Play Slack String Guitar
Slack string guitar, also know as slack key tuning, is a style of guitar playing popular in Hawaii. The style of playing primarily involves finger picking a guitar in which the strings have been loosened (turned slack) to create alternate tunings. By learning to combine both melody and bass lines in alternate slack tunings on your guitar, you can play original or popular songs in the slack string guitar style.
Instructions
1. Tune a standard-tuned guitar down (loosen the strings) to a slack string key. One of the most common involves tuning strings down until the open strings form a G major chord. The strings, from lowest to highest, should be tuned to D-G-D-G-B-D. Strumming these strings gives you a G major chord. Use a digital tuner to ensure your tuning of the strings is accurate. Turn the tuning keys of your guitar to loosen your strings until they reach the desired pitch.
2. Practice playing any melody on the four highest strings of your guitar with your first, second and third fingers. Use your thumb to play alternating bass notes in between the melodic musical phrases. This is the simplest style of slack string playing. It involves very few musical ornaments outside of the melody. Use the bass notes to move you from one melodic line to the next.
3. Add a more complex bass line as you get a feel for playing the melody. Instead of a single note between melodic lines, try adding two or three notes that walk you up to the beginning of the next melody line you're going to play. These bass lines create more movement and deepen the overall effect of the song you're playing.
4. Decorate your song with musical ornaments. A musical ornament is a musical phrase outside of the melody that fills in between the melody. In between bass notes and melody, pick a series of short musical lines consisting of the open notes of the slack-tuned guitar, or fret notes within the key of the song to build musical ornaments.
5. Vary the rhythms you play. The rhythm is created by your picking hand. In addition to the melody, the alternating bass notes and the ornaments, add full strums to keep add a chord rhythm to the mix. Keep the strums short, since slack playing is primarily finger picking. Use the chord strums to punctuate a melodic lick (series of notes that create a finished melodic line).
Tags: bass notes, musical ornaments, your guitar, alternating bass, alternating bass notes, bass lines