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Lanakala
Aloha
12 Posts |
 Posted - 01/05/2005 : 6:15:20 PM
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| can white geezers from england play blues? -eric clapton |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 12:04:22 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by RJS
I’ve been spending some time thinking about the question, “Can a mainland haole really play Hawaiian slack key?”
Man, a lot of us typed a lot on this subject! How come nobody said, "Jus' press." |
Andy |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 12:48:47 PM
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Andy,
'Cause it only works for prodigies. Most of us ain't prodigies. We gotta work at it.
(Oh, don't get me started on Clapton or Liver Lips Mick or... X...who ripped off, with their BigMusa publicization machines, BB and Muddy and Howling Wolf and Brownie and Sonny and Missipi John, and and... somebody is gonna get hurt.)
...Reid
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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 12:51:08 PM
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How come nobody said "jus stop" already.
-slkho |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 12:56:12 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by slkho
How come nobody said "jus stop" already.
-slkho
Ha, ha. Good one Rik.
Ok, this is it for me...
Jus' press sounds easy but it's going to be hard work even if you're a prodigy. If you don't think that Ledward, Keola, (insert your fav here) had to work hard at what they do, your kidding yourself.
Kevin Brown... you had to practice a lot to play the way you play, right? |
Andy |
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chunky monkey
Ha`aha`a
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 1:31:59 PM
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| Be thankful the Simpson sisters don't like Slack Key |
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Puna
Lokahi
USA
227 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 2:41:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Admin
Jus' press sounds easy but it's going to be hard work even if you're a prodigy. If you don't think that Ledward, Keola, (insert your fav here) had to work hard at what they do, your kidding yourself.
Kevin Brown... you had to practice a lot to play the way you play, right?
Hard work? Practice? THAT'S what I've been doing wrong!
Puna |
Puna |
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ohanabrown
Lokahi
281 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2005 : 12:56:45 AM
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Andy
Your right! Andy, practice is the key, But the secret is? Make sure every practice session, you have lot's of "Manapua & Pepeiao" on the side. :)
Me Ke Aloha
Kevin |
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Larry Miller
Akahai
USA
65 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2005 : 08:08:08 AM
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Hi!
This is a good chance to introduce myself and comment on the thread.
I was born in 1940 and raised in California. My dad had been stationed in the islands before the war, and we finally got a chance to move to Hilo back in '55. I had already learned to play the uke. When I took up the guitar, I learned slack key first, from my new friends and from records. Mostly just simple stuff in open G.
I graduated from Hilo high in '58 and after a brief stint in the USN, I returned to the islands- my family had moved to the windward side of Oahu, and I lived there between 61 and 63, then down in Waikiki till 64.
I had become a folky, and was playing guitar and 5 string banjo. My first wife and I and a friend formed a trio called "We Three" and we played regularly at a pizza joint named Humbums.
The best thing that happened to during those years was that I hung out at Honey's in Kaneohe, when Sonny and Gabby were playing in Don Ho's band. I not only got to sit in the audience and watch the masters at work, I got to know them and learned a few tricks first hand.
So the question: can a "coast haole" like me learn to play with authentic feeling? I certainly hope so. I can play a lot of Leonard Kwan's stuff, some of Sonny (except Whee ha!) and even know Gabby's Hiilawe tuning. I also took Sonny's advice and have tried to come up with some original stuff too.
I can also play the 12-string Kottke style, and can play a little bottleneck ala Cooder. Learning to do finger-picking in open tunings has served me well. I just got a Weissenborn type guitar, and am attacking the steel guitar as well.
I love the music, I miss the islands, and when I play Akaka Falls, or Hawaiian Cowboy or Silver Threads Among the Gold, I naturally and instinctively bring a good deep feeling to it.
I'm sure, to balance the equation, that there are a number of young Hawaiians who would rather play "hapa-haole" pop music than the real deal. There's nothing wrong with that, either. But the trend toward treating Hawaiian music as authentic folk music, which really began about the time Gabby joined the Sons of Hawaii (saw them play!) has guided me through the years.
As the Bonzo Dog Band once put it, "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?", I can only say again that I certainly hope so, and that the real deal comes from the heart. As someone else pointed out, the local boys let me know that they really liked the fact that I loved their music so much, and they were very good to me.
