The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been gathering all kinds of information on Dobros, trying to decide if I should make the leap. One of the recent tapes I got talked a little about the history. I was surprised to here that the Dobro did not originate as a bluegrass instrument. Apparently it was designed to allow a guitar to be heard in a big band environment. Mostly I have only ever heard bluegrass dobro. Does anyone know if there are any reissues of some old big bands with dobros featured? Thanks.

Before there was amplification, band vocalists often sang into a megaphone and the instruments carried their sound naturally. But the guitar was at a disadvange being drowned out by the brass, especially.

So the resonator was added to the guitar, which was a Spanish guitar. Mainly with the Big Bands, they would only play rhythm. With the guitar held in that position, the resonator was aimed directly as the audience. They were not played as a Hawaiian guitar.

So as to recordings of Big Bands, you more than likely will not hear the guitar at all since, again, it was just playing rhythm.

The best place to hear a resonator in a big band environment is the music of Oscar Aleman. A collection of his recordings was distributed by Acoustic Disc, David Grisman's label.

While Oscar played a resonator, he did not play it lap style. To hear that type of playing -lap style in a jazz context , musicians like Sol Hoopi would be your be your best bet.

However neither musicians played a Dobro, which was a later invention, albeit from the same inventors. As far as I know, the Dobro was mostly played in country style bands and I don't know any use in the jazz or big band context.

quote: "I was surprised to hear that the Dobro did not originate as a bluegrass instrument."

Now that you mention it, I can't think of a single instrument that originated in bluegrass. <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Dan Sawyer on 26 December 2005 at 12:23 PM.]</p></FONT>

So the resonator was added to the guitar, which was a Spanish guitar. Mainly with the Big Bands, they would only play rhythm. With the guitar held in that position, the resonator was aimed directly as the audience. They were not played as a Hawaiian guitar.

The first resonator guitars were not 'Spanish', they were Hawaiian squarenecks. Specifically the original tricone was designed for a Vaudeville performer named Beauchamp who later became a partner in the company.
Hawaiian performers like Sol Hoopii were the first players to use resonator guitars.

Check out Bob Brozman's book for the accurate and complete history of the National resonator guitar and the inventor of the both the National and Dobro instruments.

Listen to the old hot Hawaiian players -- some in-print CDs:
"Hawaii's Popular Songs - 'Unforgettables' 1920 - 1930" (EPM Musique, Paris: 995842 ADE 797 AAD -- I got mine from the library, have seen it in Google)
"Hula Blues - Vintage Steel Guitar Instrumentals from the '30s & '40's" (Rounder 11661-1012-2)
"Slidin on the Frets - the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Phenomenon" (Yazoo 2056)

Also, anything by Josh Graves with Flatt & Scruggs, also the CDs "Josh Graves" and "Memories of Foggy Mountain"

Finally, see Stacy Phillips' "THE ART OF HAWAIIAN STEEL GUITAR - Vol. 1" (comes w/ CD)
(also vol 2)

enjoy! Chris

I haven't read Brozman's history book, but it does seem that Hawaiian music was the first music played with a steel and on resonators. Country, bluegrass and blues musicians heard the Hawaiian resonator steel music and adapted the style and instrument to their own purposes in their own genres. Brother Oswald Kirby is one of the best examples of the original resonator generation. The Hawaiian influence is unmistakable in his country and bluegrass Dobro work. And in his solo instrumental repertoire there were frank Hawaiian numbers, such as Hilo March. Josh Graves, a banjo player, pioneered what we recognize today as bluegrass Dobro. He had very little Hawaiian influence, and used banjo type roles. Also, some of the Sacred Steeler anthologies clearly show the Hawaiian influence among the oldest players in that genre, although they all used electric lap steels.

The extra volume of the resonator had only a brief hayday, before the electric guitar eclipsed it for that purpose in all genres. But the sweet sound of the resonator continued to be appreciated for it's own unique sound among acoustic musicians in traditional Hawaiian, country, bluegrass, and blues.

Little known fact about Oscar Aleman is that he in fact played with a steel guitar player in Argentina playing tangos and milongas.

I am currently working on a project that will be a 'big band' playing 1900-1940s nostalgia music with reso.

The DOBRO type resonator guitar (i.e. wood body, with spider resonator) has rarely, if ever heard outside of hillbilly, country, or bluegrass. The modern Master, Jerry Douglas has given us many prime examples of what a DOBRO can do in the world of jazz and new age music. To a lesser extent Mike Auldridge and his 8 string forays into Latinesque styles is another exception. The unsung and little noted resonator guitars that were extensively used in big band and mainstream jazz of the 30's and 40's were the tenor and plectrum instruments and more often than not, with the NATIONAL brand name and played in the Spanish style with flatpicks. There may be others, like myself, trying to get "jazzier" while playing in the lap style but I am not aware of them. (Anyone out there?) I am currently working on arrangements of Miles Davis' ALL BLUES, Cannonball Aderly's THE WORK SONG and Duke Ellington's TAKE THE A TRAIN for lap style DOBRO. The DOBRO is an incredable instrument that should have no musical bounderies and limited only by the imagination and abilities of the player.

Yep me Hot jazz, swing, big band, tango, klezmer, cuban, latin, calypso, classical... oh yeah hawaiian

Basically working on applying everything I had in guitar prior to having to make a switch to steel..I don't regret it one bit

My next solo arrangment is going to be Beautiful Love. I did it for guitar and it is a gorgeous melody.Re: Miles try "So what", for Monk "Blue Monk" and of course the Brubeck classic "Take 5" done in 7 hehe

Keep it up AJ! That ought to be very cool indeed.