Learning Bluegrass Dobro?

Bob Watson · Post by **Bob Watson** » 11 Apr 2003 12:06 am

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

Keith DeLong · Post by **Keith DeLong** » 11 Apr 2003 2:42 am

Cindy Cashdollar has a video out, some good stuff with hammer-ons, pulloffs etc., plus the basics. She teaches a good version of the Sailor's Hornpipe. A capo is a handy thing to have so you can do pulloffs and hammer-ons in different keys.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 11 Apr 2003 5:56 am

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

Ally · Post by **Ally** » 11 Apr 2003 7:34 am

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

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 11 Apr 2003 11:33 am

IMHO, the Douglas video is a bit daunting, to say the least. By all means, get the Stacy Phillips book, it covers ALL styles, not just bluegrass. I haven't seen any of Auldridge's stuff, but I sure have learned a lot from him.

Chris Walke · Post by **Chris Walke** » 11 Apr 2003 12:54 pm

I haven't seen it myself, but I hear that the Rob Ickes video (available from Homespun, same as the Cashdollar vid) is very good.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 11 Apr 2003 1:20 pm

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.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 11 Apr 2003 7:53 pm

Hey David, the list of Bill Monroe's dobro players would be a very short one

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 12 Apr 2003 5:11 am

I saw him with one in NYC a few years back but don't know the name. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 12 April 2003 at 06:12 AM.]</p></FONT>

mikey · Post by **mikey** » 19 Apr 2003 12:44 pm

play along w/ Roy Acuff's CD's first...then try to play along w/ Flatt & Scruggs...That's what I did..
Mike

RB Jones · Post by **RB Jones** » 24 Apr 2003 12:15 pm

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