The Steel Guitar Forum

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 7:48 am**

I just recently started foolin around with the dobro. I've been usin the G tuning mainly.This tuning seems very adaptable but I seem to have a problem playing country tunes with this tuning. I'm sure its more me than the tuning. Are there any different tuning that could be more suited to country.

tks, cf

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 12:29 pm**

Charles, your right! It's not the tuning, it's your playing or lack of or both!

My boss use to ask me " Now does the tail wag the dog or does the dog wag the tail"

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 1:20 pm**

Charles, I think you should at least provide Charles some good advice.

Wayne Baker
Dobro Owner

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 1:24 pm**

I kinda liked the tail waggin' advice. It gets the ball rollin at least.

cf

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 2:17 pm**

I'd advise sticking with this tuning for now. The other tuning I might recommend is C6/Am7 but I don't think that sounds that good on a Dobro®.
Look for some of the many instructional methods available for Dobro® as a source for inspiration on how to play more country-sounding licks.

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 3:01 pm**

I'm not sure what your definition of country music is. My definition of country music brought me to Bev King's recordings & tablature. http://www.countryheritage.net/

Posted: **3 Sep 2003 10:36 pm**

You might want to try a D tuning (D A D F# A D low to high) - do a search on this forum under "User name - Pete Grant" for some very cogent arguments in favor of this tuning.
Nick
P.S. Your G tuning gauges should work fine for the D tuning, at least for experimental purposes.[This message was edited by nick allen on 03 September 2003 at 11:38 PM.]

Posted: **4 Sep 2003 4:52 am**

My defination of country would be, Hank, Merle, Buck, Ernest, Lefty, etc. I've tried the C6/A7 on my box guitar and liked it a lot, had a nice hawaiian/swing sound altho the low C seemed to fall off the neck.

Posted: **4 Sep 2003 11:34 am**

Charles,

Most of the instructional material (Cindy Cashdollar, Rob Ickes, Jerry Douglas)will be in the G tuning. It is the very best place to start, and there is nothing country you can't play there. Good luck..

John Lindley

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Steel crazy after all these years.
Emmons Lashley Legrande 111 S-10, Nashville 1000, Peavey Stereo chorus 212, Peavey Classic 50/410, Lexicon MPX 100, Crafters of Tennessee Virginian reso.

Posted: **4 Sep 2003 3:25 pm**

G tuning is standard for bluegrass dobro, which is a style you don't hear much in Buck, George, Merle etc. music...not to say you can't get great sounds out of that tuning, but a C6 might get you what you are looking for in terms of honky tonk music...with built in minors to give you those big 6th sounds...but if you want classic E9 pedal sounds, you'll be doing a lot of slants, and pulls behind the bar that may lop off your finger(s) above the first knuckle

[This message was edited by John McGann on 04 September 2003 at 04:26 PM.]

Posted: **4 Sep 2003 4:42 pm**

Thank everyone for all the suggestions. John I totally agree about the G tuning lending to bluegrass and also the bluezy tunes. Getting that honky tonk sound dont come easy to me in G. I'll try the C6 on some more, but is there an E tuning that can be used on the dobro to get that Hank sound.

I will try some different tuning on my own. I know asking you guys seems like I'm looking for a shortcut.

I saw a little boy sitting on Santa Claus's lap and Santa said to him " If you want some presents, do good in school and don't take any shortcut's on your homework" and the little boy said " Oh no Santa, I wouldn't do that' but if there was a shortcut where do you think I could find one?

Posted: **4 Sep 2003 7:07 pm**

The D tuning is, IMHO, a good tuning for old time country, and blues. The other good thing about D tuning is that from the 2nd string down, the intervals are the same as on the G tuning. What you can play on strings 1 - 4 in G, you can play on strings 2 - 5 in D, so if you're familiar with G tuning, the D will come easier.[This message was edited by HowardR on 04 September 2003 at 08:08 PM.]

Posted: **14 Sep 2003 9:46 am**

Country Dobro?? I have a 8 string & I'm playing around w/ E-9. I've tried open G
& G6. I'm just more at home with the fret board E-9. & never did like Capos. I like country Dobro better. At least I'm gona give this a good country try.

