Reso in E ?

Greg Gefell · From: Upstate NY

Has anyone ever experimented with their resonator in open E - low to high E B E G# B E? Would it be more limiting than open E tuned like standard G would be E G# B E G# B? Obviously it depends on what you're playing I suppose...

David Doggett · Posted 20 Nov 2007 12:48 pm

A little while back I was sitting in on some acoustic jams with folkies. I would bring a square-neck reso tuned in G for the country and bluegrass stuff, and a round-neck tuned in E for blues and acoustic rock. I could just as well have had the E tuning on a square-neck. The E tuning is also good for country in the key of E, which doesn't work out so well on a G tuning. So an E tuning can be very useful, but for country and bluegrass, if I just had one instrument, I'd want the traditional G tuning.

Mark Lynott · From: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Not Open E exactly, but I use Open D (just a whole step down and tuned DADF#AD low to high)I got into using it for a few songs that (not surprisingly) are in D and needed a deeper sound with some open strings. I'll capo up for Open E then.

-also handy for lowering the F# to G for a "Celtic" sound with DADGAD tuning.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

....I keep a dobro tuned in 135 G tuning, and either an archtop, 2nd dobro, or other acoustic tuned in open D. This complement of instruments, along with capo, give me all the options I need for gigs that cover a wide mix of music.

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

I think you'll find more people playing in open D than open E on a resonator guitar. Open D is just the same tuning but one whole step lower:
1. D
2. A
3. F#
4. D
5. A
6. D

This blends a bit better with most songs in my opinion.
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Paul Arntson · From: Washington, USA

E6
is kind of fun and versatile
(hi to lo):

E
B
G#
E
C#
B

Roger Shackelton · From: MINNESOTA (deceased)

Hi Brad,

This is great, you're another High to Low guy. Very Happy

This makes you, Basil and Me. Smile

And now Paul too.

Roger

seldomfed · From: Colorado

What Brad said!

If I teach a guitar player lap steel - I usually start them on open E, this way they orient to the basic chords quick. Then suggest the D.

I like the D because it's a fatter sound, and because often times, guitar bands play blues and rock in E. That low D lets you hammer on E for some nice rhythmic things. I use it in a C&W band for all the heavy nashville stuff like "Fast as You" , "Kiss my Country Ass" etc.

Chris

Roy Thomson · From: Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada

Hi Greg,

There is some nice music on E Major. I teach it
to one of my students using the exact set up you
mentioned in your initial post...E..B..G#..E..B..E
High to Low.
I do tunes like Jerry's Blues, Delta Dawn, Deck The Halls, Summertime, and an Anne Murray Hit called
Snowbird plus others....
Here is a link to Snowbird. (remember this is not
recording studio quality but teaching/learning)
I have tab and MP3's available for sale for those
interested.
Link to Snowbird...
http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/Mzg2NTY=
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Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

I love the open E sound on dobro. Ever listened to Cindy Cashdollar's Rockabilly Blues in E? Easy to learn yet sounds very proffesional. Open E is great for those rockabilly type songs. And great for "Steel guitar Rag" also. Just like playing "Steel guitar Rag" with your steel but without pedals. Smile

Terry

c c johnson · From: killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.

Shot Jackson used Emaj and E7 all those yrs and played everything with Acuff, Kitty Wells and others. CC

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Of course you can put any tuning you like on the dobro. The styles of music you play probably will have some bearing on what you choose.

I keep a chart handy for all the tunings I use on my resos and 6 string Marrs CatCan. I discovered that I can use several tunings with the same string gauges....

Open D [capo up 2 for E]
G dobro tuning
Open G
DADGAD
A variation of open A. [EAEAC#E]

Playing Country, an occasional hint of bluegrass, country rock, rock and blues, most nights, G dobro and open D, occasionaly capoed to E, are all I use.
Many tunings and music styles are played on the resonator. You just have to tailor your tunings to fit your requirements.

Mark Eaton · Posted 21 Nov 2007 6:53 pm

O.K., this reply comes from having been a traveling sales rep who has spent many hours behind the wheel being able to ponder such things:

Why is Open G the most popular tuning? I believe it is because dobro as an instrument slowly began to regain its popularity in the early 1960's because of Flatt & Scruggs and the playing of Josh Graves. Josh usually tuned to G, and Earl Scruggs tuned his banjo to G, and this was done to accommodate lead vocalists (like Lester Flatt), who were in the majority back then in bluegrass, male, and male singers with respectable vocal range are comfortable singing many songs in the key of G.

If you are backing female singers, unless they have exceptional vocal range, a song that a male singer would be most comfortable with in G will often be transposed to E for female vocalists.

