Dobro blues tuning

Jim West · Posted 12 May 2003 7:25 am

What is a good tuning for my square neck Dobro for playing blues?

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

You should be able to play the blues with any tuning, but I find that open E works well.
The two main variations for this type of tuning use either the fifth of the chord as the top string or the root as the top string.
Here are open G and open E tunings, treble to bass string:



D     E


B     B


G     G#


D     E


B     B


G     E

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Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

You'll probably want to try low bass G, too. Low to high: DGDGBD. It's the most common tuning for old-timey blues slide a la Son House or Charlie Patton or Robert Johnson.

-Travis

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

If your using heavy guage strings, I would use open G and open D. Open E and open A can cave in your cone if it doesn't have the spread out spider supporting it, Nationals don't? There is a dobro slide Capo out there for going to open E and open A.

open G
D
B
G
D
G
D

open D
D
A
F#
D
A
D

[This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 17 May 2003 at 09:44 AM.]

sliding bill · From: UK

Just as a variation I have been getting some Celtic / Blues sounds from --
high
D
A
G
D
A
D
low
I favour "normal" high bass G tuning usually.

Have fun.

Bill

Page Wood · From: Los Angeles

Bill-
I''m also interested in Celtic DADGAD, but I only know about fingerstyle players- could you suggest any artists that play steel?

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

These last are similar to a Bazouki tuning, an interesting tuning. We have a bazouki, but it's tuned like a mandocello. I prefer the trad bazouki tuning myself.

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 17 May 2003 at 06:05 AM.]

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

I've heard an awful lot of great blues played in the standard High G tuning. There are even a couple of good books out for just blues on that tuning.

Pete Grant · From: Auburn, CA, USA

The trouble with "standard" G tuning (GBDGBD) is that you have a third in the bass range (the low B) and you don't have a root on the top (only a fifth -- the D).

Many blues phrases use the bass notes _without_ a third (like 1 5 1, or just 1 and 5), and favor the interval of a fourth that you get in the interval between the second and first strings, like what's used by Chuck Berry (like Johnny B. Goode) and Robert Johnson and a gazillion blues artists. It's also an interval that occurs in standard guitar tuning on the top two strings. As a matter of fact, E tuning is just like if you play standard guitar and make an E chord with your left hand. Same notes.

In my opinion, the people that play blues in G tuning do so _in spite of the tuning_ not because of it. My recommendation is to use D (D A D F# A D) or E (E B E G# B E). If you think you'll do fiddle tunes, Celtic, or bluegrass in addition to blues, use D. It favors the keys of D and A, which are favorite fiddle keys.

[This message was edited by Pete Grant on 24 May 2003 at 11:53 PM.]

[This message was edited by Pete Grant on 24 May 2003 at 11:54 PM.]

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Elmore James--E tuning
Muddy Waters--G tuning
The tuning choice is up to you. Blues are readily available in both tunings. I like G tuning because of its' similarity to standard tuning. The 2nd, 3rd,and 4th strings are the same as regular guitar. The first string is just lowered a whole step. My brain can easily deal with that. I know tons of chords and licks from standard guitar that I can quickly transfer to slide. I can think quicker chromatically and harmonically(sp?) in this tuning.
G tuning is good for keys of(but not limited to) G and D. G tuning is good for the common practice of "dead thumb" bass playing. Using this technique is great for solo playing, as it adds a steady, lower voice. "Course, when you think about it, E tuning has the same intervals as G tuning, just moved over one string, with the root on top. And, of course D tuning is the same as E tuning, but lowered a whole step. But blanket statements about which tuning is blusier??? well, I can't agree with them. It's up to the player to be "bluesy".
John Billings

