Advanced Hawaiian Methods

jarednye

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I have become an intermediate-advanced player through Greg Horne’s Complete Ukulele Method. I really want to learn some Hawaiian songs and techniques that build off all that I’ve learned. What are the best sources/books for this? I’ve purchased so far Bruddah Is and Jake songbooks but I’m hoping there’s more!
 
I have become an intermediate-advanced player through Greg Horne’s Complete Ukulele Method. I really want to learn some Hawaiian songs and techniques that build off all that I’ve learned. What are the best sources/books for this? I’ve purchased so far Bruddah Is and Jake songbooks but I’m hoping there’s more!

Take Skype lessons from Bryan Tolentino. He's THE Hawaiian-style 'ukulele player these days and is kind enough to do lessons when he has a chance.

Pekelo's books come to mind, but I don't know a whole lot about them.

At the risk of ruffling some feathers, I'll go out on a limb and say that you can't just jump in and "play" Hawaiian music and expect it to sound right. It is so much more about the feel than the notes and techniques. You have to hear it and play it for a while before it's "right."

Funny story: my friend and fabulous bassist/guitar player backed me up at a recent gig. He's part Hawaiian, his uncle is a local performer. But he listens and plays primarily shredder math rock. We practiced beforehand and he could barely figure out the "easy" Hawaiian songs! I figured it would be a no-brainer, but I was wrong! It was so cute that he's such a great player, but his precise technical playing didn't help very much at all when trying to capture the nahenahe sound.

I'd save the money you might spend on books and buy albums. Namely these to get started: Paradise by Hui 'Ohana, Tropical Storm and Cane Fire by Peter Moon Band, Best of Ka'au Crater Boys, Jus Press Vo. 2 by Led Kaapana. And listen, listen, listen.

YMMV, of course.
 
Unfortunately, there is only a single volume of the Pekelo books available, he came up with a 2nd volume but has none left. The first is excellent beginner fingerpicking book, at least in my very limited opinion. You can drop him a note @ pekelosbooks@gmail. When I turned up empty on that I picked up Hawaiian Uke Songbook. It's has chords and melody, unfortunately there is no recording to hear how the songs should sound so you need to pay attention to the timing. It may be fairly basic if you've been at this for a while, much of it is pretty challenging to me. You can see on eof the songs here https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/hawaiian-uke-tunebook-sheet-music/1731567 There are some easier and some harder then the single example.
 
Agreed with others, what's helped me most aren't books, but listening and watching. Out in Maui earlier this year I was talking to one of the guys from the Slack Key Show and he told he the Hawaiian way is to really focus more on learning by watching, and I think that's been really helpful personally.

On Spotify I listen to a lot of Herb Ohta Jr, Troy Fernandez, and Led Kaapana. All have different styles and cool things you can learn from. Same goes for YouTube, all have some really fun moves to pick up on when you watch them play. Herb's style is great for learning chord melody, classic Hawaiian tunes, classic vamps, classic chord sequences beyond C G7 F, things like that. Troy is great for learning a real fast picking rolling style and I am learning great ways to double up on notes and pick in cool patterns. Watching Led has helped me see new ways to use thirds and sixths and slides and use the third and fourth strings for runs, not just the first.

Agreed on some of the other great music suggestions above too, Hui Ohana and Ka'au Crater Boys are awesome. Really generally just listening to more Hawaiian music, even slack key guitar with no ukulele like Sonny Lim or Led or Kimo West or others, has been really helpful.
 
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The "Hawaiian Style Ukulele" books, vol 1 through 3, are still available form Ukulele PuaPua. http://gcea.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=68_70
They have scored music with chords, playing tips and CDs so you can hear the songs.

I agree that hearing the music is important to the process. The easiest songs to play for me are the ones I heard on the radio while growing up.
 
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The "Hawaiian Style" books are good. In addition to the players listed in the other responses, you have to listen to Eddie Kamae and his work with the Sons of Hawaii. All the great Hawaiian players respected Uncle Eddie.
 
Aloha my name is Seth I had this same question... I just recently came across Aaron Crowell of hawaiimusicschool.com He does a lot of Hawaiian music. I just signed for the
free trial... And so far I really like it!

www.hawaiimusicschool.com
 
Take Skype lessons from Bryan Tolentino. He's THE Hawaiian-style 'ukulele player these days and is kind enough to do lessons when he has a chance.

