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da_joka
Lokahi
361 Posts |
 Posted - 07/08/2014 : 12:41:40 PM
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What tuning does Ledward use wen he plays Pau Pilikia?
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If can, can. If no can, no can. |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2182 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2014 : 2:31:56 PM
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| Was taropatch or what? |
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Peter Medeiros
`Olu`olu
546 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2014 : 9:30:19 PM
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This is a Maunaloa tuning CGEGAE in the key of C. Or if you don't want to break any strings lower it a whole step to BbFDFGD to the key of Bb. Led knows Leonard Kwanʻs music and can play it backwards and forwards. Like many of us baby boomers raised in Hawai’i, we were told if we wanted to learn how to play slack key, we had to listen to Leonard Kwan. Pau Pilikia is one of Leonard Kwanʻs signature compositions from his first LP the "Red Album." But nowadays, people say if you want to learn slack key listen to Ledward. I hear strains of Will The Circle Be Unbroken….
However, the tuning Leonard used was a High C Maunaloa. Leonardʻs tuning on that album was GCEGAE recorded with the sixth and fifth strings inverted and set an octave above the standard Maunaloa bass pitch. The high strings on the Maunaloa tunings are tuned like the mandolin or violin and the fingerings are primarily open and closed positions playing intervals of a sixth.
The CGEGAE or standard Maunaloa tuning was one of Gabbyʻs favorites. The bass accompaniment is usually straightforward C>G or G>G without improvisation - playing for the most part, the root note of a chord. The High C Maunaloa is another story. This tuning was one of Peter Moonʻs favorite tunings and provided him with a great pallet from which he was able to improvise. With the bass strings inverted and now tuned an octave higher, the fingering and chording that you use on the four high strings (DGBD) in the G tuning - DGDGBD (called taropatch) can now be transposed to the four lowest pitched strings (GCEG) in the High C tuning. I kind of laugh because people are still trying to figure this out and it really isn't that hard. You either play linearly (single notes) or harmonically (two or more notes).
In addition, if you listen carefully to Leonardʻs Pau Pilikia you will hear the influence of Gabby. The similarities between Gabbyʻs Ki Ho‘alu and Leonardʻs Pau Pilikia are unmistakable should not be overlooked. However, Leonardʻs improvisation has taken on an identity of its own and is appreciated and carried forward in this case by Ledward. I remember more than one night playing with Led through the Leonard Kwan catalog it was a lot of fun.
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2182 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2014 : 4:11:55 PM
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T'anks, eh, Peter! I figured that it was C Mauna Loa - 1st time I met Led and talked to him, he was playing that tuning.
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da_joka
Lokahi
361 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2014 : 07:53:34 AM
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| Tanks Peter! No wonder I couldn't get um fo sound jus right. I was trying um in taropatch - to me sounded like jus da open and closed positions ... I goin go back to Leonard's album again and listen mo bettah ;-) |
If can, can. If no can, no can. |
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Pau Pilikia
