A Lesson With Billy Hew Len

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Here is the first part of a long-lost steel guitar lesson from Hawaiian steel great Billy Hew Len to an anonymous student in a Honolulu hotel room sometime in the 1970s. His voice introduces the lesson. A highly edited version appears in my book, Lap Steel Guitar. Sorry about the poor audio quality. I EQ'd as best I could but the source material is several generations down on an old, squeeky cassette tape kindly supplied years ago by George Keoki Lake. So it is what it is - but there are real insights to be found by careful listening. This is a very big file (15+ megs) that takes up 1/2 my online storage allotment so I'll leave it up for download for a while and then remove it to post part two. Enjoy!

A Lesson with Billy Hew Len Part One

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 16 June 2006 at 12:04 PM.]

Mike Neer · From: NJ

That's fantastic, thanks for that. Really dig his raspy voice, but most of all, his great tone.

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www.mikeneer.com

Mike Neer on MySpace

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Billy Hew Len was one of the greatest steel players I have ever met. Perhaps he is an unknown name to many new comers to the Forum. His jazz style was in a class by itself and yet he could play some of the sweetest steel you'd ever want to hear. He would never critisize anyone, always offering suggestions to help a fellow steeler. I was humbled to jam with him and receive some undeserved praise from him. Here was a man who had no left hand and went on to become a steel guitar legend.
http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/

Roy Thomson · From: Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada

It's situations like this where I really
appreciate closed captioned help.
I would love to know what Billy Hew is saying
but it is really all "muffled".
Is a transcript possible???
In any event ,,,, it's wonderful for you to do this Andy.
Thank You!

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http://www.clictab.com/RoyT/Roy_Thomson_Steel_Courses.htm

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Sorry. I did a verbatim transcript years ago but it got accidently deleted so the only solution is to turn it up and listen carefully.

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

Andy, thank you so much for posting this interview with Billy, my greatest inspiration.

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

Billy is the guy that really turned the light on for me. As far as Hawaiian playing goes, some of his stuff is exactly what I want to get out of Hawaiian steel playing, great phrasing that swings. Thanks Andy, too cool...

Mitch Druckman · From: Arizona, USA

So Billy favored A6 as his basic tuning. I'm looking forward to part 2. Thanks.

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

I've heard about this interview. Is this the one that was done by Hal Smith?

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

I'm working on a transcription now... will post soon.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Derrick, I've just learned that it was indeed Hal who recorded the lesson at the Luau at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki in 1981. He has much more material and we're talking. Keep you posted.

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Gotta take my hat off to Mr. Hal Smith, as he obviously had the forsight to drag a recorder with him on his travels and save some interesting items.
I've just been the fortunate recipient of a tape he made in '81 at the shop of Richard Choy 'The Banjo King' providing a lot of laffs, nostalgia and some info on his history.

Thank you Hal, and Keoki!

Makes you wonder what else is lurking with the dust bunnies.

Rick Aiello · From: Berryville, VA USA

I'm a "big" fan of Hal Smith's Hawaiian Steel guitar playin' ... and his "pans" ...

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Hawaiian Steel Stuff
The Casteels

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

From Hal:

"I did a lot of recording of Billy and he spent many hours talking to us. I did send a copy to the John Marsden tape club in England years ago and perhaps that is where yours came from. The one you put on the internet was recorded at the Luau at the Outrigger Hotel on the Beach at a Wikiki in 1981 - I think April and it was the first time I had met him. It started off in the Outrigger Hotel Blue Dolphin room with myself talking to Billy in a noisy bar. Then it moved toan apartment owned by Joe Sakigawa, a Japanese Hawaiian living nearthe Ala Moana. Billy said he was going to demonstrate tunings to Joe and asked me along.

We used to go on the Beach and stand at the back of the stage just behind the musicians and Billy would sit us down at the break and talk. There was myself, Jess Bishop and Geoff Worley all sadly deceased except for myself! Well after that I have some more done at various places and also a lot of his playing at the luaus. I put them all on a reel to reel tape and the quality is good. I must have several hours including some at Billy's house and when he took us to a Japanese Travel agents show at a hotel on the Beach".

From Andy:
Hal is interested in making this material freely available and I'm working with him on the best way to digitize it, release it, and make it available for just the costs involved. More info as this develops. Kudos to Hal for sharing this unique and irreplaceable musical history.

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 19 June 2006 at 03:51 PM.]

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

I'm happy the long mystery of the source of that tape has finally been solved. I'd love to obtain whatever else Hal has in his collection if it is ever transferred. Please keep us advised ... ok ?
http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Bob Stone · From: Gainesville, FL, USA

Thanks so much for posting this, Andy. I look forward to more.