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

None of these statements are absolutes

Elmore James--E tuning
Muddy Waters--G tuning
The tuning choice is up to you. Blues are readily available in both tunings. I like G tuning because of its' similarity to standard tuning. The 2nd, 3rd,and 4th strings are the same as regular guitar. The first string is just lowered a whole step. My brain can easily deal with that. I know tons of chords and licks from standard guitar(and banjo, dobro) that I can quickly transfer to slide. I can think quicker chromatically and harmonically(sp?) in this tuning.
G tuning is good for keys of(but not limited to) G and D. G tuning is good for the common practice of "dead thumb" bass playing. Using this technique is great for solo playing, as it adds a steady, lower voice. "Course, when you think about it, E tuning has the same intervals as G tuning, just moved over one string, with the root on top. And, of course D tuning is the same as E tuning, but lowered a whole step. But blanket statements about which tuning is blusier??? well, I can't agree with them. It's up to the player to be "bluesy".
John Billings

Harry Williams · From: Duncan, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

I use open E for blues on Dobro. I love the Root on the top and bottom, and the wide intervals - two full octaves between high and low strings. And as John mentioned above, this tuning has a lot in common with Open G if you want to play bluegrass or folk.

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Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

Elmore used Open D as does Jerry Douglas. A lot of ground getting covered there.

sliding bill · From: UK

Page,
I saw Sally Van Meter (The reso goddess of tone taste and timing) back a British bottleneck / picker called John Dickenson (Celtic style blues?). She used DADGAD to gret effect on some numbers. She said it opened up some possibilities that DADF#AD lacked but she was in the process of "Still working on it".
I don't know of anyone who has recorded in this tuning.
Myself --- still experimenting.

Good luck,

Bill

David Doggett · Posted 27 May 2003 11:43 am

As described by several above, there are two basic blues open tunings, with the 5th on top (in G or A) or with the root on top (D or E). Either of these can have either the root on bottom or be a "low" tuning with the 5th on the bottom (to give that ba-dum thing in the bass line). Later electric bluesmen have tended to use E or D (Elmore James, Houndog Taylor, Fred McDowell), while the older acoustic guys tended to use G or A (Son House, etc.). I think Robert Johnson used both. John Lee Hooker has done a lot of songs in open A, including his trademark "Boogie Chillun", and he didn't even play slide.

But it really depends on the song and the singers vocal range. I can't sing Elmore James' stuff in E or D. I can sing it in A, but then you loose the trademark Elmore James lick at the 12th fret with the root on top (I actually have a short-neck children's electric "Shredder" guitar that tunes nicely in open A with A on top, but the Elmore lick ends up sounding like an electric mandolin or something). The highest I can sing Elmore's stuff is in C, so I have an old Kay archtop with about a 26" neck that I put large guage strings on and tune down in open C with the root on top and bottom. National now makes a baritone tricone for tuning in C that Bob Brozman plays sometimes.

Son House's stuff I can't sing in A like he does, but can sing in E. I can get Son's licks in E by just not using the top string much.

I go to an acoustic blues jam once a month. Some of the others will do an occasional number on slide, but I'm usually the only one who plays slide all the time (round-neck and square-neck). I take a round-neck cut-away Dobro (spider bridge, I don't like the sound of biscuits) tuned in open E. With the cut-away I can also reach the octave A fret with the slide. Most of the players do Chicago 12-bar style stuff and only play in E or A. Occasionaly someone will do a folk-style blues in C or G. So I also bring along a Regal square-neck with a standard Dobro G tuning. This also comes in handy if someone veers off into Jimmy Rogers or Hank Williams (white man's blues).

The only other blues tuning I sometimes play with is an E or D modal tuning (high)EBEBEB(low). This is a very powerful blues tuning. With no 3rds you can play major or minor blues. You can pick evey other string and play octaves, or you can pick adjacent strings and have power chords. This is a really fun tuning for blues.

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Student of the Steel, Fessy S12U, Emmons S12 E9 P/P, Nashville 400, Fender Squire, Peavey Transtube Supreme into JBL 15", 1968 Gibson J50, '60s Kay arch-top, 7-string Raybro, customized Korean Regal square-neck, roundneck Dobro 90C, 1938 Conn Chu Berry tenor sax, '50s Berg mouthpiece, Hamilton upright piano, Casio keyboard. You make it, I'll play it (sort of)

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