Basic Slack Key Guitar Lesson

Basic Slack Key

Mark delves into the world of slack key guitar. He discusses basic concepts such as open tunings and chords.

Taught by Mark Kailana Nelson in Hawaiian slack key seriesLength: 34:24Difficulty: 1.5 of 5

Welcome to your first official slack key guitar lesson! Mark kicks off Lesson 2 with some historical information regarding this musical tradition.

In the 1830’s, the Hawaiian islands were overrun with cattle left by the British navy. As a result, “vaqueros,” or cowboys from Mexico came to control this problem. During the day, the cowboys would wrangle cattle. At night, they would sit around the campfire and play their guitar music. The Hawaiians then cultivated this music into their own unique style.

Slack key guitar almost died out in the 20th century. For decades, this style of music was a fairly well kept secret. Many slack key players thought that the tradition should not be passed to outsiders. Since Hawaii is a relatively small chain of islands, inhabitants were very concerned about foreign influence and its effect on society and culture. For this reason, the slack key style of playing was not widely spread to other cultures. Keola Beamer stirred up a lot of controversy when he published his first instructional slack key guitar book in the1960’s. Many felt that the slack key tradition should not be spread to outside cultures. As a result of this mindset, the slack key style was almost lost. Since this time, Mark and Keola have published new material that details this style. We highly recommend that you study the book Learn to Play Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar written by Keola Beamer and Mark Nelson in conjunction with this lessons series.

Many people confuse slack key guitar with the steel guitar. Steel guitars have steel construction that gives the body of the guitar a distinct resonating quality. For this reason, these guitars are frequently referred to as “resonator guitars.” A steel guitar lays flat across the lap when played.

As discussed in the written portion of the last lesson, slack key literally refers to loosening the tuning keys of the guitar. Each string is tuned to a note contained within a major triad.

The Hawaiians developed dozens of different tunings to accommodate specific songs. However, the most common tuning used in this style is open G. Here is a quick review of this tuning:

6th: D
5th: G
4th: D
3rd: G
2nd: B
1st: D

Mark walks you through the process of tuning your guitar in this way. Many alternate tunings involve tightening a string to a higher pitch. In open G however, every string whose tuning is altered is tuned down. Begin with the high E string. Tune this string down to a D. You can use the open D string to match this pitch. If you do not have much experience tuning by ear, you may want to use an electronic tuner.

The B, G, and D string remain exactly the same. These notes are contained within the G major triad.

Next, drop the low E string down to a D. Once again, use the open D string to match this pitch.

Finally, the 5th string must be tuned down to a G. Match the pitch of this string to the open G string (3rd string).

When matching the pitch of one string to another follow this process:

1.Pluck the string that is already in tune.
2.Pluck the string you want to tune. ONLY pluck it once.
3.Use large turns of the tuning key to adjust the pitch. Like Mark demonstrates, tuning in smaller increments makes tuning much more difficult.
4.Use an electronic tuner to check your accuracy.

Note: If you do not own a tuner, Mark gives you an opportunity to match your tuning to his at 4:10.

The shape and condition of the right hand finger nails is extremely important when playing fingerstyle. A jagged, misshapen nail will result in a poor tone and reduced right hand accuracy. Not everybody has the same nails. Nails come in all shapes in sizes. As a result, you will need to experiment a little before you find the ideal way to shape your nails. However, there are some tried and true guidelines to follow when shaping nails.

1.To properly shape nails, buy a nail file that offers varying degrees of coarseness.

2.How long should the nails be? Regardless of whether you play fingerstyle on a classical or steel string guitar, the right hand nails should be kept fairly short. Turn your hand, so that the palm is facing you. The nail should just barely rise above the flesh of the fingers (roughly 1.5 millimeters). Start with a course section to cut the nails down to size. Then, use a polishing section to smooth the nails and put on finishing touches.

3.Many players prefer to taper their nails so that the right side is slightly taller than the left. If your nails are almost completely flat, we recommend you shape them in this matter. This provides a wider surface area to pluck the string with. Switch the quality of the video player to “high quality.” This will give you a better close up look at Mark’s nails.

4.Some players are blessed with hard nails. Others however are not. Steel strings are much more durable than fingernails. For this reason, frequent play causes the nails to gradually weaken and break. If your nails are weak and break frequently, don’t worry. There are several ways around this problem. Jamplay instructor Matt Brown frequently performs classical music. In the past, he coated his nails with nail hardener to prevent them from breaking. This is available at any drug or grocery store in the nail polish section. Many guitarists opt to use acrylic fingernails. Others cut up sections of ping pong balls and glue them on.

