What is Slack Key Guitar?
Slack Key or Ki Ho’alu has often been referred to as Hawaiian Soul Music. Slack Key is indigenous to Hawaii, and while it is the one of the most difficult styles to master, it is one of the most beautiful to listen to. Slack Key has a very interesting history. King Kamehameha III brought several Spanish Cowboys from California to Hawaii in the 1830’s to help control the cattle on Hawaii. The Spanish Cowboys taught the Hawaiians the skills necessary to be cowboys, but also brought their Mexican Guitar music. It is believed that Hawaiians did not know how to tune their guitars, so each family experimented and developed their own unique tunings. They loosened or ‘slacked’ the strings creating a sound unique to Hawaii. The loosened chords allowed continuous bass on the bass strings accompanying the main melody which was finger-picked on the treble strings. The unique tunings were passed down through the generations. Only in the last 25-30 years have they been shared outside of the Hawaiian