I second this (also second Brad's suggestion that you purchase some listening material). I had the pleasure of a face-to-face lesson with Bryan once, and it really opened my ears.
 
Unfortunately, there is only a single volume of the Pekelo books available, he came up with a 2nd volume but has none left. The first is excellent beginner fingerpicking book, at least in my very limited opinion. You can drop him a note @ pekelosbooks@gmail. When I turned up empty on that I picked up Hawaiian Uke Songbook. It's has chords and melody, unfortunately there is no recording to hear how the songs should sound so you need to pay attention to the timing. It may be fairly basic if you've been at this for a while, much of it is pretty challenging to me. You can see on eof the songs here https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/hawaiian-uke-tunebook-sheet-music/1731567 There are some easier and some harder then the single example.
Pekelo died in 2011 at the age of 51. Thought it should be noted.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/2011/...u-award-winner-peter-pekelo-cosma-dead-at-51/

I sing one of his songs called Waikiki. It's not the same as that famous movie version. When someone asked me about Pekelo it prompted me to do an internet search and I discovered he was no longer living.
I have heard that his books are great.
 
Ummmm... Rubykey, I think you may have the wrong Pekelo. The person who wrote the Pekelo Ukulele Method books was Peter Palisbo. I purchased volume 2 from him in March of 2016. Below is the cover from his second book and the page showing the author's name from the Level 1 book.

Pekelo 1.jpgPekelo 2.jpg
 
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Thank you for that clarification.
One Pekelo two Pekelo...

I play in a monthly kanikapila Hawaiian music jam. Several members are Hawaiian-born and several have studied music in Hawaii. The Pekelo name was not familiar to anyone, so I did a Google search and found the obituary of Pekelo Cosma. I apologize for the confusion . For anyone curious there are videos of him on YouTube.He was known for slack key, voice, songwriting and ukulele.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FC2ghlpvL-o

I would agree with what others have said below that the best way to learn Hawaiian music is listening, and playing with people who know the music. There is a cultural perspective that goes along with the playing and learning. Hawaiian music is meant to be played in community. Jams last for several hours and there is always food to be shared. Hula dancers also add to the vibe.
 
Another resources to add to the slim list: "Hawaiian Ukulele: The Early Methods", ed. and compiler Ron Middlebrook, pub. Centerstream, now out of print.

Also, check out "Keola Beamer Teaches Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" by Keola Beamer, pub. Homespun. It's not uke-specific, but I've had a fair deal of success adapting much of its instruction to the 'ukulele.
 
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Unfortunately, there is only a single volume of the Pekelo books available, he came up with a 2nd volume but has none left. The first is excellent beginner fingerpicking book, at least in my very limited opinion. You can drop him a note @ pekelosbooks@gmail. When I turned up empty on that I picked up Hawaiian Uke Songbook. It's has chords and melody, unfortunately there is no recording to hear how the songs should sound so you need to pay attention to the timing. It may be fairly basic if you've been at this for a while, much of it is pretty challenging to me. You can see on eof the songs here https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/hawaiian-uke-tunebook-sheet-music/1731567 There are some easier and some harder then the single example.

An update to my post from a few months ago.

Out of the blue I received an Email from Pekelo last week, he found a small number of volume 2 which I had inquired about last May. So you can buy both volumes from him, at least till he runs out again. I received my Vol 2 today. If you do so you might want to drop him a note 1st to verify and get pricing. Here's his web site. http://www.pekelosbooks.com/
 
I like the Pekelo books, they are very well thought out. Vol 1 is for beginners, and 2 has some nice intermediate challenges. They really are a method in the truest sense - you need to work through the tunes and exercises progressively, especially using the CD.

That said, Pekelo is a low G fingerstyle approach. Many if not most Hawaiians strum exclusively, so you could learn to play Hawaiian style without ever learning to pick.

PS I am glad the author is still alive, and I hope he finds the time to make a third volume!
 
I thought I would share this - notice the glorious, delicate uke strumming of Benny Kalama. I love fingerpicking Hawaiian uke, but for me the uke strum is a gentle cushion for a falsetto singer. The can of bud on the album cover is a nice touch.

 
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