By the way, Dick Sanft has a few anecdotes about Billy Hew Len. Those attending the HSGA conference might be able to prompt Sanft to talk about his adventures. Sanft also told me that he played with Dick McIntire's band a couple of times (in Arizona?) when McIntire was ill. I believe Sanft has played steel for about 6 decades, at least 5 of them professionally.

Denny Turner · From: Oahu, Hawaii USA

WHOA An-day, ...what a man, you; ...what a tremendously valuable piece of work!

My hearing's acuity waned some time ago and I simply cannot understand much of what's being said, even under headphones, ...but I can sure hear much of what Billy is teaching in his Steel demonstrations; A treasuretrove of passages, examples and technique I'd be ecstatic to study / learn along with the words being said. A transcript would be INVALUABLE imho ...and certainly worth compensation for the work to do it. Please include me as a standing order when a transcript is ready (and Part 2 as well). THANK YOU.

Aloha,
DT~

[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 23 June 2006 at 03:53 AM.]

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

Hey everybody, here's what I got from the audio. There are some definite holes, but I think I got about 98% of the speech down. I tried to distill the slight "pidgin" (which, like Billy, is what a lot of us here speak) into "English" for y'all. I'm not a pro at this, so please excuse the inconsistencies and irregularities.

[This message was edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 24 June 2006 at 09:37 AM.]

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

HAL SMITH: You should hear that all of Billy’s volume control work is done manually. He doesn’t use a foot pedal at all. And now the first part of the demonstration deals with the A6 tuning basically—a little chit chat in the beginning—and comparing the A6 tuning with the C6 and saying why he uses that.

BILLY: What happened is… I had painted this a long time ago. It’s aluminum. It’s supposed to be aluminum but… this thing, when you’re playing… the place, the lights… give it shine. It sparkles, you know. It does, it sparkles. You know that little dune buggy that you see running around? That’s the kind of a thing. You see?

The reason why I use A6… I’ll show you why. I have my eight string… I had a reason for… I’ll show you why.
(vamp, fast picking)
See? That’s in the key of E.
(more hammer-on style vamps, octave gliss)

So then you hear… You usually hear this kind of sound… where, this kind of tuning (E7) cannot make.

(demonstrates two part harmonies voiced in thirds on upper strings of A6)

You hear? You can’t make those sounds with that. You can’t play those sounds. You’re going to have to play (the) Hawaiian way which is wrraanng major, seventh, major… It’ll sound pretty, but that’s all you’ll play. That’s the difference. It’ll sound sweet but you’re only limited to playing that way. You can play sweet even with this tuning depending on how you learn how to pick. See? (plays old-style on A6 tuning) See what I mean?

And then here’s the… you have that little jazz sound. (swinging lick played in octaves) You hear that? That’s two—one high, one low sound. You hear that? (more octave licks) See? That’s the reason why.

And then when you want to play “Paradise Isle”… (detunes A string to G# and plays beginning of “Paradise Isle”) See how fast that action is? You see how fast the action… right away? That’s for when you’re playing with a group. You tune it to this (A6)… …then when you sing, you’re going to tune one string, right away, and you’ve got another tuning. See? Which is the E major right here… see? Because you lowered the A to Ab. It becomes an E6 (plucks top strings).

Now that you know what you’re playing, you’ve got the A6 tuning except for this one string that you’ve lowered. Everything is … enough to concentrate now. You see, we’re playing in that key—in the key of C. (plays in C in A6 tuning) See the position I’m playing? (detunes A string to Ab) You don’t have a major here. So the major comes here (plays two note harmony).

Now this C chord right here with the bar across becomes a Cmaj7 (plucks individual notes, palm harmonics). You hear it? ‘Cause I lowered the…I lowered the A to Ab. See? That’s the reason why I use… Right away from…

(tunes back to A6, plays “Sand”)

While they’re singing the song… (detunes A string to Ab) to get a different effect. When you sing it… (plays chordal accompaniment) Now I’m playing all those chords while you’re singing here. (plays more chordal accompaniment) C7 chord.

(plays first notes of “Sand”) Now you don’t have a three-part harmony because I lowered the third string. But you can have an octave (plays first notes of “Sand” on strings 1, 2, and 5). But it goes for “Paradise Isle” so well. (plays “Paradise Isle”) See?