I do a lot of lead singing, but I find myself when singing with females on songs I would prefer to do in G, that they have to be knocked down to E to accommodate the ladies (who are singing an octave higher than me, and some of the songs in G would be very difficult), and I have to sort of compromise. Or if I'm backing them, they will choose to do the song in E. In this case it would be very convenient to have a dobro tuned to E.

I will have more to say on this later, but right now I have to light the barbecue!
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Mark Eaton · Posted 21 Nov 2007 10:02 pm

...So what I often do when playing dobro backing vocalists for a song in E, since I'm mainly an Open G tuning guy, is to capo on the 2nd fret (A chord/IV chord in key of E) and this gives me more open string stuff to work with than if I didn't capo.

But then let's take the great players of the instrument - like Rob Ickes, who rarely plays anything but G tuning. Rob, along with being a member of Blue Highway and Three Ring Circle, has become perhaps the number 1 session guy on dobro in Nashville these days, since Jerry Douglas has been intentionally pulling back over the past several years from heavy session work.

Along with bluegrass sessions, Rob does a lot of country sessions, and backs quite a few female vocalists, and these songs are not necessarily in G - but they might be in other popular keys like E, A , or C.

The fact that he almost always tunes his dobro to G, keeping in mind the above paragraph, doesn't seem to phase him in the least. He comes up with brilliant ideas for leads and fills on these sessions at the drop of a hat.

So yeah, it might be more convenient to have a dobro ready to go sometimes tuned to E, but I don't look at the G tuning as being limited, the good players know how to extract the music out of the tuning.
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Mark

c c johnson · From: killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.

Heres another hi to low guy. CC

Mark Eaton · Posted 22 Nov 2007 9:57 am

Question to you guys that use the E Major tuning (which as Brad posts is a whole step higher than Open D, or the equivalent of two frets higher on the dobro) - if you use the same string gauges, do you ever find any of the strings "exploding?" Shocked

On the last Alison Krauss & Union Station CD from a couple years back, "Lonely Runs Both Ways," Jerry Douglas posted on his forum that he played one song tuned to E, and it was the instrumental "Unionhouse Branch," which won the Grammy a couple years ago for Best Country Instrumental.

He also mentioned that it was "tight."

I have tried Cindy Cashdollar's version of G6 tuning, where the guitar is tuned to Open G, and you raise the pitch of the 4th string from D to E, and the string has snapped more often than not (probably a good idea to be wearing safety glasses!), with the regular gauge (.035). Most players use the same string set for Open D as they do for Open G, except they might substitute a heavier 6th string if the "flabby" feel of tuning that string down to D from G is unappealing.
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Mark

Terry Sneed · From: Arkansas,

Mark, I use an 034 for my 4th string, on the advice of Cindy Cashdollar in her "Bluegrass Dobro" VHS.
It may not have the beef of an 036 or 038 but, it lets me tune from open G to G6 to open E without breakin strings. Appreciate your advice, sure helps us intermediate players a lot. Smile

Terry

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I was in the studio doin' a whole cd's worth of tunes on pedal steel, and lapsteel. The artist wanted me to play something acoustic on a long intro the was a kinda hammer on from D5 to Em sorta thing. I put an extender nut on a six string, and tuned it, Low to High, DADGBD. I could hammer on the low 3 strings from D to E and play all kindsa licks in Em on the first 3 strings. With the bar on the 2nd fret on the low strings the tuning was like Em7. Playin' in the key of E or Em, there was a lot of b5 stuff, and hangin' the 7th stuff, available on the bottom 3.

Jim Sallis · From: Arizona, USA

Most Dobro players who spend much time playing bluegrass learn to play in D out of the open G tuning: You have a descending scale off that top string; you have the 4 chord (G) in the open position; you can also play out of the bar position "D" and use the hammers, etc. available at the second-fret "A" position. Capo up one and you have E. Standard open D (or E) may be somewhat better for pop/rock, since you have a 1-5 power chord on the bottom strings for vamps and easy thirds on the 1st and 3rd strings, but playing in D out of G is easier in the long run (no second guitar), and generally more melodic.

Greg Gefell · From: Upstate NY

Lots of great responses guys, thanks! I'm finding that I'm enjoying Emaj for now because of a strong sense of familiarity with regular guitar. I'm also only using it for songs in the key of E as the high and low E's really add some nice drone/pedal tone options while sliding 2 note chords against them. As I improve I'll definitely try different tunings - probably D with a capo first. Now I have to figure out which capo is best - that's a whole 'nother topic!

I did try E 135135 but those low chords were too murky for my tastes. G tuning seems to be the limit for adding a low 3rd.

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