Music for a Hawaiian holiday season

Thought I'd share with you a few ideas for Christmas music - island style! Bring the spirit of the islands to your home and holiday parties or give as gifts to your friends and family.

Guest artist at last year's Slack Key Festival, two-time GRAMMY® nominated Amy Hānaiali`i gracefully wraps it up in red and green with A Hawaiian Christmas. Featuring songs beautifully arranged by Jeff Peterson, Amy's first Christmas CD takes you back to the simple days in the islands, when holidays were all about family and friends. Invite Amy Hānaiali`i to share her holiday memories with your `ohana (family) this Christmas.


Great stuff on this here Hawaiian Slack Key Christmas CD including Keola Beamer's version of Away in a Manger and Bob Brozman tearing things up with Ledward Kaapana on Jingle Bells. Joanie Komatsu, one of my all-time favorite island entertainers, performs O Holy Night with her sister Ruth playing recorder; as a kid, Ruth was a huge influence on me and is, without a doubt, one of the reasons why I got into music in the first place. Both Keola and Bob will be appearing for the first time at the Festival this January!

And don't forget Kimo's Hawaiian Slack Key Christmas CD by my good friend Jim "Kimo" West. A warm and soothing collection of Hawaiian slack key guitar arrangements of traditional and contemporary Christmas songs.

9th Annual Ukulele Guild of Hawaii Exhibition & Conference

I recently visited Hawaii and had the opportunity to attend the 9th Annual Ukulele Guild of Hawaii Exhibition & Conference which was held this year at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Waikiki. Many thanks to Bryan Tolentino (photo left to right: Bryan, Joe Souza of Kanile'a Ukulele, and me) for letting me know about this event and introducing me to Kimo Hussey, Kamuela Kimokeo and the Guild folks - it was a good hang! Got there during Dickie Boy Cantohos' set and thoroughly enjoyed his playing - a nice combination of seamless strumming and melodic plucking that felt very Hawaiian-style to me. Bryan calls it "non-confrontational" because it's not flashy (doesn't have to be) but impressive all the same.

I really enjoy listening to Bryan's style of playing - in fact he's one of my favorites. Very tasteful and mindful of those he is accompanying, a real team player. You can catch him Tuesday nights with Weldon Kekauoha at the new Kani Ka Pila Grille at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach at the beginning of Waikiki, near Fort Derussy. Be sure to check him out live when you have the chance! You can also pick up a copy of his solo CD here.

So anyway, there were lots of great looking ukulele there, although since you weren't supposed to touch 'em, I couldn't tell you how they sound. Bryan tells me he used to be a board member of the guild and always strived to strike the right balance between instruments that looked great and instruments that looked AND sounded great, which is not always the case. Here's a couple of photos of the ukes they had on display, you can see more here.

It was a nice event, one they are still working to expand on. I only saw the exhibition part but they offered ukulele building and playing seminars as well. I wish them continued success and hope to have the opportunity to help promote the annual event.

Ukulele: B-flat and other "movable chords"

Movable Chord Shapes

I recently posted a new video on Youtube explaining how to play a song by Never Shout Never called First Dance. I show two ways to play it: using the chords in the original key of the song followed by how to play those chords in the correct positions on the neck so it sounds exactly the way you hear it on the recording.

1) Using the actual chords in the key the song was recorded in is important if you want to play along with the CD. I always recommend doing this because it will really improve your rhythm and timing and it's fun because you feel like you have your own backup band!

2) Using a movable chord shape based on the B-flat chord (shown in the picture) - great thing about this is you can take just one chord shape and play entire songs by just shifting it up and down the ukulele neck.

For example, a song with the chords F, B-flat and C can be played with this chord shape at the 8th, 1st and 3rd frets respectively. Similarly, a song with the chords G, C and D can be played with the same chord shape at the 10th, 3rd and 5th frets. Notice how the chord is named after the note you're covering on the top/1st/A string. Consult the fretboard diagram I handed out in class to see those notes. If you don't have a diagram, email me and I'll send it to you.

Lots of rock songs like You Really Got Me, Anarchy in the UK, Jessie's Girl, etc, were written on the guitar using this concept of movable chords.

Check out the video and let me know what you think by leaving a comment on the page below it. Also, be sure to become a subscriber to my channel if you're not already, so you can be updated whenever I upload new lessons.

Ledward Kaapana comes to L.A.

