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Ginny
Aloha
43 Posts |
 Posted - 09/27/2006 : 4:01:38 PM
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Scrolled through beginner posts here just not seeing anyone as new to this as me.I am at -square one. I see the many suggestions for Ozzie Katani book. But should I learn chords first? Where online?
Looking online but not finding too much for beginners. Beamer online looks good but from reviews here seems to be for people that have some guitar skills. Any ideas online that will get me started right away? New guitar is on the couch  , waiting.
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 4:31:55 PM
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I started slack key & guitar at the same time, so here's what I learned from the experience, in the form of "If I were going to do it again, how would I do it..."
I would start with a few lessons from someone who knows how to play guitar well and who is a good teacher. It doesn't need to be slack key. Get the basics of hand positions, holding the guitar, how to create nice sounds. And get the basics in such a way that you protect your hands, muscles, etc. ---- Next it would be good to spend some time with someone who plays slack key decently - there's a lot about playing this form that you have to get face to face -- I spent my vacation time and money going to Hawaii to get some lessons -- check out members who might be close to you, or whose town you might want to visit. And listen to every Hawaiian CD you can get - slack key and otherwise. Get the feel. --- As for starting points - Ozzie's book & CD is my choice, but I also think Ron Loo's is good. After that, maybe Keola's stuff, maybe the DVD's Iannui offers, maybe both.
And ..... the more you practice, and the more intelligently you practice (you might have to learn how to do that) the faster you will progress.
Good luck and have fun along the way. |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 4:50:42 PM
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If you can't get to a teacher, I would encourage you to try a DVD lesson designed specifically for beginners. There are a few tips and tricks to learn before you start sounding like you play slack key.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Ginny
Aloha
43 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 5:17:53 PM
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Thank you both for your kind and thoughtful responses. RJS protecting the hand muscles is that the kind of thing I would learn in a class? I did try g chord from internet pictures felt like yoga for your fingers, first lesson LOL.
How hard is Koke e, by Dennis Kamakahi. I know its a long way from beginner but how long of a road. ...is it out of the question. Its kind of what has inspired me to begin here. Is it something that might always be out of reach because of its complexity? Very frustrating that you can't just look these songs and read what it takes to play but I guess thats why its art.
Guess just a little nervous here starting this all at 45. |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 8:35:30 PM
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I started at 50. I now have regular restaurant gig, a second cd on the way and I play at various functions when I have time. Not that hard, really, if you can give it some time to practice.
As to your questions. Personally I learn much more and a lot faster from an individual lesson than in a class. Depends on the quality of the class and teacher, and your learning style.
About Koke'e: One of the beautiful things about slack key is that you can make a very simple arrangement sound hauntingly beautiful. As you grow in technique and music expression, you start doing versions that are more uniquely your own and those often (but not always) get more difficult. So you could work out a simple version of DK's song -- but if you are first starting out, you probably will need a bunch of help doing that. I wouldn't try to work out a piece from sratch until you are reasonable familiar with playing alternating bass, melody on 1st string with parallel 6ths, (open/close positions on 1 and 3) and maybe a bit of melody on 2 with harmony in 3rds (open/close on 2&3)
One of the beauties of Ozzie's book is that not only do you get reasonably interesting songs to play, but - and this is very important - Ozzie builds his lessons on each other so that by the time you get through the Taro Patch songs, you have a pretty good grounding in Taro Patch and a nice place to jump off of.
New York has some players -- check out the members profiles or just post with your location - you might be able to get together with someone
I started with Frederick Hand's basic guitar course book and the Keola VHS 'cause his style hooked me - 3 months later I was frustrated and hadn't learned much. I met Ozzie at a concert, got his book and in the next month made more progress than in the first 3. That's when I flew to Hawai'i for lessons. |
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Ianui
Lokahi
USA
298 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2006 : 9:07:50 PM
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Age has nothing to do with it. I started at 67. I did know 3 chords G C and D7 in standard tuning. If you decide to start in a Slack Key tuning start in Open G or Taro Patch.
Take a couple lesson even if its in standard tuning to get a feel for the guitar and an understanding of how to play 2 or three chords. Play them over and over until your fingers transition smoothly and you get a good solid sound. When you play for a few hours stright the tips of your fingers will get very sore, probably bleed. Keep playing. In a short time they will develop callouses.
Keep things real simple until you feel comfortable holding the guitar playing a few chords and strunning in a coordinated fashion.
As a person just learning to play the guitar I highly recommend your first purchase be Keoki Kahumoku DVD and not the Ozzie book, which is great if you have some experience playing guitar before, and understand what Tab is.
http://www.thegtw.com/artists/keoki_kahumoku/keoki_kahumoku_slack.htm
It shows visually picking patterns, chords, and finger positions that will help you immensely. Especially when you can hear what its supposed to sound like when you put your fingers where the pictures show.
Practice at every oportunity. Watching TV pick up the guitar, pick and strum, stretch your fingers.
What you are about to find out is those songs you hear that are beautiful and make you say "I can do that" are deceiving as all get out. So have patience, practice and when you come to Las Vegas call me. I have a stage waiting for you.
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Edited by - Ianui on 09/27/2006 9:14:09 PM |
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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 04:31:54 AM
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Hi, Beginner!
I, too, started playing guitar at the same time I started slack key. Don't know a thing in standard tuning!
