Below is the lesson for “Hone A Ka Wai” by Ernest Ka’ai

Helpful Tips

A beautiful Hawaiian melody set to the rhythm of a waltz. 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…

When performing a waltz, you always want to accent beat 1, which is considered the strong beat, while beats 2 and 3 are considered weak beats. So what does it mean to “accent” a beat? It means to strike that beat slightly louder than the others.

In this piece, the melody note also occurs on beat 1, while beats 2 and 3 provide the harmony (the chords). In the case of this waltz, this helps the melody note pop and sustain over the chords.

While this arrangement is best suited for the intermediate player, there is one tricky element to it: stretch chords. Therefore, if you are new to tackling stretch chord or licks, then check out this lesson as it has three exercises to help increase your left hand reach.

Performance & Free Lesson

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