Hawaiian Music has been developed over the years as a kind of melting pot of sounds from around the world. As such much of the Hawaiian Music that we associate with the islands is composed of a few basic native Hawaiian elements with other cultural influences woven into it.

Contemporary Hawaiian Music often contains one or several of the following; a Ukulele, a guitar, double-bass, steel guitar, slack-key guitar, falsetto or high pitched singing, chanting, and native instruments such as the Pahu or a shark-skin covered drum, and the hanu ihu or the nose flute. Many of the listed items came to Hawaii with Merchants and Missionaries, even the falsetto singing style was learned from missionaries who first taught Hawaiians how to sing the hymnals. Chanting is traditionally used in Hawaiian music. Most of the introduced musical instruments have been adapted by the Hawaiians.

Slack-Key guitar is a tuning technique developed on the islands that leaves one or more of the strings on a guitar slackened. This can allow for longer bass notes that continue while the other strings are being plucked. It is an entirely unique method for playing the guitar. The steel guitar was actually invented by a Hawaiian and the Ukulele is a modified form of an instrument that was brought over by the Portuguese.

Much Hawaiian Music has a wide range of flavors too. You will find Hawaiian Music with a Jazzy influence or rock, blues, country and even reggae and the Hapa-Haole sounds often found in Don Hos Greatest Hits Album or the song Blue Hawaii. Some other albums thought to be solidly Hawaiian Music are Hapa-Hapa, Ke Alaula, and Guava Jam.

The truth is that Hawaiian Music may best be described as whatever sounds and stylings that remind one of the Islands. So if you want to listen to Elvis's Blue Hawaii at your Luau go ahead.