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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
 Posted - 03/19/2002 : 2:44:41 PM
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Aloha kakou,
I thought it would be helpful, for beginning slack key players, to list and explain some *key* ki ho`alu "vocabulary" items with some ways that Sarah and I have found to learn them. Jump in with stuff you know, if you like.
Taro Patch
1. The D7 to G vamp or turnaround.
D bass, 2nd fret treble string (there are variations with all 3 top strings), 1st fret, 2nd string (sometime with hammers) slide from 4th fret, 1st string to 5th fret 1st string (F# to G) for a Gsus4 chord.
This is the quintessential slack key signature sound and the first thing I noticed and learned. There are lots of variations. I couldn't learn it until Sarah wrote me an etude that included it.
2. Alternating bass
My warmup (I have to have something to get my 62 year old fingers moving) starts with pimami excercises. To make it less boring, Sarah wrote a simple little waltz etude that includes many of the other basic slack key components, but all the etudes I use, have an alternating bass appropriate for the chord being played. (I chord, G: 5-2-4-1; V7 chord, D7: 6-2-4-1, 6-3-4-2, or 6-3-4-1, depending on fretting; IV chord, C: 4-2-3-1)
3. Parallel 6ths on strings 1 and 3.
Another quintessintial slack key sound. Plunk down the fretting fingers all at once and lift them all at once, cleanly, to go on to the next.
Ron Loo gave Sarah (and then me) a little etude that has picking pattern 5-3-4-1 or 6-3-4-1 (G or D bass) starting at frets 4 and 5 and working up to frets 16-17 and then back down. (Hope this ASCII Tab works :-(
---5---7---9--10----12----14----16----17
----------------------------------------
-4---5---7---9---11----12----14----16---
--0---0---0---0----0-----0-----0-----0--
0-------0-------------0-----------0-----
----0-------0---0-----------0-----------
4.
The I, IV, V7 chords (G, C, D7)
The important thing for me is to be able to plunk down all the fretting fingers at once. I still have trouble with C.
G: Open, of course, and frets 7, 8, 9 on strings 3, 2, 1
D7: Frets 1 and 2
D: barre 7
C:2-
1-
0-
2-
C: barre 5, and 8/9/10/10. Songs very often include notes on the 7th fret from a barred 5th fret. I mostly use my pinkie for those.
5. Chimes (harmonics on frets 5, 7, 12) in many combinations.
6. 3rds on strings 1 and 2 and strings 2 and 3.
They have almost the same fret structure (chord shape), except inverted (BTW, George Kahumoku and friend note that there are only 3 chord shapes in Taro Patch: /, \, and -) Frets: Open, 1/2-2/1, 3/4-4/3, 5/5, 7/7, 8/9-9/8, 10/10-10/11, 12/12. I do an alternating bass 5-2-4-1, 6-2-4-1 and 5-3-4-2, 6-3-4-2 as part of the warmup. Mark Hanson's book has all these and 7,. below in his intro to Taro Patch. But, he doesn't put the proper basses in - you can figure them out easily enough.
7. Parrallel 6ths on strings 2 and 4 - same frets as the thirds. Uncle Ray and Ozzie both use these a lot. You can sound like John Renbourn if you do it right :-)
8. G major scale
Most bass runs in Taro Patch are simply scales, as are a lot of song fragments on the treble strings. I do a scale from 6th string Open to 12th fret 1st string and back down as part of the warmup.
9. Slurs
Slurs are everywhere.
Hammer/pull offs:
But, most hammer/pull offs are on the 2nd fret, 1st string. I use Mark Nelson's song - Matt's Bounce, which is in his book with Keola, as practice. This is an example of a very common slack key genre - the h/po variation song - Punahele has lots of this, Opohi moemoe and many others. The nice thing about Mark's is that it is in Taro patch and it has combos that build on earlier ones.
Hammers/add-ons:
This is the essential part of Namakelua tuning - hammering the F# back to the tonic G on the 3rd string, many D7-G vamps hammer the 2nd string 1st fret as does Ozzie's arrangement of Hi`ilawe in Leonard's C (both tunings are 1 string variation of Taro Patch, so you know most of the fingering in these tunings, too).
