Learning to Play Roundneck Dobro Resophonic Guitar

Sep 1, 2009, at 9:40 AM

Your Name: Myrna R.
Subject: dobro tuning
Message: I have a 1963 Dobro that I used to be able to play some songs on. Then I loaned it to someone for a few years and when it came back to me it was tuned differently. Now I can't play it anymore. Can you tell me what each string should be tuned to. Thank you
BY THE WAY...it's a round neck if that makes a difference.

Greetings Myrna,

A roundneck dobro can be tuned exactly like a guitar ... and played the same way too. However, traditionally, many roundneck dobroists did play slide with open tunings. Tunings such as open D or open G were very common.

My suggestion would be to start out by playing your dobro in standard tuning: E A D G B E from low to high. If you haven't any experience in tuning, you might go to a local music shop and purchase an electronic tuner ... and maybe someone there will also be kind enough to teach you how to use one. This would be indispensable as a beginning dobroist. And, if you purchase a chromatic one, you can always use it to tune to other open tunings once you familiarize yourself with the dobro in standard tuning.

All my best,

Mickey Cochran

Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:54:31 -0500
Subject: Which instructional video

I am looking for instruction on round neck dobro. I currently am butchering
a Johnson Tricone. A little direction please. What would you recommend?

Thank you,

Dalton Maples

Awesome web site. Thanks for all your work!

Greetings Dalton,

The best roundneck dobro video I know of is Tradd Tidwell's: "Slide and Blues Technique for Roundneck Dobro"...

This video can be found at:

For a listing of Wisdom of the Wood instructional books and videos:
http://www.folkofthewood.com/page645.htm

Subject: Question on roundneck Dobro
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 03:34:39 +0000

Dear Mickey/Folk of the Wood,

I would like to ask a question about roundneck dobro. I have always loved the "Mississippi Delta" style blues and have always wanted to learn to play the roundneck dobro. I have never played guitar however. So my question is, would you recommend that someone gain guitar experience before moving on to the roundneck dobro, or can one successfully learn on the dobro even with no prior guitar experience (ie: do you think this would be too challenging)?

Thanks in advance. I hope my question makes sense and I hope you guys have time to answer - I know you are busy.

Greetings,

I, too, love Mississippi Delta blues...and have studied this approach to guitar for many years. I love the alternating bass blues and monotonic bass blues...as played by such artists as Rev. Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt...in fact, these particular artists didn't use glass slides...even so, these styles still sound superb on a roundneck dobro. When I first learned to play blues, I was studying on acoustic guitar and learned many arrangements from Stefan Grossman...on the "Kicking Mule" label...

We've just released a new video on the Wisdom of the Wood label titled: "Slide and Blues Technique" that illustrates a thorough overview of what the roundneck dobro can do...

Whether you attempt to learn Delta blues on acoustic guitar or dobro would not affect the learning process. Both are essentially played the same with the same fingerboard language...the only real difference between roundneck dobro and guitar is the tonal range. Therefore, you should have no trouble learning on the dobro first. The most important consideration on either guitar or dobro would be how it's set up. Many roundneck dobros are set up with a higher action to accommodate slide playing. As a beginner, you really want your roundneck dobro to be set up with a low to medium action to learn on...otherwise, you'll find it quite difficult to learn due to the difficulty of pressing down the strings due to the strings being too high off the fretboard. When purchasing your first dobro, simply request it to be set up for a beginning guitarist with a lower action. You can always raise it later when and if you've gained your callouses and are ready to experiment with slide playing.

Hope something here helps you...Mickey