X-Nico

unusual facts about slack key guitar



Fred Punahoa

Fred Punahoa (also spelled "Punahou") was a Hawaiian musician and slack key guitar player from Kalapana, Hawaii.

Ozzie Kotani

He learned how to play the 'ukulele in fourth grade, but his interest in kī hō‘alu, or Hawaiian slack key guitar, was sparked in high school when he heard Keola Beamer on the radio.


see also

Dennis Kamakahi

Kamakahi launched his solo career in 1996, releasing his first slack key guitar CD Pua'ena, (Glow Brightly) co-produced by Howard Johnston and pianist George Winston, under Dancing Cat Records.

Keola Beamer

After several pop-oriented albums, Keola connected with George Winston's Dancing Cat recording project for five releases between 1994 and 2002, emphasizing slack key guitar and Hawaiian lyrics, but by no means abandoning "contemporary" influences.

Leonard Kwan

In 1980, Kwan and collaborator Dennis Ladd followed Keola Beamer, who in 1973 had published the first how-to book for the tradition (First Method for Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar) by producing Slack Key Instruction Book, which presents ten of Kwan's compositions and arrangements in a range of tunings, in standard notation and tablature, with performance notes and photographs of correct left-hand positions for the chords.