Halemanu's Page

Discerning musicians, specifically electric guitarist and bass players spend a great deal of time refining their individual amp tone. Some might plug straight into an amp or PA system, set the controls to 11 and their good to go. Others (myself included) regard our tone as a very important part of conveying our music to the masses. Tone is your individual voice. If your tone or guitar sound is unclear, too much lows, too much highs, too much of this or that, no matter what you play you will soun… Continue

It seemed to me that triads are looked upon by many musicians as something we learn in basic theory. We forget about triads when we seek larger chords or exotic alterations. But let's give little triad a break.

If we remember way back when, just about every possible chord voicing can be broken down into a combination of triads, or even smaller diads. I don't know if that is even a term "diad", but my former guitar mentor Sid Jacobs would refer to the essential tones as that. I think even the gr… Continue

These are very trying times for everyone here in the states with the economy in flux. Now days I find myself not been performing as much as I normally do because of the recession. So for the last 8 months or so, I have been occupying my time with practicing and learning. Studying not only music, but all kinds of other subjects not related to music. I find myself going to the library more often and getting lost on all that it has to offer......On the music side, I've learned at least 5 new tunes… Continue

The theory of music 101

I used to have the belief that, I didn't have to learn to read music or music theory to be a great musician, but I have changed my thinking since those days. It is true that you can go through life playing the music that you love without even giving music theory a second thought. Many successful musicians have made a fine living in the music biz this way.

I can tell you from experience that music theory , even just a little bit, can go a long way. It can take your music… Continue

Just got through recycling our monthly (or two or three months) load. Feels good to know that we're doing our part to keep these items out of the land fill and in some cases out of the ocean.

Did you know that virtually all indigenous cultures around the world at one point, recycled everything. Take my ka papa (ancestors) in pre-European contact Hawaii, they recycled all the things around them.

We can all take lessons from different cultures if we stop, look, and listen