4/4/2022
Performances and Artists
Acclaimed Guitarist Makana Shares Stories and Songs of Hawaiian Slack-Key Guitar on April 29
Like so many great men, acclaimed guitarist Makana owes his success to his mother.
The Hawaii native’s introduction to music began with learning ukulele as a young boy – but he found his true inspiration when he caught a local TV show featuring Hawaiian slack-key guitar master Raymond Kaleoalohapoina’oleohelemanu Kāne and his young protégé Bobby Moderow Jr.
“I became instantly enchanted with slack-key guitar,” Makana remembers.
His mother knew what to do.
“At the next Slack Key Festival, my mom went backstage without permission, grabbed young Bobby by the ear and told him ‘you’re going to teach my son!’” recalls Makana, adding that Bobby was just 21 and Makana 11 at the time. “He knew better than to argue with my mom, so that’s when I began learning and playing slack-key guitar.”
It’s a good thing that happened.
Today, Makana enjoys a massive fanbase as one of the world’s leading masters of slack-key guitar, a distinctive playing style in which guitar strings are detuned, or slacked.
“Slack key is arguably older than the blues, and remains one of the rarest guitar styles today with only a tiny handful of players alive who have direct lineage to the progenitors of old,” Makana says. “I am deeply blessed to be one of them.”
The Evolution of Acoustic Guitar’s ‘Final Frontier’
Few know more than Makana about slack-key guitar, which he hails as “the final frontier of the acoustic guitar.”
This style emerged in Hawaii in the 1800s, he says, with the arrival of vaqueros (Latin cowboys), who helped Hawaiians with their growing population of imported cattle.
“Hawaiian ranchers acquired guitars, learned a bit from their visiting counterparts and then created their own slacked tunings to support their high-falsetto, chant-inspired singing voices,” he explains.
Featuring constantly shifting rhythms and alternating bass patterns, the sound they created vastly differs from other styles, Makana adds.
“The result is a symphonic sound that comes off like three guitars in one,” he says. “And Hawaiian melodies draw from virtually all the music styles of the world, so what you’re hearing is, in a way, a blending of a broad spectrum of folk music styles into a dynamic solo performance that stretches the limits of what was thought possible on the guitar.”
Playing with Music Megastars
Makana’s rare skills have earned him well-deserved attention from musical greats.
He has opened for legends like Sting and Carlos Santana, and performed with stars like Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson.
He points to his favorite experience, however, as when Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam watched Makana play at Duke’s Waikīkī barefoot bar in Honolulu.
“He sat about 5 feet from me and took notes on my slack-key playing for an hour, and then invited me to sit on the beach and jam with him for hours under a full moon,” Makana recalls.
Makana feels passionately about sharing Hawaii’s music legacy with all audiences, he says.
“I perpetuate and evolve Hawaiian music as a way of honoring my kumu (teachers) and as a service to all who love Hawaii,” he says. “Beyond this, I truly believe in the ability of Hawaiian music — slack key in particular — to heal people. And the world really needs healing.”