Customer Reviews

Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar (comes with a CD to help learn music) (Music Sales America)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is, simply put, a great book. The layout, selections of music, tab, and explanations are all outstanding. This is a superb book from which to learn this beautiful and fun-to-play style of music. The transcriptions are accurate, and there is something here, I think, for guitarists of varying abilities. This book is true to form with Hanson's other guitar books -- his tab and music transcriptions are very understandable and clearly printed. I can't say enough good things about this book. There are selections here from Sonny Chillingworth, Ray Kane, Leonard Kwan, Led Kaapana, Cyril Pahinui, and others. I have the Masters of Slack Key Guitar (Vol. 1 -- great disk) from Dancing Cat Records, and thanks to this book, I now have the music to some of these selections. Again, a great resource for those interested in learning some Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar music. I regularly browse the fingerstyle guitar books at local music shops, and I find Hansons work to be among the very best. I recommend this without reservation.

If you play classical style guitar and maybe your music reading skills are not so good, this is a great book. The CD gets you going with the rhythm and the TAB notation makes it easy to find the fingering. That said, it is not a begining book; the music is transcribed pretty close to what you hear from the greats.

First, let me say that the Hawaiian slack key community is the most open group of artists around. In order to preserve and spread Aloha through slack key guitar, the pro's very willingly share what they know with the rest of us amateurs. That being said, Mark Hanson gives you all the knowledge you need to play numerous songs in this excellent book and CD. I find the tablatures very easy to understand, and the CD tracks easy to follow. Both are true to the music as written. Add your own skill and interpretation, and you'll be playing in front of others in no time!

This book is great! However, I can see how some reviewers got frustrated. I had been learning slack key off and on for about a year and a half before buying this book. So, I was already familiar with slack key style and familiar with learning from tablature. Tablature takes a lot of repetition and time. Being familiar with slack key helps you figure out which fingers to use for placement. Mark Hanson does an excellent job breaking down the songs in the book in an almost mathematical manner. Sure Mark Hanson butchers the Hawaiian language a bit and his playing is a somewhat mechanical, but his passion for slack key shows in his meticulous work. Also, some of the sounds produced using his tablature aren't exactly like the original song but you can put your own interpretation and style into it. Overall, this book helped me increase my repertoire of slack key songs and made learning the pieces way easier than trying to figure them out on my own. Mark Hanson did an excellent job and I'm thankful that he published this song book.

Maybe I misunderstood the other reviews but I got this thinking it was
a good way for a beginner to learn slack key. I have over 12 years of playing experience
but still was challenged by most of the songs. Not sure if there are other options but
would only suggest this for those who are not just beginners.

This is a must have if you already know some fingerstyle basics, and want to dig into this style.
It is a beautifully done collection, with some of the best players of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar...and you get to work on and study versions as they were recorded with exact transcriptions.
Open G, G wahine, D and C tunings and others are covered in songs, and these give you a "fast immersion" study into work of several artists.
Great cover and "readability"--transcriptions are clear, and there's a recording to help!
includes tab and music notation for better understanding for different types of learners.
I also recommend Ozzie Kotani's book I for those who are just getting their fingers
"educated" and needing familiarity with some easier Hawaiian slack key training wheels.

Mark Hanson goes a little too fast through his CD lessons, with no explanation, and no details. He also manages to butcher the Hawaiian language, mispronouncing the titles of his songs so that the meanings are now something totally different. (Example: Moe uhane < moy ooh-hah-neh > means dream, while his < mo ohanay > (loosely translated) is about some non-existant island called ohanay.)

He goes through the song twice, once at 'performance speed' and then slower, so that beginners like me can try and emulate. He doesn't take time for the at home learner to figure things out, he just zips right through it and moves on to the next song selection.

I had to put this one away and grab my Keola Beamer book, and compared to that, this one is a GENEROUS three stars. Mr. Beamer, plays with feeling and enjoyment rather than the stiffness and confinement that Mr. Hanson displays.

If I were you, I'd skip on this book and go for the better of the two... it just an average lesson book by an average player.

I love my new Slack Key Guitar book. This is the first Slack Key book I have and I love it. The only problem with it is the CD.....I wish they had the full songs on the CD and not just the intro. Other than that it's totally worth every penny =) Now I own all of Mark Hanson's books.

The book contains several nice pieces to play on the guitar. More importantly, it gives you enough knowlege to conceptially create your own hawaiian pieces.