The picking can be smoothed out by placing
the hand down the neck more toward the bar
increasing the melloness.

Some players make the mistake of attempting
to play harmony on every note of the song.

If you can get a recent recording of Bud
Tutmark you will enjoy the beautiful
Hawaiian sound...all played single string.
Aahh but what technique and intonation.

Finally practice noodleing around from string
to string with the ball of the bar front to
back..back to front.

The tuning is C6:

You are going from a minor third picking strings 3 and 4 (2 and 3 when the 1st string is an E) to a major third.

A western swing player will mute strings 3 and 4 after picking them, move the bar back two frets and pick strings 2 and 3 (1 and 2 if you have an E as the first string).

Hawaiian type players will do it this way:

They will remain on the same two strings and slide/slant up two frets without muting the strings.

Try it.

This is just one example, but it typifies the basic difference. The other posters have also hit on other differences.

Jerry Byrd once told me that he practiced as a youngster for years trying to play entire songs without changing the first string(s) he picked or string grips. Again try it. The ability to slide from one interval to another versus muting and changing strings (and possibly grips) makes all the difference in the world when it comes to getting that Hawaiian sound.

God bless you all,

carl

[This message was edited by C Dixon on 10 March 2001 at 07:47 PM.]

ALAN AKAKA:
"The Hawaiian style of playing is a feeling - an emotion that is nurtured throughout one's life. It's from being part of the Hawaiian musical culture. In order to play in the Hawaiian style you have to live, eat, and drink Hawai'i." ..."If you were to compare a Hawaiian vs a non-Hawaiian playing, the style of approaching the same composition would be dissimilar. Attaclks, phrasing, and glissing would be different"

JERRY BYRD:
"One outstanding thing (at least to me) that is heard in all Hawaiian style playing is their single string work, and the liquid movement of the bar hand that blends one note to the next, with no gaps in between. I've come to define this as the "p-tah" sound. Added to bar movement, rather than staying on one fret strongly, imitates the Hawaiian falsetto voice break." ... "This technique is vital to playing Hula vamps".
So to me, playing Hawaiian is playing your feeling, not what someone else has done, altogether."

There have been discussions in the past regarding the lack of steel guitar played on the Islands these days. I don't know what the deal is, perhaps the younger Hawaiians consider it "haole" music and it's uncool? You can still find some fine slack key players, some great uke players, and outstanding falsetto singers over there, but its hard to find steel, though I haven't spent any time on Oahu-where I think there are more steelers.

In the past three years we have vacationed on Maui and Kauai, and couldn't find any steel guitar. But when you're sitting on the beach with the tradewinds blowing, you can really feel the whole vibe of where the music comes from. I think if one is going to play some Hawaiian steel, then a trip to the Islands is mandatory-it's the only way to really get it!

That's too bad that you have gotten bitter-but can't say as I'd blame you. The times I have been to the Islands, my family and I have felt that the locals were some of the nicest people we have ever met in our lives. Always ready with the smile, and what seemed like a great attitude. The cynic in me,on the first trip many years ago would think "this is one of the most well-known tourist spots in the world-maybe they're being so nice because they want to separate you from your money" but I don't believe that is the case. I believe Hawaiians as a whole are just pleasant people, and that is one of the things that contributes to the vibe of beautiful Hawaiian music.

But to be in too much of a hurry or too uptight to not smile back-I know that I couldn't help but smile back when I have been there and have been treated so graciously by the Hawaiian people.

Jeff, don't lump all the tourists into one category-I would love to see nothing more than to see Maui become as unpaved as possible!

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Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 13 December 2005 at 01:35 PM.]

If perchance they wouldn't, they were probably sociopathic.

I know precisely what you mean about the many "less-than-favorable" changes that have taken place in recent years on Maui, including the hoards of wealthy, cranky 'ol haoles that now have the pleasure of calling the Valley Isle home, and it's a sad state-of-affairs.

You'd think spending a few sleepy days in "paradise" might leave most people with a smile (like it does the rest of us), but I guess we've gotta just roll through it and feel a sense of pity for such people.

It reminds of a quotation I once saw cited somewhere by the late-great crooner Dean Martin who said . . . "I feel bad for people who don't drink; they wake-up in the morning, and that's as good as they're gonna feel all day"! Baah-haaaa!

With just your left arm and hand you are able to travel from note to note with any speed, variation, warble, empathy, pathos, elation, grace, sustain, vibrato, or any mood that exists in your mind at the time you are playing any particular section of a song. With your right hand, and sometimes a foot-pedal to add a softer dimension when you need it, you are able to modulate your note, or combination of notes, almost the closest any instrument on earth can to a human-originated sound or worded sound or even syllable. With a scale-oriented tuning such as C6 and others, you can create any combination of harmony or harmonise notes at will using just two arms and hands...closest to the brain. We touch and feel mostly with our hands. You can get blueness, darkness or levity.

