King Bennie Nawahi

James Hartman · Post by **James Hartman** » 29 Mar 2012 8:57 am

Been listening to this guy lately. Enjoying his playing a lot. Doesn't seem to get his due as a "hot" player from the '20s/'30s era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCUvuz3Qr-k

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 29 Mar 2012 9:05 am

He does with me. I love King Bennie and have always called him one of my favorites.

I used to perform Tickling the Strings with a band years ago and it was a blast.

Kevin Brown · Post by **Kevin Brown** » 29 Mar 2012 9:07 am

Me too, he's up there with Sol and many others, long time fan here, i tried to learn some of his licks on slide guitar before I switched to lap, bloomin nightmare !!

James Hartman · Post by **James Hartman** » 29 Mar 2012 9:16 am

Well, hopefully I've exaggerated his obscurity. I have a vinyl copy of the King Bennie compilation Yazoo released. Fun stuff!

Les Cook · Post by **Les Cook** » 29 Mar 2012 12:26 pm

Bennie was the greatest for me ![/img]

Tim Tweedale · Post by **Tim Tweedale** » 1 Apr 2012 10:07 am

Benny's one of my favourites too. I love "Honolulu Bound". Any titles in particular you'd recommend, Mike? Songs or albums?

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 1 Apr 2012 11:28 am

Check this cut out--King Bennie on electric, sounding a lot like Sol and using his tuning, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7pSCcI-cSI

I've always dug King Bennie's Triolian sound--it had such an urgency to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zK7nrrQAw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ia8TidGQNI

This is a classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg6HyE4V64Q

Here is Bennie playing with a small jazz group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqTENOzZaKo

James Hartman · Post by **James Hartman** » 1 Apr 2012 12:32 pm

Mike Neer wrote:Check this cut out--King Bennie on electric, sounding a lot like Sol and using his tuning, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7pSCcI-cSI

I've always dug King Bennie's Triolian sound--it had such an urgency to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zK7nrrQAw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ia8TidGQNI

This is a classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg6HyE4V64Q

Here is Bennie playing with a small jazz group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqTENOzZaKo

Great stuff. I haven't spent a whole lot of time trying to play these tunes (as yet). The ones I've fooled around with seem to fall nicely in an A6 tuning.

Kev Conlon · Post by **Kev Conlon** » 29 Jun 2013 5:29 am

Having a revisit to Tickling The Strings...

Think Benny used High A Bass...and played in F...!!?

Any comments...or even Tab out there!!?

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 29 Jun 2013 6:00 am

No question Bennie was a terrific player who deserves to be better remembered. I can't quite put my finger on it but his playing, for me, doesn't have the timelessness of Sol's. maybe it's his material or that 20's hokum vibe - don't know. If I recall, he suddenly went blind while driving his car. Sad.

Kev Conlon · Post by **Kev Conlon** » 29 Jun 2013 6:16 am

Kev Conlon wrote:Having a revisit to Tickling The Strings...

Think Benny used High A Bass...and played in F...!!?

Any comments...or even Tab out there!!?

....just thought I'd try again..

Bill Leach · Post by **Bill Leach** » 29 Jun 2013 12:04 pm

Hi Kev,
Stacey Phillips has tab for this one in his book "the art of Hawaiian Steel guitar", though it's not exactly how Bennie Nawahi played it.
I tried to work it out a while ago but was stumped by some of the low string parts. The only way I could figure it out is if he was playing a 7 string guitar in B tuning. 7 string guitars certainly weren't uncommon at the time.
It's usually stated that he was playing it on a National Triolian, but I'm not convinced this is the case.
I'd be interested if anyone knows for sure.