| Slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii. Its name refers to its characteristic tuning: the English term is a translation of the Hawaiian kī hōalu, which means "loosen the [tuning] key". Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a classically-tuned guitar and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until the six strings form a single chord, frequently G major. Kī hōalu is often characterized by the use of an alternating-bass pattern, usually played by the thumb on the lower two or three strings of the guitar, while the melody is played on the three or four highest strings, using any number of fingers. Many kī hōalu players incorporate various embellishments such as harmonics (chimes), the hammer-on, the pull-off, slides, and damping. Slack key compositions exhibit characteristics from indigenous Hawaiian and imported musical traditions. The vamp or turnaround (a repeated figure, usually at the end of a verse) is descended from the hula tradition, and other harmonic and structural features are descended from hīmeni and from the hula kui encouraged by King David Kalakaua. Nearly all slack key requires retuning the guitar strings from the standard EADGBE, and this usually (but not always) means lowering or "slacking" several strings. The result will most often be a major chord, although it can also be a major-seventh chord, a sixth, or (rarely) a minor. (There are examples of slack key played in standard tuning, but the overwhelming majority of recorded examples use altered tunings.) The most common slack key tuning, called "taro patch," makes a G major chord. Starting from the standard EADGBE, the high and low E strings are lowered or "slacked" to D and the fifth string from A down to G, so the notes become DGDGBD. As the chart below shows, there are also major-chord tunings based on C, F, and D. Common slack key tunings |
| Slack Key Tunings | Notes Used |
|---|---|
| G Major or Taro Patch | D G D G B D |
| G Wahine | D G D F# B D |
| D Wahine | D A D F# A C# |
| Open D | D A D F# A D |
| C Major or Atta's C | C G E G C E |
| Mauna Loa | C G E G A E |
| C Wahine or Leonard's C | C G D G B D |
| C 6 | C G C G A E |
| Old Mauna Loa | C G C G A D |
| Open C | C G C E G C |
| F Wahine | C F C G C E |
| Open F | C F C F A C |
| Double Slack F | C F C E A C |
| The first video is a Chet Atkins composition that he wrote in memory of a friend, Hawaiian slack key guitar artist Gabby Pahinui. Its in the key of C with the following tuning CGDGBE, standard with the lowest two strings lowered for that easy I-V alternating bass, while playing a simple chord melody on top. |
| Remembering Gabby (C-G-D-G-B-E tuning ) Salomila (Taro patch tuning ) |
Prev Top Guitar Tunings |
