Terms Relating to Slack Key Guitar and Hawaiian Music in General
Page 1 Dancing Cat Records Hawaiian Slack Key Information Booklet, SECTION VII: GLOSSARY - TERMS RELATING TO SLACK KEY GUITAR AND HAWAIIAN MUSIC IN GENERAL A Four Forty (A 440): Means 440 cycles are the “A” pitch in music physics. The “A” note on piano is tuned to 440 cycles; thus “A 440.” Sometimes just called “Four Forty” (440). (Also see piano tuning). A Tuning: Tunings pitched in the key of A. They can be tuned up to the keys of B or Bb, or down to the keys of Ab, G, F#, or F. Also, it is a term occasionally used for when the G Major “Taro Patch” Tuning is tuned up to the key of A, which is accomplished by tuning the second (B), third (G), and fourth (D) strings up two half steps to C#, A, and E, respectively, from Standard Tuning, and leaving the first (E), fifth (A), and sixth (E) strings as is. Thus Standard Tuning E-A-D-G-B-E, from the lowest pitched string to the highest (also see SECTIONS III, IV, IVa, V, and VI in this book for more about tunings - it is labeled as Tuning #C-33), yields E-A-E-A-C#-E, a higher pitched open A Major chord, if that is the desired sound by the guitarist. This is the opposite way that the G Major Tuning is usually derived from the Standard Tuning, where the first (E), fifth (A), and sixth (E) strings are tuned down two half steps to D, G, and D, respectively, yielding D-G-D-G-B-D, from the lowest pitched string to the highest.
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