Pedal Steel W/ Dobro Sound (Blue Grass) Band

[autry andress]

Just wondering how many are playing in (If any)
Pedal Steel W/ Dobro attachment, In a Blue Grass
Band. If so how long did you last?????
I appricate all comments.

Thank you
Autry

[Steve Perry]

Hmmm... If it's a traditional, acoustic Bluegrass band, then I dare say you may be the only one doing it. So... You'll have to tell us how long you lasted.

[Ken Pippus]

Know how many bluegrassers it takes to change a lightbulb? One to change it and four more to whine and moan because it's electric.

[chris ivey]

i suppose it could work musically, but it's just not in the spirit or tradition of a bluegrass band.
it's not acoustic, it's not mobile, it doesn't fit the aesthetic. it would be an oddity, a novelty, and would change the dynamic from a bluegrass band to an americana band, which we all know means 'anything you want to do'.

[Alan Brookes]

Well, Bobbe Seymour sold plenty of resonator effects units to make a steel sound like a resonator, and even a wooden tone bar to use with it, so somebody must be using them, or else they mostly ended up in closets, (which is where mine ended up).

As Chris pointed out, a pedal steel guitar is not exactly portable. You can't sling it over your shoulder like you can a Dobro, and folk bands don't include electric instruments, at least not if they want to be traditional.

Personally I find the strings on a pedal steel to be too closely spaced to play bluegrass, but maybe that's because I have big fingers.

[Dean Rimmer]

what about doug jernigan with jim n jesie?

[Ken Pippus]

The bluegrass police will tell you that J&J album wasn't bluegrass. I believe they even called it "Our Kind of Country."

[Mark Eaton]

Yeah, Bobbe and others sold a lot of dobro simulators, but it doesn't make it any more bluegrass than a Tele with a B-bender is a pedal steel guitar. I recall an interview with Clarence White and I'm paraphrasing, he wasn't attempting to truly emulate a pedal steel with the Stringbender, but he was going for a more dramatic sound than just doing the bends on the fretboard with his fingers.

He followed it with something like "if I wanted a pedal steel sound for a song I'd get a pedal steel player."

If I want a dobro sound in a bluegrass band I'd get a dobro player!

That said, I'm not a badge wearing bluegrass policeman, or a cop for any kind of music. If it's good music then it's good music. If the rest of the band is all acoustic but there's a pedal steel player with them, I say leave the simulator at home and play the thing as a pedal steel. Unless you're a band trying to get a festival gig and they have a "jury" that decides on the acts and it has to be all acoustic, the audience generally could care less.

[Richard Sinkler]

Well, Bobbe Seymour sold plenty of resonator effects units to make a steel sound like a resonator, and even a wooden tone bar to use with it, so somebody must be using them, or else they mostly ended up in closets, (which is where mine ended up).

I doubt that many, if any, made it into real Bluegrass bands. They are for the occasional song in a country, or other type of band.

what about doug jernigan with jim n jesie?

Did doug use a dobro effect with Jim & Jesse? I have never heard it if he did.

[Dean Rimmer]

yeah your probably right ......been years since i heard it.....seams like a lot of folks on the forum talk about people wanting to limit the steel..what the heck if you can work make it work ........why not...

[Alan Brookes]

Of course, if you want to play pedal steel in a bluegrass band, it goes without saying that you would have to learn to co-operate with the banjo. There's no room in a bluegrass band for a banjo-hater.

[Ken Pippus]

Nope. No simulator. Doug played real live E9 steel. Very quickly and convincingly. I have heard that Doug spent a lot of time learning to play fiddle tunes note for note on the steel, and I think it really shows.

[Damir Besic]

Now how many bluegrassers it takes to change a lightbulb? One to change it and four more to whine and moan because it's electric.

LMAO

[Kenny Davis]

Playing Pedal Steel with a reso simulator usually still sounds like a Pedal Steel due to the tuning and use of pedals. Our band plays a lot of Bluegrass and I play both Pedal Steel and Dobro (Benoit). I strive to play the Reso like a Bluegrass player, and the Steel as "commercial" as I can.

[Glenn Shankle]

Most of the cover bands I play with do what they can to sound like the recording, so if the song has dobro in it, my Matchbro helps. But part of the illusion is to not play pedal steel licks. Play dobro licks. We play "Good Directions" in a couple of those bands. It's in F, so I use a Beard dobro capo on the 1st fret to give me the open strings, take my left foot off the pedals, an even use a Stevens bar to help put me in that place. Not the real thing, but a fairly practical work around. Of course, I wouldn't dream of trying that in a real bluegrass band. But then again, I seldom dream about being in a bluegrass band.

[Floyd Havner]

I purchased Tom Bradshaw's resonator pedal. It does a great job simulating a dobro sound at a very affordable price. But like counterfeit money it will fool the unsuspecting, (most of the drunks in a bar,) but not the discriminating. But it was built for steel players like myself who perhaps don't own or play a dobro, to add a new twist and keep the music interesting. And it is perfectly legal.

[Robert Parent]

I think a Pedal-Dobro would be a much better match than a simulator. Now if one could only buy one at a reasonable price I would give it a try.

