I've listened to Uncle Sonny's Wai Ulu from Sonny Solo many times. However, tonight as I was walking along with this tune playing through my ear-buds I caught something I've never heard before. At 2:24 Sonny's picking starts to really buzz and I immediately though of his needle and thread technique. I've seldom heard this technique used and I know Sonny could pull this off. Can anyone confirm if what he's doing on this tune is indeed the needle and thread technique?
According to the liner notes, for the song Wai Ulu on the "Sonny Solo" CD:
"On the fourth verse of this song, Sonny plays the guitar normally with both hands, while using an old traditional technique of holding a needle by a thread in his teeth, which vibrates the strings and gives an additional mandolin or hammered dulcimer effect. Tuning: G Major."
Mahalo for the reply and for the additional links. One of my greatest laments of our digital age is the loss of album art and liner notes. Many recordings in my music collection have been obtained over the wire and Sonny Solo was an Amazon MP3 purchase a while back - hence no liner notes.
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Uncle Sonny's Wai Ulu-Neddle and Thread?
Posted - 08/02/2011 : 7:51:33 PM
