“Ei Nei” – Ernest Ka’ai

Below is the lesson for “Ei Nei” by Ernest Ka’ai.

Helpful Tips

Learn to play a beautiful Hawaiian waltz twice! Played once through fingerstyle, then strummed. A waltz is a piece of music with a rhythm of three beats per measure. This creates a feel that is quite different from common time (4/4). Therefore, we want to count each measure as:

1, 2, 3 (next measure)
1, 2, 3 (next measure)

And so on…

Let’s talk about how to approach playing this piece. One of the most important elements in performing a waltz is to accent the beat(s) in which the melody note(s) occurs. But how do we know which note is the melody?

Easy! It’s anytime you see a single note. So what does it mean to “accent” a beat? It means to strike that beat slightly louder than the others. In the case of a waltz, this helps to make the melody note pop and sustain over the chords (a.k.a. the harmony).

The above covers the first time through the form. In the part 2 lesson, Christopher will introduce you to a unique strumming technique called, All the Fingers Strum. As you heard in the performance, this strumming method creates a HUGE sound that can’t be matched by traditional down/up strumming.

Part 1 – Performance & Free Lesson


Part 2 – For Premium Members

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