Pull offs: again mostly on the 1st string second fret, sometimes preparatory to barring the second fret for an A chord. Also appears as a p/o on the 9th fret from a partial barre 7th fret.
Slides:
*Really* everywhere, but very often on parallel 6ths or thirds or scale notes. I use Keola's "linked turnarounds" as a warmup slide practice. I have some trouble getting a good sound on sliding down from the 9/7 6th to the 7/5 6th. Ozzie really likes slides on the 1st and 2nd string thirds in transitions and endings.
Additional warmup advice:
I play Ozzie's Kani Ki Ho`alu theme nearly everyday, just because it *is* the sound of slack key and gets me to do most everything and *move* my right hand constantly up and down the fretboard. Consequently, I never play it well, because I am always stiff and cold, but it helps me.
I am getting tired now (my titanium spine is aching, too), so I'll stop. But, I threaten to bore you with more when I get the urge.
...Reid
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2002 : 4:59:44 PM
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Great post Reid. This is helpful to anyone playing in taro patch tuning.
Once you get going, one realizes that this vocabulary is relatively simple (i.e. nothing too technically complicated about it). Yet, when I got to see Ozzie Kotani play close up at the workshop he taught in NYC... even the simplest songs or phrases were so nahenahe. What am I trying to say? Slack key is not that hard - one of many reasons why I love it. But... "not that hard" does not mean easy. Playing nahenahe takes a lot of practice!
BTW, I changed the font of your ASCII Tab to Courier New... hope it helps. |
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Pauline Leland
`Olu`olu
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 12:47:23 AM
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Thanks Reid. I'm printing it off now.
Of course, after I did the copy and paste into Word, I noticed that this forum will put the posts into a printer friendly format. I like the forum software!
Pauline |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 11:03:06 AM
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Thanks for the font change Andy, the constant width helped out, but I still messed up with a few dashes.
About nahenahe playing. I, of course, struggle with it and I think that you and Sarah basically have it. Ozzie certainly has it better than any of us, but he is certainly talented and has worked on it long and hard.
If I can continue with my personal observations and struggles, in the tone of the first post, there are a few things that I know I should be doing but can't get yet (and 1 or 2 that I can).
First, the picking "attack" (musician's words often confuse me) which really means how you pluck the string. It is a lot more complicated than I first thought. You, Andy, mostly pluck with bare flesh and you get a lovely soft sound because of that. Sarah, unconsiously or consciously, although she uses nails, bends her first finger joint back and slides it off the string. This is completely different from that stroke used by "classical" guitar players. We were fortunate enough to attend a party with Buster B. Jones, the guitar phenom. He pointed out to Sarah and me that a picking hand has 3 degrees of freedom, like an airplane: roll, pitch and yaw (as well as translation back and forth along the string axis). Moving your hand in a combination of these makes entirely different tones. Buster demoed each, and the difference in sound was very noticeable. He never goes anywhere without "Pearl", his guitar, so it was right there to hand. I have a tough time even finding the right string at the right time so my attack is very basic still.
Another thing, which I *can* do, is prolong the tone of each note, which gives what Keola calls a "halo of sound". This is just holding a fretting finger on the string as long as you can and even while fretting and plucking others. This is why both Ozzie and Ron Loo emphasize plunking all the fingers down at once in a chord form or a parallel 6th. Guitars with long sustain help that, too. Jazzers, ragtimers and blues guys really don't like these kinds of guitars because they want quick notes of short duration as they move around very fast.
A third thing, that I noticed at Camp, especially with Ozzie and Keola, is their dynamic (loudness) and tempo variations. Lots of players really believe in keeping the beat equal, and I can see that if you are backing up a halau hula. But, remember how Oz says, "Swing it!" when describing how "Kimo Slack Key" should be played? He is emphazing different beats. In Hanson's book, he describes the 3-3-2 and 2-3-3 tempo patterns that Sonny and Cyril use. The total is still 8 in 4/4 time, but the emphasis is different, although still in a regular pattern. Hanson's book and CD is real good on that kind of stuff. I wrote him about Uncle Ray's tempo in Punahele. Hanson uses a dotted note notation for the next-to-last note in a phrase. But, Uncle Ray doesn't care about measure lengths or Western notation schemes; he cares about what it sounds like. So, what really happens is the phrase, as played, ends one note short of the written measure and the next phrase starts with an open (unfretted)note on the first string, and that occurs regularly throughout the piece. Hanson admitted to me that, in a "vernacular" sytle, such as slack key, cramming the sounds into a scheme designed for European Art Music, doesn't always work.
