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Topic: Dobro Tunings |
Ricky Ray Jackson
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 2:22 pm |
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Hi there. I am starting to get into Dobro pretty seriously. I was wondering if there was any interesting tunings you guys might be using. I have been sticking with open G at the moment and would love some stuff to ply around on. Thanks.
Ricky |
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Ian
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 3:38 pm
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Ricky,
I've been playing dobro in open G since the 20th century - it's a great tuning and there is tons of instructional material out there. A few months back I picked up Andy Volk's Exploring Open D and Related Tunings. I'm really digging it, both learning new tunes and transposing what I know in G to D. Check it out.
Cheers,
Ian
Last edited by Ian on 10 Apr 2018 3:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 3:40 pm
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My suggestion: when you find all the music you can make in good old G tuning, then look for other tunings. So far, Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes haven't seen the bottom yet. 
But the main alternative tuning is D tuning. But trust me: Stay with G for a long long time. It is the standard dobro tuning for a reason. |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 4:01 pm
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| Search Youtube for Greg Booth's vids. He makes beautiful music with his low G tuned down to E. EBDGBD |
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Allan Haley
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 4:03 pm
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| Don't make my mistake- bouncing around tunings for the first five years. Pick one and stick with it. Tons of material for GBDGBD |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 4:33 pm
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| Quote: |
| Pick one and stick with it |
Excellent advice but I'd add, when you're ready to explore new tunings, a very helpful thing to do is say to yourself: "What's different and what's the same?" I'm working on a new book of Dobro arrangements in G, G/Em7, Gm, Gadd9, D, D7, and D6 tunings. To get Gm, you flat your B strings 1/2 step to Bb; to get Gadd9, you raise the third string G one whole step to A.
So, you can keep your core tuning and make easy tweaks to expand the tuning to make it easier to play certain tunes and you just keep track of a simple 1-2 step difference ... "what is different in this new tuning and what stayed the same?"
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Ricky Ray Jackson
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 10 Apr 2018 4:53 pm
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| Thank you guys so much. Long live the forum. |
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Ashoke kumar Das
From:
West Bengal, India
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 7:29 am Donut Tunning
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| Well, B should be changed on which part (lower and higher )? Ashoke |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 8:56 am
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G Tuning:
1 D
2 B
3 G
4 D
5 B
6 G
G Minor Tuning:
1 D
2 Bb
3 G
4 D
5 Bb
6 G
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Ed Boyd
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 9:10 am
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| I'm new to Dobro. I MIGHT play with C6 just because the very first thing I learned was C6 lap steel but I'm having to much fun playing around with G right now. Dropping the bottom string to E sounds cool. Nothing else it gives you a full open minor grip. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 9:27 am
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Or in looking at Andy's post above, you could just tune down the high B string a half step so that you still have the Major 3rd available on the 5th string. That's typically how I do it if I want to have a version of a minor tuning involving the top three strings. But I don't use it very often.
Good comment Bill McCloskey on Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes having yet to find the bottom in G tuning.
Speaking of Jerry, I will be seeing him this evening at The Hopmonk Tavern in nearby Sebastopol here in Sonoma County. He's doing a handful of trio shows with his JD Band bass player Daniel Kimbrough and drummer Doug Belote, instead of the full band.
When I started playing in my early 20s in 1977 after locating an early '30s California built Dobro, initially I had it tuned to Open A since that was the first tuning I had learned as a kid taking steel guitar lessons.
Dobro teachers giving in person lessons are still a pretty rare bird, though the power of Skype has made things a whole lot easier, but in the '70s finding one was next to impossible in many parts of the country. But find one I did, and a number of our members here knew him - Tom Webb, a fine pedal steel, dobro, and banjo player. He taught at Guitar Showcase in San Jose.
When I showed up for my initial lesson with my A tuning strings, the first thing Tom did was escort me to the front counter where I purchased a set of genuine Dobro strings, 16-56 for G tuning. He told me, "this is the tuning we're going to be using so you need these strings." I didn't argue.
Yeah, I know - since someone will inevitably chime in with the following so I'll save you the trouble - Pete Kirby aka Brother Oswald tuned his old Dobro "Herman" to Open A.
_________________
Mark |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 9:51 am
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As mentioned..
If your idea of the dobro are the contemporary masters then G is the "one tuning that rules them all". There's no limitation to that tuning that can't be overcome with technique or knowledge.
On the other hand, if your dobro concept is basically "acoustic lapsteel" or even "dobro sound effect" then of course there are dozens of lapsteel tunings out there to mess with. You should know that some tunings just don't work well because of issues with skinny strings and cone loading.
So, want to approach the dobro as a "dobro"? Learn (don't dabble) G tuning.