It would a treat to see and study videos of Jerry Byrd and others, just of their arms and hands as they played a tune.

With that combination, the steel guitar can be likened to a paint-brush of sounds. Not just the voice, but also you can "paint" the sound of the sea, the surf, swaying palm trees, the gentle wind, a plaintive cry, a graceful movement..like a hula dancer would...you can get aggressive and pluck the strings with fire, you can get humorous and emulate a cock's crow, you can get staccato and "digitise" your notes with your left hand like you would on a normal guitar.....Many instruments have a measure of all of the above, but in my opinion, the steel guitar does it better.

This huge number of variables in playing parameters is why no two steel guitarists, do or ever will sound alike, just as they can never look alike or paint alike or sing alike. And Jerry Byrd would add, listen alike....

THE QUESTIONS MIGHT BE PHRASED THIS WAY -
What makes the “the Hawaiian style and sound?”

This has never been nailed down to my satisfaction by anyone yet that I have heard.

And the following is just my non-expert ruminations about what produces the Hawaiian style and sound, they are:

1.Hawaiian vamps – learning a lot of the variations of Hawaiian vamps.

2.What Jerry Byrd calls - playing between the notes or telescoping or glissing.

3.Smooth oscillation of the bar other than when there is a need for fast picking. Hawaiian steel players oscillate bar much more than country western players. MHO

4.Delicate picking or good, sensitive touch with the picks rather than attacking the strings.

5.What Jeff Ah Hoy thinks is more single string playing which allows more expression. He feels more full chordal playing limits the expression, if I have heard him right.

6.Playing with heart says Jerry Byrd

7.Then there is Hawaiian soul playing. It comes from growing up with it. I suppose some haoles living in the Islands long enough could come close. This is akin to Black gospel singing. Blacks seem to do it better than whites. THIS IS NOT A RACIST REMARK.

8. Leave the volume foot-pedal control out of it. It sounds country.

Maybe somebody else can add to this list

Rick Aiello did some interesting analysis of measuring the oscillation of various steel guitar players and the effects of the oscillation from the bar.

We might have Dr. Aiello conduct some research on bar oscillation with pedal steelers and non-pedal steelers.

Maybe research will back my hypothesis that non-pedal steels oscillate the bar more, so therefore sound different.

Seems like I have heard this before.

May we all become better Hawaiian steel guitar players after the Hawaiian style.

Aloha,
Don

[This message was edited by Don Kona Woods on 14 December 2005 at 12:40 AM.]

And Especially this

South Sea Island Magic

Pat and I have always lived Hawaiian music and try to play like it would (Should) be sung..

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quote:

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Steel players do it without fretting

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[This message was edited by basilh on 14 December 2005 at 03:02 AM.]

quote:

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play like it would (Should) be sung..

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quote:

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We might have Dr. Aiello conduct some research on bar oscillation with pedal steelers and non-pedal steelers

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My wife tries to be interested in steel guitar ... but the most I can hope for ... is her continued financial backin' of all the "wild hair up my ... " projects ...

Seriously ... vibrato .... my favorite subject ...

Since the 2004 HSGA convention ... I have had the pleasure of corresponding alot with Hal Smith ... who ... in my opinion ... has the best Hawaiian sounding vibrato I have heard from any "living" players ...

I had mentioned to him that some "modern" steel players find this wide, fast approach (about 5-6 Hz & 70-100+ cent extent) ... to be distastful and a sign of "immaturity" in playing the steel.

He got a big chuckle out of that ... and was actually quite surprised to hear it.

I sure hope Hal makes it this year ...

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Aiello's Cast Steel Guitars

My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 14 December 2005 at 07:36 AM.]

I have most of that info saved on a page of my website ... and since the singers are singin' Christmas tunes ... have a look & listen ...

Vibrato Samples

The accompanying text is on this page ... scroll to Vibrato Characteristics

Ho Ho Hooo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
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Aiello's Cast Steel Guitars

My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 14 December 2005 at 05:42 AM.]

quote:

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Andy.. have you a Hawaiian font installed?

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Greatly enjoyed, again, your two tunes on this thread. You have some interesting effects towards the end in both pieces with a volume swell. What do you use? I sometimes use a Line6 delay line (the green Echo/Delay stomp box) that has a similar but not identical feature. My guess is, however, that you were doing it manually or , to coin a new word in the English language, "footually"....