Before you can tune the guitar like a Hawaiian, you have to understand how the guitar got introduced to Hawaii.
Amy Ku’uleialoha Stillman gives a brief history of the slack-key guitar:
- “The introduction of the guitar to Hawai’i is credited to Mexican cowboys, brought over in the 1830’s to manage cattle. Among Hawaiians who eventually assumed the skills and responsibilities of ranching, the guitar remained popular in times of leisure.
- “The slack-key method developed largely in rural, and specifically ranching, contexts, and emerged in commercial recordings in the 1940’s” (“Musical Instruments” 389).
Keola Beamer and Mark Nelson further explain the history of slack-key guitar:
- “For most people it is difficult to learn to play an instrument merely by watching it being played. Since the paniolo had only a brief exposure to the Spanish guitar the Hawaiians were in a position of having to invent a way of playing it almost on their own.
- “The first problem that surfaced was how to tune the instrument. A logical first step would be to tune the six strings in relation to each other so that they made a pleasant sound when struck together. As it turns out, this can be achieved by loosening or slacking some of the strings.
- “One example would be to tune down from the standard EADGBE tuning to achieve a DADF#AD or a D major chord. Hence the phrase ‘slack key’ and the Hawaiian language equivalent, Ki (key) Ho’alu (to slacken, slack)” (Beamer and Nelson 9 – 10).
The tab example above shows the harmonics you use to get into open D.
- (Click here to learn how to get into open D without using frets.)
- The video below has Keola Beamer giving a general demonstration of playing harmonics.