5.Check out the book Pumping Nylon by Brian Head for more information regarding nail size and shaping.

The slack key style of playing typically involves a steady bass pattern. Typically, the thumb plucks each note of the bass pattern. The other right hand fingers pluck chord shapes and melody lines. Typically, the index and middle fingers are used to play scale lines. The third finger is added to accommodate playing chords and arpeggio patterns. The pinky finger is never used in slack key guitar. The pinky is only used to perform flamenco techniques such as the Spanish rasgueado.

Proper positioning of the right hand is absolutely essential to quality tone production and comfortability. The right hand should rest just behind the soundhole (towards the bridge, not the neck). The forearm should rest lightly on the upper body of the guitar. Regardless of whether you are sitting down or standing up, always play with a strap! The guitar rests too low in your lap without a strap. Fingerpicking is nearly impossible in this awkward position. Notice how high the neck of Mark’s guitar hangs. Adjust your strap in such a manner. This will make playing the guitar much easier and more comfortable.

Note: In later lessons, Mark will demonstrate how to adjust the position of the right hand to create different tonal colors.

Place your right hand on the guitar in this position. Place your thumb on the fifth string. Plant your index, middle, and ring finger on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings respectively. Now, practice individually plucking each note. This will get your right hand acquainted with the basic fingerstyle playing position. Then, practice plucking the high three strings simultaneously. Bring each finger towards the palm as you pluck through the string.

Note: To ensure that you are producing the best possible tone, all plucking movement must originate from the knuckle that connects the finger to the palm of the hand.

Open G tuning is often referred to as “Taropatch” tuning. In this scene, Mark demonstrates a few advantages of this fingering. As you can see, basic chords are much easier to play. Laying a barre across all six strings with the first finger produces a major barre chord. Mark demonstrates how to play a D chord in Taropatch tunin.

Note: The following information regarding tablature is taken from Lesson 2 of David Anthony’s Phase 1 series.

Tablature is basically the simple method of standard musical notation (dots, lines, stems, quarter notes, half notes, etc). For those of you interested in just learning to play and are not that interested in music theory, this is perfect for you. You'll be able to learn to play any song and use proper techniques without being slowed down by learning true music theory. Instead of learning how the notes sound and how long they sustain for, you are told exactly what to play.

This would be like learning a foreign word for example. Instead of figuring out how each letter is pronounced in the language, we simply say the word for you & you repeat it. Did you learn the origin of the word, the specifics on the dialect and the breakdown? No. Did you learn the word perfectly? Yes.

There are, however, a few major drawbacks to tablature. With proper musical notation, you are given the length of the notes as well as the volume of the notes. You might play one note twice as long as the next or perhaps you'd play it half as loud as the previous note. With tablature, you are not given these dynamics.

If you pick up some tablature for a song you've never heard and have no examples of it, we wish you the best of luck; it'll be nearly impossible to get it to sound right. Fortunately, you are usually playing something you already know (who wants to learn to play a song they've never heard?) such as a song or an example played by one of our instructors. It is quite easy to listen to the example & change the length & volume accordingly.

There are three basic features of tablature that you should understand:

* The Strings - You will see six horizontal lines that represent the six strings of your guitar: E, A, D, G, B, and E. These are labeled from bottom to top on the diagram (top to bottom on your guitar).
* Numbers - The numbers indicate the fret that the note should be played on. If you see a 5 on the “D” string, you will be placing your finger directly behind the 5th fret on the “D” string (3rd one from the top).
* Spacing / Stacking - As you’ve already learned, musical notation is superior regarding timing on your notes. It tells you exactly how fast to hit the note & how long to wait until you play the next note. Tablature attempts to do this with spacing.

If you see six zeros stacked on each other, you will simply hit all six notes (in this case open strings; no frets should be held) together. If the zeros were spaced out (a diagonal line, essentially) then you would hit them one at a time. In some tablature, the spacing between notes will vary. This indicates if there is a small pause or larger pause between the notes. Unfortunately, this is not an exact science by any means. However, if notes are right next to each other you should realize that these will be hit quickly one after the other. If there is a bigger gap, you should know that there is a longer pause between the notes.

Now is as good of time as any to briefly explain sharp & flat notes. If a note is flat, the sound produced will be a lower pitch than the desired note. If it’s flat, the pitch will be higher. Effectively if you have a flat note (sometimes referenced as “flat” on an electronic tuner), you will need to increase the pitch of your string. If a note is sharp, you will need to lower the pitch of your string.

