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Topic: Just Brought Home Power Slide and Dobro Squareneck |
Jean Haas
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2012 9:54 am |
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I am a "newish" guitar player with no real lead experience who has just brought home a Peavey Power Slide & a Dobro squareneck. I plan to restring the PS with C6th strings (C6th) tuning and the dobro with G strings (G) tuning (This is based on wanting to play classic country and bluegrass). Can I change the tuning on the dobro later to "C6th" or will I need to change the strings again? Conversely, can I later change the tuning on the PS to "G"? I have located a Dobro Fingerboard Chart for Open G Tuning. Where might I find a Fingerboard Chart for C6th? Any advice before I dive into this new endeavor? Thanks for listening.
Jeanne
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Jeanne |
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Peter den Hartogh
From:
Cape Town, South Africa
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Posted 25 Jan 2012 10:09 am
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Multiple tunings from one set of strings
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C6/AM7 E9th E13th C13th A6
.015p 1 E(3) E(R) E(R) E(3) E(5)
.018p 2 C(R) -B(5) +C#(6) C(R) +C#(3)
.022p 3 A(6) -G#(3) -G#(3) A(6) A(R)
.026w 4 G(5) -F#(9) -F#(9) G(5) -F#(6)
.032w 5 E(3) --D(b7) --D(b7) E(3) E(5)
.036w 6 C(R) -B(5) -B(5) ++D(9) +C#(3)
.042w 7 A(6) -G#(3) -G#(3) +Bb(b7) A(R)
.054w 8 F(4) -E(R) -E(R) -E(3) +F#(6)
+ raise pitch 1 half tone (1 fret)
++ raise pitch 1 whole tone (2 frets)
- lower pitch 1 half tone (1 fret)
-- lower pitch 1 whole tone (2 frets)
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As you can see in the C6 tuning:
String 1 can be tuned down to D
String 2 can be tuned down to B
String 3 can be tuned down to G
But string 4 is in the way.
String 5 and 6 and 7 need to shift up one position and be retuned to D, B and G.
Or, for the time being, you leave string 4 as a G in unison with string 3, and then make 5 a D and 6 a B
(no low G....  ). |
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Stan Schober
From:
Cahokia, Illinois, USA
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 25 Jan 2012 12:50 pm
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Jean, as far as the dobro strings, you will need to change them later for C6th. But many of your better players will tell you that as an alternative to C6th, re-tune the guitar to G6th.
Off the top of my head, I think for C6th, the sixth string needs to be about an .034, whereas the typical dobro string set used for G tuning contains an .056 for the sixth string - BIG difference there.
And some folks will also tell you that with the lighter gauges, the resonator cone won't "load" properly, and you might find the tone lacking.
At this point as far as the dobro compared to the Powerslide, I would concentrate on learning the basics of GBDGBD low-to-high, then think about alternative tunings WELL down the line.
Some of the greatest players in the world rarely venture out of high bass open G on the dobro, and can play just about any genre of music. The great Rob Ickes might be the ultimate "poster boy" for that concept.
A simple but effective form of G6th for dobro, sometimes used by Cindy Cashdollar, is to tune the fourth string from D up to E. But you will need a lighter string for that, like a .032 or .034. The normal .036 in a dobro set will often "explode" when you try to crank it up to E.
An excellent player to research here, on Reso-Nation, and YouTube is Greg Booth, and Greg likes to drop his sixth string from G down to E which will give you a 6th sound as well when you want it.
I wasn't going to include the prior two paragraphs in this post, but I know if I didn't somebody else was going to! There's more than one way to skin a cat, but I still think the best thing initially is learn the GBDGBD tuning backwards and forwards.
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Mark |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2012 3:48 pm
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| Another great player to listen out for, Jean, is Randy Kohrs- he uses the GBDgbd tuning on both reso and lap steel and really tears it up on either one. |
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Larry Robbins
From:
Fort Edward, New York
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Posted 25 Jan 2012 4:24 pm
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| Mark van Allen wrote: |
| Another great player to listen out for, Jean, is Randy Kohrs- he uses the GBDgbd tuning on both reso and lap steel and really tears it up on either one. |
he sure does! A very underated player...can play the heck out of many,many instruments and a heck of a nice guy 
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Twang to the bone! |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 26 Jan 2012 12:06 pm
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I don't know if Randy is underrated as much as he just isn't as well-known overall as guys like Jerry, Mike, and Rob. Because once you see him and hear him play, you think "holy smokes - this guy cooks!"
He's also been very busy as a Grammy winning producer and owns a studio in Nashville.
At Resosummit I took a class from Randy, the gist of which was "developing your own style." We were talking about utilizing palm blocking on the dobro and he showed us how he'd been working on getting some Brent Mason sounding licks on the resonator, and I'll tell you, he was really close - sounded a lot like playing a Tele on your lap.
Great player, nice fellow, and yeah - there's nothing limiting about Open G.
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Mark |
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