Key, in this context, refers to the pitch of one or more strings on the guitar. It was a good instrument but i found it confusing to run melodies across the fretboard. Open g tuning was a favorite of traditional country blues artists, such as charley patton, robert johnson, and muddy waters. Hawaiian recordings in the slack key tunings this section includes a list of the most important usually available recordings by hawaiian.
Taro leaves are rich in betacarotene and calcium and contain vitamin c. Strumming all the open strings with this tuning gives you a c major chord instead of the normal c6 of standard tuning. In taro patch you can get a real distinctive bass and play many different melody patterns and rhythms. G wahine, for example, starts with taro patch and lowers the third string from g to f. How to tune a guitar to the open g guitar tuning, and use sixfour chords like keith richards of the rolling stones on honky tonk women and many others. Grandpa works in da taro patch, grandma pound da poi. Taro patch is the most common of the slack key tunings and is usually the first tuning that most slack key students learn. Taro patch is a major g chord with the dominant as the root. Frontman joe newman told the guardian, i liked those two and that story. G, c, d7, am, bm with some extensions from the open strings.
Before i discovered the joy of slack key guitar i thought of tunings as part of. Learn to play guitar by chord tabs using chord diagrams, transpose the key, watch video lessons and much more. Taro patch tuning, which is open g, is also spanish g tuning. Why does the sharp 5 flat 6 chord eb in taro patch work so well. Connecting g and d7 chords in taro patch tuning connecting g and c triads in taro patch tuning g7 chords in taro patch tuning connecting scales and chords in taro patch tuning a7 chords in taro patch tuning scales for a7 chords in taro patch tuning. There are so many things rolled into taro mournful dispensary girlesque postrock strings and bells plus vocal tone, indian pop straddling the bridge and a. Hawaiian guitar and hawaiian ukulele teacher in this video we dig deeper into hawaiian slack key. If you are just beginning with us and coming from another guitar style, you might want to begin by. Chords tend to move in certain predictable patterns, and when youre aware of these patterns you recognize them when you hear them in a song. Open tunings provide a good basis for playing melody notes.
The most commonly used slackkey guitar tuning is open g taro patch. Ive been fooling around with playing in different keys while using open g tuning and came up with a post that focuses on the playing side of things. That really gripped me and i really trawled through as much as i could to get a good song out of it. Slackkey guitar, of course, refers to an instrument thats tuned lower than. The most common slack key tuning is called taro patch. Learn hawaiian slack key guitar from mark kailana nelson with an intermediate guitar lesson for taropatch blues. Chords for three old time hawaiian slack key guitar tricks. In the traditional taro patch the chord is a g chord while with the spidercapo. There are a few reasons why eb chords b6th is the key of g sound so good.
Portuguese and spanish cowboys and traders came to hawaii and brought with them their stringed instruments, such as the guitar, and some others which were uncommon by todays standards. As for who came up with the term, no one seems to have a definite answer. This original composition first appeared, with bass and drums, on my 1986 album, sweet maui moon. This tuning offers some unique textures and possibilities. Like open d, the open g tuning is a major chord tuning, but in the key of g. The reason blues guitarists liked open g is for the same reasons they liked open d, the ability to lay a slide across all the strings and sound a major chord.
I recently released a video called understanding chord progressions for the ukulele, in which i draw from a range of genrespop. Dgdgbd often called taro patch tuning, open g tuning, mokihana tuning or. Taro patch open g tuning im not into the taro patch tuning, as ive pretty much found everything i need using th c6th, d9th and b11th tunings. Transposer ukutabs transposer choose how many half steps you wish to transpose the chords in this song and click on the button. To create this open c tuning, you tune the astring down one whole step to g. The taro patch tuning or g tuning is a favorite of many slack key artists as its timbre and flexibility are remarkable. With over 60 lessons now online, you can master hawaiian slack key guitar. Tablatures and chords for acoustic guitar and electric guitar, ukulele, drums are. Also, the dancing cat recording label, in their slack key series, is very good about telling in the liner notes what tuning the artist is using.
Common slack key tunings notes used g major or taro patch d g d g b d g wahine d g d f. Taro is related to and looks a bit like a philodendron. Loosening the keys an introduction to slackkeystyle. Good openg songs discussion in the sound hound lounge started by vintage66, aug 17, 2014. G papa works as a stevedore, mama makes da leis d7 sistah goes with da haole boy g a7d7g she come home any old time. The slack key tuning is taro patch, sometimes called open g tuning. Playing the keys of c and d in open g tuning homebrewed. I thought some folks might be interested in some unusual ukes like the taro patch 8 strings and the tiple 10 strings. The hawaiian slack key players had there own name for this tuning. Martin tiple and taro patch examples the unofficial. Be able to play this melody first, without any bass notes.