Posted: **14 Sep 2003 10:12 am**

My definition of country music is:

1. George Jones

2. Ray Price

3. Merle Haggard

4. Alan Jackson

5. Jeannie Sealy

6. Connie Smith

7. Buck Owens

8. Vince Gil (ONLY when he performs country)

9. a mental block but he sang "Statue of a Fool"

10. Etc, etc, (IF you get me drift

)

Plus a host of others that have passed on. So I would strongly suggest pedal steel guitar; and the standard E9th tuning; since to me; NOTHING that has ever happened in "country" music more typifies it than the pedal steel guitar and the standard E9th tuning.

carl

Posted: **14 Sep 2003 7:19 pm**

I've noticed that Autry Andress recommended E9 because of his familiarity with the E9 pedal steel neck. I strongly agree with keeping a neck tuned generally to what you are used to. Because I'm a bluegrass dobroist, I'm used to the open G. Therefore, when I wanted to go to a swing set-up, I chose G6 (G,B,E,G,B,D - 6 through 1) rather than the more normal C6. On the other hand, a pedal steeler would probably choose C6. I've just acquired an 8 string pedal steel, and again, I chose a G6 tuning (E,G,B,D,E,G,B,D, 8 through 1).

Bryan Bradfield http://www.members.shaw.ca/DirtyHatBand/index.htm

Posted: **14 Sep 2003 7:46 pm**

If it's a six string dobro you have, try open E:

E
B
G#
E
B
E

The B, G#, and E strings (2,3rd, 4th) are the same major triad you're used to on the first 3 strings of the open G tuning. The first three notes E, B, G# are heavily used in the E9th tuning. You can probably get some of those country sounds you're yearning for by slanting the bar (forward and reverse) on strings 1 and 3. You also have a great 3 string forward slant on stings 1, 2, and 3; and on strings 2, 3, and 4.

If that doesn't keep you busy, try E7th. I like this inversion:

E
B
G#
E
D
B (or G# or E) - try each to see which you like best.

Alot of early non-pedal country players used E7th...

Keep strumming, keep smiling,

P.S. Carl - could your mental block be Jack Greene? I think Ricky Van Shelton recorded it, too.....[This message was edited by Jeff Strouse on 14 September 2003 at 08:48 PM.]

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 4:32 am**

it was Jack Greene. Thanks sooo much. Sadly, I am having this problem more and more. I know it like the back of my hand, yet I simply cannot bring it up.

Thanks again,

carl

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 6:07 am**

I tune my dobro to A, high bass. I forget who it was but there was a famous dobro player on the GOO that used this tuning. From high to low it's : E C# A E C# A. Can't get much simpler than that!
Erv

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 6:23 am**

Erv, that was Bashful Brother Oswald with Roy Acuff...and hi-bass A has same intervals as bluegrass G, but Os could sure make it sound special.

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 7:20 am**

I think open D is real easy to access the major blues scale on. If you already play guitar, than the 1st, 2nd and 6th strings on open D are the same as standard tuning. You can also fret lead lines with your fingers. I haven't heard of anyone doing this, but Don Helms E6 tuning doesn't use slants, so the scale of the guitar doesn't matter, if you used the right gauge of strings, you could put that E6 tuning on your guitar and it would sound pretty country I would think. Don Helms has a great tab book out on Dewitt Scott's steel site. [This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 15 September 2003 at 11:39 AM.]

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 10:19 am**

Now we getting somewhere. Tks for all the suggestions. I have a 6 string square. Jeff I'll work on those E tunings. Seems like the E's will work better for country than a G. I love the G tuning but like I said , maybe it's just me but I have a hard time playin real country in that tuning. Yes, Merle, George and Hank now thats country.

tks again, charles

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 11:32 am**

I have a cheapo Asian 7 string strat that can be tuned to Open D with a low A on the low 7th string. This gives the whole Open G tuning on the 6 lowest strings, but in the key of D. On the upper 6 strings you have Open D. Has anyone tried this setup for bottle neck yet? If you had the right capo, you could put it on the 5th fret and get open G, the strat's long neck still lets you hit the octave and beyond. I have had heavy strings on it before in C6 with a Bb on the bottom. I didn't leave it that way for very long because of the high string tension.[This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 15 September 2003 at 01:22 PM.]

Posted: **15 Sep 2003 4:35 pm**

In your G tuning, you can drop the 2nd string from B to A and that would give you a G9. Choking that string a full tone would give you some nice pedal effects. Choking the string a half tone will give you a minor.

As mentioned before, you can alternately, or in addition raise string 4 from D to E for G6. Between raising, lowering, slanting, and choking, you'll be crying in your beer & stepping in pasture patties before you can say "ah shucks Paw"...

[This message was edited by HowardR on 15 September 2003 at 06:13 PM.]