Larry Miller
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Auntie Nancy
`Olu`olu
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2005 : 10:47:32 AM
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WElcome to TaroPatch! We hope you'll stick around and share more with us. And I hope you get west to get warm on occasion too!
auntie nancy |
nancy cook |
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Larry Miller
Akahai
USA
65 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2005 : 12:17:38 PM
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My cousin lives in Kaneohe, and she keeps telling me to come for a visit. Maybe this year...
Mahalo!
Larry M |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2005 : 9:40:32 PM
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Aloha all,
Just returned from 2 weeks on Hawai'i and Kauai.
This has been a long, interesting thread to follow in one sitting, but worth it. Along the way several ideas popped up, and most were iterated by various posters before i got this chance to chime in.
From reading all of this, what i feel most is this; as another poster mentioned way back on page 1 or 2, I have not yet met any Hawaiian (OK, I've only met 3) who was not thriiled to know that, 1, i wanted to hear them play slack key, and 2, that I wanted to learn how. I am sort of a stinko player, never have had much in the way of techinque, but when i play for myself (nobody else would listen) and get things going just right, I get the same feeling i do when I listen to the greats on the CDs.
Who cares where you are from? I prefer to know where i am going, or at least trying ot go. I want to learn more, about the land, the people, the culture and the music of Hawai'i. I will never be hawaiian, but i can be happy knowing i have tried to learn what i could, and at this point in my life I am really glad i stumbled on slack key.
I feel that to question someone's heritage and the possibility of that personal history to advance or deter their progress in any endeavor is a slap in the face to anyone trying to better him/herself in any way, and might actually stop some folks from trying! Can this white kid from New Jersey play the blues? Kottke? Fingerpicking folk? Old cowboy songs? Slide? Build a Weissenborn from scratch? Build dog sleds, learn to fly, fly fish, play handball, rugby, or anything else I have ever done? Well, I've enjoyed the heck out of my life doing these things and more. Good thing I ignore most peoples advice when they said "You can never do that, you are too big, too small, too slow, too clumsy, not good enough with your hands, etc.." or "You can't just go out and build a gunstock, become a veterinarian, make dog sleds, no one in your family has ever done that before!" Well, now someone in my family has:>
OK, I'm not the best vet in the world, don't make the best sleds or stocks, was'nt the greatest rugby or handball player, and I ain't no Leo Kottke or Led Kaapana and don't suppose I ever will be. But, don't go telling me that i cannot play slack key because i don't come from the islands.
I just can't play slack key because I am a lousy guitar player, but that won't stop me either:>
Whatever the hawaiian words for "no hard feelings, just follow your heart" are, this is where i would use them:>
It's 45 below zero tonight, bette leve the generator running all night or the cars won't start. "Wait, you can't keep a generator runnig and live without power in the alaskan woods a mile from any neighbors at 45 below for thirty years!!" Oh, I can't? Guess I didn't know that. Geez, what do I do now...........
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Karl
Frozen North |
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Peter Medeiros
`Olu`olu
546 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2005 : 11:35:51 PM
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Right On Karl,
Jeez, you should have posted last week, you would have save a lot of guys a lot of typing.
Peter Medeiros |
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Auntie Nancy
`Olu`olu
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2005 : 06:04:02 AM
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Welcome home Karl,
Your post is wonderful. It's too bad it wasn't the second one.
As far as the culture goes, I more feel it than try to learn it. But I'm trying to "learn" the slacked method so I can play what I like for myself. I don't own it yet, but I will, even if no one can stand listening, I'll have it for me.
We finally have sunshine today so come on down to SoCal sometime - nice folks in San Diego for kani ka pila with island aloha spirit.
auntie - |
nancy cook |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2005 : 10:20:12 AM
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Auntie Nancy,
First off, how come only the ladies get the endearing name Auntie, and we guys don;t get anything more than 'Hey, you"?
Well, Auntie, we have sunny days too, right now, but that is not necessarily a good thing here in interior Alaska. Clear skies means high pressure systems and cold weather. Today a bit warmer than yesterday at minus 56 at our house. Got down to -59 Tuesday night. I would gladly trade the sunshine (which we could actually see if it were not for the dense ice fog created by human and vehicular exhaust which cuts visbility to about 50 to 150 feet along the highways) for some good old heavy, snow soaked clouds. winter is a time to pray for clouds here,not sun. So, maybe a trip to your sunny clime might be a good respite from the drudgery of keeping things alive and working at ludicrous temperatures (reminds me of 'ludicrous speed' in Spaceballs, da movie).
On proofreading this note, how do you really spell necesarily? |
Karl
Frozen North |
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