Altj taro chords learn the song with the online tablature player. Mark nelson teaches an original song called taropatch blues. George kuo also utilizes the whole range of the g major taro patch t uning, and he works to retain the sweetness so integral to hawaiian musi c. Many tunings common in hawaiian slack key already existed. Both of these ukes are martins and made in the mid20s the tiple can be dated to 1925 because it has a serial number. Introduction to the open g tuning fingerstyle guitar. In slack key its known as taro patch tuning, and certainly the most popular in this genre. An example of one of these diagrams is shown at the left. Slack key guitar, volume 2 in 2005, masters of hawaiian. I also had the thought to play in taro patch on my guitar and capo up 2 frets to a, but it just didnt sound as good, so heres a i v7 song in g instead. He also explains how improvisation is used in the slack key genre. Also, the dancing cat recording label, in their slack key series, is very good about telling in the liner notes what tuning the artist is.
The names of some tunings vary between genres, for example in hawaiian music, for slackkey guitar, an example would be the taro patch, or open g tuning, with strings lowhigh dgdgbd. We call this 0,0,2,2,2,0 from bass to treble, thick to thin strings. Radio hula learn a hawaiian slackkey favorite acoustic guitar. Start with the basics of taropatch tuning and quickly move up to some fairly. I did so partially to make a set of charts that fit my own requirements, but also as a trial run for the software id written to generate arbitrary chord diagrams. This tuning is also known as open g, since the open strings are tuned to the notes of a g major chord g, b, and d. In my opinion, taropatch is a good tuning to start out learning most pieces, or to at least give it a try, because it is the most common slack key tuning. Its name refers to its characteristic open tunings. Here are some free slack key guitar tablatures from ozzies upcoming book, with a. Guitar open g tuning discussion forums banjo hangout.
Your main guitar looks beat up enough to have a good story. The major eb triad has the similar notes to cm eb triad eb g bb cm7 triad c eb g bb. The taro has 2 strings for every course, the tiple has 2332 and is not much fun to tune. The open d capoed is the way i learned it and it sounds good.
Dm ind c o gm china f, capa jumps jeep dm, two feet creep up th c e road. Slackkey guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in hawaii. I was looking for barre chords to play bottleneck slide, starting with the standard 1 4 5. This is the ukulele version of the taro patch tuning, the most popular of the many open tunings used by slackkey guitarists. Open g is often called taro patch tuning by slack key guitar players, and most slack key songs especially traditional ones are in taro patch. Free slack key ukulele chord charts and diagrams gceg. Music guitar tabs archive with over 1 million guitar tabs for guitar, keyboard and ukulele, chords and tabs for guitar, bass, drums, chords drawning and key variations. Free and guaranteed quality tablature with ukulele chord charts, transposer and auto scroller. But in bluegrass music, open g can mean g b d g b d. Why does the sharp 5 flat 6 chord eb in taro patch. Until recently leonards c, the drop c variation of taropatch g tuning was. Any steel string guitar that happened to be available was put into use, and. For each tuning in the manual, a set of 28 chord diagrams is included, ranging from the common major and seventh chords used in most hawaiian songs, to more complex chords often found in jazz arrangements and standards.
In this lesson we look at slack key taro patch tuning. Why are stringed instruments tuned the way they are. Slackkey guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in hawaii and uses open. The first string a goes down a major second the equivalent of two frets to g, giving you an open c chord. The most common slide open tunings are open g known in hawaii as taro patch and on the mainland as spanish. There are so many mainstream songs out there that it would be impossible to put a dent in posting all of them here, so ill recommend a couple good places to find chords to your favorite tunes the chords for guitar are the same as for. On the attached recording, i overdubbed a second guitar part and added drums and bass. The much smaller fourcourse 8 gut strings rennaisance guitar was tuned as the top four strings of the modern guitar, but the fourth was an octave higher. A couple of weeks ago, i released my very own set of standard gcea and baritone dgbe ukulele chord sheets.
Playing the keys of c and d in open g tuning homebrewed music. Jacintho also plays in the key of d in the same g major taro patch tuning on. On guitar, its d g d g b d, low to high, like the delta blues guitarists openg tuning. Kalanis hawaiian slackkey taro patch tuning chord chart. Slack the first string down so that it is the same pitch as the second string, third fret.
If you want a change try finger style on an acoustic in taro patch open g tuning. Open g tuning is my home and has been for the last ten years or more. To keep things simple, the way to slackkey tune is to take a classical guitar e a d g b e and detune the es to d and the a to g. This song tells a story about two photographers, who were engaged, but both died on the front line.