Emphasis variations are really what is meant by "expressiveness" and this is where you have to have the mana`o. Remember, slack key started as both an accompaniment to song and to dance. If you know the meaning of the words of the song and how the words are pronounced, you are most of the way to understanding where the emphasis should be and should change. Ron Loo told Sarah, that Auntie Alice told him that guitar playing was "only half the story". For old time Hawaiian audiences on the back porch, it was the story, the words, the poetics, that counted; that's why songs like Pa`ahana have so many verses. Modern audiences (and many musicians), who mostly don't understand the words, wouldn't stand for it: they would be bored. We all deplore the treatment that the Hawaiian culture, especially the language, has endured, but now the language is being revived. Ron told Sarah to listen to Vicki I`i Rodriguez for diction and phrasing. Auntie Alice's LP is often available at Jelly's, is cheap, and her language is unsurpassed. Keola's diction is very good, too. Auntie Nona wouldn't have it any other way :-). Dennis Kamakahi is also superb and he is one of the few composers that compose in Hawaiian. For Sarah, it was the language that intrigued her first and that she learned. The guitar came a few years later.
Punahele brings up another point. Ray, in one of his videos, complains about how tender his fretting finger tips are and that means he doesn't press hard. When you watch him, it is astounding how delicate and light his fretting is. Mine is still a clumsy death grip. Ozzie's and Keola's fingers just float around the fretboard, too, even when going very fast. That gentleness affects the sound in the proper way.
Slowness is good, too. An unfortunate unintended consequence of a wonderful thing is that, listening and watching virtuosos, makes us feel as if we have to pick fast, be "shredders". A slack key player on Maui reminded us that ki ho`alu developed from music that was intended to put cows to sleep. There is stylistic virtue in playing slowly. No shame.
There is lots more to nahenahe, but I've said all I know (or think I know). Anyone else?
me ke aloha,
Reid
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2002 : 8:33:36 PM
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reid,
what a great posting; you raise many good points.
i play with "alaska" picks because my fingernails tend to split if i play a lot of slack key with them (they hold up to ukulele strings just fine, though). i like these picks because they are plastic, and so are soft somewhat like fingernails.
increasing the sustain by not letting up in fretting is an important thing to learn. i think that this is what some others call "harp tones"?
not pressing hard is a trick i am still working on. much of it seems to be hand strength - as my left hand has strengthened, it feels like i am pressing less hard, more surely, and have more speed.
aloha,
keith
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Bruddah Chrispy
Lokahi
USA
164 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2002 : 10:22:18 AM
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I agree - excellent information!!
I find that how hard I press on the strings is a function of how well I know the song. When I'm first learning a piece of music I usually have a death grip on the neck and my finger tips end up sore and aching. If I'm playing something I know - i.e., something where I don't need to think about where the next note is gonna be - I tend to have a very light touch.
Aloha a hui hou,
Chris P. |
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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2002 : 10:56:17 AM
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Aloha e Bruddah Crispy,
I have found the same thing you did: that my touch is often a function of how well I know the song. And that familiarity and lighter touch lead to nahenahe playing. The "flow" of it all...
So, I find that it may take me months, or years, to develop a fluidity to a particular song. Just knowing it isn't enough. I just keep playing it, and over time I seem to get various wrinkles get ironed out.
Another thought I have had is that familiarity with the piece eventually leads also to a larger "overview" of the piece, and the phrasing of the larger structure becomes clearer to me. This helps me with the smoothness and expression of the playing, too.
Just think: Uncle Ray has been playing Punahele for nearly 60 years. :-)
aloha,
Sarah |
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