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Topic: Blocking |
Lindley
From:
Statesville, NC...USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 3:49 am |
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Hi guys,
I am in the beginning stages of learning to play the dobro. I am developing the habit of slipping my right hand off the front of the bridge to block strings the way I do on the steel. I have no dobro players around to teach me techniques, so I don't know if this is proper or if it is a bad habit to get into. Any help from you experienced players would be appreciated.
Thanks,
john |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 5:13 am
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| If your using a Stevenson type of bar, I would also block with my left hand, it's pretty easy and effective. |
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Lindley
From:
Statesville, NC...USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 5:34 am
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Thanks. I'm using a Scheerhorn, and I do most of my blocking with my left hand, but the urge to use my right hand is very strong.
I just wondered if most players use both. |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 6:42 am
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I use both techniques.
I encourage all techniques.....and you'll use the most effective one at the most effective time.
Ricky |
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Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 7:25 am
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Lindley,
I agree with Ricky and would even add pick blocking as a technique useable for Dobro. Many reso players use left hand blocking only, but if you want to play a variety of tunes and musical genres, you'll eventually need all the blocking techniques.
For years I've been avoiding learning to pick block, but it looks like the time has come. After spending a lot of time working out the Texas fiddle tune "Black and White Rag" there was one passage that continues to drive me nuts. Despite considerable practice using left hand and right hand blocking it still sounded too slippery. I tried pick blocking and, voila! it cleaned it right up.
Good luck.[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 29 June 2003 at 08:58 AM.] |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 7:31 am
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As Ricky & Bob say, you use what you need when you need it. Mike Auldridge's first record - "Dobro" - was done without ANY right hand blocking. His later recordings show the influence of pedal steel-style right hand palm blocking. Both sound great.
There are many more methods out there including ring finger under blocking, left thumb blocking, etc. Whatever works! |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 10:19 am
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There is probably no more subjective thing in any manner of playing a steel guitar than "blocking".
After years of talking about it I feel the best policy is to just let it come naturally. And here is what drives it. When anyone hears sounds they do NOT wish to hear, (no matter the cause) figure out a way that feels comfortable to you to cure it.
In many cases, this can even be subconscious. In other words, you just find it happened one day. If you try to force some method you saw or heard about, it may frustrate you; and you don't need that.
Paul Franklin uses "pick blocking" almost exclusively". Jerry Byrd and Buddy Emmons use "palm blocking" almost exclusively. And the sounds these players get lacks nothing.
So just let it happen. And it WILL, I promise.
And may Jesus bless you in your quests,
carl[This message was edited by C Dixon on 29 June 2003 at 11:21 AM.] |
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Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 5:18 pm
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| On the real fast hammer-ons and pull-offs, I find it easier to block with my left hand. Course, I started with Dobro, and now that I'm trying to learn steel, my blocking's having to change. Like Brother Carl said, whatever works! |
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Travis Bernhardt
From:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 29 Jun 2003 6:05 pm
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Is right hand blocking a bad habit to get into? In my view the only "bad habits" are those that cause strain or injury and those that limit your sonic possibilities.
From that standpoint, yes you should learn pick blocking, and yes you should learn palm blocking, and yes you should learn left hand blocking--heck, learn nose blocking if you can find a use for it (or tongue blocking--get HowardR to send you a picture. Or actually don't...).
-Travis |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 5:05 am
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What does everyone mean by pick blocking? I think it means different things to different people.
Do you block with the right hand fingers that are wearing the fingerpicks of do you block with the right hand pinky and ring finger (sans fingerpicks).
I block with the pinky and ring finger of my right hand. I would imagine that it would be nearly impossible to block with a finger that is wearing a metal fingerpick... too much noise.
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
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Lindley
From:
Statesville, NC...USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 5:18 am
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| Actually pick blocking is done with the fingers that are wearing the finger picks. Simply stated, what you do is pick a string with your finger pick, and as you strike another string with your thumb, you touch the string you just picked with your finger pick. (same finger) This deadens the first string. You repeat the process with the thumb pick, placing it back on the string you just picked with it as you pick another string with a finger pick. It sounds a little more complicated than it really is. It takes lots of practice, but is a very natural way to block, and it gets easier as time goes by. There is some noise, but you usually use this kind of blocking when you're speed picking, so it's not all that noticable. Tommy White is very good at this kind of blocking. Steve Palousek is another good example, but he uses several ways to pick block. Someone else could probably explain this better than I can. [This message was edited by Lindley on 30 June 2003 at 06:20 AM.] [This message was edited by Lindley on 30 June 2003 at 06:23 AM.] |
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 6:31 am
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I go with Ricky, all techniques that work for you are right. Don't try to not block in a way you like, because if it works it's right.
Any port in a storm, and any porthole to exit a sinking ship ; use it! |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 6:33 am
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Yes Lindley,
That is my interpretation of "pick blocking". IMO the absolute master at this form of blocking is Paul Franklin.
carl |
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Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 8:04 am
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| Auldridge described his earlier(pre-steel)blocking to me, as using the right hand fingers like the dampers on a piano. They stay on the string, and are lifted to allow the string to vibrate, then allowed to come back to rest on the string. |
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seldomfed
From:
Colorado
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 9:59 am
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I had a seminar with Joe Wright last year and he primarily uses pick blocking to attain his speed - quite effective. He encourages it. Pick noise is minimal most of the time.
The other thing I learned was to shorten the thumb pick (file it down). Get your picks closer to the strings so you don't have to lift your hand and fingers too high to move from string to string, this helps the pick blocking technique!
All techniques are good, I'm trying to learn and improve all of them. I'm doing more pick blocking vs. palm these days , but mix it up depending on the need.
Palm and left hand blocking can slow you down if you end up bouncing your hands up and down too much - pick blocking lends itself to conservation of motion. Unless of course you're Tigger, cause bouncing is what 'Tiggers' do best! 
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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon" www.book-em-danno.com
[This message was edited by seldomfed on 30 June 2003 at 11:06 AM.] |
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DroopyPawn
From:
Fox, OK, USA
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Posted 30 Jun 2003 2:05 pm
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I haven't been playing steel and dobro as long as the other instruments I play but.......
I use palm, heel, picks, left hand, left thumb and anything else that will work when blocking. As Eddie Van Halen said, "F*** the rules. If it sounds good, it is goo."
gs
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 1 Jul 2003 10:31 am
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| More goo to go! |
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