WHEN: Oct 3, 2010 6:30pm WHERE: Sangria, 68 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 TICKETS: $20, $25, $28 http://kalakoa.tix.com/ MORE INFO: http://wire-and-wood.com/ or click on “Wire & Wood” at http://www.kalakoa.com/

Don't miss Hawaiiʼs living legend Ledward Kaapana in his only Los Angeles appearance October 3rd at Sangria restaurant on the Hermosa Pier. Doors open at 5:30pm, Fran Guidry (Bay Area) will be opening.

Ledʼs mastery of stringed instruments, particularly slack key guitar, and his extraordinary baritone and leo ki`eki`e (falsetto) voices, have made him a musical legend. Thrilling audiences for more than 40 years with his easy-going style and kolohe (rascal) charm, Led has built a loyal corps of Led Heads from Brussels to his birthplace on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Recognition by his peers earned Led Grammy nominations in 2006, 2007 and 2009 and he has collaborated onstage with a dazzling list of musicians including Alison Krauss, Sonny Landreth, Chet Atkins, Leo Kotke, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder and Tal Farlow to name a few. Ledʼs fret board technique and soaring vocals are unforgettable.

Tickets For Ledwardʼs performance are $20, $25, $28.Purchase online at: http://kalakoa.tix.com/.

Wire & Wood: A brand new solo acoustic guitar concert series in the South Bay! Past featured artists include celebrated flamenco guitarist Adam del Monte, Hawaiian slack key musician Jim "Kimo" West and surf guitar legends the Duo-Tones!

Slack Key DVD Documentary by Eddie Kamae

A few days ago I received my copy of Ki Ho'alu: Slack Key The Hawaiian Way, a DVD documentary of Hawaiian slack key guitar, Hawaii's gorgeous, indigenous fingerpicking guitar style. I've really been enjoying it! You'll recognize some of the names and faces that have appeared at the Southern California Slack Key Festival like George Kahumoku Jr, Ledward Kaapana and Dennis Kamakahi. Gary Haleamau, who was a part of the 2008 Aloha Falsetto Festival, is also in there and you'll get to see him again at the 2011 Slack Key Festival in Redondo Beach January 23. Lots of great interviews and music from Gabby Pahinui (Cyril's father), Raymond Kane, George Kuo, and even my UH college professor Lisa Smith!

I never would have thought - back when I was attending the Slack Key Festival in Hawaii (when it used to be held at the McCoy Pavilion at Ala Moana park) - that I'd be hiring these people for my shows and becoming friends with them.

This film premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., during a special day of screenings at the American Film Institute honoring Eddie Kamae's Legacy Series. Jim "Kimo" West says he was there on Maui back when they had just wrapped up the filming and remembers them partying it up at the local restaurant/bar. Lots of great playing techniques that you just don't see anymore like the sewing needle hanging from the mouth and banging up against the string and right hand tapping. I'm sure you'll enjoy this documentary as much as I am.

An Ukulele Wedding In SoCal

Summer is definitely getting into high gear - I can tell from all the fun party and wedding events I've been playing for!

This past weekend I was hired for another summer wedding event - this time, ukulele-only music was requested for the ceremony. The bride was actually someone I met through the new ukulele class I started on Mondays at the South Bay Adult School and she had some special requests like my What A Wonderful World for the bridesmaids, Pua Lililehua for the Processional, and since the groom's parents are from England, my arrangement of Here Comes The Sun for the Recessional. You know, given his love for the instrument, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that George Harrison wrote the song on an ukulele. Here's a fun video of George with his uke, hanging with Ringo and Sir Paul.

Got a few more ukulele weddings happening this summer so I'll have a chance to whip out some new arrangements of I'm Yours, Summertime, Sway, Top Of The World and some other fun stuff I've been working on.

September Wire & Wood: Australian Fingerpicker Nick Charles

Don't miss Australia's hottest guitar fingerpicker Nick Charles!
September 9, Saint Rocke, Hermosa Beach
Purchase tickets
Watch a YouTube Video

With five critically acclaimed albums to his credit and numerous awards, Nick is an artist who is in high demand for concert appearances and workshops.

"Australia's virtuoso of acoustic roots guitar"
- The Age

"The best picker on the scene"
- Artstreams Magazine

Nick has been a performing and touring acoustic musician for over 25 years on the Australian and international acoustic music scene. Averaging over 200 shows a year from Perth to Sydney and LA to Kansas City - including many major guitar, folk, blues and jazz festivals - the eclectic nature of Nick's music continues to delight and captivate his audiences. With five critically acclaimed albums to his credit and numerous awards, Nick is an artist who is in high demand for concert appearances and workshops. His musical influences are many and varied and include the seminal blues of Big Bill Broonzy and Blind Blake, the countrified picking of Doc Watson and Merle Travis and the infectious swing and melody of Django.