A couple thoughts from my own experience:
Ron Loo's books are excellent for the total beginner because he talks you through the piece measure by measure. You can read the Taropatch "reviews" at http://www.taropatch.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44 (It comes with CDs nowadays "Ron's Instructional Books 1, 2, and 3 are now all available with CD's instead of cassettes. Putting them all on CD has caused the price to be cut practically in half. They are available for online purchase or usps mail order at www.ronloo.com -Admin")
Ron has arrangements of some traditional songs, which is valuable in learning the whole esthetic and feel of slack key. He also introduces, by way of the pieces, forms of the traditional vamp you hear so often in slack key. His arrangements are interesting yet not complex, and study of them reveals the typical structure of slack key songs. Some of the pieces have a measure or two of some demanding fingering that, for a beginner, is too hard. But, so you save that measure till later! Ozzie's book is great, too, with pieces whose instructional value is carefully thought out. Keola's material is much more difficult - not for the beginner, if for his fingerings alone.
Raymond's tip about getting ergonomic advice and guidance is a good one. When we don't start playing as a kid, our muscles, tendons, and bones don't adapt so rapidly, or recover from abuse so rapidly.
In that vein, it can be frustrating as a beginner not to have the finger strength and flexibility of an experienced player. This limits what fingerings we can do for a while, and therefore what pieces we can do, but that's natural. After a particularly demanding session, where the fingers get stretched a lot (try not to press down hard, however), icing the hands afterward for 20 minutes is a big help in recovering for the next day.
Re callouses and fingertip soreness: yes, it will happen. I found that if it got too bad, if I skipped a day between practices it helped them recover and harden up for the next practice. But you will build up fingertip endurance.
I didn't learn chords first. I learned the bass line technique first and how to put bass line and melody together. The bass line keeps, in effect, the time/tempo for the piece, so it is fundamental. Chords are seldom played all at once, rather, one note after another in various combinations. It's very helpful to know them, and I do now, but it wasn't first on the list.
I would recommend sticking to one tuning at first, for quite a while till you get familiar with where things are. It's easy to get spread too thin, trying to learn different tunings as well as all the basics of playing guitar.
Welcome to the wonderful world of slack key!
aloha,
Sarah
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 06:37:36 AM
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Don't forget the videos that Ray Sowders put together for us to review almost a year ago. I think Andy archived them for our beginners to watch. Ray did us an outstandig service of explaining the basics in the format most of us can learn by -- watch and copy.
Andy?
The Ozzie Kotani and Ron Loo (beginner book) are excellent starts if you are a good "self learner". |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 06:39:48 AM
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I'd beg Andy for a 1/2-hour introductory lesson - or Darren Leong - They are very close to NYC... Also, Tommy Cheng is there working with his puppets at maybe the Nature Science museum. I'm not sure if he plays slack key, but he's a really cool guy. The further down the standard tuning path you go, the harder to go to slack key. I had fun playing folk songs in the '60s. Trying to learn slack key at 60 felt like someone had just alphabetized my computer keyboard. And big Ditto on getting Keoki's DVD... it's brand-new beginner. I met Ozzie this summer - what a Sweetheart!! but he said he didn't think his songs were really beginning beginner... but that's where most of us start who at least have picked up a guitar.
Bottom line - It's going to be a wonderful adventure so enjoy the trip -
And Keola Beamer reminds us to "play with Aloha"
aunty nancy |
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Ray Sowders
Akahai
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 4:33:09 PM
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Aloha,
These simple videos may or may not help...but they are free. Go to www.raysowders.com and then click on the "free videos" button on the left side of the page. Down load them to your computer if you like. It's a start! Have fun and take your time, if it were easy everybody would be a recording artist in 5 minutes! Nothing good comes easy. Slack key is deceptively simple, but it’s well worth the effort.
Aloha Pumehana,
Ray
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Ginny
Aloha
43 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 5:03:46 PM
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This is all so wonderful! I read this before work this morning at about 6:30AM I thought it was a nice way to wake up! I was actually dreaming about slack key just when the alarm went off. I am very encouraged by your remarks, particularly by those of you who started later. Walked my 5 block walk to the subway giggling yeah that's right I am going to Las Vegas! I gotta get me a nice stool to sit on.  . Came on now to thank those of you who put such lilt in my step and here there are more encouraging and wise responses.
Now its the end of Thursday, home from work at about 9PM, dinner and in here close to 11pm so I am sorry to not address each response. I will refer back to this post often. Thank you for the hand exercise remarks and all of your personal experiences, it makes this so less daunting.
Andy's online reference will refer back to that post, something I can see right on here?
Thanks again everyone, you were great.
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Ginny
Aloha
43 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2006 : 5:17:48 PM
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| Thank you also ray sowder, my first stop! |
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Tonya
Lokahi
USA
177 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2006 : 2:08:25 PM
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And don't forget to have fun with it while you're learning!
I tend to be a bit overly (!) detail-oriented and that makes it easy to sometimes forget the whole spirit of playing--and I guarantee you even if you're just learning, you're still playing. Take some time. Listen to the slack key music you epecially love (it's amazing how much simply listening can help you aim for the sounds you want to mimic) and, if at all possible, find some folks to play with sometime soon. Yes, even if you think you're not "good enough," you will likely be very welcomed and you can choose to simply listen or join in as you can. Slack key folks are friendly to beginners (or at least those I've met are!).
I had no idea how to play anything on the standard-tuned guitar but started with Ozzie's book/CD as well as Ray's videos (I ordered the DVD to use when I'm not online) and listening to lots of slack key. I'm not very "good" by anyone's standards but I love playing the simple first songs that I have learned. I wish the same for you! |
http://www.uketreasures.com
http://www.ukuleletonya.com |
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