WHISTLING – The Awesome Hawaiian Instrument That’s Always With You

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Whistling – Hawaiian music vibes that can always be with ya

Is there anything out there that sounds more chill and gives you the “Hawaiian” vibes more than a man whistling some beautiful tunes?

This post’s goal is to broaden your mind to some new options and maybe get you to stop overlooking this cool instrument that we carry everywhere with us, and start implementing it in your instruments arsenal. Whistling a solo of a song while playing the guitar is always a beautiful thing as long as it is well done. Here are 7 great reasons to start implementing whistling in your arsenal:

1 – It Is Always With You!

That’s a tough one for all the other thousands of musical instruments to compete with – no matter where you are, you can always start playing right there and then. Even if you end up in the most random jam and got no instruments with you.

2 – Whistling Is Relatively Easy To Get Good At

Each one of us stands now on a different level in his whistling skills. Most of us can whistle a basic tune but if you will be trying to accurately whistle some solo from a familiar song so you would most likely be surprised to find out that it’s not easy at all to stay constantly on pitch and keep it smooth and sounding clean all the way without breakdowns. No worries though, because with some practice you can easily be able to blow all the tunes you’d like with beautiful smoothness and with nice and even sounds.

Check this article I wrote for some TIPS on how to whistle. Personally, it took me 2 months of almost-daily whistling at least for a few minutes to get to a level where I am happy and confident with my whistling sound to play almost any solo or melody to a song that I like. Most of that time I was simply whistling while driving my car, that means it didn’t take any extra time in my day. AND I keep getting better and better now. This is incomparable with almost any other instrument.

learn how to whistle

3 – You Can Play It All By Ear

Nobody uses notes to whistle his solos right? No fingering charts to memorize for that one… It’s going straight from your mind and out into the world, and you find that you can suddenly play almost any solo that you want to play. as long as it is not extremely fast – everything is possible. That also takes us to the next point:

4 – Whistling Gives You Great Ear Training

Whether you are regularly practicing intervals or not, when you need to reproduce music out of yourself (singing/whistling) and not out of pressing a string or a button, it gets your whole feeling for the music way ahead of what you used to because you are physically producing the music. This is something that will come back to you ten-fold on the guitar or any other instrument you play as well – for example when you will be trying to figure out solos by ear it is going to be gradually easier.

daily ears workout
Ear Training – one of the most powerful musicians’ weapons.
5 –  Whistling Lets You Finally Add The Solos To The Songs You Play:

A good song without its solo is like a pot without a lid. Never again now, since not only that you can play the solo, but also you can still go on and play the rhythm guitar while doing that! And the best part? you don’t even need to practice that solo for hours in your room like you’d do if you’re trying to play it perfectly on a guitar.

6 – It Gives You The Musical Edge™

You can play 2 instruments at once now. (Guitar and whistling for example) You whistle cool solos along with your music and your whistling sounds way better than the average guy – always on tune and with beautiful dynamics. Your music is going to benefit from it big time – this is something that makes you special and memorable and gives you The Musical Edge™. It’s also a unique thing to add to your own music if you write some music yourself.

7: You Can Express Yourself With Whistling In A Variety Of Ways

Play around with it and see how it best suits the song that you want to add it to: You can either start the song with a whistling solo you came up with, or recreate exactly the original solo (if it’s a cover), maybe just add whistle riffs here and there between the lines, or sometimes even whistle the whole melody of the song instead of singing – for one verse or for the whole song. Whistling can do wonders to your music.

For a few tips on how to whistle much better, check out my tips article right here.

Do you like using whistling in your songs? Do you know any cool YouTube videos with whistling? Please share with us below in the comments!


I will cap it off with a beautiful song by Martin Sexton called “Happy” that has a great whistling solo that just lifts the whole song up a notch. Just be careful because that solo (starts at about 2:00) is really catchy. By the way, John Mayer himself said that Martin Sexton is “one of the most treasured singer-songwriters on this planet” and I agree on that one. check his other stuff out if you like that song.

Peace.

Alon Cooper

Alon Cooper

Hey! I'm Cooper, and I hope I can be a helpful friend on your musical journeys. I'm a music artist based in Austin & Amsterdam, playing venues with a band / solo, and trying to learn with the most inspiring musicians wherever I go. In the last 8 years I've lived in Australia, northern Europe, the US and more.

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The Guitar Campfire Songbook

I hope this list has given you some great ideas, and if you want to have another bunch of song ideas in a fancy PDF songbook form, then feel free to download the songbook in this link.

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