Jeff Peterson is a slack key guitar player from Maui, Hawaii. The son of a … Read Full Bio ↴Jeff Peterson is a slack key guitar player from Maui, Hawaii. The son of a paniolo at Haleakala Ranch, Jeff was exposed to the sounds of slack key at an early age.
Jeff's style fuses traditional Slack Key with elements of classical and jazz guitar,[1] at which styles he is also adept. Jeff studied classical guitar at USC before returning to the islands to play and teach in the Honolulu area.
Jeff has contributed to many albums, including a series of slack key and bamboo flute duets with Riley Lee, several slack key compilations including the Grammy Winning album "Slack Key Guitar Volume 2", as well as his most recent solo album, "Slack Key Guitar: The Artistry of Jeff Peterson," available on Palm Records. He performed at BAM's Next Wave Festival in 2008 in collaboration with the string quartet ETHEL.[2]
Jeff has shared the stage with many Hawaiian legends at concerts throughout the islands and Japan, and recently did a stint with the Nashville Symphony.
He is currently a guitar professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Oahu.