The Steel Guitar Forum

Is it me or is there a shortage of educational matter on Open G Tuning tunes and tabs

I'd love it if someone can point me in the direction of good tabs. Thanks.

Don

Check out Rob Anderlik's tab section:
http://www.robanderlik.com/Tabs&Video.html

It's you. There are more instructional methods, videos, etc. for open G tuning than any other tuning. Admittedly, most of it is for acoustic resonator guitar (aka Dobro®) in bluegrass or country genres, but such instruction information translates very well to electric lap steel.

Brad Bechtel wrote:It's you. There are more instructional methods, videos, etc. for open G tuning than any other tuning. Admittedly, most of it is for acoustic resonator guitar (aka Dobro®) in bluegrass or country genres, but such instruction information translates very well to electric lap steel.

Thanks, guys. This helps a lot.

Don

How about a little Hawaiian!
http://www.konaweb.com/konabob/

Hello Dom,

If you mean Low Bass G, D G D G B D, low to high, then there are quite a few lesson videos at my You Tube channel, where I post stuff for my students to play...

http://www.youtube.com/sisteralexa

Hi Dom,

I posted 5 lessons (tab available)on Youtube for following bluesy song called "Blues On My Lap"
It's in low G tuning (DGDGBD)

The complete song :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o1COd_SWyw

Here's the link to the first lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpeia14LkH8

You'll find the other links for the lessons in the video description.

It's an instrumental I pieced together based on the playing of older players like Oscar "Buddy" Woods, Jim and Bob "The Genial Hawaiians" to modern sliders like Bob Brozman and Mike Cooper.

Here's another lesson, with free tab, but in DADF#AD
tuning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSxmUrBpFA

Tune it anyway you like, but for the sake of discussion, I have to believe for lap guitar that Open G is defined as the "high bass" as used by Dobro players, GBDGBD low-to-high.

Last weekend at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in SF, both Jerry Douglas and Cindy Cashdollar were burning it up pretty good on lap steels in Open G. Cindy didn't even bring a dobro this year to play as one of The Guilty Women with Dave Alvin.

Mark Eaton wrote:Tune it anyway you like, but for the sake of discussion, I have to believe for lap guitar that Open G is defined as the "high bass" as used by Dobro players, GBDGBD low-to-high.

Last weekend at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in SF, both jerry Douglas and Cindy Cashdollar were burning it up pretty good on lap steels in Open G. Cindy didn't even bring a dobro this year to play as one of The Guilty Women with Dave Alvin.

Let's hear it for Open G. I actually like C6 better but find that I can do a lot more of the kind of music I like with Open G.

I use both D and G. I read a n interview years ago by Jerry Douglas I think, in which he said they were guitar friendly. they were all so Rickey Friendly.

Don, if you are not familiar with it, check out this book from Fred Sokolow, which is part of his Fretboard Roadmaps series. It reads "Dobro" on the cover, but a lot of the tab is just as conducive to electric lap steel, and a good portion of the demonstration tracks on the accompanying CD are played on a Supro lap steel, so it isn't all about bluegrass dobro style playing.

The majority of the tab is in G tuning, the lesser amount is in D, and there is a little bit of it in A & E.

I have had the book for six or seven years and I like to go back to it periodically for a refresher:

http://www.sokolowmusic.com/instructional/other

I've been playing lap steel in open G (G-D-G-B-D-G) for a while now. I'm wondering a couple of things about it.

1. what gauge strings work best for this tuning?

2. I notice that I never use the low string on the lap steel. Dobro, sure, all the time. Just a different playing style for me. Question, is it advisable to go one step lighter on all the strings and use another R-5-R-3-5-R tuning? I figure I could lose the low string and have more access to the high end, which I prefer.

(I realize this is 9 year old thread but you gotta start somewhere.)

Thanks everyone!

This is high bass G, same as the old Hawaiian tuning high bass A just lower. Any sheet music for A will work.
The Stacy Phillips Hawaiian guitar book is excellent and for this tuning. Its very well laid out and comes with a CD ( mine has a tape).

Dustin Schrimpsher wrote:I've been playing lap steel in open G (G-D-G-B-D-G) for a while now. I'm wondering a couple of things about it.

1. what gauge strings work best for this tuning?

2. I notice that I never use the low string on the lap steel. Dobro, sure, all the time. Just a different playing style for me. Question, is it advisable to go one step lighter on all the strings and use another R-5-R-3-5-R tuning? I figure I could lose the low string and have more access to the high end, which I prefer.

(I realize this is 9 year old thread but you gotta start somewhere.)

Thanks everyone!

Your Champion has a 22 1/2" scale. You can use this chart to figure your strings out.

Dustin Schrimpsher wrote:
2. I notice that I never use the low string on the lap steel.

Same here, so I just move every note down one string and added a C on top (I get a lot of funny looks when I tell people this). Low to high: G-D-G-B-D-C. I only use the C string when I want to get a suspended sound and don’t want to (or can’t) pull the B string fast enough. i like having the R-5-R on the bottom for power chords and to fake minor chords.

As a wise man said about banjos, it’s your lap steel, play it any way you want!

Hi Dustin,
I played a Dobro in standard open G tuning many years ago. When I started playing again, it was with a Hula group. So I got a hollow neck with a sound hole pickup, still in open G tuning. Then I got a 6-string Oahu Tonemaster, and decided a Hi G string would be more useful than the Low G, so I tuned Lo to Hi: B,D,G,B,D,G. Then, to get a 6th, I tuned to GM6, Lo to Hi: B,E,G,B,D,G. Now I play a 7-string Ric Bakelite and tune it Lo to Hi: Bb,C,E,G,B,D,G. That's GM6/ C7 tuning. I buy a C6, SIT brand 8-string set. So my string gages are Lo to Hi: .042w, .036w, .030w, .024w, .018, .015, .013. If you play 6-string in GM6, you could use a C6, 6-string set. You can get single .013 strings at any good music store.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Rob Anderlik's resonator guitar website bit the dust sometime back. Too bad it was a great site with accurate tabs. The only place I ever saw Jerry Douglas's Cincinnati Rag in tab.

There is a wealth of free material at Joe Wilson's site.

https://dobrojoe.com/dobro-school

I use this site for Dobro/Lapsteel instruction info: www.lwtstreaming.com

It isn't free but is worth the money IMO.

Don DeMaio wrote:Is it me or is there a shortage of educational matter on Open G Tuning tunes and tabs

I'd love it if someone can point me in the direction of good tabs. Thanks.

Don

Lessons with Troy
https://www.lwtstreaming.com/