Slack Key Guitar or Ki ho'alu, was created by the Hawaiians, and is a style of playing the guitar that has its roots in the late 1800's when the Spanish/Portugese cowboys first introduced the guitar to Hawaii.
The "paniolo" or Hawaiian cowboys would play to the cattle at night to soothe them. Ki ho'alu is played with a variey of "open tunings", and with single string plucking and strumming styles that each artist creates as his own signature style. These styles are passed down generation to generation.

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