Why is slack key so endangered?
This artform was only passed on within families… from an elder master… to a chosen child. So much was lost when a master passed on without having found the apprentice to carry the tradition forward. Slack key, in it’s traditional form, is a lifetime commitment to learning, playing, and creating. Getting your fingers and thumb on the same hand to do two different things (thumb playing rhythm and fingers playing melody simultaneously) is not easy and so many players become frustrated by the learning curve. When you change to a new tuning, all the relationships of the notes on the neck, the chords, the harmonies, the bass notes… all changes… and it’s like learning a new instrument. This is much more difficult than learning new songs and techniques all in the same tuning. One final reason is that slack key, in the old style, is less commercially acceptable for radio, hotel, lounge and other entertainment formats which means it’s not financially lucrative for young players starting