It rules.
hp |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 12:22 pm
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I don't dislike G tuning and I play it but D tuning also has a lot of advantages for certain music. Back in Feb. 2002, Pete Grant posted this about D-tuning vs G-tuning:
PETE GRANT:
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Although G tuning (GBDGBD low to high) is popular with players of country and bluegrass (it seems to be "required" in bluegrass), I think you'll find that D tuning (D A D F# A D)--just like your E tuning but a whole step low--is far more versatile for country and even better for a lot of fiddle tunes in bluegrass.
For one thing, you have access to a harmonized scale in 6ths on the first and third strings with a combination of a straight bar and a forward slant of one fret (forward slant being that the nose of the bar is higer than the back of the bar). To get the same scale on G tuning you use a forward slant of one fret and a forward slant of two frets. I play far fewer two-fret slants, just 'cause they're so tricky to play in tune.
A nice thing about G tuning is that you have a sequential chord (135135) with no chord tones missing. This is also a drawback, because the overall range of the tuning is an octave and a fifth, while your tuning and D tuning have a range of two octaves (151351). I get far more use out of having the root on the first string. I hardly ever miss having a 3rd way down in the bass range. As a matter of fact, not having it is more of an advantage. Having 151 on the bottom gives me the ability to more easily fake a minor chord--or play one of the 3 minor chords possible by using an open string for the third of the chord (Bmi, F#mi, and Ebmi).
I've done lots of playing with country and bluegrass bands, and a lot of recording using D tuning. It works _very well_. The only time I will grab a G tuning dobro is if I want to get that Josh Graves sound on some classic Flatt & Scruggs tune--and if that's all you want to do, G tuning will serve you well. It's part of that sound. But I think there's a real "everybody does it that way so I guess I'd better do it too" aspect to the use of G tuning. |
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Sebastian Müller
From:
Berlin / Germany
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Posted 11 Apr 2018 10:19 pm
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B-Flat Minor is also pretty powerful, just lower both G strings to F#.
There are some arrangements in Stacy Phillips book 'The Art of Hawaiian Steel Guitar.
_________________
https://hawaiian-steel-guitar.com |
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Jouni Karvonen
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 12 Apr 2018 12:27 am
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| Or you can tune to Bm7/D6: D-A-D-F#-B-d, whole step up from "old" Hawaiian C#m7. |
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Bob Watson
From:
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
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Posted 12 Apr 2018 1:07 am
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| If you haven't done this yet, check out learning how to play in the key of D using the standard G tuning. A lot of tunes are in D and it gives you another key to play in that lends itself to using open strings. Here's a good example with Gaven Largent playing Fishers Hornpipe with Michael Clevland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25oq8FcaJnI |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 12 Apr 2018 9:10 pm
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| My Gretsch Boxcar dobro is tuned to an open G. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2018 10:45 am
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https://people.well.com/user/wellvis/tuning.html
and buy Stacy Phillips' "The Complete Dobro Player".
BUT - as a long time player I suggest NOT getting too obsessed with multiple tunings unless you are also a glutton for theory. It's much better - especially as a new player - to focus on one, maybe 2-3 at most.
After 40 years of messing around I only use G, D and C6. There's just not the time to seriously learn a bunch of others.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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David M Brown
From:
California, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2018 4:44 am
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| Jouni Karvonen wrote: |
| Or you can tune to Bm7/D6: D-A-D-F#-B-d, whole step up from "old" Hawaiian C#m7. |
Or do what I do - I have one set up to A low bass which goes with 2 string changes to C#m7, the SOl Hoopi'i version
EAEAC#E to EBEG#C#E |
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Paul Stauskas
From:
DFW, TX
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Posted 17 Apr 2018 11:20 am
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I have been messing around with GBDF#AD, has anyone else tried this for stuff that would be non-traditional dobro or as another player put it, playing for the dobro "sound"
Thanks
_________________
My site |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 17 Apr 2018 11:43 am
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Haven't tried your tuning, Paul, but I sometimes use this one - a variation on DADGAD I cribbed from Celtic standard guitarist El McMeen: CGDGAD (low to hi).
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2018 2:09 pm
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I stumbled on A C# E G# B E (one whole step above Paul's above)
early on in my Lap Style Adventures. b0b recorded a very nice album in this tuning called Stella. Click on the Music link at the top of the page for more info. I feel that I never gave this tuning the time and energy that it warrants so it is very nice to hear what b0b did with it.
_________________
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Paul Stauskas
From:
DFW, TX
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Posted 17 Apr 2018 4:09 pm
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| Michael Maddex wrote: |
I stumbled on A C# E G# B E (one whole step above Paul's above)
early on in my Lap Style Adventures. b0b recorded a very nice album in this tuning called Stella. Click on the Music link at the top of the page for more info. I feel that I never gave this tuning the time and energy that it warrants so it is very nice to hear what b0b did with it. |
Exactly Michael, b0b's recording was one of the reasons I decided to try it.
_________________
My site |
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Paul DiMaggio
From:
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 17 Apr 2018 4:36 pm
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| I too use the D over G tuning. Especially for songs with lots of minors. |
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