Learn to Play Guitar
Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar
- 78 Pages
- Published by Music Sales America
- Softcover with CD
Product DescriptionIn this book and cd package, guitar author Mark Hanson explains the acoustic fingerstyle playing of many of the greatest “slack key” artists. Included are note for note transcriptions from Ray Kane, Sonny Chillingworth, Leonard Kwan, Cyril Pahinui, Ozzie Kotani and more. Explanations of tunes and tunings, instructional cd , standard notation and tablature. . . . More >>
Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar
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I love my new Slack Key Guitar book. This is the first Slack Key book I have and I love it. The only problem with it is the CD. . . . . I wish they had the full songs on the CD and not just the intro. Other than that it’s totally worth every penny =) Now I own all of Mark Hanson’s books.
The book contains several nice pieces to play on the guitar. More importantly, it gives you enough knowlege to conceptially create your own hawaiian pieces.
Mark Hanson goes a little too fast through his CD lessons, with no explanation, and no details. He also manages to butcher the Hawaiian language, mispronouncing the titles of his songs so that the meanings are now something totally different. (Example: Moe uhane < moy ooh-hah-neh > means dream, while his < mo ohanay > (loosely translated) is about some non-existant island called ohanay. )
He goes through the song twice, once at ‘performance speed’ and then slower, so that beginners like me can try and emulate. He doesn’t take time for the at home learner to figure things out, he just zips right through it and moves on to the next song selection.
I had to put this one away and grab my Keola Beamer book, and compared to that, this one is a GENEROUS three stars. Mr. Beamer, plays with feeling and enjoyment rather than the stiffness and confinement that Mr. Hanson displays.
If I were you, I’d skip on this book and go for the better of the two. . . it just an average lesson book by an average player.
This is a must have if you already know some fingerstyle basics, and want to dig into this style.
It is a beautifully done collection, with some of the best players of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. . . and you get to work on and study versions as they were recorded with exact transcriptions.
Open G, G wahine, D and C tunings and others are covered in songs, and these give you a “fast immersion” study into work of several artists.
Great cover and “readability”–transcriptions are clear, and there’s a recording to help!
includes tab and music notation for better understanding for different types of learners.
I also recommend Ozzie Kotani’s book I for those who are just getting their fingers
“educated” and needing familiarity with some easier Hawaiian slack key training wheels.
First, let me say that the Hawaiian slack key community is the most open group of artists around. In order to preserve and spread Aloha through slack key guitar, the pro’s very willingly share what they know with the rest of us amateurs. That being said, Mark Hanson gives you all the knowledge you need to play numerous songs in this excellent book and CD. I find the tablatures very easy to understand, and the CD tracks easy to follow. Both are true to the music as written. Add your own skill and interpretation, and you’ll be playing in front of others in no time!