Robert

[Ken Pippus]

I think a Beard Goldtone does a heck of a job of simulating a Dobro, at much less expense.

[Brett Day]

I think a Pedal-Dobro would be a much better match than a simulator. Now if one could only buy one at a reasonable price I would give it a try.

Robert

On one of Rhonda Vincent's bluegrass records, Mike Johnson played his pedabro on one of the songs

[Mark Eaton]

...and a Gold Tone/Beard is a lot less expensive than a Pedabro!

[Robert Parent]

...and a Gold Tone/Beard is a lot less expensive than a Pedabro!

Already have a Dobro.... but it's lacking pedals.

Robert

[Alan Brookes]

...and a Gold Tone/Beard is a lot less expensive than a Pedabro!

Yes, but there's no camparison. All the Gold Tone/Beard does is allow you to change between two tunings at the flick of a lever. It doesn't even do as much as a Hipshot Trilogy.
A Pedabro, on the other hand, has a complete pedal steel mechanism with a resonator body, so it can play anything that can be played on pedal steel.

That having been said, in a bluegrass band the Dobro usually plays notes in quick succession and so a lack of sustain is an advantage, whereas a pedal steel comes into its own with long, drawn-out notes.

[Floyd Lowery]

I have a Goodrich Match-Bro ll. With the plastic bar it sounds like a Dobro. I have played a Dobro before and enjoy playing them. However, you have a very hard time playing a Dobro in a band with electrical instruments and getting the sound coming through the monitors without feed back. As everyone knows, to not be off key you must hear what is coming out.
On the other hand, if I wanted to play in a Bluegrass band, I would buy a Dobro and practice.
I listen to more Bluegrass music now than I ever did before. They play a lot of songs I used to play in Country bands.

[Mark Eaton]

...and a Gold Tone/Beard is a lot less expensive than a Pedabro!

Yes, but there's no camparison. All the Gold Tone/Beard does is allow you to change between two tunings at the flick of a lever. It doesn't even do as much as a Hipshot Trilogy.
A Pedabro, on the other hand, has a complete pedal steel mechanism with a resonator body, so it can play anything that can be played on pedal steel.

That having been said, in a bluegrass band the Dobro usually plays notes in quick succession and so a lack of sustain is an advantage, whereas a pedal steel comes into its own with long, drawn-out notes.

I'm talking about a Gold Tone/Beard as in Gold Tone Paul Beard Signature resophonic guitar, I'm not referring to a Beard resophonic guitar equipped with the new DoubleShot unit produced by the Hipshot company designed in conjunction with Paul Beard.

As far as note duration or sustain on a higher quality dobro, with an audio measuring device I'd be willing to bet that it would give a Pedabro a run for its money and often exceed it.

[Tony Prior]

I see all this differently...MP3 below

While I would agree I like the Pedal Steel Dobro sims or a PedaBro , but the truth is , it's not a Dobro ! If you can get into a BG band with a Steel you would be missing most of the key Dobro ingredients which make it so appealing and so much fun to play. While Dobros can be fast notes , thats a given, but thats a very small part of the overall big picture...

The problem is when we have a Pedal Steel in front of us, regardless , (be it with a sim or Pedabro) we play like a Steel player not a Dobro player. Totally different approaches...Does it sound kool ? sure...


IF we view the common GBDGBD as a singular limited entity with no capo then of course it is ONE limited scale in G , BUT...if we view the G open as the 4th or the 5th in the root scale ,we have now just opened up the fret board to 3 very usable and recognizable scales within one tuning, with no capo. View the open as the root in G, the 4th in D and the 5th in C .We all play in G, D and C don't we ? I haven't even mentioned Em...

Now get one of these puppies ( pic below) while you still can, the Bradley Capo...place it on the 2nd fret to convert to an open A tuning...you just added 3 more scales within a single tuning . Open A root, the 4th in the key of E and the 5th in the key of D , a 2nd option for the key of D. Once again, we all play in A,E and D don't we ?

6 scales at the flick of the Capo. Then there's this, you still have the rest of the fret board regardless of which key you are in.

IF we are attempting to do it all from the open position then it is US that is limiting the Instrument, not the Instrument..

I fear that many of us who have been sitting behind a Pedal Steel for such a long time view a common slide or a Dobro tuning such as GBDGBD as a very limited affair..It's not....When you pick up a SQ Neck Dobro you have to leave the Pedal mentality behind. Is the 6 string guitar limited to playing in E..or something like that ? HeXX no !




My take, if you want to play Dobro in BG band or with Acoustic players around town, get a Dobro , they are much easier to carry around !

PLAY BOTH !

MP3 to follow:


I haven't posted any music in a long while, here is a short Dobro conversation and a short phrase regarding playing in D with the open G tuning, no capo..Beard Goldtone Sq neck...

http://tprior.com/dobroD.mp3


The last phrase is played across the 2nd fret (A)but keep in mind this is still the open GBDGBD tuning , no capo, in the key of D...


At the beginning of the mp3 I misspoke, I am playing in D,7th fret on the OPEN G Tuning...Not in the key of G..sorry...it's early...