OAHU and HAWAIIAN GUITARS. Slide, Demaggio SLIDE!!! Part 1

The late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was a fascinating time in the annuls of american and world music. Of particular interest was the birth of what would become known as slide guitar. The haunting, ''singing'' tone derived from sliding a hard object such as a bottle neck, or a pocket knife along the strings, is an integral part of several styles of music such as the blues, country and Hawaiian guitar playing.

No one knows exactly what is the exact genealogy of this style. ( which actually encompasses TWO styles of guitar playing, but we will get to that in moment or two ) We surmise that sometime near the turn of the last century, in Hawaii a young boy named Joseph Kekuku, while walking home from school with his guitar near the railroad tracks, accidentally slid a metal spike along the strings. ( From Brads Page of Steel: ''Other persons who have been credited with the invention of the steel guitar includeGabriel Davion, an Indian sailor, around 1885, and James Hoa, a Hawaiian of Portuguese ancestry''.)Guitars had been in Hawaii for several decades up till then. The guitars were tuned to an open chord. This was the start of what was called ''Slack Key'' guitar playing. From About.com:

''As we know guitars while some guitars may have made their way to Hawaii in the early 1800's along with the many European sailors who visited Hawaii, the origin of Hawaiian guitar music is generally credited to the Mexican and Spanish cowboys who were hired by King Kamehameha III around 1832. It was from the Hawaiian cowboys, or paniolos, that the tradition of Hawaiian slack key guitar music finds its roots.''

The sound of the steel moving on the strings so intrigued Joseph that he devoted several years to teaching himself to play in this manner. This style of play was a revelation. The guitar, instead of being held in the conventional manner is played flat on the players lap facing up. A hard object such as a steel bar is moved back and forth against the strings. This sound was ( and is ) so infectious, so unique, and SO soulful that it was a hit immediately. ( There was and is another way to play of course, being the ''bottle neck style'' where you use the neck of a bottle to slide along the strings the guitar being held in the regular manner. ) From Hollowneck's website:

''The fact that the string is not actually fretted is what gives Steel Guitar it's "microtonality", meaning that the player has access to "the notes between the notes" and can sharpen or flatten the pitch of the note being played by any amount & add expressive vibrato effects.''

The style caused a sensation, and people all over the island started taking it up. Masters emerged, Joseph among them. But it did not hit the shores of the USA until ( reportedly ) the San Francisco exposition of 1915 Then things got real jazzy. To be continued....!