Learning Bluegrass Dobro?
Moderator: Brad Bechtel
- Bob Watson
- Posts: 1533
- Joined: 30 Aug 2000 12:01 am
- Location: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Learning Bluegrass Dobro?
I have been playing pedal steel for around 28 years now and I picked up a Dobro around 7 years ago. I can play Dobro pretty good, (kind of a country, bluesy style) but I sound more like a steel player playin' Dobro than a Bluegrass Dobro player. I recently have been given' the opportunity to play with a Bluegrass band. Most of their material is real fast and I was wondering if anyone could suggest some good albums/tapes/cd's to listen to for fast bluegrass Dobro playin', and also if anyone could suggest some instructional material that would be good to pick up. I am going to get the Jerry Douglas video, but I am curious to see if any of you have some other ideas. Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Bob Watson
Bob Watson
-
- Posts: 246
- Joined: 26 Mar 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Dartmouth NS Canada
- Howard Parker
- Posts: 2610
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Clarksburg,MD USA
- Contact:
Mike Auldridge video/cd material www.mikeauldridge.com is very popular. Stacy Phillips writes the "bible" for dobro instruction (imho). A pretty fair list of material can be found at www.melbay.com . Look under "guitar" then "resonator".
And if I can be so bold...come join all the coneheads at RESOGUIT-L. You can sub at www.resoguit.com
Howard
------------------
Howard Parker
poobah@resoguit.com
www.resoguit.com
ListOwner RESOGUIT-L
And if I can be so bold...come join all the coneheads at RESOGUIT-L. You can sub at www.resoguit.com
Howard
------------------
Howard Parker
poobah@resoguit.com
www.resoguit.com
ListOwner RESOGUIT-L
Jeff Buckey's (www.jeffbuckey.com) instruction material is superb, and will have you up and running for playing in jams etc in a surprisingly quick time. I've been playing a couple of years, but since getting volume one of his Virtual Band Method I've progressed in leaps and bounds.
Cheers
Ally
Cheers
Ally
-
- Posts: 6870
- Joined: 20 Apr 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Over there
-
- Posts: 1813
- Joined: 22 Jun 1999 12:01 am
- Location: St Charles, IL
- David L. Donald
- Posts: 13696
- Joined: 17 Feb 2003 1:01 am
- Location: Koh Samui Island, Thailand
- Contact:
Sally Van Meter has some good stuff, she's a great player. I played with one of her students in NYC and she taught him a lot.
Don't forget Josh Graves.
Anybody who played dobro with Bill Monroe or Flatt and Scrugs. That'll get you in the tradition. Just listen and cop a few licks.
If you want some AWESOME newgrass get Bela Fleck's DRIVE CD. Just instrumentals,
but WHAT intrumentals. The best pickers, who were all hitting their stride the same time.
I have owned 5 copies... they all seem to never get returned. #5 never get's lent...
Of course it's Jerry D.
There is a reunion of this band 5 years later with Earl Scruggs sitting in. Both have Mark O'Connor and Stuart Duncan on fiddles. #2 is even more mind blowing,
but start with "Drive"
It has "The Lights Of Home", one of the most beautiful dobro songs I have ever heard. It is able to stop a 30 person jam just to hear it as a Dobro / mandolin duet...
The J. Douglas video may be daunting but if you learn 1/4 of it you're so much farther ahead.
Don't forget Josh Graves.
Anybody who played dobro with Bill Monroe or Flatt and Scrugs. That'll get you in the tradition. Just listen and cop a few licks.
If you want some AWESOME newgrass get Bela Fleck's DRIVE CD. Just instrumentals,
but WHAT intrumentals. The best pickers, who were all hitting their stride the same time.
I have owned 5 copies... they all seem to never get returned. #5 never get's lent...
Of course it's Jerry D.
There is a reunion of this band 5 years later with Earl Scruggs sitting in. Both have Mark O'Connor and Stuart Duncan on fiddles. #2 is even more mind blowing,
but start with "Drive"
It has "The Lights Of Home", one of the most beautiful dobro songs I have ever heard. It is able to stop a 30 person jam just to hear it as a Dobro / mandolin duet...
The J. Douglas video may be daunting but if you learn 1/4 of it you're so much farther ahead.
-
- Posts: 6870
- Joined: 20 Apr 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Over there
- David L. Donald
- Posts: 13696
- Joined: 17 Feb 2003 1:01 am
- Location: Koh Samui Island, Thailand
- Contact:
Ickes has two videos out. They are excellent but aimed more at the beginning to intermediate player and introduce some very good basic music theory. Sounds like you're beyond that with your experience.
The one thing that I really like is that Ickes doesn't use a capo very much and he warns against the mediocrity of playing by sticking to just the chord positions.
He likes to play in any key by picking out the "sounds" wherever they may be. It takes a lot of slide action but sounds really tight. With Blue Highway, for example, he plays a lot of stuff in the key of B.
He also stresses the importance of getting rolls down perfectly, which is one of the distinctive things about Bluegrass Dobro compared to steel.
Acutab has a tab book of Ickes's songs with Blue Highway and you can get a good feel for the technique of licks and solos in there.
RB
The one thing that I really like is that Ickes doesn't use a capo very much and he warns against the mediocrity of playing by sticking to just the chord positions.
He likes to play in any key by picking out the "sounds" wherever they may be. It takes a lot of slide action but sounds really tight. With Blue Highway, for example, he plays a lot of stuff in the key of B.
He also stresses the importance of getting rolls down perfectly, which is one of the distinctive things about Bluegrass Dobro compared to steel.
Acutab has a tab book of Ickes's songs with Blue Highway and you can get a good feel for the technique of licks and solos in there.
RB