About Me
Jackson Wong
Hi, I am Jackson, and I love to play Hawaiian slack key guitar. I first picked up a guitar when I was nine years old, and began focusing on Hawaiian slack key style at 13, when my English class was studying the 2012 Academy Award-winning movie, The Descendants, which starred George Clooney and Shailene Woodley. This movie featured a soundtrack composed almost entirely of Hawaiian slack key music, some of which are songs performed by my teachers.
I began learning the slack key style from YouTube tutorials because there was nobody to play with in the Berkeley, CA area. I have now studied with the slack key instructors at the Maui Slack Key Guitar Workshop and independently from masters such as George Kahumoku, Jr., Ledward Kaapana, and Jeff Peterson.
Performances
Hawaiian Skies
Kaulana Na Pua
Makena
Punahoa Special
Ku'u Lei Awapuhi Melemele
About Hawaiian slack key guitar
In the nineteenth century, King Kamehameha III of the Kingdom of Hawaii hired Spanish and Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) to teach Hawaiians how to handle the King’s growing herd of cattle that had been gifted to the royal family decades earlier. These vaqueros played guitar and, upon departing the Hawaiian islands, likely gifted guitars to their Hawaiian cowboy counterparts (paniolos). The Hawaiians would retune the guitars from the standard Spanish tunings by loosening or “slacking” the strings to create open tunings where open (unfretted) strings would play a sweet-sounding major chord. Common tunings would become “Taro Patch,” “Wahine” or “Mauna Loa” tunings, which would have a different open chord, and each of the six strings would be tuned to a different key. This style of guitar music is known as ki ho’alu, which literally means “loosen the key.”
Different families created their own tunings, which were often closely guarded secrets, and singers might choose or modify tunings to match their voices. Because there were few guitars in the early days, Hawaiians learned to develop a fuller sound from a single instrument by playing the bass or rhythm notes on the lower-pitched strings with the thumb, while using the four fingers to play the melody on the higher-pitched strings.
The modern slack key period arose following World War II when Gabby Pahinui, “the father of the modern slack key era,” made the first-ever slack key guitar recordings, including the legendary song, Hi’ilawe. See below for profiles of some of the current luminaries in Hawaiian slack key guitar.
(summarized from the detailed history of Hawaiian slack key guitar from Dancing Cat Records — www.dancingcat.com)
Selected Hawaiian Glossary
“Kanikapila” is an informal musical gathering or jam session, often at the beach or family setting. It comes from the Hawaiian word “kani,” which means sound, and “pila,” which refers to stringed instruments. A kanikapila will commonly have a group of guitar and ukulele players sitting around jamming and improvising together.
“Mele” means song in Hawaiian. So the meaning of the name of this website is “the song of Jackson.”
“Aloha” is a common greeting in Hawaii that can be used for either hello, or goodbye. But it holds a deeper meaning as the spirit of love, appreciation, compassion and kindness. It is the core value of the Hawaiian culture and is embodied in slack key guitar music.
“Ki Ho’alu” means “loosen the key” or “slack the key,” and refers to the Hawaiian acoustic guitar style of playing typified by an open tuning (open, unfretted chord) with finger-picking styles with each song played in a different tuning.
“Na Hoku” is short for the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, which are the Hawaiian Grammys annually awarded to the top musicians and music in Hawaii. Na Hoku Hanohano means “stars of distinction.”
The Legends of Slack Key Guitar
Jeff Peterson is my primary teacher for slack key guitar, generally via video, and in-person when I can visit Hawaii. He has multiple Grammy Award nominations and contributed to a Grammy Award winning album, has won 11 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, and was a contributor to the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning movie The Descendants. Jeff’s modern slack key style, which blends traditional Hawaiian music with his training in classical and jazz, is a real inspiration for me. https://jeffpetersonguitar.com/
George Kahumoku, Jr. runs the Maui Slack Key Workshop and is one of my teachers. He is known as the ‘Hawaiian Renaissance Man’ because of his mastery of guitar, vocals, art, language, storytelling, cooking, farming and more. He is a world-traveling performer, a three-time Grammy Award-winner and has won multiple Na Hoku Awards. “Uncle George” has taught me a lot about Hawaiian culture. https://www.slackkeyshow.com/musician/george-kahumoku-jr/
Ledward Kaapana is a world-famous Hawaii music performer and recording artist. He received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States, and he has won multiple Na Hoku Awards as a solo artist and as a member of two different renowned music groups. Four of his solo albums were nominated for Grammy Awards. Led is one of my Maui workshop instructors, and I had the good fortune of playing on stage with him at a house concert. https://ledkaapana.com/
Keola Beamer is one of Hawaii’s leading musicians, and is an expert in slack key guitar, singing and more. He has multiple Grammy Award nominations and was a contributor to the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning movie The Descendants. He runs a Hawaiian music camp on the island of Kaua’i that I hope to attend one day. https://kbeamer.com/
Jerry Santos has been a legendary Hawaii slack key guitarist and vocalist since the 1970s with his group Olomana. Attending his performances in Honolulu is one of my family’s Christmas traditions. http://www.olomanamusic.com/about_js.html
George Kuo is a long-time award-winning slack key performer with multiple Na Hoku Awards, with a traditional sweet, soothing playing style and sound. http://georgekuoslackkey.com/
Jim “Kimo” West is a renowned Hawaiian slack key artist in his own right with multiple Grammy Award and Na Hoku Award nominations, but he is probably most famous for being the guitarist for “Weird Al” Yankovic! He is a Maui Workshop instructor. https://jimkimowest.com/
Ken Emerson is a slack key and lap steel guitar performer, a contributor to a Grammy Award winning album, and is a Maui Workshop instructor. https://palmrecords.com/ken-emerson
Makana is a performer and recording artist with multiple Grammy Award nominations and a Na Hoku award. He contributed to the soundtrack for The Descendants, and has performed at the White House and in front of world leaders at the APEC Conference in Honolulu. https://www.makanamusic.com/
Mike Kaawa is a recording artist and performer in Hawaii known for his 12-string guitar. He garnered a Grammy Award nomination for an album he recorded with Led Kaapana. In the small world of Hawaii, my grandparents live across the street from Mike’s mother-in-law!
Henry Kapono is one of the most beloved performers ever in Hawaii. As a soloist and as part of the famous Cecilio & Kapono duo, he has garnered a Grammy Award nomination and 18 Na Hoku Awards, including Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and many more. He is also my brother’s favorite Hawaiian singer. https://www.henrykapono.com/
Paul Togioka is a performing and recording artist in Hawaii. He has featured on the Grammy Award-nominated and Na Hoku Award winning album “Hawaiian Slack Key Kings.” Paul is one of my Maui workshop instructors. http://www.paultogioka.com/
Fran Guidry is a Hawaiian slack key guitar performer in California and often accompanies Led Kaapana on his West Coast tours. https://www.kaleponi.com/