by Scott Pritchard

Even though Hawaiian slack key guitar is one of the world's great acoustic guitar traditions, it remained a mystery to those outside of the isolated islands of origin for the better part of a century. The beginnings of this style can be traced to the early 1800s when, it is believed, European sailors introduced Hawaiians to the gut string guitar. Mexican and Spanish cowboys, teaching Hawaiians how to handle a growing population of cattle, brought Spanish style guitars to the islands.

The Hawaiians were given guitars by their friends from overseas, but received little in the way of instruction due to the long work days they all endured. The Hawaiians improvised their own tunings and style of playing, while incorporating traditional chants and rhythms to form a music all their own.

By the 1860s, the Portuguese had introduced the steel string guitar to the big island. The term "slack key" refers to strings that are tuned down to produce many different "slacked" tunings, usually containing a major chord, or a chord with a major 7th note. The strings are finger picked so that a melody can be played on the upper two or three strings, while bass and rhythm chords are played on the lower pitched strings.

This produced a lingering resonance that is characteristic of this original style. Guitars were scarce at the time. Seldom would two players get together in a duet; one playing rhythm and the other to play melody. This prompted the early players to get the full sound from the instrument by combining rhythm and melody.

The Hawaiian steel guitar was an island invention and a popular addition to the culture. One story of the origin of steel playing goes back to the mid 1890s. A Hawaiian schoolboy named Joseph Kekuku was walking along railroad tracks strumming his guitar, when he picked up a bolt that was lying on the track bed. He slid the bolt along the strings of his guitar, making a smooth transition in pitch up and down the fret board.

Kekuku taught himself to play using the back of a knife blade. The story continues with Joseph making a steel bar at the Kamehameha School machine shop. The rest of the sound we are familiar with was complete when he then changed the cat-gut strings to steel and raised the strings so they wouldn't hit the frets as he slid the bar.

Kekuku's name for the the instrument was: Kika Kila (geetah-steel-ah), or Steel guitar.

The evolution of the steel guitar has accommodated individual styles, and tuning voices like no other instrument. To improve harmony expression, some changed the original A major tuning to E7th, then to C sharp minor. More tunings followed with the invention of the electric guitar. Publishers tried to follow development of the tunings, but eventually gave up.

Steel guitar pioneers include: Sam Ku West, Sol Hoopii, Roy Smeck, and Alvino Ray.

Both slack key and steel guitar have been important fixtures in Hawaiian music. Both have been used to accompany the vocalists singing ancient chants as well as contemporary lyrics. These guitar styles have also been, along with the drum, a source of rhythm for the traditional hula dance.

Popularity of slack key, steel guitar, and ukulele reached new heights on the mainland in 1915. That was the year Hawaii hosted a pavilion at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal, and lasting 7 months, more than 17 million people from around the world were exposed to the main attraction; the Hawaiian show featuring hulas and songs being performed several times a day.

Guitarist George E.K. Awai and his Royal Hawaiian Quartette performed with Henry Konomua, also on guitar. "On the Beach At Waikiki" was the first big hit. The year to follow, Tin Pan Alley produced dozens of Hawaiian songs, more than ever before. T

he most influential slack key guitarist of the modern day was Gabby Pahinui [1921-1980]. Gabby made his first recording of Hi'ilawe on the Aloha Records 78 rpm record in 1947. His prolific guitar techniques led to the guitar becoming more recognized as a solo instrument. Gabby inspired many artists with his ability to interpret a wide variety of Hawaiian traditional and pop standards, original instrumental pieces, as well as music from other cultures. He also inspired singers with his beautiful, expressive virtuoso falsetto voice.

Popularity of slack key guitar increased with the release of several albums in the 1960s by Leonard Kwan, Ray Kane, Atta Isaacs and Gabby Pahinui on the Tradewinds label.

These players, along with Sonny Chillingworth led a new generation of practitioners of this island art form.

There are four basic styles of slack key guitar. The first is a simple "old style" of play, such as that of the late Auntie Alice Namakalua. Another is a "slack key jazz," full of improvisational moves as used by Atta Isaacs, Cyril Pahinui, Ledward Kaapana, Moses Kahumoku, and Ozzie Kotani. A third kind of technique uses hammer-ons and pull-offs as a sort of players signature, as featured on Chillingworth's Ho'omalu Slack Key, Ray Kane's Punahele, and George Kuo's Kohala Charmarita compositions.

Yet a fourth style, is a performance-oriented slack key type of play. Featuring entertaining visual as well as sound techniques, they include: playing with the forearm, playing with a bag over the fretting hand (as performed by the late Fred Punahoa and by Led Kaapana). Then there is the unusual needle and thread technique. The player dangles a needle hung by a thread held between the teeth, across the strings while playing normally. This creates a sound akin to a mandolin or a hammered dulcimer.

Carrying on the Hawaiian traditions of today are players like: Keola Beamer, Bob Brozman, Ken Emerson, and John Keawe.