. Oh, woe is me, success has ruined my art. Ha! Thanks, globetrekker, for the nice comments.

So, what is a "slack key", you ask. It's not a thing. It's a tuning. Specifically, it's the name used to describe the family of non-standard guitar tunings used in modern Hawaiian "folk" music, where some of the strings are lowered (or slackened) from standard tuning. (Sometimes some of the strings are tightened too.)

For instance, in standard tuning, the guitar's strings are tuned EADGBE (from low to high). One of the most popular Hawaiian slack-key tunings is called Taro Patch tuning, and (if I can remember correctly) it goes DGDGBD, which forms a G major chord. This is done to maximize the availability of open strings, since slack-key is a finger-style guitar technique (where several voices are ringing at the same time, each being played by a separate finger on the right hand). There are also "Wahine" tunings (Wahine means "female" in Hawaiian), where the guitar is tuned to a major seventh chord. For example: C Wahine is CGCEBG (Cmaj7: CEGB). There are several more - seems like every song I learn uses a different tuning.

The story I've heard is that the Hawaiian royalty received a gift of cows at some point in the 19th century. They didn't know how to take care of them, and eventually they were just left to roam, leaving quite a mess, I'm sure. So the King summoned some Spanish vaqueros to help him out with his cow problem. They came with their guitars, and tamed the mighty Hawaiian cow, and taught the Hawaiians how to deal with them. The vaqueros left their guitars as gifts for their new friends. However, they failed to teach them how to tune them, so the Hawaiians made up their own way, using lower notes to suit their traditional way of singing.

Find out more - this music is very sweet and relaxing: it's like Xanax without the prescription. It's not the twangy, annoying, lap-steel guitar music that you hear in the movies. The question of "What is 'Slack Key'" is answered on the Taropatch.net web site. George Winston (new age pianist and founder of Windham Hill records) has brought slack-key to the mainland and has formed the Dancing Cat label. Their album Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters is a great introduction to the music, and includes cuts from all the big names in slack-key, including Keola Beamer, Ozzie Kotani, Sonny Chillingworth, and Cyril Pahinui (among others). Another great artist is Patrick Landeza, who I had the pleasure of meeting when he performed here with Cyril Pahinui last month.

Mahalo, bruddah, and Aloha!