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The website is currently being updated, so please check back in a week or so when all the functionality shoud be completed. In the meantime you can order copies of the manual by going to the "Order" section on this page. Mahalo!
“Hawaiian slack key guitar (ki ho’alu) is truly one of the great acoustic guitar traditions in the world.” — Keola Beamer. The slack key style draws its name from the technique of tuning down, or “slacking” some of the guitar strings to achieve the unique tunings which characterize the style. These tunings, many dating back into the early-to-mid 1800s, provide a musical palette from which guitarists draw to create the melodic, flowing style that evokes the feeling of the Islands and the traditions of Hawaiian music and chant. This site is dedicated to an exploration of slack key music and tunings.
The Slack Key Tunings Manual
From the author: "Like most slack key students, the first tuning I learned was Taro Patch, or Open G tuning. Eventually, with a growing interest in Hawaiian slack key guitar, I began to look for information about other slack key tunings. Finding relatively little documented material, I began to compile what information I could find and ultimately assembled that information into book form. Currently, the Ki Ho’Alu Guitar Tunings Manual is in its 7th edition, containing 110 pages of reference material and chord diagrams for 21 slack key tunings."
Customer Comments
“I’ve been meaning to write and thank you for the manual. I’ve spent a lot of time with it over the last few weeks and it’s an excellent resource. I’m an untrained musician, have never had lessons, and have really enjoyed the process of learning to play over the years for its own sake. Your book is clear and concise and helps me make sense of the fingerboard”. — Mark, Wayne, PA
“At first glance, it looks like you have put a lot of work into it and the manual should be very useful as Kimo is starting to get into the different tunings with me.” — Dean, La Habra, CA
“Scott Hillman has released a book of slack key tunings and related chords. Mahalo for doing this, Scott-I wish I had this when I was learning slack key!” — Jim “Kimo” West, well-known slack key guitarist and lead guitar player for Weird Al Jankovic
“…really enjoying the slack key tunings book..” — Morty, Corralitos, CA
“Scott, when we were talking last night I should have told you how helpful your book of Ki ho ‘alu tunings is. I keep it right with the music I work on each day and refer to it often. Mostly I use the patterns for parallel sixths and thirds to practice fretboard skills. So thank you!” — Angela, Long Beach, CA
“Ah so much mahalos scott. I’ve always yearned to dive more into slack key and what you are providing is a big stepping stone. So mahalo nui!” — Jon, Kualapuu, HI
How to Order
The tunings manual can be ordered from Amazon.com in two formats: eBook/Kindle and 8 1/2 x 11 hardcopy manual. To place your order, use this link. The eBook version is $9.99 and the hardcopy book is $29.95 (plus tax and shipping).
Sample Chapter
You can download a sample chapter here. This is a sample chapter of the "Taro Patch" tuning from the fifth edition, unchanged in the seventh edition. Feel free to drop me an email with any questions you have about this sample chapter.
About the Manual
Back in the day, even before I had heard much about slack key guitar, I developed an interest in modal tunings for the five-string banjo. With a background in music theory, I could figure out chord positions at various positions along the neck for a given tuning, but it was a time-consuming process, and patience is not my strongest attribute…
As a former software programmer, it made sense to me to think about automating the process of “calculating” chord positions for any tuning, using the power of the computer. So I wrote a program to do that.
Fast forward a couple of years – about the time I was developing an interest in slack key guitar, I met George Kahumoku at an acoustic club in San Jose where he was performing. In conversations with George about slack key tunings, I recalled the tunings calculator program, and realized that it could be a useful tool to apply to slack key tunings. I dusted off the old program, added some new features to it that I thought would be useful to slack key students, and brought it to George’s Slack Key Guitar Workshop on Maui in 2006. The program could print out chord charts, and I ended up printing quite a few for students at the workshop. Because of the interest expressed by those students and others over time, I eventually compiled a set of chord charts for a variety of tunings into the Slack Key Tunings Manual, which is currently in its seventh edition.