So that’s the simple reason I don’t use an E7. It has a pretty sound but you can also play pretty sounds if you know what you’re doing…if you know what you’re doing on a certain tuning. Because at times where we play, we don’t have time to start tuning all over the place…when you’re already on the job.
So…you have to be right away. Right away you’re going to tune one string. Like this. (tunes to B11 tuning)

This becomes the regular tuning for “Sand”. (plays first two measures of “Sand”) You hear that G9th chord? (plays further) Now you’re going to C7. You hear the seventh? It’s actually not a C7…it’s a C9th. That chord calls for a C9th. It’s the same chord but one more note. See the advantages because of that one tuning? (plays more of “Sand”)

One place with this tuning… If you don’t tune this string right, you won’t get a major chord. Like this. (plays resolve to C) You have to do a two part harmony (plucks strings 3 and 6). Or a major sixth (plucks strings 3, 4, and 6). But sometimes you don’t want the sound of the minor—you want just the major. You hear?

Now… in a C chord …I’m playing in C. The first chord in “Sand” is F, right? You’re in the key of C. You’ve got to slide right to the chord here (slides into F). The adlib of… the kind of a… making a different sound. You use this adlib sound. The same thing, like this. (begins at 15th fret) You hear? What I did here is play a, actually a… I played an Amin chord or C6 chord which is similar. It’s a relative chord in the key of F. You know what I’m saying? Because Amin…is the relative chord in the key of F. Amin, Gmin. (demonstrates) You see? It’s either a C (plays C6 chord)… but you also use that, we call it an Amin. …Or, it’s a similar, relative chord to Fmaj7.

So, to get the difference in the sound, what I did is play a C6 or Amin chord to play (plays first F chord of “Sand”, scats as he demonstrates). See what I did? Instead of playing Sand (sings). Because you have to play at that chord, right? (plays individual chord tones) See what I mean?

That becomes your self, your hearing, of trying to make it more colorful or adlibbing the thing… instead of just keep playing (plays very basic version of “Sand”). Feet Rogers plays like that. He plays like this. What he does…he plays like this. Then he plays D major (plays single note in octaves at D9th section, as Benny Rogers recorded “Sand” on 49th State Records). He can’t get a chord (chuckles). There’s no chord for him to play there because of the tuning that he uses. If you’re playing in the key of C, you’ve got to play a D9th chord. So he has to play like this (plays more single note octaves). See? You hear? It becomes harder. Not harder, but it’s not as pretty. Not as pretty. Everything sounds pretty over here (plays “Sand” short of D9th section)… well, he don’t have a 6th (corrects himself on initial F chord)… he makes all this sound pretty. All of a sudden he comes… (plays single note octaves, laughs) You hear it?

Feet Rogers plays that and Benny Rogers, his uncle. Feet Rogers learned from his uncle. That’s the way they play. They play the guitar that way… …because of the tuning they use. And the Hanawahine kid—you know Hanawahine? He plays the same kind of tuning. But now, I think now he’s using an E6th tuning also. (tunes to E6th, top string E) See, an E6th tuning. He uses… Hanawahine kid uses this tuning.

HAL: I think you’ll have gathered that the first part of that little demonstration, the third string, the A, was lowered to Ab. And I think in the latter part, the Ab (sic) is lowered and and the E is also lowered to Eb to make a 9th tuning.

BILLY: (plays single note licks) You hear that? Same thing. You notice that I didn’t move my arm? Did you notice? (plays more fast single note runs) Did you notice that? You see the action? Because when you move your arm, you have the tendency to nyah nyah nyah. Unless it’s made slower (plays same lick slower, different position).

HAL: What tuning have we got on here now?

BILLY: A6th. But I’m telling you about the… the adlibs are faster. The adlibs are low to high real fast. (demonstrates) See? The action, you see how fast?

Stephan Miller · From: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

All right Jeff!! That opens the door wide on that lesson...much appreciated.

--Steve

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

A Masterful Job, Jeff and much appreciated.

Aloha,
Don

Roy Thomson · From: Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada

Jeff,
Many thanks,,I look forward to listening along with your transcription at hand.
With my two near deaf ears and what you have done I can now follow much easier.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Excellent job, Jeff - and much clearer re the musical examples than my lost original transcription done about 8 years ago. Mahalo!

Should I leave part one up for a while longer folks or take it off the server now and post part two?

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 24 June 2006 at 02:02 PM.]

Scott Thomas · Posted 24 Jun 2006 2:39 pm

Thanks Andy, for sharing that incredible recording with a true Hawaiian steel guitar legend. And many thanks to you too Jeff for all your work in transcribing it. Your explanations of what the tunings are and clarification of what's being demonstrated along the way are really helpful.

I'm looking forward to part two. Andy, I don't know if everyone who wants this got it already, but you can pull it and post the next part as far as I'm concerned!

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