"Hawaiian Guitar"

Lime

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So, is that an appropriate thing to call a ukulele? I'm thinking not since it is consistently emphasized that ukuleles are not just small guitars, but after participating in this thread about beginners learning ukuleles, I reread the emails I exchanged with the only local ukulele instructor advertising and noticed that he consistently referred to the ukulele as the Hawaiian Guitar.

Is it utter blasphemy? I can't find this term used by other ukers using Google or the forum search engine, except to refer to lap slide steel guitars, or simply a regular guitar of Hawaiian origin, but not ukuleles.
 
When I hear "Hawaiian guitar," I think lap steel. I'm around a lot of music folks and I've never heard any of them refer to the uke as a Hawaiian guitar; my instructors certainly don't. I'm finding it odd that a so-called ukulele instructor would call it this, but then I see you're in Canada - maybe it's a regional thing?
 
It may be a personal thing. You didn't like the instructor, am I remembering correctly?
 
No, I didn't. My impression of him was that he didn't take ukulele seriously. Seemed his mainstay was guitar, and he was just offering ukulele lessons because there weren't any competitors for that instrument, whereas there are several other guitar instructors in the area. However, I was thinking maybe I judged too soon so I went back to reread the emails, and I noticed this Hawaiian guitar business and it seemed weird. Maybe it confirms that he's not really worth considering.
 
Is it possible that he was referring to Hawaiian Guitar a.k.a. Ki Hoalu? The style that is most often linked to the traditional way the ukulele was played was Ki Hoalu... slack key. Alot of people call that hawaiian guitar, as it is more about the way its played than the actual tuning...
 
When I hear "Hawaiian guitar," I think lap steel. I'm around a lot of music folks and I've never heard any of them refer to the uke as a Hawaiian guitar; my instructors certainly don't. I'm finding it odd that a so-called ukulele instructor would call it this, but then I see you're in Canada - maybe it's a regional thing?

Same here.
 
I'm sure he just meant it as another term for the ukulele, because he said "ukulele, aka the Hawaiian Guitar." Also, he just advertised that he would teach you how to sing while playing simple 2-3 chord songs on the ukulele, no mention of traditional technique, or any technique really. His major selling point was that it would be easy; I didn't get the impression he knew much about the ukulele, so it would surprise me if he knew that.
 
Trust your instincts. Me, I'd find that off-putting. If you didn't know what a ukulele is, I'd understand the description. To someone who does know what ukuleles are, it raises my eyebrows. I feel like that's something you wouldn't say if you took the instrument seriously.

ETA: since ukuleles became synonymous with hipster instruments a couple of years ago--on this coast anyway, I've heard nonmusicians refer to them as a Hawaiian guitar.
 
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To me, Hawaiian guitar is slack key guitar not ukes....
 
I would say calling a uke a Hawaiian guitar isn't inappropriate so much as inaccurate. I think of slack key or a Hawaiian steel guitar with that phrase.

It's like calling a mandolin an Italian guitar. The uke and the guitar are really quite different.
 
I've been lucky. Both of my ukulele instructors are so steeped in the tradition of Hawaiian music that they correct students who say "you-kulele" instead of "ooo-kulele." One, Saichi Kawahara, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hawaiian version of the Grammys a few years ago, and the other, Ka'ala Carmack, recently left San Francisco to teach Hawaiian Music at Windward Community College on O'ahu. Both have performed with notable and renowned Hawaiian musicians like Dennis Kamakahi. I don't know what options you have, but I hope that if you're going to learn Hawaiian anything with an ukulele, you can find some a kumu (instructor) with more knowledge of, and respect for, Hawaiian music than someone who would call an ukulele a Hawaiian guitar.
 
A guitar is either Hawaiian or Spanish; the designation probably dates from early manufacturing and catalog sales. A Spanish guitar is played traditionally; a Hawaiian guitar is played with a bar and held across the lap. A Gibson ES-175 stands for Electric Spanish. There was a Hawaiian music craze about the time the phonograph was developed because of Hawaiian musicians at the Chicago World's Fair. There's a lot written on this topic... try Wikipedia.
 
The ukulele is not a "hawaiian guitar" by any stretch of the imagination. It is a unique stringed instrument of hawaiian origin, but not a guitar. A lap steel guitar is a distinctly hawaiian guitar. Ki ho'alu, or "slack key" is a hawaiian method of playing a spanish guitar. -- my two cents.
 
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