Uncle Sonny Chillingworth’s Slack Key #2

Welcome to Kaleponi Records, my musical home on the web. My name is Fran Guidry, and I play kika ki hoʻalu or Hawaiian slack key guitar.

Kaleponi is the Hawaiian word for California, where I live. Ki hoʻalu, or slack key, has a direct link to California history. The guitar was carried to the Big Island of Hawaiʻi by vaqueros from California. You can read more about the history of slack key guitar on the Dancing Cat Records web site.

Slack key guitar is named for the retuning that characterizes the style. Most of these new tunings feature loosened, or slackened, strings which give a deep rich sound.

My personal slack key history goes back to 1999 and my first visit to Hawaiʻi. When we turned on the TV in our Waikiki hotel room I was captivated by the playing of Keola Beamer. I knew in an instant that I had to learn to play this beautiful music. Over the years I've learned from great players and teachers like Ozzie Kotani, Keola himself, Patrick Landeza, Kevin Brown, Cyril Pahinui, Kawika Kahiapo, Raymond Kane, Dennis Kamakahi, and Ledward Kaapana.

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I linked to some videos of Uncle Sonny Chillingworth performing and mentioned how much he has influenced me. One of his contributions to slack key was what he called the “Spanish bass” which takes a syncopated approach to a 4/4 rhythm. Sonny brought that innovation to slack key and it has become an integral part of the style.

One of the simpler tunes he composed with the Spanish bass is his Slack Key #2, which he recorded on his Dancing Cat CD, Endlessly.

I’ve been playing this tune for a few years now, since Lynn suggested I learn it. I usually play it with a lot of my own variations, but for this video I tried to stick pretty close to Sonny’s original.

This is a great tune for practicing the Spanish bass because it develops gradually with only slight changes from verse to verse, but it’s also a fun one to listen to, with the hypnotic repetition of the bass and treble speaking and answering.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 at 11:52 pm and is filed under Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.