HOMESPUNTaught By Bob Brozman, Ledward Kaapana.
Level 3
80-minute DVD or VHS, includes tab
With Bob Brozman
Ledward Kaapana is widely acknowledged to be one of the most exciting and accomplished players in ki ho'alu, or slack key guitar style.
Playing in open-chord and other alternate tunings, Led's two-finger picking and alternating bass is reminiscent of the great blues and country guitarists, but with the licks and harmonies typical of Hawaiian traditional music. His playing is loose and improvisational, and his repertoire encompasses both quiet, beautiful melodies and rip-roaring show-stoppers with lightning-fast licks and fancy picking.
The beauty of the slack key style is that it's made up of simple chords and melodies, but an accomplished player then builds up improvised variations using interchangable licks and turnarounds similar to those in blues guitar. Ledward provides all the elements for making arrangements in this style, showing how he acheives the special sounds (damping, bass runs, hammers, pull-offs, trills, and other ornaments) that make each tune come alive.
Led's lesson starts in "taro patch" (open G) tuning with a lovely original piece that he calls Slack Key Lullaby. As with each tune on this DVD, he breaks it down in detail, showing the basic melody, then adding harmony lines, bass rhythm and the embellishments that create the complete arrangement. He goes on to demonstrate numerous examples of Hawaiian-style turnarounds, as well as complete instrumentals such as Kuu Ipo Onaona, E Lili'u E, and, switching to "wahine" tuning (DGDF#BD), the spectacular Slack Key Medley.
With its wide range of tunes and techniques, this lesson will satisfy players
who are novices in the slack key style, as well as those who consider themselves
advanced players. Ledward has given us something for everyone, and this DVD lesson
will give you much to work on.
With over twenty albums to his credit (many on the Dancing
Cat label) and tours of Polynesia, the Mainland, Japan and Europe, Ledward Kaapana
is one of Hawaii's most prolific and beloved traditional musicians. Aside from
his mastery of ki ho'alu (slack key guitar), he is also accomplished on ukulele,
steel guitar, autoharp and bass. In addition, he is a fine singer in both baritone
and leo kiekie (falsetto). In 1997 he recorded a duet album with acoustic steel
guitarist Bob Brozman called "Kika Kila Meets Ki Ho'Alu." The album
won critical raves and spent several weeks on the World Music charts. Since then,
Led and Bob have toured and recorded together frequently. Led's latest album, "Waltz
of the Wind," was recorded in Nashville with an all star cast including
Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, George Winston, Sonny Landreth, Jerry Douglas, Sam
Bush and others. 
Bob Brozman is a master of bottleneck blues as well as Gypsy
swing, calypso, ragtime, Hawaiian, Indian, African, Japanese/Okinawan, Caribbean
and other World Music styles. He has been called "an instrumental wizard" and "a
walking archive of 20th Century American music." Bob maintains a nearly
superhuman schedule throughout the year, touring constantly throughout North
America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. He has recorded numerous albums
and has won the Guitar Player Readers' Poll two years in a row in both the blues
and slide guitar categories. In 1999, he co-founded International Guitar Seminars,
which hosts over 120 students annually at sites in California, New York, and
Canada. Bob is also a linguist, anthropologist, and ethnomusicologist, lecturing part- time at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He is starting a foundation for the purpose of getting some of the western surplus of instruments and other musical supplies directly into the hands of musicians in third world countries in Africa and Oceania. For more info: www.bobbrozman.com