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Topic: Sam Ku West |
Peter Krebs
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 9 Mar 2024 11:30 am |
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I was listening to Grass Skirt’s Sam Ku CD today and was reacquainted with what a phenomenal musician he was. Just lovely touch and tone. The recordings seem to sit best in some sort of E tuning - perhaps it’s C#m? My ear isn’t super great yet at hearing some of the subtle differences.
Anyone have a moment to suggest a good starting point tuning-wise to figure out some of this stuff by ear? Thanks! |
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Joe A. Roberts
From:
Seoul, South Korea
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Posted 9 Mar 2024 11:59 am
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The tuning is probably A major, but an issue you are likely to encounter is that a lot of recordings from that era will not be in tune with A440.
One tip would be to find a lick that uses the open E string and try to tune your guitar to that, or pitch shift the track to your guitar using Audacity or some other audio software. |
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Scott Thomas
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Posted 9 Mar 2024 2:54 pm
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Yes, agreed on everything you said about Sam Ku. I also have the Grass Skirt collection. Those recordings were made in the late twenties. Recorded C#m tunings came out in the circa early/mid thirties. I recall a discussion as to who was first, Sol Hoopii or Sol K Bright, but in any event, I’m reasonably confidant Sam Ku used high A Major tuning (EC#AEC#A) high to low.
Edit: Looking back, Sol Hoopii was the first to record C#m in 1933 according to historians cited here:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=113807&highlight=sol+bright |
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Peter Krebs
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 10 Mar 2024 11:05 am
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| Great insights. Thanks, fellas! |
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Lloyd Graves
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 10 Mar 2024 4:41 pm
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Anyone have a copy of this collection they'd part with? I've always been interested but as far ii can tell, it's long out of print.
As a newer fan and student of old Hawaiian tunes, it's frustrating that the music is so hard to come by.
When I started in banjo, there were so many old recordings, and most of them are still in print.
Anyhow, thanks. |
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Sebastian Müller
From:
Berlin / Germany
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Posted 11 Mar 2024 1:18 pm
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I did not learn a lot of his repertoire yet but what I heard sounds pretty much like A Highbass !
_________________
https://hawaiian-steel-guitar.com |
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