Note: Open the “Supplemental Content” tab for tablature to this exercise.

A.Measure 1-The first measure begins with a basic open G chord. Pluck the first bass note with the thumb. Bass notes are written as half notes in the notation. Then, use the first finger to strum the chord on the high strings. Alternate the direction of your strumming. Every other strum should be an upstrum. Watch Mark carefully to ensure that you are using the correct strumming pattern.

B.Measure 2-In measure 2, the chord changes to D7, the dominant chord of the key. The first string is played open in this chord shape as a result of the open tuning.

Note: Open the “Supplemental Content” tab for a fretboard diagram of D7.

Once you feel comfortable with the first two measures, loop them continuously.

C.Measure 3-The chord remains the same in measure 3. However, the pinky is added to the 4th fret of the high E string. This adds F# (the third of the chord) to the chord voicing. A large finger stretch is necessary to fret this note. As mentioned before, adjusting your guitar strap properly helps immensely when performing wide stretches. Do not get frustrated if you cannot fret this chord right away. Most grown adults with large hands have a difficult time with this stretch at first. Through dedicated practice each day, your hands will eventually stretch far enough to accommodate this chord shape.

Note: Steve Eulberg demonstrates some great hand/finger exercises in his Phase 1 series. Check out Lesson 12 for more information.

D. Measure 4-The final measure makes a return to the tonic G chord. This time around, the high octave root note is added to the chord. The pinky frets G at the 5th fret.

Member Comments about this Lesson

iamawizard replied on April 25th, 2012

you are my favorite teacher

Bill67 replied on February 12th, 2012

your great

tarocat replied on January 18th, 2012

Ahhh, ha, ha...Mark you are a funny guy. I always smile when I watch you play. Thanks so, so much for bringing this music style to the rest of us. Slack Key music in Thailand where I am living - It Should fit right in! I'm with you for the entire course. MAHALO, Mark.

dr mike replied on May 19th, 2010

Hey Mark, mahalo, your style suits me to a "T"... I was fortunate enough to visit Hawaii a few years ago and it has haunted me (in a good way!) ever since. I picked up one of Keolo's song books but you are bringing things together so that I can understand it much more thoroughly...I can't wait for the next lesson :) BTW, I knew about the camp and now that i know you are part of it I will double my efforts to attend ... I think I'll put IZ's Hot Hawaiian Nights on my dvd player...can't get enough of this stuff :)) Mike

giardja replied on March 18th, 2010

This is great stuff!

philbodean replied on August 25th, 2009

Taro is a plant that grows in Hawaii that has a huge tuber on it that was a staple food source for the native Hawaians (and still is). It tastes like very bland potatoes and is very starchy. We saw several Taro patches on Maui which are boggy swampy areas where Taro is grown (much like rice in rice paddys). My guess is that someone gave the name Taropatch because they would play in this open G tuning around the fields of Taro after harvesting. Just a guess but I can imagine them doing that after seeing the fields of Taro for myself.

djgoodman replied on July 22nd, 2009

great lesson. and right on my front porch. very cool.

catguy replied on May 12th, 2009

Hi Mark, thanks for this wonderful new (at least to me) style of music. One thing I am confussed about is the time signiture, with all of the half notes, eighth notes and two eighth rests per measure? How does this work? thanks--- Gordon

Mark.Nelson replied on May 29th, 2009

I use a short cut way of writing guitar notation, with notes played by the thumb facing down and notes played by the fingers facing up. So you can see a measure of 4/4 with four quarter notes in the bass & a half note rest with 2 quarter notes in the treble. I hope that clears things up! cheers, Mark

sunny jim replied on January 12th, 2009

Mark the passion you put into your lessons is incredible! I've actually got a slack key guitar book by Ozzie Kotani & have dabbled in it a bit. However I've already picked up much more buy watching a few of your lessons than I ever by using my book. I'm definitely hooked! Mahalo, Jim

timmy replied on October 15th, 2008

very cool lesson. hawaiian slack key is going to fun mark ia great teacher...

Sylvia replied on August 23rd, 2008

ha ha ha... super AARP vision. I'm with you brutha!

herbert tucker replied on February 29th, 2008

hi can you tell me if the reason that the tab sheets get cut off on the end ?

mayanwarrior replied on March 7th, 2008

You have to scroll to the VERY bottom and move the slider bar thingie.

herbert tucker replied on February 24th, 2008

where can if possible i find tabs for this exersize?

nessa replied on February 25th, 2008

Everything you are going to need with each lesson will be located under the "Supplemental Content" tab. Let us know if you have any other questions!