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les_maverick
Lokahi
USA
238 Posts |
 Posted - 11/13/2007 : 08:34:33 AM
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I have been absorbing information from this board
for about 2 months now. I think it is great.
I played folk guitar in the 70's, mainly small
church group outings, dabbled a little in song writing.
Then came the kids and my guitar went into the closet.
When the kids got older, they took over my guitar.
I finally got it back about three months ago, when our
youngest bought is own guitars.
Our two boys and I took up the ukulele about 7 - 8 months ago.
I bought a kamaka soprano during our last visit to Oahu.
I jam with the uke with friends on Friday nights before our
tahitian drumming practice.
I have been listening to a lot of hawaiian ukulele and guitar
music this past year, which is how I found this site from
surfing the web.
I attended a ukulele workshop given by Hiram Bell
at the last San Francisco Aloha Festival.
I also attended a slack key guitar workshop given by Fran Guidry.
I wanted to slack my uke, but ran into problems.
So, I decided to slack my old Yamaha FG300.
I contacted Fran via email for help getting started with ki ho`alu.
He very generously sent me some drills and pieces to get started.
I bought a copy of his CD at the workshop and listen to it daily.
Through this board and workshops I have already made contacts
with many people willing to share their knowledge, skills, and
techniques with me. That is the real Aloha Spirit.
I have been working with Ozzie's book/CD for a couple of weeks.
I bought is DVD at the workshop he had in Santa Clara last
weekend. My fingers/hands are not very fast or flexible,
so my progress will probably be slow, but steady......
Mahalo,
Les 
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Edited by - les_maverick on 12/11/2007 06:05:09 AM |
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`Ilio Nui
`Olu`olu
USA
826 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2007 : 08:46:52 AM
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Les,
It was nice meeting you at Ozzie's workshop. Just hang in there. Your fingers will loosen up. Stick with Ozzie's material, especially the book/CD for the basics.
dog |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2007 : 08:50:02 AM
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Les - welcome to Taro Patch. Lucky you to be able to learn from such a kind hearted, talented person such as Fran Guidry. Funny thing, a lot of us used to be "folkies" during the 70's. But, I do believe that the affection for folk music makes us more receptive to the beautiful Hawaiian music because we appreciate the uncluttered, unadorned, sweet, simple music of the heart.
You will find friends here who have great expertise on many topics and are more than willing to share that knowledge and experience.
Lucky we have da Patch.
E komo mai. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2007 : 10:37:09 AM
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Les,
Welsome Aboard. Ozzie explains the RIGHT things well. When you master his green/yellow book (the DVD really helps there) you will have a good enough grasp on the important subjects to tackle more challenging pieces and will be ready to "create" your own arrangements.
In many songs I try to learn, I usually find a bar or two that I find very difficult to play exactly as written. So I "create" my own "arrangement" of that song until my dexterity improves, my thumb and finger independence limbers up, or I just plain like "my way" better. With the fundamentals strongly in place you can experiment when to substitue your own style in.
Most of all, have fun creating your own music but remember, music is meant to be shared -- so continue play for someone else when you can. |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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da_joka
Lokahi
361 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2007 : 1:11:16 PM
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eh les, howzit! I was at Hiram's workshop at da Aloha festival too! I caught da end of Fran's session and got a copy of his notes. Befo dat, i neva like really learn ki ho`alu, but den I got bit by da bug :-) Since den, I've been working through Ozzie's book too, it's been tough balancing da guitar, ukulele, work, AND spending time wit my wonderful wife :-) (she's been so patient, putting up wit Manuela Boy - o boy - heh) At least one time, I was playing molehu, and she thought it was da CD ... wat a compliment)
It's all worth it, no? Lucky, you got one chance fo spend time wit Ozzie. Maybe I'll see you at da nex aloha festival eh? Welcome to da patch!
Shootz!
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If can, can. If no can, no can. |
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hawaiianmusiclover06
`Olu`olu
USA
562 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2007 : 9:02:07 PM
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Aloha Les and welcome to the patch! Mahalo for sharing your story. I loved reading it. Keep on posting!
Alana :) |
Aloha Kakou, maluhia a me aloha mau loa (Hello everyone, peace and love forever) |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2007 : 3:40:07 PM
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'Ae! Please do! You should be very thankful that you have gotten to study Hawaiian music under some great artists.
E komo mai!
'Alika |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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les_maverick
Lokahi
USA
238 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2007 : 08:06:50 AM
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Hi All:
Thanks to all for the welcomes and comments.
My fingers are starting to loosen up. I have to practice a lot
more to get to some those chords.
Yes there many people on the patch willing to share their knowledge and
experience.
I love Ozzie's book/CD, expecially since it breaks the songs down, measure
by measure. I have been experimenting with a little improv...
da_joka you are balancing uke and guitar too ??? I want to slack my uke
eventually, but right now I strum the uke and pick the guitar.
Are you in the SF Bay area ?
Alana, thanks for reading my ramblings....
I am very greatful for the opportunties I have had so far,
I will continue to learn and practice from anyone who is willing.
mahalo,
Les |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 2:32:06 PM
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Keep up the great work!quote:
Originally posted by les_maverick
Hi All:
Thanks to all for the welcomes and comments.
My fingers are starting to loosen up. I have to practice a lot
more to get to some those chords.
Yes there many people on the patch willing to share their knowledge and
experience.
I love Ozzie's book/CD, expecially since it breaks the songs down, measure
by measure. I have been experimenting with a little improv...
da_joka you are balancing uke and guitar too ??? I want to slack my uke
eventually, but right now I strum the uke and pick the guitar.
Are you in the SF Bay area ?
Alana, thanks for reading my ramblings....
I am very greatful for the opportunties I have had so far,
I will continue to learn and practice from anyone who is willing.
mahalo,
Les
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He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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da_joka
Lokahi
361 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 2:48:20 PM
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eh les,
we're working on da same stuffs, slack key wise. i jus taking my time. on da uke, jus plunking out wat I can from da Dominator's site (which is not dat much ;-) ). I no live in da bay area, but mo by sacramento, in Woodland.
shootz den! |
If can, can. If no can, no can. |
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les_maverick
Lokahi
USA
238 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2007 : 07:38:42 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by da_joka
eh les,
da Dominator's site
Hey Joka:
What is da Dominator's site ?
Mahalo,
Les |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2007 : 1:58:27 PM
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There is an excellent ukulele player by the name of Dominic in the LA area. He goes by "Dominator" on the web. He has transposed many popular songs into tablature and placed them on his web site with midi and PDF files. They are pretty good!
http://dominator.ukeland.com/index2.shtml
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E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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les_maverick
Lokahi
USA
238 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2007 : 11:47:54 AM
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Mike:
Thanks for the URL
too bad Jake made him remove the tabs for his songs,
but there stil is a lot there.
Les |
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