An Evening of Hawaiian Lap Steel Guitar

Hawaiian Steel Guitar is the technique of playing a guitar with a metal bar. This evolved in Hawaii around 1885 and became the sound of Hawaiian music the world knows for many decades to come. Both the instrument used and playing technique is different from Slack Key guitar, which is a regular guitar tuned down to an open chord and played with fingers.

Joel Katz has been performing professionally on Maui for 30 years. He is also the instructor in the Hawaiian Steel Guitar, guitar, ukulele, and audio technology programs at the University of Hawaii Maui College and heads the award-winning Seaside Recording Studio. He is passionate about carrying on the tradition of this rare instrument and style.

His first CD “Hawaiian to Jazz” was a finalist for “Instrumental Album of the Year” in the 2013 Na Hoku Hanohano awards. And his most recent CD release (January 2015) “Adventures in Hawaiian Steel Guitar” is a finalist for “Na Hoku” awards for Jazz Album of the Year and for audio engineering. The music on that CD is a blend of Hawaiian style and smooth jazz.