Chords for Spectrum Part three Merle Kekuku Barney JB Alan Akaka VSP

[Am] _ _ _ [Bbm] Performance [D] is hard to find. _
A lot of questions come up, why aren't [Ebm] there more steel guitar players?
_ Well, I'll tell you, to be honest with you, my answer is, [Em] we have to find [Ebm] good [Dm] guitarists.
A [Em] steel player is [D] going to perform _ well [G] if he's backed up by an excellent guitarist.
_ _ [Gm] And _ most of [F] us, we pick and choose who we want to have play guitar.
Most steel guitarists would _ _ sort of _ _ have in the back of their mind who's going to be the guitar player.
_ [Bbm] _ _ [Dm] But [N] as it goes today, we are in hopes that the younger [Bb] generation will pick up the instrument and continue. _ _
But the _ _ guitar, _ _ I do hope it continues on.
This should be part of Hawai'i, and I insist that [G] someone should keep it going. _
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_ [G] _ _ _ [A] _ _ [Em] I've never made [Gb] fun of my instrument.
_ It's been my life, and I take it very seriously. _
So _ I don't burlesque anything that I do.
_ And _ I wanted to, the first time I came to Hawai'i was in 64, _ _ for a week. _
And I went back and [Db] immediately started figuring out a way to get back.
_ [C] A lot of things happened in the interim.
[Bbm] I did a lot of TV shows and recordings [Db] in Nashville for 23 years.
_ [Bm] And I decided, where can I go now where I can [Eb] play what I want to play, [A] when I want to play, if I want to play?
[Gb] And this is the only place in the world you can do that.
So I came over here [Bb] and stayed.
_ And it _ was another dimension to my career.
[G] And finally, I think probably the most rewarding [Fm] one in a way, _ _
[Em] because I want to give it back where I got it from.
[E] I think it's so important [D] to Hawai'ian music.
And I've said in a lot of interviews and [Bb] things that it's the signature [Em] sound of Hawai [D]'ian.
And when I say [Eb] Hawai'ian music, you really have to exclude Hawai'i from that. _
I'm talking about the rest of the world as they perceive Hawai'ian music.
Because the Hawai'ians took steel guitar all over the world when they traveled and played. _ _ _ _ _
So outside of Hawai'i, if it doesn't have a steel guitar, it's not Hawai'ian to them.
_ I hear Hawai'ian music can be [D] anything and is.
_ _ [Db] So I want to give [Fm] it back _ [C] to the place I got it from, [G] to the young _ _
_ [Bm] Hawai'ian boys [D] or local boys that want to learn to play this instrument.
It's yours.
[Gm] I want to give it back to them.
And if they're smart, they'll take [Em] it and use it to their advantage and _
[Gb] _ play what they want to play.
It's an instrument you can play any style you want, whatever you are, whatever you feel, you can play.
_ It's the most individual instrument in the [D] world. _ _ _ _ _ _
Well, I've said that you can line up ten steel guitar players.
[Bb] Say play the first [Gb] two strings on the fifth fret and move to the tenth fret.
No two of them would sound alike. _
_ It's that individual.
_ [Bbm] When I came over here, _ [Gb] different ones of my students would say they would ask somebody [Ab] _ [G] what tuning they're using.
They'd say it's either a family secret [Abm] or _ [Bb] some kind of an excuse.
[Db] So [B] I said, well, _ [Gb] I may be doing the wrong thing, but I'm going to have to tell you their family secrets.
So [Bm] when you're finished with [Bb] studying _ [Abm] with [N] me, you'll know all the tunings.
You won't have to ask anybody about that.
_ [D] So that's not [F] important anyhow.
Just learn to play.
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Let's talk a little bit about _ _ the future of steel guitar. _ _ _ _
_ For a while, the future didn't look too good.
_ Because a lot of Hawaiian groups never used the [Dm] guitar because of resurgence of the slack-key [E] guitar.
And [F] also we love the slack-key guitar because that is the Hawaiian way of playing the steel guitar.
You tune, you have about, maybe it must be about 50 different tunings, slack-key [Cm] tunings.
_ And like a steel guitarist, a slack-key guitarist, a lot of them have [Bb] their pit tuning.
[Bbm] _ _ And _ because of that, [Bb] so many [F] groups _ that were started, the guitar players were the lead instruments.
[Cm] So they [F] _ didn't really _ [Bb] need a Hawaiian steel guitar.
_ And _ like I say, it sounds good.
[Eb] But we [Bbm] think that the steel guitar is [D] still the original _ [Bb] sound that people used [Eb] to write _ [Ab] many years ago.
_ And so we started, Jerry Bird came down here because he loved the Hawaiian music.
He played beautiful _ country western.
_ And he came down here, he packed house a lot.
And he has never gone back to leave.
He said he's going to just stay here the rest of his life.
And because of him, not because of us Hawaiian steel guitarists, because we're kind of lazy.
And we don't have the _ patience, [Bb] you know.
_ Jerry has a lot of patience in teaching the steel [N] guitar.
And he has a system that he has all written out too.
And we have Jerry Bird to thank very much for coming down here.
Because he is _ responsible for the resurgence of the steel guitar for younger people to learn the steel.
I used to teach, but my system is a little slow and I haven't taught for a long time.
_ So maybe Jerry and I might get together and start maybe in a studio, opening classes.
Which I hope I can do.
_ _ And we have some, because of Jerry we have Alan Akaka.
Who is, _ _ looks like he's going to be one of his greatest.
_ You know, Jerry Bird and some others say that in the next few years you're going to be it, Alan.
And I'm just thinking, you know, if I'm going to be it, and they're going to be listening to me, _ I'd better practice.
_ [D] _
I've got a long ways to go before I'm like them. _
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