The prestigious Melbourne newspaper, "The Age", has declared him "Australia's virtuoso of acoustic roots guitar" and Artstreams Magazine states emphatically he is " the best picker on the scene".

Click here to purchase tickets

Wire & Wood: A brand new solo acoustic guitar concert series in the South Bay! Past featured artists include celebrated flamenco guitarist Adam del Monte, Hawaiian slack key musician Jim "Kimo" West and surf guitar legends the Duo-Tones!

A Slack Key Wedding In SoCal

Recently I had a great time down in La Jolla where I was hired to play for a beautiful outdoor wedding at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa. The lovely couple had wanted to tie their ceremony to the time they shared in Hawaii and was looking for a slack key guitarist to provide the right mood.

For prelude music I played tunes like Moe Uhane by Sonny Chillingworth.I actually learned this one a long time ago when the transcription was printed in Acoustic Guitar magazine. I also played a couple of hymns I arranged: Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art and I have to give credit to John Keawe for the inspiration for this. When I first saw him play live back in like, 1995 (I think), he was the featured artist for the Make Music Festival's opening night at the Honolulu Academy of Arts theatre. I went on in the beginning of the evening with my flamenco performance group Flamenco Pacifico. When I heard him play Amazing Grace I said ok that's it, I'm going home to figure this out tonight!

So back to the La Jolla wedding, I did my slack key version of What A Wonderful World for the bridesmaids and my own ki ho'alu arrangements for Richard Wagner's Bridal Chorus for the Processional and Trumpet Voluntary by Jeremiah Clark for the Recessional. I'd already had these worked out from a long time ago for my cousin' wedding back in Hawaii several years ago. All tunes were in Taropatch tuning (open G) mostly because I'm too lazy/busy to work out a lot of stuff in other keys.

The whole thing was a lot of fun, everyone dug it and everything went super smoothly. Did I mention Diana Ross was there and gave me major props?? I'm kind of kidding - Diana Ross was the name of the wedding coordinator. Oh and while I was playing ukulele at the cocktail reception, a guy came up to me and asked me if I knew Peter Moon - that was very cool!

Ukulele Night at Coffee Gallery

Uke Night at Coffee Gallery
May 30, 7pm

Featuring Abe Lagrimas
with Jason Arimoto
and Mitch Chang

Two-time Na Hoku Hanohano nominee and Hawaii Music Award recipient Abe Lagrimas is kicking off the very first Uke Night at the Coffee Gallery in Altadena. Abe tours throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe and has performed with such notable artists as Eric Marienthal, Michael Paulo, Gabe Baltazar, Benny Rietveld, Jake Shimabukuro, James Ingram, Valery Ponomarev, and many others. His latest CD "Duo" is a contender in this year's Hawaii Na Hoku Hanohano Music Awards. Click here for directions to the Coffee Gallery website and see you there!

Author Alan Brennert at South Pasadena Library

The other night I had the privilege to meet Alan Brennert, author of Moloka'i and Honolulu, at the South Pasadena library. I love going to Pasadena! The library had heard about me from the El Segundo library (who had heard about me from the Carson library who heard from Manhattan Beach) and invited me to come play some Hawaiian slack key guitar and ukulele to start off the evening featuring a book signing and reading by the author. Since we were in a library, I tried to throw out a little history I thought some people less familiar with Hawaiian music might find interesting, like how the vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) first brought the guitar to Hawaii and how contemporary rockers like George Harrison fell in love with the ukulele (which came from Portugal, originally) so I played songs like "Aloha Oe" and "Here Comes The Sun" on the ukulele as well as "Amazing Grace" and one of my all time fave songs "What A Wonderful World" on slack key guitar.
Alan did a little reading from the newer book Honolulu then entertained some questions from the audience. Best part was learning he lived right here in Southern California and I look forward to getting together for lunch or a cup of coffee with him soon.
Check out his books - Moloka'i and Honolulu on Amazon here. Alan Brennert is the author of the best-selling historical novels MOLOKA'I and HONOLULU, as well as the contemporary novels TIME AND CHANCE and KINDRED SPIRITS. He has also written short stories, teleplays, screenplays, and the libretto of a stage musical, WEIRD ROMANCE, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by David Spencer. His work on the television series L.A. LAW earned him an Emmy Award in 1991, and his short story "Ma Qui" was honored with a Nebula Award in 1992.

Jeff Peterson, Favorite Entertainer of the Year Nominee

Favorite Entertainer of the Year Jeff Peterson

Congratulations are in order! Hawaiian slack key guitarist Jeff Peterson has been nominated for the 2010 Na Hoku Hanohano "Favorite Entertainer of the Year." by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts. Please click here to vote for Jeff and please tell your friends and family to vote too!

