Slack-Key Guitar

Slack key guitar, in Hawaiian kī hōʻalu, is a fingerstyle guitar tradition from Hawaiʻi in which the strings are loosened from standard tuning into open chords, letting the thumb sustain bass patterns while the fingers pick melody. Each family guarded its own tunings, and the repertoire mixes instrumental pieces with songs for hula and storytelling. The style grew from the guitars brought by Mexican and Spanish vaqueros in the 1830s, flourished in secrecy for a century, and was carried to records by *Gabby Pahinui* in the 1940s. A 1970s renaissance and the documentation work of #Dancing Cat Records# made it one of the signature sounds of Hawaiian music.