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Topic: Hawaiian instruction: JB, Stacey Phillips, ...? |
John Bushouse
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Posted 1 Jun 2004 10:34 am |
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So what are some good Hawaiian instructional materials out there? I have Bob Brozman's video and Stacey Phillip's book, and a friend let me test drive some of Jerry Byrd's material (evaluation purposes only - I will not be photocopying or otherwise duplicating this; I will make sure the artist is properly compensated if I decide to buy).
I'm interested in any tunings. JB's stuff is mostly in a variation of C6, Stacey Phillips mostly in high G (GBDGBD), Bob Brozman mostly in low G (DGDGBD). I'm interested in the "old school" players - Sol Ho'opi'i, Sol K. Bright, Tau Moe, Jim & Bob, Mike Hanapi, etc. - a lot of the single note work up and down the neck. I'd also be interested in Dick McIntyre, Andy Iona, etc.
Thanks for any thoughts! |
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George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 1 Jun 2004 11:24 am
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| Hey John, what about the "old school" players like me and Keoki Lake? We're both old as the hills!!!! I play mostly in A major EC#AEC#A, or E major. Geo |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2004 11:30 am
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I've got some old Dick McIntire stuff somewhere that had a bunch of hula vamps and things like that in a variety of tunings. I didn't find it all that useful personally.
What I end up doing is getting the recordings and putting them into a program like "The Amazing Slowdowner" or Cool Edit
and looping sections. Pretty soon your ear will kick in and you'll start hearing the tunings and what strings they're played on etc. It's a slow process but the process itself will pay off in more ways than one as your ear develops and you learn new positions to play etc.
I have several books, videos etc but the tunes and licks I remember are the ones I've figured out myself, not the stuff from the videos or books.
Bill
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John Bushouse
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Posted 1 Jun 2004 11:45 am
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Sorry George, I didn't mean to leave EITHER George out! But neither of you were on the "Waikiki is Good Enough for Me" or "Rhythm of the Waves" compilations that were put out by Dave Stewart, which is my primary source of vintage Hawaiian tunes.
Heck, if you or GKL have any materials you'd like to sell, I'm up for it.
But Bill, you're telling me that the answer is HARD WORK? Next you'll be telling me that there are no shortcuts besides listening and practice. I'm in trouble, then... |
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Travis Bernhardt
From:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 1 Jun 2004 3:45 pm
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If you've got Brozman's video and Stacy Phillips' book (BTW, when does his new book come out again?) then you've basically got what's out there as far as instruction for the kind of music found on the Waikiki CD is concerned. I'd have to give the same advice as Bill--get a program or device that can slow down the music while keeping the pitch and start trying to figure it out yourself.
The other bonus of doing it this way is you'll see how weird Stacy "Hard Way" Phillips' transcriptions can be. His "Honolulu Bound" is just bizarre (don't get me wrong, I think his book is awesome--if you don't have it, get it--it's just that he doesn't seem to realize that just because he can play it that way doesn't mean us mortals should have to...).
The techniques shown on Brozman's video will cover almost any sound you come across on the Waikiki CD, and SP's book will show you ways to play several of the trickier songs in that collection (just remember to take his transcriptions with a grain of salt). So you're set. 
-Travis
P.S. Oh yeah, and using something like Band-in-a-Box is good too, because most of those songs aren't really solo guitar pieces. |
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Gary Anwyl
From:
Palo Alto, CA
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Posted 1 Jun 2004 6:45 pm
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Interesting comments from Bill and Travis (BTW, the Vol II book by Phillips is scheduled for the fall of this year). I think Travis is right in that if you want to learn old-style Hawaiian music then the Brozman tape and Phillips book have most of the information you need.
I found my playing took a big leap forward once I "learned my way around the fretboard". By that I mean I knew where all the notes are on the fretboard and could relate then to the chords that use them. It's similar to the "Fretboard Logic" or CAGED systems that people use for standard tuning.
For the Open G tuning it's not too bad. There are three basic positions for playing the I chord. For example, if you want to play a G chord on the first four strings then there is a G chord at the nut, at the 3rd through 5th frets and the 7th through 9th frets. Learn the scale at each postition. Then learn how to get to the IV and V chords at those positions. Also learn how the notes in the scale relate to the chords (for example the G at the 8th fret, 2nd string is the root of the G chord, the 5th of the C chord and the 2nd of a D chord). If you're playing old-timey music then you want to do the same for the II, III and VI chords.
When I started out with the Phillips book, learning songs was painfully slow. I put it aside and came back to it after I'd been playin a while and knew my way around the fretboard better. I was surprised how much easier it was to learn tunes. I also really appreciated what a valuable resource it is. Having all those classic tunes tabbed out is great. It's a rich source of ideas for licks and for postitions on the fretboard for playing those licks.
For me, the thing that got me master the fretboard was to play in a group on a regular basis. After about a year of being forced to polish a repertoire of tunes and work out solos I found I really started to know my way around.
I've often seen people on this forum recommend that a person starting out pick a tuning and stick with it. I can understand why.
Of course, mastering the fingerboard is only part of the equation, there's a lot of technique to master too (vibrato, triplets, slants, etc). There's also lots to learn beyond what I've described (e.g. learn scales harmonized in thirds and sixths on pairs of strings and relate those to the chords).
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