Don't miss Jeff Peterson's return to the Lord of the Strings acoustic guitar series this Friday in Dana Point and Saturday in Mission Viejo! Lord Of The Strings is a guitar series that has been bringing the finest musicians in the world to Southern California since 2003. The Orange County Register called President & Founder Tim Johnson the "Guitar Hero" and it's his guitar series after which I've modeled my own Wood & Wire Acoustic Guitar Showcase in El Segundo (June 6 artist: Jim "Kimo" West). Click here for tickets and directions to Lord Of The Strings.

Ukulele Workshop, performance

Please join me tomorrow, Saturday, May 15th 2:00 - 4:00pm for an Ukulele Workshop in Redondo Beach
All levels welcome!

It'll be a different kind of workshop - fun and real hands-on! Whether you've been playing for a few months or a few years, there will be something for you! Give it a try and bring a song that you like and think might be fun for a group to play. Send a message to happymeyoga@gmail.com to reserve your spot today (Only $25, space is limited to 20 spaces).

Happy Me Yoga
1908 Artesia Blvd, Redondo Beach

Also, tomorrow night, I'll be at the Coffee Gallery playing some background gellin' slack key and ukulele music for Kamaka Brown's original Hawaiian pidgin English stories in "Wot? Boddah You?"

Check out the Coffee Gallery website here. Save the dates and hope to see you there!

Coffee Gallery with Jim "Kimo" West

Had a great time playing with Kimo last night at the Coffee Gallery in Altadena. I opened up with a few ukulele solos in the first set then rhythm uke with Kimo in the second set. Aya got up to dance a few numbers which really put a lot of smiles on the faces in the audience - I personally like it when people dance hula in "street clothes", same for flamenco. Seems more fun and natural than a costume. Kapo Ku sang a few songs too and even Diana, Kimo's wife, got up to sing Amy Hanaiali'i's Palehua.

It was definitely nice to find a lot of audience members who had been to, or know of, the Southern California Slack Key Festival as they yelled out the answers to "What's the Hawaiian word for slack key", "What's the most common slack key tuning", and "Where and what month is the annual Festival held?" to which the correct answer-giver was awarded a 2010 t-shirt.

Hope to see you back at the Coffee Gallery this coming Saturday the 15th for Kamaka Brown's pidgin English storytelling with me playing slack key and ukulele backdrop music for his stories.

Busy busy busy!

So much going on, haven't been blogging much - 2010 Southern California Slack Key Festival was killer, 1st Annual Los Angeles Flamenco Festival was a blast, new ukulele classes at Torrance Adult School, El Camino College and South Bay Adult School and a new acoustic guitar series at Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo starts next month! No Aloha Falsetto Festival this year because I'm waiting on final approval from the city for a big outdoor Hawaiian event I'm planning for October which will be a lot of fun! Stay tuned and be sure you and your friends are signed up on the Kala Koa email list to stay informed of not only Kala Koa events but other community happenings as well.

More to come soon!

2010 Los Angeles Flamenco Festival

2010 Los Angeles Flamenco Festival
I feel good about this event!

I'm grateful for the opportunity to put together this first annual event that will bring together some of the best flamenco artists from across the U.S. and Los Angeles. It's the intention of the Festival to create awareness of the wealth of talent we have right here in our own backyard and to present an authentic program celebrating one of the world’s richest musical legacies. It's going to be a great couple of shows!

Here's the thing: when the Festival is over, people need to know that there are lots of opportunities to enjoy live flamenco all over the city and throughout Southern California - dinner shows like at Alegria, El Cid and Tapas and regular theatrical presentations like the Fountain Theatre. I hope people will leave the Festival anxious to sign up for a flamenco dance or guitar class and to know that whether they live in Santa Monica, Orange County, Sherman Oaks or Covina, there is someone there who can teach them. They should know about online resources like Flamenco World, Jose Tanaka's online lessons and Beth Nesbitt's email list, as well as fascinating and informative books by Paco Sevilla. They can visit La Espanola Meats in Harbor City for their specially imported foodstuffs and try their hand at tapas and paella cooking classes taught by my friend Annette at the South Bay School of Cooking.

At the end of the day, this sense of community is the spirit behind the Festival and I'm counting on your support to help make this first year a success, the first of many more to come. There are so many dedicated individuals who've worked so hard over the years to bring flamenco to the greater public who deserve proper respect and recognition. I hope to get to all of them eventually.

Please help spread word about the Festival to all your friends, work colleagues, fans, and students.