The Art of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar (Instructional DVD)

Here's an opportunity to learn the lovely and elegant guitar sounds of Hawai'i. Keola Beamer, a contemporary master of slack key guitar, provides the perfect introduction to this rich tradition.

Slack key can be played on any guitar, acoustic or electric. The term refers to both the musical style and the myriad ways the instrument is tuned. Keola teaches seven traditional tunings and original compositions in the special tunings used in slack key playing. In addition, you'll learn the use of vibrato, harmonics, slurs, harmonies in thirds and sixths, legato playing and other musical ideas that have helped create a distinctive guitar sound. This lush fingerpicking style will add new sounds and flavors to your entire repertoire.

You'll be playing these beautiful instrumentals in the slack key style:

• Ku'u Lei 'Awapuhi Melemele (My Yellow Ginger Lei)
• Kalena Kai (Bath House)
• A Grandmother's Wish
• Sanoe
• Makika (The Mosquito)
• He Punahele (The Favored Child)

Includes Tablature and Music. 80 minutes - DVD

QuickTime Video Clip

A short video sample from can be downloaded from Keola's .Mac site.

Dear Fellow Guitarists,

The Hawaiian slack key guitar should be played from the heart.

Find a good place to practice and start right in. Listen carefully to the sound that your guitar is making. Listen quietly to what your heart is saying.

The Hawaiian metaphor for "soul" exists in the word aloha. Put the aloha in your playing by expressing yourself. You don't have to have a fancy guitar or a flawless technique.

Press down on those strings. Listen to your life.

Feel the aloha. Play from the heart.

Lahaina, Hawai'i