Slack Key ‘Ukulele
February 18, 2008
Slack-key is yet another genre that the ‘ukulele can successfully cover and is relatively easy to learn, but has many opportunities for advanced players.
Slack-key music is really beautiful. If you’re not familiar with it, I would recommend Legends of slack-key guitar. There is also a short clip of Ledward Kaapana playing slack key ‘ukulele on the ‘Ukulele Fest 2003 Youtube video.
To play slack key ‘ukulele you need to put a low-G string on your ‘ukulele.
Slack key is a style, not a tuning. You do not need to tune your ‘ukulele differently, but some artists do. Uncle Ledward Kaapana sums it up nicely: “When I was young my uncle Fred told me you can play slack key in Standard tuning. He said, ‘It’s easy, jus’ press the right strings’. Jus’ press’ was something he would always tell us when we’d ask him a question. One time when we were playing I asked him, ‘Uncle Fred, what key is this?’ He told me, ‘Boy, no worry what key, jus’ press.’”
The most commonly used slack-key guitar tuning is open G (taro patch). Since the ‘ukulele is tuned five steps higher than the guitar, the easiest open tuning to access is open C. To create an open C tuning you must tune the A-string down to G.
To play slack key you must play a bass line. This is tough to pull off on the ‘ukulele because of the limited amount of strings, but since most songs are in C, hitting the low-G-string or the C-string every few notes will work. This is important – play the bass line!
Harmonics are popular in slack-key music so try to ingrate them into your playing. If you don’t know how to play them, check out our lesson on How to Play Harmonics.
You also need to know turnarounds. Figuring them out by ear is probably the best way to learn them. There are so many turnarounds you can use that almost any combination of notes in a scale could work. I would recommend Exploring the ‘Ukulele by Herb Ohta Jr. and Daniel Ho to get you started. It has turnarounds for all of the major keys.
Uncle Dave from Hilo published the book ‘Ukulele Slack Key and made the Slack Key Ukulele CD. His slack key lessons on YouTube is part of his music tutorial. He gives slack key ‘ukulele instructions at East Hawaii Cultural Center in Hilo, Hawaii. He teaches four different tunings. His choice of ukus is the baritone. I was one of his students. He also builds ‘ukulele, his website: http://www.ukulele-uncle.com. Google David Heaukulani.
For your information
quote: “Slack key is a style, not a tuning.” unquote. That quote should be in italics, and bolded.
Over on Wikipedia the haole who redirected the search term “slack key” to his article “Slack Key Guitar” believes “slack key” is a special type of alternate guitar tuning. Anyone who has grown up in Hawii knows that slack key is a unique ethnic music style, just the same as Mexico’s mariachi and jamacia’s reggae are. The rhythms, cadences, and harmonies of slack key playing style come directly from the rhythms, cadences and lyric sounds of the Hawaiian language, song and chants, the cadences and lyric sounds of the Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Portuguese lanaguages, and , of course, the cadences and rhythms of Hawaii’s ubiquitous pidgin English cant. Anyone whose background doesn’t include those cultural elements so unique to Hawaii can imitate slack key, but they’ll never ever be able to really play it.